Search results for "forest"

On the mend of bryophyte conservation in Spain: preparing a proposal for the inclusion of bryophytes in national species protection catalogues

2018

The Spanish bryoflora contains 1291 taxa, 272 of them included in the Spanish Red List under any threat category. Although bryophytes show a low rate of endemicity compared to vascular flora, Spanish administration’s responsibility for the conservation of these plants is very high, since the country has 63 exclusive or rare species on a European or world scale. However, the representation of this group of plants in the Spanish legislation on species conservation is merely anecdotal. Royal Decree 139/2011 of 4 February develops a list of wild protected species (LESRPE and CEEA, Spanish abbreviations) and includes only 10 species of bryophytes, all of them from the Directive Habitats and the …

La formula razionale rivisitata

2019

The Rational Formula (RF), also known as CIA formula, is probably the most applied equation in practical hydrology to compute the peak discharge, due to its simplicity and effective compromise between theory and data availability. The RF assumes the linearity of the hillslope response, neglects the time to ponding and the antecedent soil moisture condition (ASMC), concentrates the infiltration effect in the runoff coefficient (C) which estimation is highly controversial, since it is based on qualitative indications. This paper proposes an advanced rational formula that makes it possible to derive the peak discharge at the hillslope scale, where the above assumptions are relaxed and which de…

Potassium demineralization of coconut fiber via combined hydrothermal treatment and washing: Effect on pyrolysis kinetics, mechanisms, and bio-oil co…

2021

Abstract Producing clean energy from waste biomass via pyrolysis is critical in reducing dependence on fossil fuels and alleviating their environmental impacts. Inherent potassium in low energy density coconut fibers reduces bio-oil yield and compromises bio-oil quality and the integrity of reactors within which pyrolysis occurs. The effect of consecutive hydrothermal treatment (180°C-220 °C) and water washing on coconut fiber demineralization, pyrolysis behavior, and bio-oil composition was investigated. Chemical fractionation method classified the most occurring inorganic (potassium) as ~76% water-soluble, ~19% ion-exchangeable, and ~5% acid-soluble species. Demineralization results show …

Reference virus as an internal standard for Semliki forest virus real-time PCR quantification

2011

Targeting of biotinylated compounds to its target tissue using a low-density lipoprotein receptor–avidin fusion protein

2003

The very high binding affinity of avidin to biotin is one of the highest to occur in nature. We constructed a fusion protein composed of avidin and the endocytotic LDL receptor in order to target biotinylated molecules to cells of the desired tissues. In addition to the native avidin, charge-mutated and nonglycosylated avidins were utilized as part of the fusion proteins, in order to modify its properties. All of the fusion protein versions retained the biotin-binding capacity. Although the specificity was not increased, however, fusion proteins composed of natural avidin and nonglycosylated avidin bound most efficiently to the biotinylated ligands. Fluorescence microscopy and atomic force …

Automatic recognition of tree species from 3D point clouds of forest plots

2014

The objective of the thesis is the automatic recognition of tree species from Terrestrial LiDAR data. This information is essential for forest inventory. As an answer, we propose different recognition methods based on the 3D geometric texture of the bark.These methods use the following processing steps: a preprocessing step, a segmentation step, a feature extraction step and a final classification step. They are based on the 3D data or on depth images built from 3D point clouds of tree trunks using a reference surface.We have investigated and tested several segmentation approaches on depth images representing the geometric texture of the bark. These approaches have the disadvantages of over…

Structure and activity of the nitrate-reducing community in the rhizosphere of Lolium perenne and Trifolium repens under long-term elevated atmospher…

2004

Rhizosphere soil was sampled in monocultures of Lolium perenne and Trifolium repens in June and October 2002, at two different nitrogen fertilisation levels (14 and 56 g N m−2 year−1) and under two pCO2 atmospheres (360 and 600 ppmv) at the Swiss FACE (Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment) site. Directly extracted soil DNA was analysed with restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) by use of degenerated primers for the narG gene encoding the active site of the membrane-bound nitrate reductase. The corresponding enzyme activity of the nitrate reductase was determined colorimetrically after 24 h of anaerobic incubation. The narG PCR-RFLP fingerprints showed that the structure of the n…

Assessment of Classifiers and Remote Sensing Features of Hyperspectral Imagery and Stereo-Photogrammetric Point Clouds for Recognition of Tree Specie…

2018

Recognition of tree species and geospatial information on tree species composition is essential for forest management. In this study, tree species recognition was examined using hyperspectral imagery from visible to near-infrared (VNIR) and short-wave infrared (SWIR) camera sensors in combination with a 3D photogrammetric canopy surface model based on RGB camera stereo-imagery. An arboretum with a diverse selection of 26 tree species from 14 genera was used as a test area. Aerial hyperspectral imagery and high spatial resolution photogrammetric color imagery were acquired from the test area using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) borne sensors. Hyperspectral imagery was processed to calibrated …

Strategies for the re-naturalization of reforestation: the case study of the Sicilian clay hills

2017

Over the last decades many areas have been reforested along Europe, with great proportion been made with exotic species. Very often these reforestations do not evolve in more diverse configurations, where some kind of management can be necessary to try to enhance this evolution. The hole is a silvicultural technique consisting in open small gaps to create favourable conditions for the establishment of other species changing the former structure, microclimate and competitive conditions mirroring this natural processes that occurs in structured and mature forests. The best size of the hole seems to be around 500 m², as small holes may not change significantly the conditions and larger holes s…

Vegetation, soils, and humus forms of Sardinian holm oak forests and approximated cross-harmonization of vegetation types, WRB Soil Groups and humus …

2018

Five plant communities, related to elevation above sea level and geological substrata, are recognized in the holm oak forests of Sardinia (Italy). These forests show a considerable inhomogeneous structure due to present day and past uses. Coppice management prevails, influencing the quantity and quality of organic horizons. Most frequent mineral soils are Cambisols, Leptosols, and Regosols. Regarding the humus forms, Moder and, with less extent, Amphi, are prevailing. Furthermore, the paper presents a synoptic table giving a rough picture of the relationships between vegetation types, WRB Soil Groups and humus forms in selected Mediterranean ecosystems.