Search results for "forest"
showing 10 items of 3780 documents
Balancing food, activity and the dangers of sunlit nights
2019
Living in northern latitudes poses challenges to the animals that live in those habitats. The harsh environment provides a short breeding season where the sunlit summer nights provide little reprieve from visibility to predators and increased risk. In this paper, we tested the activity and food choice patterns of bank voles Myodes glareolus in early spring season, categorized by 18 h of daylight and 6 h of dusk in every day cycle. We found that territorial females showed a less predictable pattern of activity than males that were most active during the hours of dusk. The voles also showed preference to forage on high carbohydrate foods at sunset, while switching over to a more protein and f…
The proposal to transform an old limestone quarry into a botanical garden with a rainforest zone: a case study
2019
Nowadays, a significant part of cities is tackling the problems with post-mining areas. This manuscript is an original research which shows possibilities of their reclamation. The aim of the article is to present the proposal of developing the closed limestone quarry and creating a botanical garden. The proposed spatial solutions allow for creating a new, tourist and recreation space, maintaining the natural heritage. The work also assumed carrying out a dendrological inventory, in order to determine the existing dendrofl ora. The required spatial, nature and communication analyses, which illustrate the current condition of the area and defi ne further design works, have also been carried o…
STUDY CONCERNING FOREST ECOLOGIC RECONSTRUCTIUON ON DEGRADED LAND IN RANGE OCOLUL SILVIC “VALEA CIBINULUI”, SALISTE, ROMANIA
2014
The study examines the stationary conditions, determine solutions to improve degraded land, assessing the cost of ecological restoration work needed in the area of improving degraded lands at Rapa - Copăcel, estimated benefits of the project and its viability. Objectives of the paper: need to introduce in the circuit of productive forest lands within the improvement of the area "La Rapa - Copăcel" danger zone where activation of the phenomena of degradation (erosion , landslides ) predominate. Out of 102.33 ha as area for improvement, the effective area of 101.6 ha is forested, representing a difference of 0.73 ha, 1.2 m wide strip that is to be the place for hedges. Viability of the projec…
Longhorn beetles of the Ficuzza woods (W Sicily, Italy) and their relationship with plant diversity (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae
2010
The woods in Sicily are the result of centuries of anthropogenic activities that have reduced the surface of wood and changed the original composition even with the introduction of alien species to native flora. The value in terms of biodiversity of these forests remains, however, high for they are the last refuge areas for many animals and plant species. This study was conducted within the Ficuzza woods (West Sicily), extended about 5,000 hectares on the slopes of limestone-dolomite rock of Busambra (1615 m asl), within which lies the largest remaining forest area in western Sicily. It is an area with a wide diversity of vegetation, represented mainly by native forests (holm oak, cork oak,…
Rimboschimento e recupero di soprassuoli forestali artificiali degradati: due aspetti fondamentali per la salvaguardia del territorio montano - Refor…
2015
I fenomeni di dissesto del territorio che in questi ultimi anni sembrano acutizzarsi e recare ferite profonde in tutto il Paese, se da un lato sono quasi endemici data la morfologia e la natura dei terreni, certamente dall'altro sono frutto della mancanza di gestione pianificata e programmatica dell'uso del territorio. Ad esse si unisce il profondo mutamento del tessuto sociale e il conseguente abbandono di molte aree agricole e forestali divenute marginali all'attività economica, cui non ha fatto fronte una politica di salvaguardia del territorio efficace e duratura. Ai problemi di stabilità del territorio montano e collinare, spesso originati da inadeguate attività umane, si è fatto front…
Straw uses trade-off only after soil organic carbon steady-state
2018
Soil organic matter (SOM) is the key for a healthy soil and a relevant property to achieve the sustainability on soil management. However, soils are still net exporters of organic matter. One example is the use of wheat straw residue for industrial and energy applications, which has gained attention in the last years. The offfarm use of this abundant and low cost resource should follow sustainability criteria to avoid soil degradation and SOM losses. Straw residue incorporation is recognized as a recommended management practice to control erosion and mitigate CO2 emissions by increasing SOM. The goal of this work was: i) to evaluate the steady-state carbon (C) level in relation to C input a…
Analisi della tendenza climatica dell'evapotraspirazione nel territorio siciliano
2009
Long effective evapotranspiration (E) series was derived from the longest temperature series available in Sicily. The regional trend analysis performed has shown a slight upward trend of E.
The impact of in-canopy wind profile formulations on heat flux estimation using the remote sensing-based two-source model for an open orchard canopy …
2010
Abstract. For open orchard and vineyard canopies containing significant fractions of exposed soil (>50%), typical of Mediterranean agricultural regions, the energy balance of the vegetation elements is strongly influenced by heat exchange with the bare soil/substrate. For these agricultural systems a "two-source" approach, where radiation and turbulent exchange between the soil and canopy elements are explicitly modelled, appears to be the only suitable methodology for reliably assessing energy fluxes. In strongly clumped canopies, the effective wind speed profile inside and below the canopy layer can highly influence the partitioning of energy fluxes between the soil and vegetation comp…
Monitoraggio e valutazione del danno degli insetti defogliatori su diverse specie di Quercus in Sicilia
Most of the insects feeding on oaks are usually ‘in balance’ with their host trees, causing occasional damage. When severe defoliations regularly occur, oak trees vulnerability to the complex of factors causing the overall decline syndrome can increase. Assessing canopy damage due to defoliating insects through the usually adopted visual methods is quite difficult, requiring highly experienced operators and a long time spent to collect field data. The present research has been carried out to investigate the different susceptibility of Sicilian oak species to defoliating insect attacks, in particular the oak moth Tortrix viridana (L.) (Lepidoptera Tortricidae), with the aim to assess the rel…
IMPIEGO DEL CONTENUTO IDRICO DEL SUOLO E DEL DEFLUSSO SUPERFICIALE PER LA STIMA DELLA PERDITA DI SUOLO PARCELLARE A SCALA DI EVENTO
2016
Nel presente lavoro viene valutata la potenzialità di accoppiare la USLE con il contenuto d’acqua del suolo pre-evento o il deflusso stimato, per migliorare l’accuratezza della stima della perdita di suolo a scala di singolo evento erosivo. A tale scopo sono stati utilizzati due approcci per i quali la perdita di suolo e il fattore di erosività sono legati da una legge di potenza. Il primo è il modello USLE-MM con deflusso stimato da un modello afflussi deflussi, SCRRM, che importa dati di contenuto d’acqua. Il secondo approccio è quello del modello SM4E che utilizza i dati di contenuto d’acqua pre-evento per correggere il fattore di erosività della pioggia. I due modelli sono stati testati…