Search results for "forestry"
showing 10 items of 1998 documents
Il progetto ECONET-COHAST: Strategie per la conservazione degli habitat costieri di Torre Manfria (Sicilia merid.)
2007
The coexistence of several lithological substrata, together with particular geomorphologic and climatic features, are determining the exceptional floristic and faunistic interest of the coastal trait between Gela and Torre Manfria. In order to preserve and enhance coastal habitats, such area has been chosen as case-study in the Interreg project ECONET-COHAST, which involves six partners from four EU countries (Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Malta). In this paper, the main features of the area are described and the approach followed in order to implement conservation strategies accounting for the local development exigencies is illustrated. © Società Italiana di Scienza della Vegetazione.
Impacts of thinning of a Mediterranean oak forest on soil properties influencing water infiltration
2017
[EN] In Mediterranean ecosystems, special attention needs to be paid to forest¿water relationships due to water scarcity. In this context, Adaptive Forest Management (AFM) has the objective to establish how forest resources have to be managed with regards to the efficient use of water, which needs maintaining healthy soil properties even after disturbance. The main objective of this investigation was to understand the effect of one of the AFM methods, namely forest thinning, on soil hydraulic properties. At this aim, soil hydraulic characterization was performed on two contiguous Mediterranean oak forest plots, one of them thinned to reduce the forest density from 861 to 414 tree per ha. Th…
In situ and lidar observations of tropopause subvisible cirrus clouds during TC4
2010
[1] During the Tropical Composition, Clouds, and Climate Coupling (TC4) experiment in July–August 2007, the NASA WB-57F and ER-2 aircraft made coordinated flights through a tropopause subvisible cirrus (SVC) layer off the Pacific Coast of Central America. The ER-2 aircraft was equipped with a remote sensing payload that included the cloud physics lidar (CPL). The WB-57F payload included cloud microphysical and trace gas measurements, and the aircraft made four vertical profiles through the SVC layer shortly after the ER-2 flew over. The in situ and remotely sensed data are used to quantify the meteorological and microphysical properties of the SVC layer, and these data are compared to the l…
Predicting in situ soil N2O emission using NOE algorithm and soil database
2005
This paper presents a new algorithm, Nitrous Oxide Emission (NOE) for simulating the emission of the greenhouse gas N2O from agricultural soils. N2O fluxes are calculated as the result of production through denitrification and nitrification and reduction through the last step of denitrification. Actual denitrification and nitrification rates are calculated from biological parameters and soil water-filled pore space, temperature and mineral nitrogen contents. New suggestions in NOE consisted in introducing (1) biological site-specific parameters of soil N2O reduction and (2) reduction of the N2O produced through nitrification to N2 through denitrification. This paper includes a database of 6…
Modeling the influence of alternative forest management scenarios on wood production and carbon storage: A case study in the Mediterranean region
2016
Forest ecosystems are fundamental for the terrestrial biosphere as they deliver multiple essential ecosystem services (ES). In environmental management, understanding ES distribution and interactions and assessing the economic value of forest ES represent future challenges. In this study, we developed a spatially explicit method based on a multi-scale approach (MiMoSe-Multiscale Mapping of ecosystem services) to assess the current and future potential of a given forest area to provide ES. To do this we modified and improved the InVEST model in order to adapt input data and simulations to the context of Mediterranean forest ecosystems. Specifically, we integrated a GIS-based model, scenario …
Features of selected benchmark soils along an elevational transect of the northeastern part of the Moldavian Plateau (Romania)
2018
Soil morphological, physical and chemical properties are described at four locations along an elevational transect in the northeastern part of the Moldavian Plateau (Romania). These data contribute to the knowledge of the soils of this area and to their classification according to the USDA-Soil Taxonomy, FAO-WRB and the SRTS-Romanian System. The soils were classified as Inceptisols, Alfisols and Mollisols, according to the USDA-Soil Taxonomy; Gleysol, Chernozem and Luvisol, according to the FAO-WRB and Gleiosol, Cernoziom, Preluvosol, Luvosol, according to the SRTS-Romanian System. The selected soils have a range of properties that represent the soilscape of the Moldavian subcarpathian plat…
The origin of in-plane stresses in axially moving orthotropic continua
2016
In this paper, we address the problem of the origin of in-plane stresses in continuous, two-dimensional high-speed webs. In the case of thin, slender webs, a typical modeling approach is the application of a stationary in-plane model, without considering the effects of the in-plane velocity field. However, for high-speed webs this approach is insufficient, because it neglects the coupling between the total material velocity and the deformation experienced by the material. By using a mixed Lagrange–Euler approach in model derivation, the solid continuum problem can be transformed into a solid continuum flow problem. Mass conservation in the flow problem, and the behaviour of free edges in th…
Analysis of dust exposure during chainsaw forest operations
2017
Abstract: In 1999, the European Union proclaimed hardwood dust carcinogenic based on the classification of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) issued in 1995. The operational exposure limit (OEL) for inhalable wood dust has been set to 5 mg m-3 by EU directives, though in different countries the OEL ranges from 1 to 5 mg m-3. The objective of this study was to determine the exposure to wood dust of forest workers in chainsaw cutting and processing and suggest possible countermeasures. The study took into consideration different silvicultural treatments (coppice clear cut, conifer thinning, conifer pruning, and sanitary cut) and chainsaw fuel (normal two-stroke gasoline mi…
Aligning Inner Peripheries with rural development in Italy: Territorial evidence to support policy contextualization
2021
Abstract Inner Peripheries is a recent concept based on both peripherality and marginality features, thus far from the commonly adopted geographical notion of periphery. Inner Peripheries are fragile territories covering rural Europe, which suffer from depopulation, low economic potential, and weak territorial cohesion. However, these territories are extremely important for the provision of goods and services, and the stewardship of natural and semi-natural environments. Such dichotomous condition poses several challenges for planning in the EU context, particularly regarding the implementation of the Rural Development Policy. Therefore, current planning needs to contextualize the policy im…
Response of soil phosphatase activities to contamination with two types of tar oil.
2018
Tar oil is a complex mixture of hydrocarbon compounds obtained from high-temperature distillation of coal tar. It has been used for over 100 years from now to protect wood and has been applied to wood products, primary utility poles, and railroad ties by pressure methods. Composition of the tar oil depends on the source and typically consists of 85% polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), 10% phenolic compounds, and 5% heterocyclic compounds. In this research, we performed the laboratory experiment to compare two types of tar oil: C and GX-Plus, and their effects on P-cycling enzymes (phosphatases) in sandy loam and loamy sand. Tar oil was applied to soil samples at the following doses: 2,…