Search results for "forestry"
showing 10 items of 1998 documents
Benthic Invertebrates in Relation to Acidity in Finnish Forest Lakes
1990
In order to examine the effects of acidity on abundance and community structure of the benthic invertebrates in forest lakes and to evaluate the applicability of certain benthic animals as early warning indicators of lake acidification, 140 lakes, situated mainly in southern Finland, were studied by quantitative and qualitative sampling methods.
Influences of landscape structure on diversity of beetles associated with bracket fungi in Brazilian Atlantic Forest
2015
Abstract Brazilian Atlantic forest ecosystem is a global biodiversity hotspot. We studied the effects of area, connectivity and habitat quality of conservation areas on the diversity of beetles associated with basidiomes of wood-decaying fungi. Moreover, we analyzed the beetles' composition to verify what the process that produces the differentiation between the patches (β diversity). Species richness of fungivorous beetles increased the larger the area and the better the connectivity of conservation areas; however, neither area nor connectivity had an independent effect on beetle richness. Furthermore, the fungivorous beetle community was affected by the reduction in resource availability …
The efficiency of LiDAR HMLS scanning in monitoring forest structure parameters: implications for sustainable forest management
2022
PurposeThis article aims to compare the LiDAR handheld mobile laser scanner (HMLS) scans with traditional survey methods, as the tree gauge and the hypsometer, to study the efficiency of the new technology in relation to the accuracy of structural forest attributes estimation useful to support a sustainable forest management.Design/methodology/approachA case study was carried out in a high forest located in Tuscany (Italy), by considering 5 forest types, in 20 different survey plots. A comparative analysis between two survey methods will be shown in order to verify the potential limits and the viability of the LiDAR HMLS in the forest field.FindingsThis research demonstrates that LiDAR HMLS…
Cropland and grassland management
2014
According to the latest National Inventory, the Italian agricultural sector is a source of GHGs with 34.5 Mt of CO2 eq in 2009, corresponding to 7 % of the total emissions (excluding LULUCF). In particular, more than half (19.1 Mt of CO2 eq) are N2O emissions from soils. Although the national methodology is in accordance with Tier 1 and 2 approaches proposed by the IPCC (2006), still empirical emission factors are used to assess the emission from fertilizer (e.g. 0.0125 kg N2O–N kg−1 N from synthetic fertilizers). Disaggregated data at sub-national level, including models and inventory measurement systems required by higher order methods (i.e. Tier 3), are not available in Italy so far and …
The role of vineyards in the carbon balance throughout Italy
2015
A common belief is that agricultural fields cannot be net carbon sinks, but perennial tree crops, growing a permanent woody structure with a life cycle of decades could act as carbon sink. Vineyards are good candidates to test this hypothesis, because they are often grown with limited soil cultivation and produce plenty of woody pruning material that can be left on the ground. Three Eddy Covariance sites were established in different vineyards, along a north-south transect, in Italy, to study the role of vine cultivation in the carbon balance of the Italian penisula. The year 2009 was chosen as a reference year for the three sites, in order to compare carbon budget estimates in areas charac…
Interesterification of rapeseed oil catalyzed by tin octoate
2014
The interesterification of rapeseed oil was performed for the first time by using tin octoate as Lewis acid homogeneous catalysts and methyl or ethyl acetate as acyl acceptors in a batch reactor, within the temperature range 393–483 K. The yields in fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) and triacetin (TA) after 20 h of reaction time increased from 8% and 2%–to 61% and 22%, respectively, when the reaction temperature increased from 423 to 483 K. An optimum value of 40 for the acyl acceptor to oil molar ratio was found to be necessary to match good fatty acid alkyl ester yields with high enough reaction rate. The rate of generation of esters was significantly higher when methyl acetate was used as a…
Quantifying biogeochemical heterogeneity in soil systems
2018
© 2018 Elsevier B.V. Soils are increasingly perceived as complex systems with properties and biogeochemical functions that vary on millimeter scales. Quantitative information about the resulting biogeochemical heterogeneity is needed to improve process knowledge and to render biogeochemical models more mechanistic. Here we demonstrate how standardized arrays of Pt-electrodes can be used to quantify biogeochemical or ‘functional’ soil heterogeneity, defined as the extent to which the soil is subdivided into microenvironments. Our case study confirmed the validity of this approach for a soil sequence consisting of a well-drained, a moderately well drained and a poorly drained Mollisol. We fou…
Consequence of litter removal on pedogenesis: A case study in Bachs and Irchel (Switzerland)
2016
In forests, soils contain at least twice as much carbon than plants that mostly grow in the upper layers. Litter at the interface between soils and the atmosphere regulates a variety of biogeochemical cycles, which are important for both plants and soils and have possible implications for other environmental components. We have compared leachates collected during an incubation experiment on: a) beech and oak leaves; b) organic subhorizons OLn, OLv, OF, and mineral A horizon; c) treated with litter removal (and untreated) plots, to assess the changes in the chemical composition of the litter layers and leachates during weathering and their influence on the underlying horizons. . Two differen…
Vegetation Change in Peatland Buffers as an Indicator of Active Areas of Run-On from Forestry
2010
Our aim in this study was to evaluate whether coverage change in the vegetation of a forestry buffer wetland can be used to reveal a possible increase in nutrients. To achieve this, we followed changes in vegetation on two peatland buffers, and biomass with nitrogen content in one of them. Nutrient concentrations were periodically lower in the water inflow than in the outflow. Flooding caused a species change in favor of flood-tolerant grasses and Sphagna, but this species composition did not indicate a higher trophic level. Nitrogen content in the reference site's original surface peat layer, which was rich in woody remains, was higher than that of the newly formed, more acidic Sphagnum pe…
Long-term impact of 19 years' farmyard manure or sewage sludge application on the structure, diversity and density of the protocatechuate-degrading b…
2012
International audience; Impact of long-term biosolids application on soil-living micro-organisms key players of ecosystemic services is scarcely reported. Here, the impact of the 19 year-long application of farmyard manure (FM) and sewage sludge (SS) organic fertilisation regimes on the protocatechuate-degrading bacterial (pca) community was estimated by comparison to a mineral fertilisation regime (U). The structure, diversity and density of the pca community were determined using pcaH, a gene encoding the protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase. Ten years after the last application, the structure of the pca community in soils amended with 55100 (100 t/ha/2 years) and to a lesser extent with FM (1…