Search results for "landscape conservation"
showing 10 items of 783 documents
Research on ecological design to enhance comfort in open spaces of a city (Valencia, Spain). Utility of the physiological equivalent temperature (PET)
2013
For many years now, research has focused on issues concerning making cities easier to live in and some of the most important of these concern climatology and thermal comfort issues. There is also a growing awareness of the importance of open spaces and green areas, as key elements in providing opportunities for human interaction, leisure and physical exercise. They are important for all inhabitants, but particularly so for children and the elderly population. Of especial interest are the studies which have examined the interaction of comfort with the urban climate. This issue was studied throughout the twentieth century, but recently the role which can be played by biometeorological indices…
Economic development and agriculture: Managing protected areas and safeguarding the environment
2017
Abstract The establishment of protected areas has been one of the most important interventions to protect biodiversity from the threat of human activities and in particular from the agricultural traditional activities where they have been restricted at the expense of the economy of the territory sparking in literature a heated debate between those who argue the these hinder the socio-economic development and on the other hand are those who argue that is able to advance social welfare. On the basis of these considerations, the weight of agricultural sector of a country is highly linked to the percentage of protected areas even though the trend of the weight of agriculture in the overall econ…
An economic, perception and biophysical approach to the use of oat straw as mulch in Mediterranean rainfed agriculture land
2017
[EN] Soil erosion is a key cause of land degradation in agriculture lands; and it is a worldwide threat that must be solved by means of nature-based strategies to be able to achieve sustainability. The use of mulches can be a solution, but there is a lack of information on long-term effects of the use of straw. Furthermore, little is known about the perception of farmers and the economic cost on the implantation of straw as a conservation measure. Eight paired plots were selected in Sierra de Enguera on an agriculture field to determine the effect of straw cover on soil erosion. Four plots were tilled three times per year (Control) and four plots were not ploughed and 0.125 kg m(-2) y(-1) o…
Assessing the potential of Albufera de València Lagoon sediments for the restoration of charophyte meadows
2013
Abstract Albufera de Valencia Lagoon, the largest littoral lagoon on the Iberian Peninsula, has been affected by eutrophication processes since the 1970s due to the direct dumping of sewage waters of industrial, agricultural and urban origin. Consequently, the submerged vegetation that covered the bottom of the lagoon has been lost (charophytes and Potamogeton spp., Myriophyllum spp. and Ceratophyllum spp.). Despite efforts to improve water quality, this vegetation has not recovered. No information about the potential of the recent sediments to host charophyte development is available. In this study, we analysed several sediment cores taken from different areas of the lagoon to determine th…
Seasonal response of vegetation on pollutants removal in constructed wetland system treating dairy wastewater
2022
Constructed wetland systems provide the ideal solution for small and medium dairy farms as they can be built close to the farm and are easy to manage and use. However, their perfomance is significantly affected by vegetation activity during the year. The aims of the present study were to assess the treatment of dairy wastewater (DWW) by a horizontal subsurface flow system (HSSFs) and the effect of plants in the removal efficiency (RE) of BOD5, COD, total N (TN) and total P (TP), in Sicily (Italy). The HSSFs treated 6/7 m3 per day of wastewater produced by a small dairy farm subsequent to biological treatment. The system included two units which were separately planted with Arundo donax L. a…
LUMINESCENCE STUDY OF DETERGENT OPTICAL BRIGHTENERS IN THE CONTEXT OF DEVELOPING OPTICAL ENVIRONMENTAL SENSORS FOR WATER QUALITY CONTROL
2006
Water quality and anthropogenic loads in many, but not all, cases are related. Some water quality monitoring programs analyse samples for the presence of Escherichia coli. These bacteria can come from humans and animals. Human‐attributable effluent contains optical brighteners (OBs) from detergents. A convenient and affordable optical quantitative method giving a linear luminescence outcome over several orders of detergent concentrations in the water solution is demonstrated. The proposed method uses the common presence of OBs in detergents. Detergent concentration in water can be used as a surrogate indicator of resultant anthropogenic loads in water bodies. The proposed optical method wit…
Variation in spawning time promotes genetic variability in population responses to environmental change in a marine fish.
2015
Common-garden experiments suggest that the response of Atlantic cod larvae to temperature differs among populations that spawn at different times of year. Populations appear to be adapted to the temperatures experienced during the larval stage at a small spatial scale, despite a lack of physical barriers to gene flow.
Evaluating the effects of forest tree species on rill detachment capacity in a semi-arid environment
2021
Abstract The beneficial effects of plant roots in decreasing soil detachment in forest ecosystems exposed to rill erosion are well known. However, these effects vary largely between different plant species. There has been lots of research into the relationship between root-soil systems and rill erodibility with a particular focus on grass species. Conversely, fewer studies are available for tree species, especially in forests of semi-arid or arid environments. Greater knowledge is therefore needed to identify the most effective tree species against rill erosion in these ecosystems, where water availability is the limiting factor for vegetation growth and afforestation is often the only solu…
Management of Cultural Landscapes: What Does this Mean in the Former Soviet Union? A Case Study from Latvia
2009
Concern about changing cultural landscapes has increased recently, with the advent of the European Landscape Convention placing signatory countries in a position of having to develop action for protecting and managing cultural landscapes. In countries of the former Soviet Union the landscape underwent many changes as a result of agricultural collectivisation and its aftermath. This situation has been analysed for six sample rural municipalities (pagasts) in Latvia, one of the three former Soviet countries to join the European Union (EU), using maps from the period 1901 to 1927 (to represent the ‘traditional landscape’) and 1997 orthophotographs updated to 2000 (to represent the ‘post-Soviet…
Literature, social media and questionnaire surveys identify relevant conservation areas for Carcharhinus species in the Mediterranean Sea
2023
Sharks support ecosystems’ health, but their populations are facing severe declines worldwide. Knowledge gaps on shark distribution and the negative human perception of them still represent a barrier to the implementation of effective conservation measures. Here we carried out a regional-scale analysis in the Mediterranean Sea using data on requiem shark catches and sightings available in the scientific literature and on social media platforms to: 1) depict the distribution of Carcharhinus species across the basin, 2) identify potentially relevant areas for their conservation, and 3) evaluate people’s attitude toward shark protection. In addition, we administered 112 questionnaires in one o…