Search results for "landscape conservation"
showing 10 items of 783 documents
Is the riparian habitat creation an effective measure of plant conservation within the urbanized area?
2015
The study presents results of habitat creation and riparian vegetation recovery in artificial oxbow lakes in urbanized area within the large river valley. The investigation of open water, rush and wet meadows flora and vegetation in three ponds located in the city centre of Opole was conducted in years 2001–2013. Oxbow lakes were constructed as a compensation measure and no vegetation was transplanted into the ponds on purpose. 13-years observation showed that (1) the red-listed species are able to spontaneous reoccurrence after habitat restoration, but they can thrive only in first years of oxbow lakes recolonisation process, (2) there are some restoration constraints, especially in relati…
Exploring the influence of vegetation cover, sediment storage capacity and channel dimensions on stone check dam conditions and effectiveness in a la…
2018
Abstract Check dams are widely used for soil conservation at the watershed scale. When structurally sound, these engineering control works retain sediment as planned. However, there is limited information describing the influence of site characteristics on post-construction condition including structural stability and sediment retention capacity. More specifically, the effects of channel morphology, check dam geometry and vegetation characteristics as potentially influencing factors on sediment retention capacity at the watershed level are poorly understood. Thus, an investigation applying field and remotely sensed measurements, multi-regression models, redundancy and sensitivity analysis, …
Flood pattern changes in the rivers of the Baltic countries
2015
Estimation of both the frequency and variation of spring floods is a key issue for the assessment and management of flood risks. Changes in river floods in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been investigated in few national studies. However, there are no studies of the changes of flood patterns by using a common methodology for the rivers of this region. In this study flood pattern changes in the rivers of the Baltic countries were estimated applying trend and frequency analysis for the periods of 1922–2010, 1922–1960, 1961–2010 and 1991–2010, i.e. for the whole spring flood data sets, periods before and after 1960 (this year was considered as the beginning of the remarkable climate change…
Effects of landscape composition on hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) in mass-flowering crop fields within forest-dominated landscapes
2022
Agricultural intensification has led to structurally simplified landscapes with reduced and fragmented resources for farmland insects. However, studies on the effects of landscape composition on farmland insects have mainly been performed in areas dominated by open arable land and semi-natural grasslands, while studies from forest-dominated landscapes are scarce. This research examined the effects of landscape composition on hoverfly species richness and abundance in arable land in boreal forest-dominated landscapes. Hoverflies were sampled in 22 mass-flowering caraway (Carum carvi) fields in Central Finland using pan traps. The effects of landscape composition on species richness and abund…
A complex network analysis of inbound tourism in Sicily
2019
In this article, the complex dynamics of inbound tourism in Sicily is analyzed for the period 1998–2017. The horizontal visibility graph algorithm is used to transform the overnight stays' time series into a network whose topology is investigated by standard network analysis. Discontinuities in the domestic and international tourism demand were identified in order to detect signals of change and the timing of the directional change in tourism growth. The network degree distribution confirms the complex structure of the destination and reveals the random and thus more unpredictable nature of the international tourism demand in Sicily, compared with a more stable domestic segment. Some policy…
Iberian Wolf Howls: Acoustic Structure, Individual Variation, and a Comparison with North American Populations
2007
We present a detailed description of the acoustic structure of howls emitted by Iberian wolves and a comparison with published descriptions of North American wolf howls. We recorded and analyzed 176 howls emitted by 11 wolves held in captivity in social groups of 1–5 individuals. Our sample included solo howls as well as howls included in choruses. Iberian wolf howls are long (1.1- to 12.8-s) harmonic sounds, with a mean fundamental frequency between 270 and 720 Hz. Our results revealed striking similarities between Iberian and North American wolf howls in all variables analyzed except for the number of discontinuities in the frequency of the howl, which was lower for Iberian wolves. Using …
Environmental impact of antifouling technologies: state of art and perspectives
2001
1. Marine fouling affects most man-made surfaces temporarily or permanently immersed in the sea, resulting in significant (or substantial) economic costs. Intense research is aimed at preventing or reducing fouling. 2. The most widespread solution to avoid fouling formation is to make surfaces unsuitable for settlers, coating them with antifouling (AF) paints containing toxic compounds. Most AF agents (e.g. tributyltin, (TBT)) have undesirable effects on non-target species, including commercially important organisms. 3. To date, the use of TBT in AF paints has been restricted (but not prohibited) in a number of countries and new biocides are in use. 4. The environmental problems posed to ma…
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…
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…