Search results for "technologies"
showing 10 items of 2976 documents
Can green infrastructure help to conserve biodiversity?
2017
The gradually decreasing connectivity of habitats threatens biodiversity and ecological processes valuable to humans. Green infrastructure is promoted by the European Commission as a key instrument for the conservation of ecosystems in the EU biodiversity strategy to 2020. Green infrastructure has been defined as a network of natural and semi-natural areas, designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services. We surveyed Finnish experts' perceptions on the development of green infrastructure within the existing policy framework. Our results show that improving the implementation of existing conservation policy instruments needs to be an integral part of developing green infr…
Comparison of empirical leaf photosynthesis and stomatal conductance models
1995
National audience
The Importance of Engaging Local People in Landscape Management – Experiences from an EU Project
2018
“Bull by the Horns” -project initiated landscape management and promoted biodiversity associated with diminishing High Nature Value farmland habitats in Finland. A specific focus was on grazed semi-natural grasslands and wood-pastures which are collectively referred to as traditional rural biotopes (TRBs). Collaboration among project workers, non-farming landowners, and cattle owners reintroduced grazing to abandoned pastures, and management was financed through agri-environmental payments. Using adaptive co-management principles, the project enabled collective definition of integrated site-specific management objectives. A better understanding of contemporary challenges and opportunities t…
A multisite-cooperative research programme on risk assessment of transgenic crops
1999
Genetically modified plants are now being commercialised in several countries as regulatory authorities consider that the balance of risk versus benefit is beneficial. However, numerous questions remain unanswered, especially the impact of these plants when used over large areas and under a range of variable environmental conditions. Some issues need to be re-evaluated [1, 2]. Risk/safety analysis, as well as prospects of transgenic crops depend on the scale which is to be considered. Extrapolation of methods, and laboratory and greenhouse results, to large-scale farmers’ fields, may provide useful preliminary data, but is not a sound approach to the study of the consequences of the commerc…
Limits and targets for a regional sustainability assessment: an interdisciplinary exploration of the threshold concept
2008
Part 5. Regional and local evaluation-18 ; International audience; Some encompassing terminology is required in order to accommodate different conceptual approaches in the three pillars of sustainability. So, this chapter provides a literature review exploring the threshold concept. In environmental research – especially in ecology – thresholds are often associated with limits which have certain system-inherent processes. In social and economic disciplines, if the notion of limit or critical limit is present, the concept of targets is often more appropriate which are linked to political objectives and social acceptability. The concept of threshold is accommodated within the general framewor…
Assessing the capacity of different urban forms to preserve the connectivity of ecological habitats
2011
International audience; This paper addresses the relationship between anthropogenic forest habitat fragmentation and the form of urban patterns. Using a two-step methodology we first generate 40 theoretical residential development scenarios following a repeatable procedure; the simulated urban forms are either moderately compact or fractal. Then, we compare the scenarios according to the functional connectivity of the remaining forest habitat using a graph-based approach. The methodology is applied to the urban region of Besançon (France), where forest surfaces are considered as a generic habitat for several animal species. Results obtained show that fractal scenarios of residential develop…
The flex end-to-end simulator: From concept phase (A/B1) to ground segment and operations (C/D)
2018
ESA's FLEX/Sentinel-3 tandem mission aims at mapping Sun-induced fluorescence (SIF) as a proxy to quantify photosynthetic activity of terrestrial vegetation. Due to the complexity of the mission concept and stringent requirements for the data processing algorithms, ESA developed a Phase A/B1 End-to-End Mission Performance Simulator (E2ES) tool to reproduce the expected mission performance and check the mission and instrument concepts. In the current Phase C/D, the E2ES concept must evolve to consolidate the whole data processing chain, providing an accurate figures of the whole mission error budget and serving as a roadmap for the future development of FLEX Ground Segment. This paper gives …
Planting Systems for Modern Olive Growing: Strengths and Weaknesses
2021
The objective of fully mechanizing olive harvesting has been pursued since the 1970s to cope with labor shortages and increasing production costs. Only in the last twenty years, after adopting super-intensive planting systems and developing appropriate straddle machines, a solution seems to have been found. The spread of super-intensive plantings, however, raises serious environmental and social concerns, mainly because of the small number of cultivars that are currently used (basically 2), compared to over 100 cultivars today cultivated on a large scale across the world. Olive growing, indeed, insists on over 11 million hectares. Despite its being located mostly in the Mediterranean countr…
Applying Biomimicry to Cities: The Forest as Model for Urban Planning and Design
2021
International audience; The idea of applying biomimicry to cities is attracting increasing attention as a way of achieving sustainability. Undoubtedly the most frequently evoked natural model in this context is the forest, though it has not yet been investigated with any great scientific rigour. To overcome this lacuna, we provide: first, a justification of the model of the forest via what we call the arguments from “fittingness”, “scale”, and “complexity”; second, an exploration of various key innovations made possible by this model in the fields of urban planning, urban water systems, urban energy and transport systems, and urban food and nutrient systems.
Reinstatement of the Patagonian moss Ulota glabella Mitt. (Bryophyta, Orthotrichaceae)
2020
In 1842, J.D. Hooker collected a number of mosses on Hermite Island (Cape Horn region). From one of those gatherings, Hooker 141, four species of Ulota have been described: U. luteola, U. fuegiana, U. glabella, and U. eremitensis. The first two species are widely accepted, whereas the identity of the latter two has been recently discussed, and the names are now synonymized under U. fuegiana, the more widely distributed species in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. Our studies, based on recent collections of Orthotrichaceae from Patagonia, show that specimens different from those of U. fuegiana and agreeing with the protologues of both U. glabella and U. eremitensis are common in Patagonia. C…