The concept of ecosystem services (ES) remains underused in supporting practical decisions in conservation/development plans and programs. One of the most important factors explaining this ...non-consideration is the lack of spatial information describing the nature-society relationship in environmental and economic analyses. In this paper, we developed a novel method to predict, in spatially explicit terms, the recreation attractiveness potential combining supply and demand factors. Our method is based on the combination and transfer of a Lancasterian function of biophysical aspects and a travel cost model based on agents' sociodemographic characteristics. We further validate the usefulness of the proposed recreation model by using it in the evaluation of a regional park charter pursuing two main objectives: recreational attractiveness and habitat quality (modeled with InVEST). The results demonstrate first that the biophysical context plays a large role in the recreational trip choice and thus should not be ignored in travel cost studies. Second, from a policy guidance perspective, we show that providing spatial information appears particularly critical for ES to be a useful lever for action in day-to-day decision-making.
In non-urban places of Australia, caring-as-Country frames natural resource management (NRM) as a practice of reciprocal, more-than-human care-giving (S. Suchet-Pearson, S. Wright, K. Lloyd, and L. ...Burarrwanga. 2013. 'Caring as Country: towards and ontology of co-becoming in natural resource management.' Asia Pacific Viewpoint 54 (2): 185-197). Caring-as-Country is an idea that encapsulates the entangled, reciprocal relationships that people have with, and as part of, agentic more-than-human worlds. In more urbanised places, however, practices of caring-as-Country are often unrecognised, undervalued and undocumented. In this paper we make explicit practices of caring, healing and rejuvenation at Yellomundee Regional Park, Darug Country in western Sydney. Our discussion of care, entanglement and reciprocity at Yellomundee focuses on two specific activities that embody caring-as-Country: the return of cultural burns and sustained presence on Country in the form of Darug-led culture camps. The Darug principle of yanama budyari gumada, to 'walk with good spirit', embodies and invites new ways of thinking and practising intercultural caring-as-Country in heavily colonised, urban places like Yellomundee. As we document the practices arising from this invitation, we consider its far-reaching implications for NRM and planning, and we expand on the importance of geographies of care for unceded urban places.
Paleobiologists tend to use dietary information as an ecological indicator because diet is a fundamental link between an organism and its environment. However, the ecological information from ...fossilized hard tissues is often difficult to interpret, because links between environment, diet, and hard tissue biology are insufficiently studied in modern communities. To address this dilemma, we investigated dietary proxies commonly used by paleobiologists in a 4-ruminant community from the French Alps. Dental microwear texture analyses are applied to 82 specimens of roe deer, red deer, chamois, and mouflons. Intra-tooth serial enamel stable carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of the structurally bound carbonate were applied on eleven specimens, with isotope-based niche reconstructions, and inverse modeling of original seasonally variable oxygen isotope inputs.
While microwear complexity largely overlaps, both inter-individual dispersion of complexity and individual heterogeneity of complexity together with the anisotropy track dietary differences. The red deer is likely more engaged in grazing than the two bovids, which both plot as mixed feeders. When combined, dental microwear texture and carbon stable isotope analyses accurately reflect known ecological separation between the chamois and the roe deer. Both stable isotopes suggest niche separation by increasing enrichment from roe deer to red deer, to chamois; mouflons appear to feed as generalists. In roe deer, which shows the highest enamel oxygen isotope range (5.7‰), variation is nevertheless constrained compared to oxygen isotope ranges observed in regional precipitation, where the mean annual range reaches 9.9‰. However, through inverse modeling we estimate seasonal input ranges that average 9.7‰, a result strikingly similar to regional values. Altogether, our data demonstrate that given appropriate sampling strategies and modeling approaches, microwear and isotopic data can be effective tools for demonstrating niche separation among multiple sympatric herbivorous taxa.
•Diet is a fundamental link between an organism and its environment.•Links between environment, diet, and teeth are insufficiently studied in modern communities.•Sympatric cervids and bovids from the French Alps constitute a model.•Combined dental microwear and enamel carbon isotopes track ecological overlapping.•Inverse modeled on intra tooth oxygen isotope profiles mirror variation in precipitation.
This paper illustrates the results of an ethnobotanical study carried out in the Madonie Regional Park (Central Sicily, Italy). It specifies the medicinal uses of plants in the study area and ...contains the results of a quantitative analysis carried out for the first time in an area noted for its high degree of biodiversity. It also introduces 28 species not previously accounted for in the area of study for their medicinal uses, highlighting Silene flos-cuculi L. Greuter & Burdet, little known as medicinal in the Mediterranean area.
To understand to what extent current knowledge on medicinal-use plants is still an element of the culture within the elderly population of the Madonie Regional Park.
The information was obtained using a semi-structured interview format performed on 150 informants over the age of 60 who were considered experts in plants and rural traditions. The taxa were identified and the results were analysed also using a range of quantitative ethnobotanical indices.
A census was made of 174 wild plant species, 100 of which with medicinal and veterinary uses, belonging to 49 botanical families. Of the 170 endemic species found in the Madonie Regional Park, only 2 species were cited in this study for medicinal purposes. Most of the species were used against dermatological diseases, general health and metabolic disorders. The leaves were the most-used parts of the plant and the most common preparation methods were decoction and infusion. The level of knowledge on medicinal uses of the plants was not found to be high within the elderly population, demonstrating an ongoing process of cultural erosion.
Only very few medicinal uses are widely known by all the informants and, on many occasions, a specific medicinal use was cited by only very few people. Further study is required in order to find out to what extent knowledge on the medicinal use of plants is still present in the younger generations in this area of Sicily, and what methods might be adopted in order to halt this gradual loss in knowledge.
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During the last three decades, the scientific community, politicians and decision makers have focussed on the behaviours of trace elements in soil, its accumulation and toxicity, the bioavailability ...and risk of metals, and soil remediation technologies. Trace metals (or metalloids), such as As, Pb, Cr, Cd, and Ni, cause more environmental contamination than organic chemicals. Therefore, it becomes increasingly important to distinguish between the geogenic and anthropogenic sources of these trace metals, and to understand that the background values change depending on the area and the scale of the area investigated.
A total of 40 selected topsoil samples were collected near urban areas in the Lazio region of Italy, from sites characterised by different geological substrate, specifically the Appian Way Regional Park, Borgo Montello, Cisterna di Latina and Roccasecca. Concentrations of V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, As, Cd and Pb in topsoil and background samples collected at a depth of approximately 1m have been analysed. The analytical results were used to calculate the geoaccumulation index (Igeo) to evaluate possible metal enrichment in topsoil related to human activity. The results indicate that there is no contamination associated with anthropogenic impact at the selected sites; however, a detailed study based on the lithological characteristics of the areas indicates local enrichment by several of the metals considered, especially in the Roccasecca topsoil.
•Geochemical analyses for soils sample: some potential toxic metal are analysed in each area to evaluate possible human contamination;•Background values are important for defining the characteristics of each area.•Numerical evaluation of quality state with the use of geoaccumulation index.
On the edge of sedimentary basins, karst aquifers can be fed by several water origins from both autogenic and allogenic recharge. In some cases, water origin assessment is difficult and issues in ...water management may arise. The main goal of this study is to understand what controls hydrodynamical and geochemical variations at the outflow of a quite complex and large karst system. More precisely, this study illustrates how a consistent observational setup can be developed, based on a multi-proxy approach that can be used for tracing water origins, evaluating mixing phenomena, and contributions in karst aquifers considering both autogenic and allogenic recharge.
The Ouysse karst system (650 km2), located in western France, provides the opportunity of studying water-mixing processes in binary karst systems fed by allogenic and autogenic recharges. Global water chemistry, hydrograph and chemograph analysis during a flood event, and source-mixing calculation were used to evaluate groundwater-flow origins and the contribution of each water type during the studied flood event: (i) karstic water; (ii) evaporite water; (iii) water from igneous-metamorphic rock aquifers.
In terms of resource management, the information obtained can be used as a basis of forecasting and management actions.
The EU Regulation no.1143/2014 on invasive species requires the EU Member States to respond promptly and efficiently in eradicating the invasive alien species listed as species of Union concern. The ...Northern raccoon (
Procyon lotor
) was introduced in Northern Italy along the river Adda and we carried out its eradication campaign between 2016 and 2019. We used an integrated approach of camera traps and live traps. A standardized approach to the camera trap survey (2904 camera trap-nights) revealed that the detectability of raccoons (0.27 ± 0.07 SD) increased in the proximity of the river and their occupancy (0.15 ± 0.09 SD) was higher in urban areas. These results allowed us to increase the trapping success whilst reducing the effort. During the captures, systematic collection of catch and effort data allowed to estimate population size (65 ± 7.8 raccoons) and thus to have a continuous update on how far the campaign was from the complete eradication of the species, allowing to adjust the trapping effort accordingly. We captured 69 raccoons (7279 cage trap nights) thanks to both systematic trapping and opportunistic activation of traps following stakeholders’ reports. Stakeholders supported the campaign and some of them played an important role in reporting sightings, signs, and allowing access to their private land. Camera trap data also allowed us to make a Rapid Eradication Assessment that estimated an eradication probability of 99% after 6 months without detections. We finally give indications for future control campaigns on the species to increase removal success, reducing the effort.
This study investigated the effects of hydroperiod on soil organic matter quality in three different salt marshes in the Baiona lagoon (N Italy) representing terrestrial, intertidal and subaqueous ...ecosystems in the area. The study specifically aimed to gain some insight into how soil waterlogging (hydroperiod) affects the chemical and biological properties of soils as well as the quality and structure of the soil organic matter (SOM). Total contents of selected nutrients, total organic carbon and carbon stable isotope (δ13C) were measured in all soil profiles. The results of these analyses enabled us to define the different origin of the SOM by discriminating between terrestrial and aquatic SOM sources. The findings also show that accumulation of nutrients and SOM is significantly magnified in intertidal systems, in which pedoturbation effects induced by water movements are particularly strong. In addition, DRIFT spectra of humic acids revealed the changes in the main functional groups in relation to increased waterlogging, highlighting the lower aromaticity and complexity in subaqueous soils (SASs), which is possibly due to the effect of the soil water saturation on the chemical and biological SOM transformation processes. Microbial biomass carbon (MBC), microbial quotient (Qmic) and the activities of some soil enzymes were measured to estimate soil metabolic activity in the systems and to evaluate how the microbial pool contributes to transforming the SOM. In all systems, the enzymatic activities were generally higher in subsurface horizons than in the surface horizon. This unexpected behaviour can be explained by the combined effect of water movement, erosion processes and preservation of SOM under anaerobic conditions. This study represents an attempt to investigate and understand the ongoing degradation processes in salt marsh ecosystems. The findings emphasize the strong influence of water flow and erosional processes associated with soil waterlogging on chemical and biological reactions in intertidal and subaqueous systems.
•Soil waterlogging affects both physicochemical and biochemical soil properties.•Isotopic C signature enabled identifying the origin of organic matter in saltmarshes.•Erosion processes and water flow pedoturbation affect soil biochemical reactions.•The functional groups of humic substances change with increasing soil waterlogging.
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