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Displaying 376 - 380 of 1605Participatory process to prioritize actions for a sustainable management in a biosphere reserve
The aim of the study was to analyze a participation process for the implementation of a sustainable land management plan in the Urdaibai biosphere reserve in northern Spain. We have analyzed the forecasted changes that would result from the implementation of the participatory process, including a quantitative evaluation of actions needed to achieve the desired outcome. We integrated participatory methods with quantitative analysis, which has allowed us to successfully identify and prioritize the proposed actions.
How can city planners improve health and reduce mortality in Alameda County, California? A cross-sectional analysis
BACKGROUND: Dramatic disparities in a range of health outcomes persist in Alameda County, California. Age-standardised mortality rates range from 300 to 1300 deaths per 100 000 across census tracts in this county, with life expectancies lagging by 10 years in the most disadvantaged census tracts. Finding factors at the community level that affect neighbourhood health levels is a key step towards addressing these inequalities. Walking to work may be one of these factors, and is something that local policy makers could effectively act upon through city planning and maintenance initiatives.
Uncertainty in ecosystem mapping by remote sensing
The classification of remotely sensed images such as aerial photographs or satellite sensor images for deriving ecosystem-related maps (e.g., land cover, land use, vegetation, soil) is generally based on clustering of spatial entities within a spectral space. In most cases, Boolean logic is applied in order to map landscape patterns. One major concern is that this implies an ability to divide the gradual variability of the Earth's surface into a finite number of discrete non-overlapping classes, which are considered to be exhaustively defined and mutually exclusive.
Regime shift on the roof of the world: Alpine meadows converting to shrublands in the southern Himalayas
Worldwide, changing climates and land use practices are escalating woody-plants encroachment into grasslands, reducing biodiversity and altering ecosystem functions. The loss of alpine grasslands is a major conservation concern as they harbor many rare and endemic species. Alpine meadows in Northwest Yunnan, China, represent a global biodiversity hotspot with high species richness, beta diversity, and endemism. Shrubs have expanded greatly in the region and threaten alpine meadow biodiversity.
Exploring the role of fire, succession, climate, and weather on landscape dynamics using comparative modeling
An assessment of the relative importance of vegetation change and disturbance as agents of landscape change under current and future climates would (1) provide insight into the controls of landscape dynamics, (2) help inform the design and development of coarse scale spatially explicit ecosystem models such as Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs), and (3) guide future land management and planning. However, quantification of landscape change from vegetation development and disturbance effects is difficult because of the large space and long time scales involved.