In European peatlands which have been drained and cut-over in the past, re-vegetation often stagnates after the return of a species-poor Sphagnum community. Re-introduction of currently absent species may be a useful tool to restore a typical, and more diverse, Sphagnum vegetation and may ultimately improve the functioning of peatland ecosystems, regarding atmospheric carbon sequestration. Yet, the factors controlling the success of re-introduction are unclear. In Ireland and Estonia, we transplanted small and large aggregates of three Sphagnum species into existing vegetation.

We investigate the trade-off agricultural producers face between profits and stewardly activities when selecting farm practices. Instead of the profit-maximization framework, we model producer behavior in an expanded utility framework, built on production technology, and including two utility components: self and social interests. The framework introduces inherent heterogeneity and social/environmental motivations into farmer behavior. Based on this model, we hypothesize that there are farmers that are willing to forego some profit to engage in stewardly farm practices.

Subsidence in Yunlin County, Taiwan, is serious and continuous. The Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) route crosses the subsidence area and might be affected by differential settlements. It is important to evaluate the pumping quantity for water resource management and to predict the subsidence for land resource management to mitigate the subsidence problem in Taiwan.

While community based resource management was practiced for centuries by many traditional societies of the world, these resources are continuously being eroded in the recent years. This paper uses a case study of the Khazans, the coastal wetlands of Goa, in order to study determinants of successful environmental regimes. Khazans are the low-lying coastal lands that have been reclaimed from marshy mangroves by the construction of embankments and sluice gates.

Accurate a priori predictions of the sensitivity of species to vegetation management depend on an understanding of mechanisms underlying species response. To date information on where birds forage in the vegetation strata has been used to predict bird species response to vegetation change caused by livestock grazing. Profiting from this link between vegetation structural diversity and bird diversity, we test whether this variable, bird foraging height, can be used to predict the impact of a different type of habitat alteration; vegetation encroachment.

As the demands for food, feed and fuel increase in coming decades, society will be pressed to increase agricultural production - whether by increasing yields on already cultivated lands or by cultivating currently natural areas - or to change current crop consumption patterns. In this analysis, we consider where yields might be increased on existing croplands, and how crop yields are constrained by biophysical (e.g. climate) versus management factors. This study was conducted at the global scale.

In many European lowland rivers and riparian floodplains diffuse nutrient pollution is causing a major risk for the surface waters and groundwater to not achieve a good status as demanded by the European Water Framework Directive. In order to delimit the impact of diffuse nutrient pollution substantial and often controversial changes in landuse and management are under discussion.

A new methodological framework for plant diversity assessment at the landscape scale is presented that exhibits the following strengths: (1) potential for easily standardizable sampling procedure; (2) characterization of disturbance regime; (3) use of selected disturbance descriptors as explanatory variables which probably allow for better transferability than site specific land use types--for example, to evaluate the emerging use of energy plants that pose novel management challenges without historic precedence to many landscapes; (4) analysis of quantitative and qualitative aspects of pla

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impacts of land leveling on some of soil properties. Land leveling as an effective strategy for paddy land management is one of the most important programs run by the Ministry of Jihad-Agriculture in Guilan province, northern part of Iran. Precise land leveling improves irrigation application, fertilization efficiency, and uniform soil moisture for germination. Also, it increases yields and cultivable lands and reduces delivery losses.

The Florida Scrub ecosystem depends on fire to sustain ecosystem function and to support resident plant and animal species. A recent study addressed the relationship between the time since last fire (TSF) and resident amphibians and reptiles in rosemary bald, one Florida Scrub habitat type. This is a parallel study in another Florida Scrub habitat type, scrubby flatwoods, at Archbold Biological Station (ABS), Lake Placid, Florida, USA. We installed 36 400-m² enclosures (four burn units within each of three TSF categories X 3 replicates per burn unit) at ABS.

Understanding of tillage effects on soil chemical properties and cations in soil solution dynamics is essential for making appropriate land-management decisions. Measurements were made after more than 25 years of different tillage treatments: conventional tillage (CT) and conservation tillage, which includes no-till (NT) and minimum tillage (MT). pH and bulk density did not show important changes but exchangeable cations and cations in soil solution were affected by depth and different tillage.