We give an overview of the science application process at work in supporting fire management. First-order fire effects models, such as those discussed in accompanying papers, are the building blocks of software systems designed for application to landscapes over time scales from days to centuries. Fire effects may be modeled using empirical, rule based, or process approaches. Fire effects software systems can be used to conduct risk assessments, develop prescriptions for fuel treatments or prescribed fire, or support long-term planning.

The present paper assesses the spatial distribution and basic characteristics of 2,692 forest fires occurred along the urban gradient in a Mediterranean expanding region (Athens, Greece) during twelve years (2000–2011). Using descriptive, correlation and multivariate statistics, the study demonstrates that fringe fires significantly differ in size and frequency from peri-urban and rural fires, with the highest values recorded in the peri-urban belt (7.8 events/ha/year with an average size of 30.5 ha).

The increasing importance and complexity of land and natural resource management are creating a need for ecosystem-based management (EBM). Multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) combined with geographic information systems (GIS) can integrate factors related to the triple bottom line of ecological, economic, and social perspectives required by EBM.

The relative importance of seven goals were elicited for Louisiana beef and dairy producers using the fuzzy pair-wise comparison method. Beef producers were more concerned with maintaining and conserving land, while dairy producers were more concerned with financial goals such as maximizing profit and avoiding years of loss or low profit.

Mediterranean areas of both southern Europe and North Africa are subject to dramatic changes that will affect the sustainability, quantity, quality, and management of water resources. Most climate models forecast an increase in temperature and a decrease in precipitation at the end of the 21st century. This will enhance stress on natural forests and shrubs, and will result in more water consumption, evapotranspiration, and probably interception, which will affect the surface water balance and the partitioning of precipitation between evapotranspiration, runoff, and groundwater flow.

Given the nature of modern conservation acquisitions, which often result from gifts and opportunistic purchases of full or partial property rights, there is a risk that the resulting mosaic of conserved resources may not represent a coherent set of public values and benefits. With different public and private entities engaged in land conservation, one would further expect that each organization would apply separate goals and criteria to the selection and acquisition of its conservation portfolio.

The total arable land of Turkey is about 28,054,000 ha. The main income of the country is agriculture and agriculture based industry. However, the prime soils cover only 17.5% of the total land surface and the productivity of the rest of the soils is limited by topographical, chemical (e.g. high calcium carbonate content, alkalinity and low organic matter), and physical (e.g. water logging, texture) attributes. The diverse topography along with deforestation and unsuitable tillage and irrigation management has been inducing the rate of erosion in the country for centuries.

Conservation and land management organizations such as The Nature Conservancy are developing strategies to distribute conservation efforts over larger areas. Relative to fee-simple protection efforts, strategies that allow ecologically sustainable timber harvest and recreation activities, such as working forest conservation easements, should yield greater socioeconomic benefits (ecosystem services) with less investment per area without significantly compromising the conservation of biodiversity (ecological targets).

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal diversity was investigated in non-grazed, restored and over-grazed (fenced) plots of a grassland in the Inner Mongolia steppe. Plant cover and variety differ between the plots, being highest in the non-grazed to lowest in the over-grazed plots. A total of 19 AM fungal taxa belonging to six genera were found based on spores isolated from field samples and trap cultures. One belonged to Acaulospora, one to Archaeospora, one to Entrophospora, one to Gigaspora, 12 to Glomus and three to Scutellospora.

Changes in the agricultural management can potentially increase the accumulation rate of soil organic carbon (SOC), thereby sequestering CO₂ from the atmosphere. In a long-term experiment (1992-2008) we examined the effects of various tillage intensities: no-tillage (NT), minimum tillage with chisel plow (MT), and conventional tillage with mouldboard plow (CT), on the topsoil profile distribution (0-30cm) of SOC, on a semi-arid loamy soil from Central Spain. The crop sequence established was cheap pea (Cicer arietinun L.) cv. Inmaculada/barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cv. Volley.