1,721,147 research outputs found
Land-use Dynamics and Soil Quality in agro-forest systems: a country-scale assessment in Italy
No full textThe present study compares the spatial distribution of selected rural land use classes in Italy with two soil indicators (a Soil Quality Index [SQI] and the Maximum potential Water Capacity of the soil [MWC]) at three points in time (1960, 1990 and 2006). Results of the analysis showed that landscape changes reflect a ‘migration’ of both semi-natural (forests, pastures) and agricultural (arable land, vineyards) uses towards areas with lower-quality soils. In particular, the agricultural ‘mosaic’ and shrublandpasture classes that occupied land in 2006 had significant lower values of both the SQI and MWC compared to 1960. These processes may have implications for the stability of agro-forest ecosystems in the medium term. Due to its versatility, the procedure illustrated represents a monitoring tool for sustainable land management at the regional and country scales
Horizontal vs vertical growth. Understanding latent patterns of urban expansion in large metropolitan regions
No full textBuilding activity at the metropolitan scale reflects socioeconomic transformations increasingly dependent on place-specific factors. The present study investigates height profile and age of buildings over 12 time intervals (1910s–2010s) in Greece, a country experiencing particularly complex urban cycles in the last century, with the aim to identify distinctive forces fueling vertical and horizontal urban expansion. To discriminate vertical from horizontal expansion, a new indicator of urban growth (‘Vertical-to-Horizontal Growth’ ratio, VHG) was proposed and used to identify the dominant socioeconomic profile underlying local-scale urbanization processes. Results of this study contribute to discriminate intense vertical expansion coinciding with population growth in large urban areas (Athens, Salonika, Iraklio) from moderate horizontal expansion around medium-rank cities, along coastal areas and in internal lowlands with small compact towns. Greek municipalities display spatial patterns of building activity that reflect the distinct impact of geographical gradients, divergent responses to market stimuli and planning constraints. As in other European countries, urban cycles in Greece were heterogeneous over space, justifying a joint analysis of intensity and spatial direction of metropolitan growth
MATR3 ChIP-seq analysis from C2C12 differentiated myotubes upon pCharme lncRNA knockdown
No full textIdentification of pCharme dependent Matrin3 chromatin binding sites by ChIP-seq analysis performed in pCharme depleted vs control myoutubes
In-between Sprawl and Fires: long-term Forest Expansion and Settlement Dynamics at the Wildland-Urban Interface in Rome, Italy
No full textUnderstanding the intimate dynamics of urban–wildland interfaces in Mediterranean landscapes is particularly challenging
because of multiple biophysical factors (dry or arid climate, low-quality soils, poor vegetation cover) determining an
increased environmental sensitivity to human pressure. Although dense and compact cities were sprawling rapidly in the
most recent decades, many suburban areas in southern Europe still preserve biodiversity-rich habitats, traditional crop
mosaics and high-quality relict forest stands. Diachronic forest and settlement maps were analysed over two time intervals
(1936–1974 and 1974–2006) representing different socio-economic contexts on a local scale with the aim to assess trends in
forest land cover vis à vis urban growth in Rome, central Italy. Forests expanded into agricultural land during the whole time
period following cropland abandonment and benefiting from a higher level of land protection from urbanisation, especially
during the most recent decades. Although the broadleaved wood dominated the composition of forest fragments at the
wildland–urban interface at both the beginning and the end of the study period, coniferous stands showed a slower decrease
compared to other wood types, such as those dominated by chestnut or beech. The observed changes in forest composition
are the result of a higher disturbance level, possibly triggered by the increase of fire frequency and severity, a higher
fragmentation of natural land, intense soil sealing and a larger occurrence of invasive species. Forest diversity increased
especially in areas with medium-density settlements, indicating a tendency towards more heterogeneous forest structures at
the urban–wildland interface compared to natural landscapes. A long-term monitoring of settlement dynamics and woodland
expansion is required to inform a sustainable management of Mediterranean suburban forests
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
If the sky falls we shall catch larks: Rethinking Land Quality and Desertification Risk into a Regional Science Framework
No full textLand Degradation and Desertification are recognized as leading processes of natural resource depletion and key issues in the political agenda for the 21st century. The objective of this short paper is to specifically contribute to the debate on Mediterranean desertification from the regional science perspective, trying to (re)think the importance of unifying concepts (process, region, scale, sustainability and policy) to better understanding the dynamic phenomena of land degradation. Conclusions summarize the original 'vision' proposed in this study and provide a fresh outlook on future research on desertification risk and its drivers in developed countries
Towards a 'polycentric' landscape? Reconnecting fragments into an integrated network of coastal forests in Rome
No full textPreserving relict coastal forests from urban ization is a priority target for sustainable land management.
Monitoring forests through remote-sensing diachronic ap proaches is an important tool to identify networks of nat ural areas and to inform conservation policies for high quality wood patches. The present study applies the
monitoring approach proposed by Hansen et al. (Science
342(6160):850–853, 2013) to the forest landscape in
coastal Rome, central Italy, providing indicators assessing
forest cover and short-term wood loss and gain. Forest land
(with 1 to 100 % cover) extends through 16.9 % of the
total area with prevailing classes at 21–40 % and
71–100 % density
Toward forest “sprawl”: monitoring and planning a changing landscape for urban sustainability
No full textThe present study analyzes the structure and
dynamics of the forest landscape in a peri-urban area
(Rome, Italy) during the city’s expansion from 1949 to
2008 using landscape metrics and change detection anal-
ysis of digital maps of the area (1500 km 2 ). While urban
settlements increased continuously from 6.5 to 27.5 % of
the study area, woodlands changed less clearly, with a
moderate increase (from 11.2 to 11.9 % of the total area)
and a higher fragmentation as a consequence of Rome’s
expansion
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