1,721,081 research outputs found
Integration of the Gender Dimension into Socioeconomics Analysis
No full textMen and women carry out different and complementary activities, specially if we consider rural environments. The environmental resources are therefore differently used and perceived with respect to gender, and different needs may emerge. To achieve equality conditions, these features should be considered in a constructive way and in an integrated perspective, avoiding gender segregation also in the theoretical perspective. Women activities and duties are often related to the domestic sphere and, even if essential to the household, generally do not generate money flow, so they may escape the socioenomic approach. A tuning is needed, to give voice to all social components, also considering their different (in space, time, status, power, etc.) scales. This chapter synthetically illustrates how the challenge of gender integration in the socioeconomic analysis was faced throughout the WADI project. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V
Variable orientation within a natural population of the sandhopper Talitrus saltator (Crustacea: Amphipoda) as a response to a variable environment: The case-study of Berkoukesh beach, Tunisia
No full textSandy beaches are harsh environments, driving resident arthropod populations to various typical adaptations, particularly behavioural ones. Here we evaluated the effects of seasonal meteorological variability on the behaviour of Talitrus saltator on Berkoukesh beach (N-W Tunisia). The site is characterised by a Mediterranean climate, but is particularly exposed to seasonal winds and storms. The shoreline is in morphodynamic equilibrium. We tested sandhopper Talitrus saltator orientation in April, when sudden rainfall and storms are common, and in June, when as a rule the weather is warm and dry. The results were analysed with circular statistics and multiple regression models adapted to angular distributions, in order to highlight differences in orientation under the various conditions. Depending on the environmental conditions, amphipods from the same population appeared to utilise various orientation strategies as a response to different environmental constraints. The use of a range of behavioural mechanisms (sun-orientation seaward, sun-orientation landward, and phototaxis) resulted in links to the local landscape and to the animals' life cycle. As a general conclusion, we can infer that the behavioural variability found within the same population represents a response to seasonal environmental fluctuation. Such an increase in variability is likely to develop on a beach in dynamic equilibrium, where landscape references are stable, and a variable behaviour represents a strategy for dealing with environmental fluctuations. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Coastal talitrids and connectivity between beaches: A behavioural test
No full textBeach-hoppers and sandhoppers in the family Talitridae are strongly linked to the supralittoral environment. They are semi-terrestrial animals and because they are direct developers there is potentially no mobility between populations on adjacent beaches. In the case of coastlines fragmented by natural or artificial structures, the assumed lack of inter-connectivity between beaches may represent a severe threat for the resident populations: in case of impacts, they might not be able to recover and the habitat might not be re-colonised. Unless we consider another possible scenario: the potential connectivity of populations via water currents, from individuals swashed accidentally into the sea. We therefore tested two different species, the sandhopper Notorchestia quadrimana and the beach-hopper Platorchestia smithi for features relevant to dispersal and connectivity among beaches: 1) survival in sea-water; 2) orientation (baseline and scototaxis) in sea-water and 3) behaviour in a current. Talitrid populations were sampled from a sheltered beach and an exposed beach along the New South Wales coast. On the sheltered beach both species were found, co-occurring within the same distance from the shoreline. On the exposed beach only P. smithi was found, in a dune slack far away from the shoreline. All individuals tested survived 96. h in immersion, and when subjected to a current they were clinging on the edge of the flume apparatus for most of the duration of the test. Differences emerged when comparing orientation, with the sharpest precision towards a dark pattern (positive scototaxis) in P. smithi from the sheltered beach and bimodal orientation (partly scototactic and partly sun compass) in N. quadrimana. The behavioural differences observed are likely developed as risk-related: sandhoppers burrow in the substrate and are less exposed to occasional swash, while beach-hoppers living in cast wrack displayed the ability of swimming quickly towards a floating object, increasing the likelihood of being passively carried from one beach to another. Different ecological groups such "sandhoppers" and "beach-hoppers" showed different behavioural patterns. The consideration of behavioural answers to swash risk highlighted the possibility of the connectivity of talitrid populations across fragmented beaches. © 2014 Elsevier B.V
Storytelling and environmental information: connecting schoolchildren and herpetofauna in Morocco
No full textNorthwestern Morocco is undergoing a sudden change in the level of infrastructure growth and pressure on the environment from increased tourism. The ongoing changes are raising questions about how the ecosystem will react, and the relevant drivers of these changes. The Oued Laou valley in north-west Morocco hosts high landscape, species and human cultural diversity. The Talassemtane National Park has been established to preserve the environment in this region; however, what information tools are available to children regarding this environment? The ecosystem is illustrated here using three components: herpetofauna (representing ecosystem components), problems related to water quantity and quality (representing interactions within ecosystem components) and Talassemtane National Park (representing a case of ecosystem management). A children's book was written on this topic, and when the book was delivered to pupils, a questionnaire was included, aimed at determining their sources of environmental information. The results identified major changes in the sources of information utilized by children in this part of Morocco, a clear role of schools in explaining ecosystem components, and an increasing role of TV in environmental information supply. The role of the family was found to be less important than TV or school. Another major source of pupils' environmental knowledge is personal observation and hands-on experience, both for rural and urban children. Children are willing to discover and understand complex systems, and researchers should be encouraged to supply children with correct and up-to-date information on environmental systems, focusing at first on the local environment, as a background for sustainable development. © 2009 ISZS, Blackwell Publishing and IOZ/CAS
Substrate dependent talitrid amphipods from fragmented beaches on the north coast of Crete (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Talitridae), including a redefinition of the genus Orchestia and descriptions of Orchestia xylino sp. nov. and Cryptorchestia gen. nov
No full textFour species of talitrid amphipods (Orchestia montagui Audouin, 1826, Orchestia stephenseni Cecchini, 1928, Orchestia xylino sp. nov. and Talitrus saltator (Montagu, 1808)) are reported from a set of fragmented pocket beaches to the east of Heraklion on the north coast of Crete. Aside from a previous record of O. stephenseni these are the first records of talitrid amphipods from the island of Crete. 2) Along a coastal segment of only 4.36 km, characterised by habitat fragmentation and substrate patchiness, a clear correlation between talitrid species and beach type is indicated. Talitrus saltator occurs only on sandy beaches. Orchestia montagui and O. xylino occur on banquette beaches and O. montagui, O. stephenseni and O. xylino occur on mixed sand/gravel and cobble beaches. 3) The genus Orchestia is redefined and confined to 15 marine supralittoral species from eastern North America, islands in the North-eastern Atlantic, and western-Europe, in-cluding the Baltic and the Mediterranean Seas plus a perplexing group in New Zealand. 4) The new genus Cryptorchestia is described, based on nine terrestrial species previously included in the genus Orchestia and occurring in western Europe, the Mediterranean Sea and the Azores and Canary islands in the North-eastern Atlantic. 5) The new species Orchestia xylino sp. nov. is described. 6) An extensive bibliography for the species in this study is provided. Copyright © 2013 Magnolia Press
Comparing methods used in estimating biodiversity on sandy beaches: Pitfall vs. quadrat sampling
No full textWe compared the two most commonly used sampling methods, pitfall trapping and quadrat sieving, to study community diversity and talitrid abundance on sandy beaches. They are both widely used methods, however they are related to different behaviors: surface activity (pitfall traps) and burrowing in the substrate (quadrat sieving). To detect bias intrinsically generated by the use of different sampling methods, we applied both methods on a set of five beaches in New South Wales, Australia. The set included non-contiguous beaches, exposed and sheltered, more or less affected by recreational use. The results indicated a high fluctuation in biodiversity features. However, the most human-frequented beaches were grouped together by Multi Dimensional Scaling, and substrate-modifiers talitrid amphipods (sand-hoppers), played a major role in this scaling. The analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) indicated the roles of exposure and human recreational use in shaping the community, while the methods (quadrats vs. traps) resulted in higher fluctuation within samples than between, and informative outliers. Generalized Linear Models developed to estimate the probability of capture of talitrids by sampling method pointed to a higher probability to capture both sand-hoppers and beach-hoppers with the quadrat method. We finally suggest: (1) the comparative use of both sampling methods whenever possible, to capture multiple information and avoid bias in biodiversity estimates; and (2) an ad-hoc strategy when dealing with target populations. In particular, attention should be paid when targeting co-occurring talitrid species characterized by different ecology and behavioral traits: sand-hoppers (substrate modifiers) appeared to be more sensitive than beach-hoppers (non-substrate modifiers) to the impacts considered. In terms of biodiversity assessment the methods were equal, but for talitrid sampling quadrat sieving was more efficient
Comparing methods used in estimating biodiversity on sandy beaches: Pitfall vs. quadrat sampling
No full textWe compared the two most commonly used sampling methods, pitfall trapping and quadrat sieving, to study community diversity and talitrid abundance on sandy beaches. They are both widely used methods, however they are related to different behaviors: surface activity (pitfall traps) and burrowing in the substrate (quadrat sieving). To detect bias intrinsically generated by the use of different sampling methods, we applied both methods on a set of five beaches in New South Wales, Australia. The set included non-contiguous beaches, exposed and sheltered, more or less affected by recreational use. The results indicated a high fluctuation in biodiversity features. However, the most human-frequented beaches were grouped together by Multi Dimensional Scaling, and substrate-modifiers talitrid amphipods (sand-hoppers), played a major role in this scaling. The analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) indicated the roles of exposure and human recreational use in shaping the community, while the methods (quadrats vs. traps) resulted in higher fluctuation within samples than between, and informative outliers. Generalized Linear Models developed to estimate the probability of capture of talitrids by sampling method pointed to a higher probability to capture both sand-hoppers and beach-hoppers with the quadrat method. We finally suggest: (1) the comparative use of both sampling methods whenever possible, to capture multiple information and avoid bias in biodiversity estimates; and (2) an ad-hoc strategy when dealing with target populations. In particular, attention should be paid when targeting co-occurring talitrid species characterized by different ecology and behavioral traits: sand-hoppers (substrate modifiers) appeared to be more sensitive than beach-hoppers (non-substrate modifiers) to the impacts considered. In terms of biodiversity assessment the methods were equal, but for talitrid sampling quadrat sieving was more efficient. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Environmental education: Constraints and potential as seen by sandy beach researchers
No full textScientists active on sandy beach research were involved in a two-step process to depict the current status, highlighting critical points as well as strengths related to education on sandy beaches performed outside the academic environment. Firstly, an online questionnaire was submitted to the participants at the VIII International Sandy Beaches Symposium. The results were discussed and integrated by experiences at personal and institutional levels brought together by participants at the Symposium during a plenary workshop. Results highlighted a group of researchers engaged in education and outreach activities, willing to establish a dialogue which included the targets of education activities. Scientific literacy was seen as a necessary background for such a dialogue, in which specific gaps related to knowledge about sandy beaches could be addressed and rectified. A long-term vision and the establishment of a continuous path rather than one-off actions (as those related to specific, time-limited projects) was also seen as much needed for the implementation of effective actions. Main constraints preventing researchers from carrying out education activities outside academia were clearly identified as (in order of relevance): lack of recognition in terms of publications; lack of recognition in the academic environment; and lack of time. Considering these outcomes, the ideal dimension to establish effective solutions was identified at the national level. As a first step to counteract the constraints found, it is proposed to: target the collection of publishable data, e.g. basic indicators of success of education and outreach activities; and the use of “outreach” as an additional pillar for personnel evaluation. The provision of literacy principles should finally be the backbone of long-term actions
Dynamics of plastic resin pellets deposition on a microtidal sandy beach: Informative variables and potential integration into sandy beach studies
No full textThe study addressed temporal dynamics of plastic resin pellets input on a Mediterranean beach, paired with standard environmental variables known to be relevant to sandy beach ecology. Time-related component of the study were related to two levels: 1) weekly sampling along one year, and 2) allocation of beached pellets to categories “old” and “new” as proxy of the time spent in the environment. Pellets were collected by sieving along a fixed transect perpendicular to the shoreline. In correspondence of each sampling were measured beach width and beach face slope. Weekly records of main wind direction and strength, and seasonal substrate mean grain size estimates were added to the dataset. Both density of total pellets and density of “new” pellets were modelled with quantile regression analysis, and best models were selected by Akaike Information Criterion. Data indicate a constant input of pellets ashore, with about 50% evenly represented by “new” items. Beach width resulted the only variable significant to pellets’ density, whether total or “new” with increasing densities of pellets related to narrower beach widths, best explained by a logarithmic fashion. Results hence point to plastic resin pellets as a pressure impact, rather than a spill-related, time-limited one. A list of simple and cost-effective measurements of sandy beach features is provided as a guidance to couple basic ecological information with a possible range of research (including citizen science) addressing beached anthropogenic litter -including plastic pellets. This would ideally enhance the relevance of both research on beached plastics and sandy beach biota, so far running along parallel paths
Beach parties: A case study on recreational human use of the beach and its effects on mobile arthropod fauna
No full textBeach parties are common events during summer season in temperate and sub-tropical areas. The timing of human activities during a beach party is notably different than most other tourism-related activities, and might thus have a different impact on sandy beach mobile macrofauna, which is mainly active at night. We studied therefore the impact of small-size, non-commercial beach parties that are commonly held in Greece by analyzing the stress impact of artificial lighting and trampling on the response variable, the number of captures obtained with pitfall traps placed at impacted and control sites. As a further control, the same study sites were sampled in the same period using pitfalls placed across the shore throughout the night. The results of the analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) applied to a similarity matrix based on abundance data show no difference between impact and control traps. Regardless of the party events, the main species forming the macrofauna community of sandy beaches were Labidura riparia, Phaleria bimaculata and Talitrus saltator. The results highlight the sustainability of small-size, time-limited party events that might represent a direct, non-consumptive use of beaches. © 2013 Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Firenze, Italia
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