scholarly journals Impact of an invasive tree on arthropod assemblages in woodlots isolated within an intensive agricultural landscape

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 1800-1813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Štrobl ◽  
Pavel Saska ◽  
Miroslav Seidl ◽  
Matúš Kocian ◽  
Karel Tajovský ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Invasive Tree

Diversity of butterflies in the agricultural landscape: the role of farming system and landscape heterogeneity

Ecography ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 743-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Christin Weibull ◽  
Jan Bengtsson ◽  
Eva Nohlgren
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Farming System

Transforming the Rural Agricultural Landscape Through Groundwater Optimisation: Exploring A Chinese-South African Partnership

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nirmala Dorasamy ◽  
Olayemi Bakre
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Subsistence Farming ◽  
Water Shortages ◽  
Subsistence Farmers ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
Standards Of Living ◽  
Kwazulu Natal

The majority of the South African rural populace is directly or indirectly engaged in agricultural practices to earn a livelihood. However, impediments such as climate change, water shortages, and inadequacy of institutional support have undermined these once thriving subsistence farming communities. Furthermore, poor leadership in hydrology, coupled with a lack of depth in skills at all government levels to facilitate the understanding of the importance of groundwater, has made it near impossible for subsistence farmers to benefit optimally from groundwater. The 2012 drought experienced in South Africa paralysed several subsistence farming communities in KwaZulu-Natal. To revamp subsistence farming and assist these farmers across South Africa, the Department of Water and Sanitation launched interventions, but despite the enormous resources expended, indicators (e.g. unsustainable farming practices, poor crop yield, pitiable living conditions, and poor standards of living) provide evidence that these interventions have not yielded the desired results. This paper seeks to suggest practicable interventions aimed at reducing the vulnerability of subsistence farmers in KwaZulu-Natal. The study pursued a qualitative approach in that it solicited the views of experts on groundwater and in related fields to gain an in-depth perspective. Some of the core challenges undermining the sustainability and growth of subsistence farming in the study area were found to be the inadequacy of experts on groundwater, water shortages, institutional deficiencies, lack of political will, and lack of coordination among stakeholders. Pragmatic recommendations are made to address these challenges, among other things to encourage a South African-Chinese partnership in the hydrology sector.

scholarly journals Tree-Ring Analysis of Intermediate Hawthorn (Crataegus media Bechst.) in NW Poland

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Anna Cedro ◽  
Bernard Cedro
Keyword(s):  
Tree Ring ◽  
Tree Rings ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Dominant Factor ◽  
Incremental Growth ◽  
High Precipitation ◽  
Ring Analysis ◽  
Uncultivated Land ◽  
Nw Poland

Intermediate hawthorn (Crataegus × media Bechst.) is broadly distributed in Europe but very rarely examined by dendrochronologists. In NW Poland, it is one of three naturally occurring hawthorn species, growing mainly at forest margins, along roads, in mid-field woodlots, and on uncultivated land. Biocenotically, it is a very valuable species. This study aimed to determine the age of trees, tree-ring dynamics, and growth–climate relationship for intermediate hawthorn. Signature years were also determined. Samples for analysis were collected from 22 trees growing in a typical agricultural landscape in a monospecific mid-field woodlot comprised of several hundred specimens of various ages and forms (shrubs and trees). Using classic methods of dendrochronological dating, a 40-year long chronology spanning 1981–2020 was constructed. The radial growth rate of intermediate hawthorn is comparable to other tree species forming stands in NW Poland and equals 2.41 mm/year. Considerable intersubject variability is noted, from 1.48 to 4.44 mm/year. The chronology was also used for dendroclimatological analyses, including correlation and response function and signature years. Of the meteorological parameters analyzed, annual incremental growth in hawthorn is the most strongly shaped by precipitation totals from May to August of the current vegetation year: high rainfall favors the formation of wide tree-rings. Statistically significant growth–climate relationships were also obtained for winter months (December of the preceding vegetation year, January and February), for which period negative correlation and regression values are noted for air temperature and insolation. Furthermore, high precipitation, low-temperature and low insolation late in the preceding vegetation year (especially in August) make a positive influence on the condition of trees in the upcoming growing season. Signature year analysis clearly pointed to precipitation as the dominant factor in shaping tree-rings in the studied hawthorn population. As there are no dendrochronological papers concerning indigenous hawthorn species, future studies should be expanded to include diverse geographic locations and habitat conditions and should include all three species of hawthorn occurring in Poland.

Integration of invasive tree, black locust, into agro-ecological flower visitor networks induces competition for pollination services

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Chikowore ◽  
Sandy-Lynn Steenhuisen ◽  
Reyard Mutamiswa ◽  
Grant D. Martin ◽  
Frank Chidawanyika
Keyword(s):  
Black Locust ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Flower Visitor ◽  
Competition For Pollination ◽  
Invasive Tree

scholarly journals Land Cover Effects on Selected Nutrient Compounds in Small Lowland Agricultural Catchments

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 182
Author(s):  
Maksym Łaszewski ◽  
Michał Fedorczyk ◽  
Sylwia Gołaszewska ◽  
Zuzanna Kieliszek ◽  
Paulina Maciejewska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Nutrient Dynamics ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Predictive Performance ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽  
Buffer Zones ◽  
Agricultural Catchments ◽  
Landscape Water ◽  
Seasonal Impact

The influence of landscape on nutrient dynamics in rivers constitutes an important research issue because of its significance with regard to water and land management. In the current study spatial and temporal variability of N-NO3 and P-PO4 concentrations and their landscape dependence was documented in the Świder River catchment in central Poland. From April 2019 to March 2020, water samples were collected from fourteen streams in the monthly timescale and the concentrations of N-NO3 and P-PO4 were correlated with land cover metrics based on the Corine Land Cover 2018 and Sentinel 2 Global Land Cover datasets. It was documented that agricultural lands and forests have a clear seasonal impact on N-NO3 concentrations, whereas the effect of meadows was weak and its direction was dependent on the dataset. The application of buffer zones metrics increased the correlation performance, whereas Euclidean distance scaling improved correlation mainly for forest datasets. The concentration of P-PO4 was not significantly related with land cover metrics, as their dynamics were driven mainly by hydrological conditions. The obtained results provided a new insight into landscape–water quality relationships in lowland agricultural landscape, with a special focus on evaluating the predictive performance of different land cover metrics and datasets.

scholarly journals The Relict Ecosystem of Maytenus senegalensis subsp. europaea in an Agricultural Landscape: Past, Present and Future Scenarios

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Antonio J. Mendoza-Fernández ◽  
Fabián Martínez-Hernández ◽  
Esteban Salmerón-Sánchez ◽  
Francisco J. Pérez-García ◽  
Blas Teruel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Ecological Value ◽  
Distribution Models ◽  
European Continent ◽  
Major Interest ◽  
Maytenus Senegalensis

Maytenus senegalensis subsp. europaea is a shrub belonging to the Celastraceae family, whose only European populations are distributed discontinuously along the south-eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, forming plant communities with great ecological value, unique in Europe. As it is an endangered species that makes up plant communities with great palaeoecological significance, the development of species distribution models is of major interest under different climatic scenarios, past, present and future, based on the fact that the climate could play a relevant role in the distribution of this species, as well as in the conformation of the communities in which it is integrated. Palaeoecological models were generated for the Maximum Interglacial, Last Maximum Glacial and Middle Holocene periods. The results obtained showed that the widest distribution of this species, and the maximum suitability of its habitat, occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum, when the temperatures of the peninsular southeast were not as contrasting as those of the rest of the European continent and were favored by higher rainfall. Under these conditions, large territories could act as shelters during the glacial period, a hypothesis reflected in the model’s results for this period, which exhibit a further expansion of M. europaea’s ecological niche. The future projection of models in around 2070, for four Representative Concentration Pathways according to the fifth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, showed that the most favorable areas for this species would be Campo de Dalías (southern portion of Almería province) as it presents the bioclimatic characteristics of greater adjustment to M. europaea’s ecological niche model. Currently, some of the largest specimens of the species survive in the agricultural landscapes in the southern Spain. These areas are almost totally destroyed and heavily altered by intensive agriculture greenhouses, also causing a severe fragmentation of the habitat, which implies a prospective extinction scenario in the near future.

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