The sonic heritage of ecosystems

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Monacchi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sound Art ◽  
Sound Recording ◽  
Human Pressure ◽  
Environmental Sound ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Ecological Awareness ◽  
3D Sound ◽  
Intangible Heritage ◽  
Interdisciplinary Project

This paper discusses the importance of the ‘paleo- soundscapes’ of remote natural habitats as unique footprints of the systemic behaviour of healthy ecosystems and proposes considering them as intangible heritage to be urgently recorded and preserved. The interdisciplinary project Fragments of Extinction has worked toward preserving that ecological heritage through multidimensional sound recording eldwork in primary equatorial rainforests since 2002. The soundscapes of these unique, untouched and undisturbed places – increasingly threatened by human pressure and climate change – represent an object of patrimonialization that can offer insights to a range of fields. The project seeks to merge science (eco acoustics), technology (3D sound recording and reproduction) and art (environmental sound art) to contribute to the preservation of examples of the ordered and fragile equilibrium of biodiversity, and to encourage ecological awareness among audiences.

scholarly journals The Impact of Human Pressure and Climate Change on the Habitat Availability and Protection of Cypripedium (Orchidaceae) in Northeast China

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Huanchu Liu ◽  
Hans Jacquemyn ◽  
Xingyuan He ◽  
Wei Chen ◽  
Yanqing Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Northeast China ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Changbai Mountains ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Human Pressure ◽  
Terrestrial Orchids ◽  
The Future ◽  
Suitable Habitats ◽  
The Impact

Human pressure on the environment and climate change are two important factors contributing to species decline and overall loss of biodiversity. Orchids may be particularly vulnerable to human-induced losses of habitat and the pervasive impact of global climate change. In this study, we simulated the extent of the suitable habitat of three species of the terrestrial orchid genus Cypripedium in northeast China and assessed the impact of human pressure and climate change on the future distribution of these species. Cypripedium represents a genus of long-lived terrestrial orchids that contains several species with great ornamental value. Severe habitat destruction and overcollection have led to major population declines in recent decades. Our results showed that at present the most suitable habitats of the three species can be found in Da Xing’an Ling, Xiao Xing’an Ling and in the Changbai Mountains. Human activity was predicted to have the largest impact on species distributions in the Changbai Mountains. In addition, climate change was predicted to lead to a shift in distribution towards higher elevations and to an increased fragmentation of suitable habitats of the three investigated Cypripedium species in the study area. These results will be valuable for decision makers to identify areas that are likely to maintain viable Cypripedium populations in the future and to develop conservation strategies to protect the remaining populations of these enigmatic orchid species.

scholarly journals Coastal Scenic Beauty and Sensitivity at the Balearic Islands, Spain: Implication of Natural and Human Factors

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 456
Author(s):  
Alexis Mooser ◽  
Giorgio Anfuso ◽  
Lluís Gómez-Pujol ◽  
Angela Rizzo ◽  
Allan T. Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
User Preferences ◽  
Balearic Islands ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Sensitivity Index ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Human Pressure ◽  
Continuous Increase ◽  
Scenic Beauty

Coastal areas globally are facing a significant range of environmental stresses, enhanced by climate change-related processes and a continuous increase of human activities. The economic benefits of tourism are well-known for coastal regions, but, very often, conflicts arise between short-term benefits and long-term conservation goals. Among beach user preferences, five parameters of greater importance stand out from the rest, i.e., safety, facilities, water quality, litter and scenery; the latter is the main concern of this study. A coastal scenic evaluation was carried out in the Balearic Islands and focused on two major issues: coastal scenic beauty together with sensitivity to natural processes and human pressure. The archipelago is renowned as a top international coastal tourist destination that receives more than 13.5 million visitors (2019). Impressive landscape diversity makes the Balearics Islands an ideal field for this research. In total, 52 sites, respectively located in Ibiza (11), Formentera (5), Mallorca (18) and Menorca (18), were field-tested. In a first step, coastal scenic beauty was quantified using the coastal scenic evaluation system (CSES) method, based on the evaluation of 26 physical and human parameters, and using weighting matrices parameters and fuzzy logic mathematics. An evaluation index (“D”) was obtained for each site, allowing one to classify them in one of the five scenic classes established by the method. Twenty-nine sites were included in class I, corresponding to extremely attractive sites (CSES), which were mainly observed in Menorca. Several sound measures were proposed to maintain and/or enhance sites’ scenic value. In a second step, scenic sensitivity was evaluated using a novel methodological approach that makes possible the assessment of three different coastal scenic sensitivity indexes (CSSI), i.e., the natural sensitivity index NSI, the human sensitivity index HSI and the total sensitivity index TSI. Future climate change trends and projection of tourism development, studied at municipality scale, were considered as correction factors. All the islands showed places highly sensitive to environmental processes, while sensitivity to human pressure was essentially observed at Ibiza and Mallorca. Thereafter, sites were categorized into one of three sensitive groups established by the methodology. Results obtained are useful in pointing out very sensitive sceneries as well as limiting, preventing and/or anticipating future scenic degradation linked to natural and human issues.

scholarly journals Forming of ecological awareness of the students of international relations and regional studies at the English language teaching

2021 ◽  
Vol 295 ◽  
pp. 05016
Author(s):  
Zhanna Konovalova ◽  
Alsu Khafizova ◽  
Natalia Arzhantseva
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Relations ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Ecological Literacy ◽  
Regional Studies ◽  
Problem Solution ◽  
Ecological Awareness

The paper analyses methodology of forming ecological awareness of the students of international relations and regional studies at higher educational level. The pedagogical experience of Kazan Federal University is presented. The authors justify the topicality of implementing ecology and climate change related topics in the syllabus of the educational programmes. The systemic approach to the formation of ecological literacy is implemented throughout the whole course of the Bachelor degree programme. The authors of the article conduct a survey to define the students’ level of ecological awareness and present different approaches to implementing climate change and other environmental issues in the foreign language teaching process, including discussions, dialogues, brainstorming, problem-solution role-playing, project presentation, and writing an essay.

scholarly journals Revival of traditional best practices for rangeland restoration under climate change in the dry areas

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 643-659
Author(s):  
Azaiez Ouled Belgacem ◽  
Farah Ben Salem ◽  
Mouldi Gamoun ◽  
Roukaya Chibani ◽  
Mounir Louhaichi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Human Pressure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Dry Areas ◽  
Southern Tunisia ◽  
Grazing Systems

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the benefits of reintroducing traditional grazing systems practices for improving arid rangelands. Grazing is the most extensive land use in southern Tunisia, but the rangelands have suffered many decades of severe degradation due to profound socioeconomic changes and the emergence of an agro-pastoral society in place of the former pastoral one. Traditional grazing systems (gdel and herd mobility), which had historically allowed for grazing deferment and control of grazing livestock were abandoned. Yet grazing management strategies are important tools to sustain integrated livestock rangeland production systems in dry areas in the face of ongoing climate change and human pressure. Design/methodology/approach This study assesses the revival of traditional best practices of rangeland resting in a representative community. Total plant cover, species composition, flora richness and range production were determined in six rangeland sites subjected respectively to one, two and three years of rest; one and two years of light grazing after rest; and free grazing (control). Findings Results showed that dry rangelands keep their resilience to the negative effects of climate change once human pressure is controlled. A maximum of two years of rest is enough to sustainably manage the rangelands in southern Tunisia, as this protection showed considerable and positive effects on the parameters scored. Originality/value The revival of the traditional best practices under new arrangements adapted to current biophysical and socioeconomic conditions would be an excellent tool to mitigate the negative effects of frequent droughts and reduce the animal feed costs that poor farmers face.

Acoustic Art Forms in the Age of Recordability

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-206
Author(s):  
Gerald Fiebig
Keyword(s):  
Visual Art ◽  
Electroacoustic Music ◽  
Sound Art ◽  
Sound Recording ◽  
Technological Basis ◽  
Sonic Art ◽  
Art Forms ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Radio Art

Many theoretical accounts of sound art tend to treat it as a subcategory of either music or visual art. I argue that this dualism prevents many works of sound art from being fully appreciated. My subsequent attempt of finding a basis for a more comprehensive aesthetic of acoustic art forms is helped along by Trevor Wishart’s concept of ‘sonic art’. I follow Wishart’s insight that the status of music was changed by the invention of sound recording and go on to argue that an even more important ontological consequence of recording was the new possibility of storing and manipulating any acoustic event. This media-historic condition, which I refer to as ‘recordability’, spawned three distinct art forms with different degrees of abstraction – electroacoustic music in the tradition of Pierre Schaeffer, gallery-oriented sound art and radiogenic Ars Acustica. Introducing Ars Acustica, or radio art, as a third term provides some perspective on the music/sound art binarism. A brief look at the history of radio art aims at substantiating my claim that all art forms based on recordable sounds can be fruitfully discussed by appreciating their shared technological basis and the multiplicity of their reference systems rather than by subsuming one into another.

scholarly journals Climate change and biodiversity; impacts, vulnerability and mitigation in Indian perspective : A review

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 632-638
Author(s):  
D. K. Soni ◽  
Farid Ansari
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Green Energy ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
The Impact

As per the nature of law, changes are bound to be happening in the system if any component of the system gets altered by any means. Change of climate and subsequently loss of biodiversity threatens the existence of human being. The loss of biodiversity, which has been happening worldwide, poses a serious threat to the anthro-pological system. An investigation of the current trend and future scenario shows that this loss is likely to continue in the foreseeable times. India has a huge variety of biodiversity and in the last few decades, its biodiversity has come under threat from climate change which accelerated by the anthropogenic activities of various sources of pollution. The review shows that climate change is a serious environmental challenge that undermines the determination for sustainable development. Climate change has become the most crucial environmental concern of the decade. Much attention is rightly focused on reducing carbon emissions and greenhouse gases from industrial, energy and transport sector through reduction in fuel consumption and use of renewable/green energy. However, as countries are looking for mitigation and adaptation processes, protection of natural habitats is a key factor of climate change strategies. Strengthened support for protected areas and more sustainable resource management can contribute to strategies as well as for protection of the biological resources and ecosystem. Climate change is developing as one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, increasing pressures on genetic resources, species and populations. Biodiver-sity conservation and sustainable development are the possible ways to curtail the impact of climate change. Although, adequate efforts have been made worldwide to tackle the environmental challenges, the adverse effects of climate change are still accelerating and the rate of loss of biodiversity is continuing globally.

Ambisonic-centred location sound recording - reinvigorating the Observational Documentary genre?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Whitford
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Sound Field ◽  
Microphone Arrays ◽  
Single Camera ◽  
Sound Recording ◽  
Physical Event ◽  
Event Space ◽  
3D Sound ◽  
Critical Attention

The art of location-based Sound Recording specifically, has been a neglected area of academic research.  I seek to address this by drawing critical attention to the intricacies and skills involved in location Sound Recording within single-camera Observational Documentaries (ObsDocs). I show how this art continues to be central to the creative process of production, in driving the narrative and shaping the text’s influence, within the pro-filmic space.I go on to consider the future for location-based Sound Recording within ObsDocs and its place in a new multi-platform, multi-screen consumption space.  Examining a case study, I seek to develop and define a new working methodology and aesthetic for the craft and art, predicated on an anticipated resurgence of the ObsDoc genre, centred around opportunities afforded by the emerging technologies of immersive sound: ambisonic microphone arrays being a vital part of that development. Ambisonics is a method for capturing a full 3D sound field, and its genre-bridging adaptability means it can be converted to a dynamically steerable binaural format. I argue that deploying an ambisonic-centred location Sound Recording methodology, fused with the art of recording unscripted actuality Sound within the pro-filmic geographic event-space, will offer new creative opportunities impacts for ObsDoc makers and crucially, tomorrow’s Documentary audiences. Presenting audiences with an exciting new ability to experience the sense of geographical place and physical event that immersive audio delivers, bears the potential of re-invigorating a content driven ObsDoc market, which once again, will foreground the primacy of neglected storytelling capabilities, in a New consumption World.

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