From June 2005 to March 2007, we investigated wolf presence in an area of 1000km² in central northern Portugal by scat surveys along line transects. We aimed at predicting wolf presence by developing a habitat model using land cover classes, livestock density and human influence (e.g. population and road density). We confirmed the presence of three wolf packs by kernel density distribution analysis of scat location data and detected their rendezvous sites by howling simulations. Wolf habitats were characterized by lower human presence and higher densities of livestock.

We evaluated the response of male Reeves's pheasants Syrmaticus reevesii to different forest edges in a fragmented forest landscape in central China using radio-telemetry. Our fieldwork was carried out from April 2000 to August 2003 in the Dongzhai National Nature Reserve within the Dabie Mountains, China. We identified four major types of forest edges: shrub, farmland, road and residential edge.

- Environmental factors act in a hierarchical manner at multiple spatial scales to influence the organisation of ecological assemblages; however, the relative influence of the different scale-related factor groups is poorly known. We evaluated the importance of catchment-scale and site-scale environmental variables, as well as the spatial context of the sampling sites, in shaping stream fish assemblages in an agriculture-dominated landscape in Hungary.

Despite legislation and voluntary initiatives aimed at protecting the environment, previously undeveloped areas of Costa Rica are subject to new development opportunities. This growth has been largely unchecked, and has led to enormous amounts of foreign direct investment. This unchecked investment has led to destabilization of the natural environment, and, in the case of the Dominical–Uvita corridor on the Pacific Coast, has led to an observed increase in landsliding activity.

In sub-Saharan Africa, natural vegetation is being transformed into agricultural lands at a fast rate, endangering ecosystem services and increasing soil-loss potential, which may trigger land degradation. For the Taita Hills study area in Kenya, multi-temporal land-cover models of 1987, 1999 and 2003, derived from Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) imagery using a multi-scale segmentation/object relationship modelling (MSS/ORM) methodology and a rainfall layer, a digital elevation model (DEM) and a digital soil map were applied to model potential soil loss.

1. Ecological edges (zones separating ecosystems or land cover types) can function as active boundaries, unique habitats and dynamic transition zones. Abiotic factors, species and species interactions exhibit strong responses to edges, and these responses - edge effects - can profoundly impact ecosystem structure and function. 2. Edge effects may be altered by the presence or proximity of other nearby edges. This phenomenon - edge interaction - is poorly understood, though its importance is increasingly recognized.

Capsule Diet composition differed significantly between winter cereals, winter oil-seed rape, stubble fields and permanent fallows.Aims To determine the composition of the diet of Grey Partridges in autumn and winter in four agricultural land-cover types, characteristic of lowland areas of Central Europe.Methods Faecal analysis was used to determine diet.

The Sanaga River is one of Sub-Saharan Africa's largest and greatly regulated rivers. Available flow data for this hydrosystem largely cover the pre- and post-regulation periods. From comparisons between unregulated (hypothetical) and observed scenarios, it has been possible to separate and to quantify hydro-climatic (groundwater + rainfall) change effects from anthropogenic impacts (especially dam-related alterations).

In past decades, the Iberian Peninsula has been shown to have suffered vegetation changes such as desertification and reforestation. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and land surface temperature (LST) parameters, estimated from data acquired by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensor onboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite series, are particularly adapted to assess these changes.

Ecological regionalizations, such as ecoregions or environmental clusters, are often used as coarse filters for conservation. To be effective biodiversity surrogates, regionalizations should contain distinct species assemblages. This condition is not frequently evaluated and regionalizations are rarely assessed comparatively.

We present a new indicator taxa approach to the prediction of climate change effects on biodiversity at the national level in Switzerland. As indicators, we select a set of the most widely distributed species that account for 95% of geographical variation in sampled species richness of birds, butterflies, and vascular plants. Species data come from a national program designed to monitor spatial and temporal trends in species richness. We examine some opportunities and limitations in using these data.

Soil erosion in southeast Spain is a complex process due to strong interactions between biophysical and human components. Significant progress has been achieved in the understanding of soil hydrological behavior, despite the fact that most investigations were focused on the experimental plot scale. Although experimental plots allow exploring the effect of multiple biophysical and anthropogenic factors, they provide limited insights in the combined effect of all factors acting together at the landscape scale.