In the framework of the established long-term monitoring of the Carpathian forest ecosystems, the assessment of changes in the plant species richness, type of plant communities and biometric characteristics and health status of forest trees, for getting relevant insights regarding the effects of the type of management, pollution and climate changes upon forest biodiversity and health, is one of the major objectives.

In human-impacted rivers, nutrient pollution has the potential to disrupt biodiversity organisation and ecosystem functioning, prompting calls for effective monitoring and management. Pollutants, together with natural variations, can modify the isotopic signature of aquatic organisms. Accordingly, we explored the potential of isotopic variations as an indicator of drainage basin influences on river food webs. We assessed stable N and C isotopes within six food webs along a river affected by multiple pollution sources.

Many mechanisms have been proposed to explain broad scale spatial patterns in species richness. In this paper, we evaluate five explanations for geographic gradients in species richness, using South American owls as a model. We compared the explanatory power of contemporary climate, landcover diversity, spatial climatic heterogeneity, evolutionary history, and area. An important aspect of our analyses is that very different hypotheses, such as history and area, can be quantified at the same observation scale and, consequently can be incorporated into a single analytical framework.

The goal of this study is to propose a new classification of African ecosystems based on an 8-year analysis of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data sets from SPOT/VEGETATION. We develop two methods of classification. The first method is obtained from a k-nearest neighbour (k-NN) classifier, which represents a simple machine learning algorithm in pattern recognition. The second method is hybrid in that it combines k-NN clustering, hierarchical principles and the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT).

Coastal dunes and sand areas are reported to be among the habitats most invaded by alien species in Europe. Landscape pattern could be a significant driver in invasion processes in parallel with land-use legacy. Fragmentation of natural habitats combined with the availability of propagules from the surrounding matrix may enhance the invisibility of ecological communities.

Since mean nitrate concentration along single river channels increases significantly with percent arable land use upstream of sampling points and autumn/early winter flushes in nitrate concentration are widespread, it is generally concluded that farmers contribute most of the nitrate. For the River Derwent in North Yorkshire, the correlation between nitrate concentration and percent arable land use is much poorer when tributary data are included in the equation, because of greater variations in dilution by water draining upland areas and in other N input sources.

This study presents a method to estimate streamflow in rivers regulated by lakes or reservoirs using synthetic satellite remote sensing data. To illustrate the approach, the new reservoir routing method is integrated into the Hillslope River Routing model, and a case study is presented for the highly regulated river in the Cumberland River basin (46,400 km²). The study period is April–May 2000, which contains a significant flood event that occurred in 1–2 May 2000.

The Chinese government started implementation of the Grain for Green Project (GGP) in 1999, aiming to convert cropland to forestland to mitigate soil erosion problems in areas across the country. Although the project has generated substantial environmental benefits, such as erosion reduction, carbon sequestration and water quality improvements, the magnitude of these benefits has not yet been well quantified due to the lack of location-specific data describing the afforestation efforts.

Background: It is essential that systems for measuring changes in carbon stocks for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) projects are accurate, reliable and low cost.

Habitat models constitute useful instruments for understanding species-habitat interactions and can constitute helpful conservation tools. The Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest (UPAF) of South America still holds the world’s southernmost jaguar (Panthera onca) population.

Satellite-based estimates of the fire radiative power (FRP) and energy (FRE) emitted from open biomass burning are affected by the spatiotemporal resolution of polar-orbiting and geostationary sensors. Here the impacts of the MODIS sampling design on estimates of FRE are characterized by superimposing the timing and extents of the Terra and Aqua granules onto the SEVIRI active fire product. Results for different land-cover types across Africa indicate that the FRE measured by SEVIRI during eight days is linearly related to the sum of FRP measured by SEVIRI within the MODIS granules.

This paper examines the potential effects of urbanization on streamflow in Maine, USA, from 1950 to 2000. The study contrasts nine watersheds in southern Maine, which has seen steady urban growth over the study period, with nine rural watersheds from northern Maine. Historical population data and current land cover data are used to develop an urbanization score for each watershed. Trends in watershed urbanization over the study period are compared to trends in ecologically relevant streamflow characteristics.