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Displaying 1406 - 1410 of 1605Crofting and bumblebee conservation: The impact of land management practices on bumblebee populations in northwest Scotland
The northwest of Scotland is a stronghold for two of the UK's rarest bumblebee species, Bombus distinguendus and Bombus muscorum. The predominant form of agricultural land management in this region is crofting, a system specific to Scotland in which small agricultural units (crofts) operate rotational cropping and grazing regimes. Crofting is considered to be beneficial to a wide range of flora and fauna. However, currently there is a lack of quantitative evidence to support this view with regard to bumblebee populations.
Management effects on European cropland respiration
Increases in respiration rates following management activities in croplands are considered a relevant anthropogenic source of CO₂. In this paper, we quantify the impact of management events on cropland respiration fluxes of CO₂ as they occur under current climate and management conditions. Our findings are based on all available CarboEurope IP eddy covariance flux measurements during a 4-year period (2004-2007). Detailed management information was available for 15 out of the 22 sites that contributed flux data, from which we compiled 30 types of management for European-scale comparison.
Intensive agropastoralism: dryland degradation, the Grain-to-Green Program and islands of sustainability in the Mu Us Sandy Land of China
The Grain-to-Green Program (GTGP) was initiated in China in 2000 to address environmental degradation. In northern China, the central goal of the program is to entice sustainable transitions in resource uses through subsidizing cropland afforestation and grassland exclosure. This study, based on a household survey in Shabianzi, an agropastoral community in the Mu Us Sandy Land, examines farmers' responses to and the environmental outcome of the GTGP.
potential of Estonian semi-natural grasslands for bioenergy production
High biodiversity of Estonian semi-natural grasslands can only be maintained through continuous management. One option for the usage of biomass from these areas is bioenergy production, if both the herbaceous biomass yield and the chemical characteristics of the cut meet the needs. In 2007 the largest average annual biomass yield per area was achieved in floodplain meadows (5.7tdrymass/ha), which also have the highest potential for biomass production among Estonian semi-natural grasslands (more than 113,000tdrymass).
Grazing intensity affected spatial patterns of vegetation and soil fertility in a desert steppe
Spatial heterogeneities of vegetation and soil can strongly affect ecological functions of ecosystems, particularly for arid and semi-arid ecosystems where vegetation has a patchy distribution and livestock grazing is one of the major land use types. However, little is known about the impact of grazing on spatial patterns of vegetation and soil, even though grazing has variously been shown to create, maintain or destroy those patterns.