BACKGROUND Traditional agro-pastoral practices are in decline over much of the Alps (MacDonald et al. 2000), leading to shrub and tree encroachment, and this represents one of the main threats for the conservation of alpine biodiversity, as many plant and animal species are dependent on the presence of semi-natural open habitats. However, quantifying this environmental change and assessing its ...

Land-use change alters soil carbon (C) storage in terrestrial ecosystem through affecting respirations (Rs). However, the long-term effects of land-use on Rs are poorly understood. We undertook a field experiment to examine Rs. The types included grazed grassland (GGL), enclosed (EGL), continuous cropland (CCL), rotation (RCL) and abandoned (ACL) an alpine agro-pastoral ecotone Qinghai-Tibetan ...

As the United States becomes a more multicultural and multireligious society, the ranks of healthcare chaplains are no longer being limited solely to Judeo-Christian clerics. In an effort to increase interfaith understanding and ecumenical awareness, the author presents one model of healthcare chaplaincy that derives itself from a Buddhist perspective and how he uses it in his daily work at a l...