Spatially separated ecosystems are often linked by nutrient fluxes. Nutrient inputs may be transferred by physical vectors (i.e., wind and water) or by biotic vectors. In this study, we examine the role of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) as biotic transporters of nutrients from marine to terrestrial ecosystems, where they deposit eggs. We compare low and high nest density sites at Tortuguero, Co...

considering the importance of vegetation changes and awareness of its destruction or improvement trends in programming and its proper managing of utilization, this study was conducted in order to survey the effects of grazing on the qualitative and quantitative components of vegetation (including life form, growth form, palatability class, plant families and species diversity) and recognition t...

The principal aim of this study was to establish biogeographical patterns in the legume flora of southern Africa so as to facilitate the selection of species with agricultural potential. Plant collection data from the National Herbarium, South Africa, were analysed to establish the diversity and areas covered by legumes (Leguminosae/Fabaceae) indigenous to South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. A...

The vegetation space-time variability during 1999-2010 in the North of the Apulian region (Southern Italy) was analysed using SPOT VEGETATION (VGT) sensor data. Three bands of VEGETATION (RED, NIR and SWIR) were used to implement the vegetation index named reduced simple ratio (RSR) to derive leaf area index (LAI). The monthly average LAI is an indicator of biomass and canopy cover, while the d...

BACKGROUND Although natural resources play a central role in rural livelihoods across the globe, little research has explored the relationship between migration and natural capital use, particularly in combination with other livelihood capitals (i.e., human, social, financial and physical). OBJECTIVE Grounded in the rural livelihood framework, this paper explores the association between the l...

-To predict prairie dog establishment in areas adjacent to a colony we sampled: (1) VISIBILITY through the vegetation using a target, (2) POPULATION DENSITY at the colony edge, (3) DISTANCE from the edge to the potential site of settlement, and (4) % FORB COVER. Step-wise regression analysis indicated that establishment of prairie dogs in adjacent prairie was most likely to occur when an area w...

The spatial arrangement of plants in a landscape influences wind flow, but the extent that differences in the density of conspecifics and the height of surrounding vegetation influence population spread rates of wind dispersed plants is unknown. Wind speeds were measured at the capitulum level in conspecific arrays of different sizes and densities in high and low surrounding vegetation to deter...

Land degradation in drylands is the process in which undesirable conditions emerge due to human and natural causes. Despite the particularly deleterious effects of degradation, and it’s potentially irreversible nature, regional assessments have provided conflicting extents, rates, and severities of degradation, both globally and regionally. Current monitoring of degradation relies upon the dete...

The impact of large herbivores on ecosystems before modern human activities is an open question in ecology and conservation. For Europe, the controversial wood-pasture hypothesis posits that grazing by wild large herbivores supported a dynamic mosaic of vegetation structures at the landscape scale under temperate conditions before agriculture. The contrasting position suggests that European tem...