We recorded bat activity on Zakynthos island (Greece) to test the hypotheses that (1) olive (Olea europea) groves and native woodlands provide comparable foraging habitat for insectivorous bats, (2) lower foraging activity occurs in olive groves treated with insecticide chemicals. We acoustically sampled bat activity (passes per minute) in four wooded habitats (organic and non-organic olive gro...

The Upper Kickapoo River Archaeological District contains over 500 archaeological sites. Spatial statistics and site selection factors were explored for 405 open archaeological sites. Nearest Neighbor Index and Ripley’s K-Function analyses show that the sites have a clustering pattern. Hot spot analyses reveal concentrations near a few stream confluences. Topographic variables of the site locat...

Trees and forests are, because of seasonal changes and their size, shape, and color, the most prominent elements of urban nature. Their benefits and uses range from intangible psychological and aesthetic benefits to amelioration of urban climate and mitigation of air pollution. Historically the main benefits of urban trees and forests relate to health, aesthetic and recreational benefits in ind...

The abundance of infected Ixodid ticks is an important component of human risk of Lyme disease, and various empirical studies have shown that this is associated, at least in part, to landscape fragmentation. In this study, we aimed at exploring how varying woodland fragmentation patterns affect the risk of Lyme disease, through infected tick abundance. A cellular automata model was developed, i...

This study reports the relationship between the diversity and functioning of fungal and bacterial soil communities with vegetation in Mediterranean woodland that experienced severe die-off after a drought episode. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorfism (TRFLP) was used to describe microbial community structure and diversity five years after the episode in different habitats (Juniperus...

T woodlands of Britain, in common with many natural habitats throughout the World, have experienced considerable loss and fragmentation through a long history of human activity. Current woodland cover has fallen to less than 12% from an estimated high of around 75% around 6,000 years ago. The majority of woodlands are now very small and isolated within a primarily agricultural landscape. This i...

We examined local and landscape-scale variable influence on the depth and magnitude of edge effects on woodland salamanders in mature mixed mesophytic and northern hardwood forest adjacent to natural gas well sites maintained as wildlife openings. We surveyed woodland salamander occurrence from June-August 2006 at 33 gas well sites in the Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia. We used an i...

Forests in Britain produce social and environmental benefits, in addition to marketable timber outputs. One such non-market benefit is the reduction in air pollution, linked to health impacts (mortality and morbidity). This study assesses the benefits of SO2 and PM10 absorption by trees in terms of extending life expectancy of the population and reducing hospital admissions. Working at a resolu...

Study on plant diversity is the base of woodland conservation. The Guancen Mountains are the northern end of Luliang mountain range in North China. Fifty-three quadrats of 10 m × 20 m of woodland communities were randomly established along an altitudinal gradient. Data for species composition and environmental variables were measured and recorded in each quadrat. To investigate the variation of...