The global tree carrying capacity (keynote)

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Invasive Species in Forests and Rangelands of the United States

This open access book describes the serious threat of invasive species to native ecosystems. Invasive species have caused and will continue to cause enormous ecological and economic damage with ever increasing world trade. This multi-disciplinary book, written by over 100 national experts, presents the latest research on a wide range of natural science and social science fields that explore the ecology, impacts, and practical tools for management of invasive species. It covers species of all taxonomic groups from insects and pathogens, to plants, vertebrates, and aquatic organisms that impact a diversity of habitats in forests, rangelands and grasslands of the United States. It is well-illustrated, provides summaries of the most important invasive species and issues impacting all regions of the country, and includes a comprehensive primary reference list for each topic. This scientific synthesis provides the cultural, economic, scientific and social context for addressing environmental challenges posed by invasive species and will be a valuable resource for scholars, policy makers, natural resource managers and practitioners

Natural or anthropogenic variability? A long-term pattern of the zooplankton communities in an ever-changing transitional ecosystem

The Venice Lagoon is an important site belonging to the Italian Long-Term Ecological Research Network (LTER). Alongside with the increasing trend of water temperature and the relevant morphological changes, in recent years, the resident zooplankton populations have also continued to cope with the colonization by alien species, particularly the strong competitor Mnemiopsis leidyi. In this work, we compared the dynamics of the lagoon zooplankton over a period of 20 years. The physical and biological signals are analyzed and compared to evaluate the hypothesis that a slow shift in the environmental balance of the site, such as temperature increase, sea level rise (hereafter called “marinization”), and competition between species, is contributing to trigger a drift in the internal equilibrium of the resident core zooplankton. Though the copepod community does not seem to have changed its state, some important modifications of structure and assembly mechanisms have already been observed. The extension of the marine influence within the lagoon has compressed the spatial gradients of the habitat and created a greater segregation of the niches available to some typically estuarine taxa and broadened and strengthened the interactions between marine species

Relationship between synoptic circulations and the spatial distributions of rainfall in Zimbabwe

This study examines how the atmospheric circulation patterns in Africa south of the equator govern the spatial distribution of precipitation in Zimbabwe. The moisture circulation patterns are designated by an ample set of eight classified circulation types (CTs). Here it is shown that all wet CTs over Zimbabwe features enhanced cyclonic/convective activity in the southwest Indian Ocean. Therefore, enhanced moisture availability in the southwest Indian Ocean is necessary for rainfall formation in parts of Zimbabwe. The wettest CT in Zimbabwe is characterized by a ridging South Atlantic Ocean high-pressure, south of South Africa, driving an abundance of southeast moisture fluxes, from the southwest Indian Ocean into Zimbabwe. Due to the proximity of Zimbabwe to the Agulhas and Mozambique warm current, the activity of the ridging South Atlantic Ocean anticyclone is a dominant synoptic feature that favors above-average rainfall in Zimbabwe. Also, coupled with a weaker state of the Mascarene high, it is shown that a ridging South Atlantic Ocean high-pressure, south of South Africa, can be favorable for the southwest movement of tropical cyclones into the eastern coastal landmasses resulting in above-average rainfall in Zimbabwe. The driest CT is characterized by the northward track of the Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude cyclones leading to enhanced westerly fluxes in the southwest Indian Ocean, limiting moist southeast winds into Zimbabwe

Emerging Zoonoses: Eco-Epidemiology, Involved Mechanisms, and Public Health Implications

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Regulating the environmental impacts of the electricity supply industry.

The electricity supply industry (ESI) in England and Wales does not operate efficiently, in terms of optimising the balance between benefits of electricity and costs associated with environmental impacts. The optimal situation would be one where such impacts are minimised per unit of electricity service used, notwithstanding cost considerations. However, the present regulatory regime fails to account sufficiently for environmental impacts. Indeed, it cannot do so at present, due to lack of objective, complete and sufficiently accurate information.The main methods currently advocated for valuing environmental impacts are based on the theory of neo-classical environmental economics. These aim to place monetary values on impacts, which can then, in theory, be used to internalise environmental externalities, by applying market mechanisms to correct for the market inefficiency. However, numerous objections have been raised and weaknesses identified, including, principally, the lack of a systematic approach and the inability of the technique to accurately value impacts which are not usually considered in monetary terms.Better regulation starts with better understanding of the issue(s) to be regulated. In this case, it requires appropriate data about values of environmental impacts. While environmental economics is not rejected outright, further improvements are required and, in any event, it must be supplemented by a systematic approach, which encompasses a means of valuing non-economic elements of value. The Environmental Analysis, Valuation and Application (EAVA) Framework proposed here has been designed and developed in order to address these requirements. It also satisfies the need for objectivity, rigour, transparency, versatility, practicality and a step-by-step, sequential procedure for dealing appropriately with environmental impacts.The EAVA Framework encompasses four separate methods which have been developed simultaneously to work together in order to address different areas of the problem. The output analysis method allows the production of a complete inventory of released incidental outputs (RIOs) which arise from the process being studied. The pathway analysis method provides a means of tracing these RIOs through the environment and generating objective data about the resulting environmental changes. The valuation method is where the only necessary subjectivity of valuation is concentrated by accommodating the views of those whose quality of life is damaged by the impacts. The unit of valuation is the "natural" unit of quality of life outcome state (QLOS), and quantification is achieved through use of the QLOS Index. The final method is the application method, where valuation data and information about unknowns or other "gaps" in knowledge or data are utilised in mechanisms to ensure decision making and operation of the process concerned correctly reflects the environmental impacts caused. It should be noted here that procedures exist throughout the EAVA Framework for identifying and quantifying "gaps". The overall result is the EAVA Framework - a single integrated process for regulating environmental impacts, from the point of origin, to the point of applying regulation