Place, recreation and local development

Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Monitoring and Management of Visitors in Recreational and Protected Areas (MMV9), Bordeaux, FRA, 29-/08/2018 - 31/08/2018It is our pleasure to welcome you to the 9th international Conference on Monitoring and Management of Visitors in Recreational and Protected Areas (MMV9) with a program including keynote speeches, organized and poster sessions, a half-day field trip, social events and post conference trips. This is the first time that France has hosted an MMV Conference. Our country is ranked as the world's top tourist destination, thanks largely to its culture, art, and gastronomy, as well as popular cities such as Paris and Bordeaux. On the other hand, France's potential as a destination for outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism is not hugely publicized, despite its many unique features in this respect: varied climate and natural assets (shoreline, mountains, lakes, and forests), large expanses of countryside, and a network of protected natural areas, to name but a few. France's protected areas are often free to access for the general public. However, in contrast with other countries, nature conservation in specific areas is much less widespread. Where it does take place, it is often centered on territories that are perceived to be "attractive", and where many conflicting activities are practiced. This may be one of the reasons why contractual tools and regional park systems are quite popular in France. The MMV Conference offers an excellent opportunity to discuss the situation in France in greater depth. The theme proposed for the conference was "recreation, place and local development". This reflects our assumption that recreational areas are not just physical assets designed to receive visitors for the purpose of leisure - which in itself would already be something of great importance - but that they reflect deeper social phenomena, as demonstrated through the range of organized sessions dedicated to discussing questions such as environmental education and economic development, but also emerging themes such as social integration, community resilience, environmental justice, and health. The traditional topics covered by MMV Conference reflect an evolving society: with innovations in monitoring techniques (both on people and nature), focus on new populations (Y generation, ethnic minority) and a larger concern for individual engagement and participative management. The 9th Edition of MMV is co-hosted by Irstea and BSA. This would not have been possible without significant contributions from a large number of additional partners and sponsors as well as our national scientific and organizing committee. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their help. After two years of planning, we are proud to announce that we have more than 160 presentations from 30 countries, meaning that the conference will host over 200 participants from across the globe. We are honored that the International Steering Committee has given us the opportunity to be part of this great MMV community, which organized its first meeting in 2002. We hope you will enjoy the conference as much as we enjoyed organizing it. If you can't be with us in person, we hope that you will enjoy reading our publications

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

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

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

National Institute for Global Environmental Change, July 1, 1994-- June 30, 1995

This document contains the report from the National Institute for Global Environmental Change for the period July 1, 1994 to June 30, 1995. Separate sections for the Great Plains, Midwestern, Norhteast, South Central, Southeast and Western regions are present. Each section contains project descriptions and abstracts for projects managed by the respective regional offices