LANDSLIDE SUSCEPTIBILITY ASSESSMENT: SOIL MOISTURE MONITORING DATA PROCESSED BY AN AUTOMATIC PROCEDURE IN GIS FOR 3D DESCRIPTION OF THE SOIL SHEAR STRENGTH

Abstract. Slope stability is strongly influenced by soil hydraulic conditions. Considering rain-triggered shallow landslides, the stability can be markedly influenced by the propagation of the saturation front inside the unsaturated zone. Soil shear strength varies in the vadose zone depending on the type of soil and the variations of soil moisture. Monitoring of the unsaturated zone can be done by measuring volumetric water content using low-cost instrumentation, such as capacitive sensors that are easy to manage and provide data in near-real time. For a proper soil moisture assessment a laboratory soil-specific calibration of the sensors is recommended. Knowing the soil water content, the suction parameter can be estimated by a Water Retention Curve (WRC), and consequently the soil shear strength in unsaturated conditions is evaluated. Several models are already proposed for shallow landslide susceptibility evaluation, also in FOSS GIS environment. However, these models do not usually consider the soil shear strength in unsaturated conditions, even if it is crucial, especially in the case of shallow landslides. A procedure that allows the estimate of the soil shear strength starting from soil moisture monitoring data (from sensor networks or satellite-derived map) is here presented. Moreover, preliminary results relative to a case study (i.e. the landslide of Ceriana-Mainardo in Italy) are shown. The proposed procedure could be integrated into existing models for landslide susceptibility assessment and also for the emergency management

Survey on welfare of dairy cow in tie-stalls in mountain area.

The aim of the survey was to study the effect of Alpine pasture and breed on welfare of dairy cattle bred in tie-stalls in mountain area of Friuli Venezia Giulia Region. Twenty-four representative farms were divided into 4 groups following a factorial design: 2 managements (with vs. without summer grazing) x 2 breeds (Italian Simmental vs. Italian Brown). Data were collected following a protocol that considers direct animals' measures or remarks, buildings and equipments information. The results showed that summer grazing affected some physical parameters - BCS, claw conformation and injuries - and some behaviour parameters such as rising movements. In this trial the breed did not seem to markedly influence cows' welfare, except for BCS and lie down time

Activity budget and movement patterns of Brown Swiss and Alpine Grey lactating cows during summer grazing in alpine pastures

We used GPS tracking to monitor the grazing patterns of Brown Swiss and Alpine grey lactating cows on an alpine summer pasture (2038 m a.s.l.; SD = 146) in the Dolomites. The pasture (171 ha) was managed with a continuous grazing system (0.52 LU/ha) with morning and evening milking in the barn, guided grazing during the ‘day’, and free grazing at ‘night’. GPS positions were collected from 8 Brown Swiss multiparous and 9 Alpine Grey (4 primiparous and 5 multiparous) cows every two minutes. We inferred behaviours (grazing, resting, walking) from movement metrics, activity sensors and direct behavioural observations. After excluding milking periods, the cows grazed for 8 h/d, rested 10–11 h/d, and walked for 1.5/d. Grazing extended into late evening after milking, and resting prevailed throughout the ‘night’ until the morning milking. When grazing and resting, cows mainly used grasslands as the preferred habitat, but forest and sparse shrub were also used remarkably without consistent negative or positive selection. The pasture use was highly heterogeneous, with higher animal loads close to the barn, especially at night, and in areas with gentler slopes. Alpine Grey primiparous cows were less limited by slope and distance from the barn in their movement but were more selective in habitat use than multiparous cows. Differences between multiparous cows of the two breeds were less marked. Further studies should help understand the internal and external drivers of cattle grazing patterns to devise management practices combining animals’ productivity and welfare with the conservation of the grassland ecosystem services

Activity budget and movement patterns of Brown Swiss and Alpine Grey lactating cows during summer grazing in alpine pastures

We used GPS tracking to monitor the grazing patterns of Brown Swiss and Alpine grey lactating cows on an alpine summer pasture (2038 m a.s.l.; SD = 146) in the Dolomites. The pasture (171 ha) was managed with a continuous grazing system (0.52 LU/ha) with morning and evening milking in the barn, guided grazing during the ‘day’, and free grazing at ‘night’. GPS positions were collected from 8 Brown Swiss multiparous and 9 Alpine Grey (4 primiparous and 5 multiparous) cows every two minutes. We inferred behaviours (grazing, resting, walking) from movement metrics, activity sensors and direct behavioural observations. After excluding milking periods, the cows grazed for 8 h/d, rested 10–11 h/d, and walked for 1.5/d. Grazing extended into late evening after milking, and resting prevailed throughout the ‘night’ until the morning milking. When grazing and resting, cows mainly used grasslands as the preferred habitat, but forest and sparse shrub were also used remarkably without consistent negative or positive selection. The pasture use was highly heterogeneous, with higher animal loads close to the barn, especially at night, and in areas with gentler slopes. Alpine Grey primiparous cows were less limited by slope and distance from the barn in their movement but were more selective in habitat use than multiparous cows. Differences between multiparous cows of the two breeds were less marked. Further studies should help understand the internal and external drivers of cattle grazing patterns to devise management practices combining animals’ productivity and welfare with the conservation of the grassland ecosystem services

Quality differences in cheeses produced by lowland and highland units of the Alpine transhumant system

The characteristics of ripened cheeses depend on a large number of factors, of which animal feeding plays an important role. Several researches showed influences of factors linked to forage, such as quality or method of conservation (Verdier-Metz et al., 1998)

A novel framework to study the impact of binding energy distributions on the chemistry of dust grains

The evaporation of molecules from dust grains is crucial to understand some key aspects of the star- and the planet-formation processes. During the warm-up phase the presence of young protostellar objects induces molecules to evaporate from the dust surface into the gas phase, enhancing its chemical complexity. Similarly, in circumstellar disks, the position of the so-called snow-lines is determined by evaporation, with important consequences for the formation of planets. The amount of molecules that are desorbed depends on the interaction between the species and the grain surface, which is controlled by the binding energy. Recent theoretical and experimental works point towards a distribution of values for this parameter instead of the single value often employed in astrochemical models.We present here a new "multi-binding energy" framework, to assess the effects that a distribution of binding energies has on the amount of species bound to the grains. We find that the efficiency of the surface chemistry is significantly influenced by this process with crucial consequences on the theoretical estimates of the desorbed species.Comment: Accepted A&

Production system and seasonal effects on textural properties of two-month ripened goat's cheese

Since the 1990s, there has been a revival in goat rearing and a resumption in the making of goat’s cheeses in the Province of Trento. Given this, and the local interest in maintaining the production and its traditions, a qualitative description of the goat’s cheeses is desirable. In this study, texture profile analysis, TPA, was used to examine the variability of the rheological properties, depending on production system and season, in raw milk semicooked paste goat’s cheese, ripened for two months, as the Trento Goat Cheese of Traditional Agrifood Products (D.M. n. 350, 1999)

Plant biodiversity of mountain grasslands as influenced by dairy farm management in the Eastern Alps

It has been widely demonstrated that farm management affects the plant species composition of grassland. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of farm management on plant species richness and composition in forty-nine small-scale farms breeding dairy cattle, located in the Eastern Italian Alps at two levels of precision: plot and farm levels. Data on housing system, quality scheme, farm productivity, income from milk yield and livestock density were collected through interviews with farmers. In each farm, botanical surveys were carried out in different plots representing the botanical composition of the farmland vegetation. Elevation, slope, type of use, number of hay cuts and type of fertilisation were also recorded. The botanical surveys of the plots on each farm were analysed to describe plant composition at the plot level, then merged to describe plant composition at the farm level. At both levels, grassland botanical composition was found to be affected by farm management. At the plot level, meadows cut 2 and 3 times per year did not exhibit any differences in plant richness, but they differed in plant species, botanical family and phytosociological class composition, with a general simplification of botanical composition. We found fewer phytosociological classes but not fewer plant species or botanical families in plots fertilised with slurry than in plots fertilised with manure or not fertilised, and a change in the botanical composition due to changes in the relative abundance of plant species. At the farm level, we observed a decrease in the number of plant species and phytosociological classes, and changes in plant composition, with increasing milk yield and livestock density. Changes in botanical composition were less evident at the farm level than at the plot level. However, protecting farms and their economic viability is a means of maintaining biodiversity at the plot level

Consequential-based life cycle assessment of reducing the concentrates supply level in the diet fed to lactating cows in the alpine dairy farming system

This study aimed to assess the consequences of reducing the concentrates supply level (CSL) in the lactating cows’ diet on Alpine dairy system’s GHG emissions. Consequential-based Life Cycle Assessment (cLCA) was adopted to assess the consequences within the ‘dairy_system’ (farm plus milk processing) and outside (‘expanded_system’). The functional unit was 1 kg of protein and fat (ProtFat). Data (1-year average) originated from 40 dairy farms in the Alps, collected through farm questionnaires during farm visits. Emissions were evaluated without (GWP) and with land-based emissions (crop- (GWP_LULUC_cb) or global-based (GWP_LULUC_gb) method). The feed conversion ratio was computed in terms of potentially human-edible gross energy (HeECR, MJ feed/MJ milk). Three scenarios were explored: 100% (t0), 75% (t175), and 50% (t150) of the initial CSL. Impact values for both systems were analysed with a mixed model to test the effect of the scenarios. At ‘dairy_system’, 1 kg ProtFat caused 19.0 (GWP), 22.9 (GWP_LULUC_cb) and 23.4 kg CO2-eq (GWP_LULUC_gb) at t0 and HeECR resulted in 0.71 MJ feed/MJ milk. The CSL reduction from t0 to t175 and t150 significantly increased impact values (2–11%) and decreased HeECR (from −10 to −23%). Considering ‘expanded_system’, CSL reduction significantly increased GWP (4%) and GWP_LULUC_gb (3%) but decreased GWP_LULUC_cb (up to −4%). In conclusion, cLCA-based approach evidenced that CSL reductions implied diversified effects on GHG emissions, at Alpine dairy system and at food supply level, giving new insights into the challenge of reducing GHG emissions while favouring the decoupling of milk production from the use of human-edible resources.Highlights Consequential Life Cycle Assessment of reducing concentrates supply (CSL) to lactating cows on the GHG emission of Alpine dairy products was analysed GHGs per protein plus fat in the product increased with decreasing CSL (75% and 50% of initial CSL) but can decrease considering land-use change GHG Decoupling Alpine dairy production from concentrates could be environmentally challenging but feasible