26 research outputs found
Developing a predictive modelling capacity for a climate change-vulnerable blanket bog habitat: Assessing 1961-1990 baseline relationships
Aim: Understanding the spatial distribution of high priority habitats and
developing predictive models using climate and environmental variables to
replicate these distributions are desirable conservation goals. The aim of this
study was to model and elucidate the contributions of climate and topography to
the distribution of a priority blanket bog habitat in Ireland, and to examine how
this might inform the development of a climate change predictive capacity for
peat-lands in Ireland.
Methods: Ten climatic and two topographic variables were recorded for grid
cells with a spatial resolution of 1010 km, covering 87% of the mainland
land surface of Ireland. Presence-absence data were matched to these variables
and generalised linear models (GLMs) fitted to identify the main climatic and
terrain predictor variables for occurrence of the habitat. Candidate predictor
variables were screened for collinearity, and the accuracy of the final fitted GLM
was evaluated using fourfold cross-validation based on the area under the curve
(AUC) derived from a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plot. The GLM
predicted habitat occurrence probability maps were mapped against the actual
distributions using GIS techniques.
Results: Despite the apparent parsimony of the initial GLM using only climatic
variables, further testing indicated collinearity among temperature and precipitation
variables for example. Subsequent elimination of the collinear variables and
inclusion of elevation data produced an excellent performance based on the AUC
scores of the final GLM. Mean annual temperature and total mean annual
precipitation in combination with elevation range were the most powerful
explanatory variable group among those explored for the presence of blanket
bog habitat.
Main conclusions: The results confirm that this habitat distribution in general
can be modelled well using the non-collinear climatic and terrain variables tested
at the grid resolution used. Mapping the GLM-predicted distribution to the
observed distribution produced useful results in replicating the projected
occurrence of the habitat distribution over an extensive area. The methods
developed will usefully inform future climate change predictive modelling for
Irelan
The kinetics of reaction of bovine thrombin with p-nitrophenyl p′-guanidinobenzoate and 7-amino-1-chloro-3-toluene-p-sulphonamido-2-butanone: A new method for determining the operational molarity of thrombin solutions
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Potential Woody Biomass Supply Chain Scenarios: A Conceptual Study
Part 2: Sustainable Supply ChainsInternational audienceThe interconnectivity among various business entities and physical functions of woody biomass supply chains requires a system-wide perspective. Extant studies largely focus on individual business units or sets of activities. This paper takes a supply chain perspective to gain an understanding of potential woody biomass supply chains. The study draws insights from an extensive review of literature to conceptualize potential woody biomass supply chain scenarios. Three woody biomass supply chain scenarios and associated logistics activities were defined from the analysis of literature content. They are woody biomass sourcing from forest product manufacturers, forest landowners, and biomass pre-processers. Findings suggest that woody biomass as a marketable commodity creates business opportunities for loggers and forest product manufacturers. In moving forward, infrastructure and technological development is vital, encompassing logging capability and transportation and industrial infrastructure