Inventory of tree hedgerows in an italian agroforestry landscape by remote sensing and GIS-based methods

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gis ila the gis for italian logistics in antarctica

A geographic information system (GIS) is a hardware/software tool which is very effective in collecting, storing, searching, handling, and visualizing geographic data together with their descriptive attributes. Such a tool is very helpful to approach a wide range of situations, including many logistic problems. ENEA, as the agency having the task of implementing the Italian Antarctic Program (PNRA), has decided to use a GIS, in order to increase the efficiency in managing the huge amount of data collected in the course of Italian activity in Antarctica, which counts fifteen expeditions up to now

Combining demographic and land-use dynamics with local communities perceptions for analyzing socio-ecological systems: a case study in a mountain area of Italy

Rural communities are facing increasing social heterogeneity and organization complexity consequently to land use changes, demographic dynamics and globalization processes. Members of the communities should have a direct perception of their own territories, recognizing any positive or negative change that may occur. A better knowledge of these processes may be achieved by investigating local community awareness and perspectives. A research was carried out in a rural and mountainous area of Central Italy with the following aims: (i) to highlight demographic dynamics and land use changes that affected the area during the last decades; (ii) to assess local communities’ perceptions and awareness of their own territories; (iii) to verify and validate a research methodology by evaluating the resilience of socio-ecological systems. The study area involved four municipalities that were analyzed considering the historical changes of demographic data and land-use system. A questionnaire was submitted to a sample of local population. The questionnaire was aimed to investigate the following issues: (i) level and quality of participation and communication within the community life; (ii) awareness of environmental resources of the territories; (iii) socio-cultural opportunities and expectations of future changes within the communities. In each municipality, different behaviors and needs emerged according to the age of the inhabitants. In spite of that, awareness of social, cultural and environmental constraints/potentialities emerged in all the communities. Communication capability seems a key factor to reinforce both the social capital and the resilience of the territories. Thus, sharing of experience and knowledge could play a major role in developing an efficient governance of the occurring territorial changes. Finally, the study highlights that serious efforts should be spent especially to satisfy expectations of young people concerning the territorial development. This latter seems a prerequisite for the maintenance of the system resilience

A stratigraphic and geophysical approach to studying the deepcirculating groundwater and thermal springs, and their recharge areas, in Cimini Mountains–Viterbo area, central Italy.A stratigraphic and geophysical approach to studying the deepcirculating groundwater and thermal springs, and their recharge areas, in Cimini Mountains–Viterbo area, central Italy.

The stratigraphic and structural setting of the Cimini Mountains and Viterbo area of Italy has been reconstructed. The architecture of the tectonic edifice, below the Pleistocene Cimino and Vicano volcanic districts cover, is characterized by the Mesozoic–Cenozoic Tuscan Nappe and the similar Umbria-Marche Succession; both are capped by the overthrusted Ligurian Late Cretaceous–Eocene Tolfa Flysch. A shallow unconfined volcanic aquifer is separated, by a thick aquiclude, from the deep confined carbonate aquifer consisting of the Tuscan Nappe and the Umbria-Marche Succession. The volcanic aquifer hosts cold waters, whilst the carbonate aquifer hosts hot sulphate–alkaline earth waters that emerge in the thermal area of Viterbo with a temperature of 30–60°C. The recharge area of cold waters is located in the Cimini Mountains. Thermal waters of the Viterbo hot springs are derived from a circuit of waters that emerge along the River Nera near Narni (about 34km ENE of Viterbo), with a high salinity, a temperature of 16–18°C, a sulphate–alkaline earth composition, and a discharge of 13m3/sec, whose recharge area is located in the central pre-Apennines reliefs