Classification and mapping of the woody vegetation of Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe

Within the framework of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA), the purpose of this study was to produce a classification of the woody vegetation of the Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe, and a map of its potential distribution. Cover-abundance data of woody species were collected in 330 georeferenced relevés across the Park. These data were used to produce two matrices: the first one using the cover-abundance values as collected in five height layers and the second one based on merging the layers into a single cover value for each species. Automatic classifications were produced for both matrices to determine the optimal number of vegetation types. The two classification approaches both produced 14 types belonging to three macro-groups: mopane, miombo and alluvial woodlands. The results of the two classifications were compared looking at the constant, dominant and diagnostic species of each type. The classification based on separate layers was considered more effective and retained. A high-resolution map of the potential distribution of vegetation types for the whole study area was produced using Random Forest. In the model, the relationship between bioclimatic and topographic variables, known to be correlated to vegetation types, and the classified relevés was used. Identified vegetation types were compared with those of other national parks within the GLTFCA, and an evaluation of the main threats and pressures was conducted. Conservation implications: Vegetation classification and mapping are useful tools for multiple purposes including: surveying and monitoring plant and animal populations, communities and their habitats, and development of management and conservation strategies. Filling the knowledge gap for the Gonarezhou National Park provides a basis for standardised and homogeneous vegetation classification and mapping for the entire Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area

Early heat waves over Italy and their impacts on durum wheat yields

In the last decades the Euro-Mediterranean region has experienced an increase in extreme temperature events such as heat waves. These extreme weather conditions can strongly affect arable crop growth and final yields. Here, early heat waves over Italy from 1995 to 2013 are identified and characterised and their impact on durum wheat yields is investigated. As expected, results confirm the impact of the 2003 heat wave and highlight a high percentage of concurrence of early heat waves and significant negative yield anomalies in 13 out of 39 durum wheat production areas. In south-eastern Italy (the most important area for durum wheat production), the percentage of concurrent events exceeds 80%.JRC.H.4-Monitoring Agricultural Resource

Erosione del suolo e inquinamento da nitrati: valutazione integrata e partecipativa delle misure agro-ambientali

L’Unione Europea richiede ai paesi membri una valutazione ex-post dei Piani di Sviluppo Rurale (PSR) per la quale fornisce un set di indicatori agro-ambientali (IAA) e di criteri di valutazione (Doc. STAR VI/43517/02, VI/12004/00, VI/8865/99). La Regione Marche, ad integrazione della valutazione indipendente del PSR condotta dalla Ati Ecoter-Resco-Unicab, ha commissionato agli autori (gruppo di lavoro SAPROV) una valutazione quantitativa dell’impatto delle misure agroambientali (basso impatto ambientale e biologico) sulle perdite di nitrati ed erosione idrica del suolo. In questo lavoro, si riportano in sintesi le “lessons learned” da questa esperienza, che è stata condotta attraverso l’integrazione di metodologie a diversa scala d’indagine relative ad aspetti agro-ambientali, politico-istituzionali e partecipative

Quality of life and sexual functioning among endometrial cancer patients treated with one week adjuvant high-dose-rate vaginal brachytherapy schedule

Purpose: To examine quality of life (QOL) and sexual functioning in a series of patients with intermediate- and high-intermediate risk endometrial cancer, treated with exclusive adjuvant one week high-dose-rate (HDR) vaginal brachytherapy (VBT) schedule. Material and methods: Between July 2008 and October 2013, 55 patients with diagnosis of endometrial cancer were treated with adjuvant exclusive VBT. All patients had undergone surgical treatment with a laparotomy approach before VBT. Post-operative VBT was administered 6-8 weeks after surgery. Treatment was delivered to vaginal vault using Nucletron HDR unit with iridium-192 source at a dose of 21 Gy/3 fractions of 7 Gy each, three times a week, every other day, prescribed at 0.5 cm depth of vaginal wall, and 3 cm in length from the apex. QOL was assessed using European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) quality of life questionnaire Core-30 (QLQ-C30), and EORTC cancer-specific quality of life questionnaire (QLQ-CX24). Results: Median follow-up time was 92 months (range, 42-162 months). Questionnaires were carried out respectively at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months after the end of BT. Response rate to questionnaires was 100% (n = 55). Nineteen patients (35%) answered all the questions of surveys, while 36 patients (65%) completed the surveys, except for questions on sex activity, vaginal function, and sex enjoyment. Longitudinal analysis during 5-year follow-up period showed a statistically significant trend towards worsening of fatigue, constipation, and diarrhea. Overall physical functioning and role functioning was not impaired after VBT. Over the time, sex enjoyment improved, except for elderly patients. For emotional functioning, sex worry and social functioning presented no significant time-related effect. Conclusions: One week brachytherapy schedule to vaginal cuff is generally well-tolerated. QOL does not worsen after applying vaginal brachytherapy. brachytherapy; endometrial carcinoma; fatigue; quality of life; sexual disfunction

Sequestro potenziale di carbonio in sistemi colturali cerealicoli della collina marchigiana

Una delle sfide più importanti dell’agricoltura di questi anni è lo sviluppo di pratiche colturali in grado di aumentare il sequestro di carbonio organico nel suolo (Purakayastha et al. 2008). La scelta del sistema colturale e in particolare l’utilizzo di una bilanciata gestione della fertilizzazione può influenzare in misura molto rilevante il potenziale di incremento del carbonio organico nei suoli agrari (Lal, 2002). Il lavoro aveva l’obiettivo di valutare, attraverso sperimentazioni di campo e modelli di simulazione, l’impatto sulla sostanza organica del suolo di diverse modalità di fertilizzazione azotata nell’ambito di un avvicendamento asciutto frumento duro-mais della collina marchigiana

Variations in the amount of water ice on Ceres' surface suggest a seasonal water cycle.

The dwarf planet Ceres is known to host a considerable amount of water in its interior, and areas of water ice were detected by the Dawn spacecraft on its surface. Moreover, sporadic water and hydroxyl emissions have been observed from space telescopes. We report the detection of water ice in a mid-latitude crater and its unexpected variation with time. The Dawn spectrometer data show a change of water ice signatures over a period of 6 months, which is well modeled as ~2-km2 increase of water ice. The observed increase, coupled with Ceres' orbital parameters, points to an ongoing process that seems correlated with solar flux. The reported variation on Ceres' surface indicates that this body is chemically and physically active at the present time

Long term effects of nitrogen fertilization on soil organic matter: applications of the DSSAT model

The conversion from natural to agricultural ecosystems and unsustainable land management and agricultural practices have often lowered the soil organic matter (SOM) content (Doran, 2002). An increase of SOM is required almost everywhere (Triberti et al. 2008), since it plays a key role to maintain sustainable cropping systems. It prevents soil degradation by limiting soil cracking and erosion, reduces pollution risks by adsorbing toxic substances, improves soil structure, plant nutrients availability and soil microbial biodiversity. Part of SOM which has been lost can be re-sequestered through adoption of recommended soil and crop management practices. DSSAT 4.02 (Jones et al., 2003) has been recently integrated with the CENTURY SOM module (Gijsman et aI., 2002) and the module for tillage effects on soil processes, to simulate the long term dynamics of SOM. The objective of this study was to analyze the long term impact of tillage and fertility management on soil organic matter fractions in a durum wheat-corn rotation in a hilly rainfed area using field experiments and model simulations. In this paper we report the results of the effect of the nitrogen fertilization on SOM

Artifacts reduction in VIR/Dawn data

Remote sensing images are generally affected by different types of noise that degrade the quality of the spectral data (i.e., stripes and spikes). Hyperspectral images returned by a Visible and InfraRed (VIR) spectrometer onboard the NASA Dawn mission exhibit residual systematic artifacts. VIR is an imaging spectrometer coupling high spectral and spatial resolutions in the visible and infrared spectral domain (0.25-5.0 μm). VIR data present one type of noise that may mask or distort real features (i.e., spikes and stripes), which may lead to misinterpretation of the surface composition. This paper presents a technique for the minimization of artifacts in VIR data that include a new instrument response function combining ground and in-flight radiometric measurements, correction of spectral spikes, odd-even band effects, systematic vertical stripes, high-frequency noise, and comparison with ground telescopic spectra of Vesta and Ceres. We developed a correction of artifacts in a two steps process: creation of the artifacts matrix and application of the same matrix to the VIR dataset. In the approach presented here, a polynomial function is used to fit the high frequency variations. After applying these corrections, the resulting spectra show improvements of the quality of the data. The new calibrated data enhance the significance of results from the spectral analysis of Vesta and Ceres