Role of Nitric Oxide in the Altered Calcium Homeostasis of Platelets from Rats with Biliary Cirrhosis.

© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/)

Mapping human impact on Net Primary Productivity using MODIS data for better policy making

Tropical forests support core biological, hydrological and socioeconomic functions essential to life on earth. An assessment based on the Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) could help reduce exploitation of these forests, increasing their adaptive capacity and lessening their vulnerability to losses of Net Primary Productivity (NPP). Here we apply HANPP to the study area, based on Land Use Impact variability between the forest and contiguous roads and plantations by application of Geographical Information Systems of Protected Area Tools. We used the human activity index and biomass extraction from forest to study the effects of population pressure. The final land use impact map showed that the largest area of forest land (37 %) is now in urban and agricultural use, and that these areas are located within 0–3 km of the forest land. NPP with human intervention showed, total NPP of the forest decreased by 7.4 %, from 104.4 to 96.6 gCm−2 month−1. This study developed a new HANPP model and enhanced the usefulness of HANPP indicators by demonstrating the impact of human activity inside the forest. Because NPP changes most in higher–productivity areas, suitable policies should be enforced to avoid further human interference in the area

Monitoring vegetation drought using MODIS remote sensing indices for natural forest and plantation areas

Natural forest, oil palm and rubber plantations are economically and environmentally important for Peninsular Malaysia. The present study analysed four years of moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface reflectance data to develop spectral indices of vegetation, water availability and moisture stress for the study area. The indices – the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index, the Normalised Difference Water Index and the Moisture Stress Index – were applied to the three different habitats to monitor drought and develop a Malaysia Southwest Monsoon (M-SWM) classification. By integrating indicators of the Southwest Monsoon, the Standard Precipitation Index, mean precipitation and temperature and spectral indices correlation analysis, M-SWM classification showed greater sensitivity to drought conditions than any of the individual indicators alone. The results also found that July is the driest month; it was the only period classified as ‘Very Dry’ based on the M-SWM

Assessment of marine ecosystem services indicators: experiences and lessons learned from 14 european case studies

This article shares the experiences, observations, and discussions that occurred during the completing of an ecosystem services (ES) indicator framework to be used at European Union (EU) and Member States' level. The experience base was drawn from 3 European research projects and 14 associated case study sites that include 13 transitional-water bodies (specifically 8 coastal lagoons, 4 riverine estuaries, and 1 fjord) and 1 coastal-water ecosystem. The ES pertinent to each case study site were identified along with indicators of these ES and data sources that could be used for mapping. During the process, several questions and uncertainties arose, followed by discussion, leading to these main lessons learned: 1) ES identification: Some ES that do not seem important at the European scale emerge as relevant at regional or local scales; 2) ES indicators: When direct indicators are not available, proxies for indicators (indirect indicators) might be used, including combined data on monitoring requirements imposed by EU legislation and international agreements; 3) ES mapping: Boundaries and appropriate data spatial resolution must be established because ES can be mapped at different temporal and spatial scales. We also acknowledge that mapping and assessment of ES supports the dialogue between human well-being and ecological status. From an evidence-based marine planning-process point of view, mapping and assessment of marine ES are of paramount importance to sustainable use of marine natural capital and to halt the loss of marine biodiversity. (C) 2016 SETA