Sonotopes reveal dynamic spatio-temporal patterns in a rural landscape of Northern Italy

A sonotope is characterized as a sonic patch that forms a hierarchical link between a finer, local scaled acoustic community and the coarser landscape scaled sonoscape. Unfortunately, the concept of sonotopes has yet to be empirically supported. We tested the hypothesis that a spatially explicit sample of sonic information from a heterogeneous landscape would exhibit spatially unique sonotopes with distinct spatio-temporal patterns and acoustic communities. We used the Acoustic Complexity Index (ACItf) to analyze sonic information (WAV) gathered from an array of 10 sound recorders deployed within a lattice of 10, 4-ha hexagonal sample sites distributed evenly throughout a 48-ha undivided heterogeneous landscape in Northern Italy. We examined the temporal patterns of sonic activity (ACItf) between seasons (March – July and August – November 2021) and across five astronomical periods of a 24-h day (Night I, Morning Twilight, Day, Evening Twilight, and Night II). We used cluster analyses to identify sonotopes from groupings of similar ACItf values for each sample site and visualized the spatial arrangements of sonotopes throughout our study area between seasons and among astronomical periods. Sonic activity from bird biophonies increased in March – July during the Day but in August – November greater sonic activity shifted to crepuscular and nocturnal periods with the biophonies from crickets. Sonotopes exhibited spatially unique, dynamic arrangements of patch size and placement depending on the season and astronomical period. We discuss how acoustic communities and continuous geophonies play a role in the arrangement of sonotopes and their relation to the sonoscape

Research of the Arctic Soils Using an Artificial Neural Network

Desert-Arctic soils – balasamy (W–C1), are found in the most northerly position in the Arctic. These soils are characterized by a light granulometric composition and are formed in the areas recently released from glaciers, and develop under a crust of blue-green algae. Arctic soils (AO-AY-BC–C) are common on loamy and gravelly–loamy soils (Severnaya Zemlya, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, North of the Taimyr Peninsula). They are characterized by wedge-shaped horizons, and are formed in the form of polygons with a diameter of 0.5–1.0 m under moss-shrub vegetation. Carbonate pelozems (WSA–SSA) are found on deluvial deposits of carbonate rocks on loamy-gravelly soils. The vegetation cover is represented by lichens and rare specimens of flowering plants. In the Arctic tundra, on the most drained areas on loamy and gravelly-loamy soils, humified weak-clay (gley) soils (AO-A-CRMg-C(D)) are common. In terms of morphology and chemistry, these soils are similar to Arctic soils, but differ from them in the large development of wedge-shaped horizons. In this work, the composition of Arctic soils was studied using a neural network

The Level of Soil Pollution in the Aksu River Basin as a Result of Anthropogenic Impact

As the main purpose of this article, the authors consider the level of soil pollution in the Aksu River basin as a result of anthropogenic impact, in which factors of anthropogenic transformation of soils in different zones play an important role, as well as processes occurring in soils as a result of their impact. This article highlights the research of the main analyses carried out, which showed that the anthropogenic transformation of soils within the surveyed territory is multifactorial and complex. As an assumed result, the validity of which is analyzed in this article, it can be considered that the degree and forms of manifestation of anthropogenic transformation of foothill soils depend on their use, as one criterion of which is considered the use of such soil for arable land, including irrigated arable land, in which the degradation of mountain soils is mainly associated with pasture loads during a certain period. As a research question, it remains to be considered whether this is really the case or whether the present territory is subject to a different anthropological impact