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The worldwide increase in urban and industrial areas represents a challenge for urban green management, pollutant mitigation and environmental monitoring. We propose an analysis approach for the spatial and spatial-temporal distribution of pollutants in the environment through dendrochemistry techniques, in order to gauge the value of this discipline in urban ecosystem. The proposed analysis models can be useful to evaluate significant changes in space and time related to economic activities and to describe the “impacts” of adopted strategies, as demonstrated in the case study of the opening or closure of factories, and therefore to describe the cause-effect relation connected with human activities. Trees represent a key factor for urban planning, providing a wide variety of ecosystem services including in-depth environmental monitoring, which is one of the main elements to be included in a high quality urban design. The proposed approach aims at suggesting the dendrochemistry as a novel and feasible tool definable as a cost-saving ecosystem service in the urban context.
Teodoro Semeraro; Andrea Luvisi; Luigi De Bellis; Roberta Aretano; Sandro Sacchelli; Gherardo Chirici; Marco Marchetti; Claudia Cocozza. Dendrochemistry: Ecosystem Services Perspectives for Urban Biomonitoring. Frontiers in Environmental Science 2020, 8, 1 .
AMA StyleTeodoro Semeraro, Andrea Luvisi, Luigi De Bellis, Roberta Aretano, Sandro Sacchelli, Gherardo Chirici, Marco Marchetti, Claudia Cocozza. Dendrochemistry: Ecosystem Services Perspectives for Urban Biomonitoring. Frontiers in Environmental Science. 2020; 8 ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTeodoro Semeraro; Andrea Luvisi; Luigi De Bellis; Roberta Aretano; Sandro Sacchelli; Gherardo Chirici; Marco Marchetti; Claudia Cocozza. 2020. "Dendrochemistry: Ecosystem Services Perspectives for Urban Biomonitoring." Frontiers in Environmental Science 8, no. : 1.
This paper presents a conceptual framework that looks at photovoltaic systems in synergy with ecosystem services. The focus is to connect business success with social and ecological progress based on the operative concept of multifunctional land use. Such an approach attempts to harmonise the needs of the industrial processes of photovoltaic systems and the ecological and social needs of the landscape context. Different from the usual design of ground photovoltaic systems in farmlands or brownfields, a new framework is proposed, combining photovoltaic panels and vegetation. A case study is considered, applying the framework to existing photovoltaic systems in the Apulia region (southern Italy). The analysis shows how the framework has, among others, the major functions of increasing solar energy production, recycling wastewater, creating raw material for biofuel, as well as providing animal habitat and mitigating air temperature. The latter is preliminarily evaluated by means of modelling simulations performed with a computational fluid dynamics and microclimate model, ENVI-met. This approach opens up a new vision of the infrastructure design of photovoltaic systems which can produce new social and economic income.
Teodoro Semeraro; Roberta Aretano; Amilcare Barca; Alessandro Pomes; Cecilia Del Giudice; Elisa Gatto; Marcello Lenucci; Riccardo Buccolieri; Rohinton Emmanuel; Zhi Gao; Alessandra Scognamiglio. A Conceptual Framework to Design Green Infrastructure: Ecosystem Services as an Opportunity for Creating Shared Value in Ground Photovoltaic Systems. Land 2020, 9, 238 .
AMA StyleTeodoro Semeraro, Roberta Aretano, Amilcare Barca, Alessandro Pomes, Cecilia Del Giudice, Elisa Gatto, Marcello Lenucci, Riccardo Buccolieri, Rohinton Emmanuel, Zhi Gao, Alessandra Scognamiglio. A Conceptual Framework to Design Green Infrastructure: Ecosystem Services as an Opportunity for Creating Shared Value in Ground Photovoltaic Systems. Land. 2020; 9 (8):238.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTeodoro Semeraro; Roberta Aretano; Amilcare Barca; Alessandro Pomes; Cecilia Del Giudice; Elisa Gatto; Marcello Lenucci; Riccardo Buccolieri; Rohinton Emmanuel; Zhi Gao; Alessandra Scognamiglio. 2020. "A Conceptual Framework to Design Green Infrastructure: Ecosystem Services as an Opportunity for Creating Shared Value in Ground Photovoltaic Systems." Land 9, no. 8: 238.
The urban area is characterized by different urban ecosystems that interact with different institutional levels, including different stakeholders and decision-makers, such as public administrations and governments. This can create many institutional conflicts in planning and designing the urban space. It would arguably be ideal for an urban area to be planned like a socio-ecological system where the urban ecosystem and institutional levels interact with each other in a multi-scale analysis. This work embraces a planning process that aims at being applied to a multi-institutional level approach that is able to match different visions and stakeholders' needs, combining bottom-up and top-down participation approaches. At the urban scale, the use of this approach is sometimes criticized because it appears to increase conflicts between the different stakeholders. Starting from a case study in the Municipality of Lecce, South Italy, we apply a top-down and bottom-up participation approach to overcome conflicts at the institutional levels in the use of the urban space in the Plan of the Urban University Center. The bottom-up participation action analyzes the vision of people that frequent the urban context. After that, we share this vision in direct comparison with decision-makers to develop the planning and design solutions. The final result is a draft of the hypothetical Plan of the Urban University Center. In this way, the bottom-up and top-down approaches are useful to match the need of the community that uses the area with the vision of urban space development of decision-makers, reducing the conflicts that can arise between different institutional levels. In this study, it also emerges that the urban question is not green areas vs. new buildings, but it is important to focus on the social use of the space to develop human well-being. With the right transition of information and knowledge between different institutional levels, the bottom-up and top-down approaches help develop an operative effective transdisciplinary urban plan and design. Therefore, public participation with bottom-up and top-down approaches is not a tool to obtain maximum consensus, but mainly a moment of confrontation to better address social issues in urban planning and design.
Teodoro Semeraro; Zaccarelli Nicola; Alejandro Lara; Francesco Sergi Cucinelli; Roberta Aretano. A Bottom-Up and Top-Down Participatory Approach to Planning and Designing Local Urban Development: Evidence from an Urban University Center. Land 2020, 9, 98 .
AMA StyleTeodoro Semeraro, Zaccarelli Nicola, Alejandro Lara, Francesco Sergi Cucinelli, Roberta Aretano. A Bottom-Up and Top-Down Participatory Approach to Planning and Designing Local Urban Development: Evidence from an Urban University Center. Land. 2020; 9 (4):98.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTeodoro Semeraro; Zaccarelli Nicola; Alejandro Lara; Francesco Sergi Cucinelli; Roberta Aretano. 2020. "A Bottom-Up and Top-Down Participatory Approach to Planning and Designing Local Urban Development: Evidence from an Urban University Center." Land 9, no. 4: 98.
Forests are important in sequestering CO2 and therefore play a significant role in climate change. However, the CO2 cycle is conditioned by drought events that alter the rate of photosynthesis, which is the principal physiological action of plants in transforming CO2 into biological energy. This study applied recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) to describe the evolution of photosynthesis-related indices to highlight disturbance alterations produced by the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO, years 2005 and 2010) and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO, year 2015) in the Amazon forest. The analysis was carried out using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images to build time series of the enhanced vegetation index (EVI), the normalized difference water index (NDWI), and the land surface temperature (LST) covering the period 2001–2018. The results did not show significant variations produced by AMO throughout the study area, while a disruption due to the global warming phase linked to the extreme ENSO event occurred, and the forest was able to recover. In addition, spatial differences in the response of the forest to the ENSO event were found. These findings show that the application of RQA to the time series of vegetation indices supports the evaluation of the forest ecosystem response to disruptive events. This approach provides information on the capacity of the forest to recover after a disruptive event and, therefore is useful to estimate the resilience of this particular ecosystem.
Teodoro Semeraro; Andrea Luvisi; Antonio O. Lillo; Roberta Aretano; Riccardo Buccolieri; Norbert Marwan. Recurrence Analysis of Vegetation Indices for Highlighting the Ecosystem Response to Drought Events: An Application to the Amazon Forest. Remote Sensing 2020, 12, 907 .
AMA StyleTeodoro Semeraro, Andrea Luvisi, Antonio O. Lillo, Roberta Aretano, Riccardo Buccolieri, Norbert Marwan. Recurrence Analysis of Vegetation Indices for Highlighting the Ecosystem Response to Drought Events: An Application to the Amazon Forest. Remote Sensing. 2020; 12 (6):907.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTeodoro Semeraro; Andrea Luvisi; Antonio O. Lillo; Roberta Aretano; Riccardo Buccolieri; Norbert Marwan. 2020. "Recurrence Analysis of Vegetation Indices for Highlighting the Ecosystem Response to Drought Events: An Application to the Amazon Forest." Remote Sensing 12, no. 6: 907.
Socio-ecological landscapes typically characterized by non-linear dynamics in space and time are difficult to be analyzed using standard quantitative methods, due to multiple processes interacting on different spatial and temporal scales. This poses a challenge to the identification of appropriate approaches for analyzing time series that can evaluate system properties of landscape dynamics in the face of disturbances, such as uncontrolled fires. The purpose is the application of non-linear methods such as recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) to landscape ecology. The examples concern the time series of burnt and unburnt Mediterranean rangelands, to highlight potential and limits of RQA. We used RQA together with joint recurrence analysis (JRA) to compare the evolutionary behavior of different land uses. Time series of forests and grasslands in rangelands present both periodic and chaotic components with a rather similar behavior after the fire and clear transitions from less to more regular/predictable dynamics/succession. Results highlight the impacts of fire, the recovery capacity of land covers to pre-burnt levels, and the decay of synchronization towards the previous regime associated with vegetation secondary succession consistent with early successional species. RQA and JRA with their set of indices (recurrence rate: RR, laminarity: LAM, determinism: DET, and divergence: DIV) can represent new sensitive measures that may monitor the adaptive capacity and the resilience of landscapes. However, future applications are needed to standardize the analysis by strengthening the accuracy of this approach in describing the ongoing transformations of natural and man-managed landscapes.
Giovanni Zurlini; Norbert Marwan; Teodoro Semeraro; K. Bruce Jones; Roberta Aretano; Maria Rita Pasimeni; Donatella Valente; Christian Mulder; Irene Petrosillo. Investigating landscape phase transitions in Mediterranean rangelands by recurrence analysis. Landscape Ecology 2018, 33, 1617 -1631.
AMA StyleGiovanni Zurlini, Norbert Marwan, Teodoro Semeraro, K. Bruce Jones, Roberta Aretano, Maria Rita Pasimeni, Donatella Valente, Christian Mulder, Irene Petrosillo. Investigating landscape phase transitions in Mediterranean rangelands by recurrence analysis. Landscape Ecology. 2018; 33 (9):1617-1631.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGiovanni Zurlini; Norbert Marwan; Teodoro Semeraro; K. Bruce Jones; Roberta Aretano; Maria Rita Pasimeni; Donatella Valente; Christian Mulder; Irene Petrosillo. 2018. "Investigating landscape phase transitions in Mediterranean rangelands by recurrence analysis." Landscape Ecology 33, no. 9: 1617-1631.
Teodoro Semeraro; Alessandro Pomes; Cecilia Del Giudice; Danilo Negro; Roberta Aretano. Planning ground based utility scale solar energy as green infrastructure to enhance ecosystem services. Energy Policy 2018, 117, 218 -227.
AMA StyleTeodoro Semeraro, Alessandro Pomes, Cecilia Del Giudice, Danilo Negro, Roberta Aretano. Planning ground based utility scale solar energy as green infrastructure to enhance ecosystem services. Energy Policy. 2018; 117 ():218-227.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTeodoro Semeraro; Alessandro Pomes; Cecilia Del Giudice; Danilo Negro; Roberta Aretano. 2018. "Planning ground based utility scale solar energy as green infrastructure to enhance ecosystem services." Energy Policy 117, no. : 218-227.
This work carries out a landscape analysis for the last 60years to compare the degree of preservation of two areas on the same Italian coastline characterized by different environmental protection levels: a National designated protected areas and a highly tourist coastal destination. The conversion of natural land-covers into human land uses were detected for protected and unprotected coastal stretches highlighting that the only establishment of a protected area is not enough to stem undesirable land-use outcomes. A survey analysis was also conducted to assess attitudes of beach users and to evaluate their perception of natural habitats, beach and coastal water quality, and coastal dynamic over time. The results of 2071 questionnaires showed that there is similarity between subjective and objective data. However, several beach users perceived a bad quality of coastal water in the legally unprotected coastal area. The implications from a planning and management perspective are discussed.
Roberta Aretano; Luca Parlagreco; Teodoro Semeraro; Giovanni Zurlini; Irene Petrosillo. Coastal dynamics vs beach users attitudes and perceptions to enhance environmental conservation and management effectiveness. Marine Pollution Bulletin 2017, 123, 142 -155.
AMA StyleRoberta Aretano, Luca Parlagreco, Teodoro Semeraro, Giovanni Zurlini, Irene Petrosillo. Coastal dynamics vs beach users attitudes and perceptions to enhance environmental conservation and management effectiveness. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 2017; 123 (1-2):142-155.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRoberta Aretano; Luca Parlagreco; Teodoro Semeraro; Giovanni Zurlini; Irene Petrosillo. 2017. "Coastal dynamics vs beach users attitudes and perceptions to enhance environmental conservation and management effectiveness." Marine Pollution Bulletin 123, no. 1-2: 142-155.
The concept of Green Infrastructure (GI) emphasises the quality as well as quantity of urban, peri-urban greens spaces and natural areas, their multifunctional role, and the importance of interconnections between habitats. If a Green Infrastructure is proactively planned, developed, and maintained it has the potential to guide urban development by providing a framework for economic growth and nature conservation. GI includes parks and reserves, sporting fields, riparian areas like stream and river banks, greenways and trails, community gardens, street trees, and nature conservation areas, as well as less conventional spaces such as green walls, green alleyways, and cemeteries. Today we have to face new challenges about increasing energy use, decreasing water resources, limited spaces and ecological preservation. This problem must be solved in a sustainable way using innovative GI that combine technology with landscape design by enhancing ecosystem services provision. The aim of this research is to evaluate and develop multifunctional role of GI in terms of biodiversity and ecosystem services' enhancement by taking into account two case study in southern Italy: Constructed Treatment and photovoltaic energy plants. An effective way of tackling water resource problem is to use Constructed Treatment Wetlands (CTW) as low-cost alternative to conventional secondary or tertiary wastewater treatment. For this purpose, an annual monitoring of fauna and vegetation was carried out in order to identify species of national and international interest strongly related to the new habitats availability. Results have shown the ability of CTW in providing ancillary benefits, well beyond the primary aim of water purification, such as sustaining wildlife habitats and biodiversity at local and global scales, as well as its potential role in terms of recreational and educational opportunities. In the second case, we developed a GI project idea that proposes to evolve the photovoltaic energy plants in southern Italy, especially in Apulia region, into "new urban photo-ecological gardens". The aim of our research is to harmonise economic development and biodiversity conservation to safeguard the ecological processes that underpin human well-being, creating a strong synergism between renewable energy planning and valorisation of ecosystem services. Therefore, a new approach is proposed to manage photovoltaic solar farms, shifting from "negative vegetation management", focused mainly at the elimination of invasive plants, to "active vegetation management", i.e. the cultivation of plants with an economic and ecological value. This approach would offer many opportunities for integration between economic development, nature valorisation and public health promotion.
Teodoro Semeraro; Roberta Aretano; Alessandro Pomes. Green Infrastructure to Improve Ecosystem Services in the Landscape Urban Regeneration. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering 2017, 245, 82044 .
AMA StyleTeodoro Semeraro, Roberta Aretano, Alessandro Pomes. Green Infrastructure to Improve Ecosystem Services in the Landscape Urban Regeneration. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering. 2017; 245 ():82044.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTeodoro Semeraro; Roberta Aretano; Alessandro Pomes. 2017. "Green Infrastructure to Improve Ecosystem Services in the Landscape Urban Regeneration." IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering 245, no. : 82044.
Mediterranean rangelands should be conceived as socio-ecological landscapes (SEL) because of the close interaction and coevolution between socio-economic and natural systems. A significant threat to these Mediterranean rangelands is related to uncontrolled fires that can cause potential damages due to the reduction or even the loss of ecosystems. Our results show that time series of forest and grassland for unburned and burned areas are characterized by both periodic and chaotic components. The fire event caused a clear simplification of vegetation structures as well as of SEL dynamics that is more regular and predictable after the burning and less chaotic. However grassland evolution could be more predictable than forest considering the effect of fire disturbance on successional cycles and stages of the two land-cover types. In particular, we applied recurrence analysis with sliding temporal windows three-year length on the original time series. This analysis indicates that grasslands and forests behaved similarly in correspondence with the burning, although their phase states slowly diverge after fire. Recurrence is useful to study the vegetation recovery as it enables mapping landscape transitions derived from remote sensing. The approach helps stakeholders to draw landscape interventions and improve management strategies to sustain the delivery of ecosystem services.
Teodoro Semeraro; Norbert Marwan; Bruce K. Jones; Roberta Aretano; Maria Rita Pasimeni; Irene Petrosillo; Christian Mulder; Giovanni Zurlini. Recurrence Analysis of Vegetation Time Series and Phase Transitions in Mediterranean Rangelands. 2017, 1 .
AMA StyleTeodoro Semeraro, Norbert Marwan, Bruce K. Jones, Roberta Aretano, Maria Rita Pasimeni, Irene Petrosillo, Christian Mulder, Giovanni Zurlini. Recurrence Analysis of Vegetation Time Series and Phase Transitions in Mediterranean Rangelands. . 2017; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTeodoro Semeraro; Norbert Marwan; Bruce K. Jones; Roberta Aretano; Maria Rita Pasimeni; Irene Petrosillo; Christian Mulder; Giovanni Zurlini. 2017. "Recurrence Analysis of Vegetation Time Series and Phase Transitions in Mediterranean Rangelands." , no. : 1.
The present study proposes an index to assess the potential for adaptation to climate change for households in the mountainous regions. The index provides a realistic approach to recognize social and natural factors which contribute to successful adaptation and addresses several household functions, such as social networking, livelihood strategy, adjustment strategies, resource availability and accessibility. The proposed Adaptation Capability Index (ACI) is analytically defined, mathematically formulated and field tested on mountainous households in urban and semi-urban regions of the Uttarakhand Himalaya in India. To gather data on the topic relevant to the ACI, a household scale questionnaire was developed and administered to 120 heads of households through face-to-face interviews. The results highlight higher adaptive capability of urban households and low adaptation capacity of rural households due to poor farm productivity, low accessibility and availability of resources and technological input. Future programs and policies must include and implement regulations to remedy attributive factors responsible for higher adaptation. This paper may be applicable to other mountainous regions and may provide insights for effective adaptation strategies to climate change.
Rajiv Pandey; Nandini Maithani; Roberta Aretano; Giovanni Zurlini; Kelli M. Archie; Ajay K. Gupta; Vishnu Prasad Pandey. Empirical assessment of adaptation to climate change impacts of mountain households: development and application of an Adaptation Capability Index. Journal of Mountain Science 2016, 13, 1503 -1514.
AMA StyleRajiv Pandey, Nandini Maithani, Roberta Aretano, Giovanni Zurlini, Kelli M. Archie, Ajay K. Gupta, Vishnu Prasad Pandey. Empirical assessment of adaptation to climate change impacts of mountain households: development and application of an Adaptation Capability Index. Journal of Mountain Science. 2016; 13 (8):1503-1514.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRajiv Pandey; Nandini Maithani; Roberta Aretano; Giovanni Zurlini; Kelli M. Archie; Ajay K. Gupta; Vishnu Prasad Pandey. 2016. "Empirical assessment of adaptation to climate change impacts of mountain households: development and application of an Adaptation Capability Index." Journal of Mountain Science 13, no. 8: 1503-1514.
Climate change is expected to increase temperatures and rainfall in the Himalayan region and place stress on local livelihoods by affecting agro-biodiversity, crop yield, cropping patterns and the species composition of forests. This paper reports findings of a survey of farmers into the role of agroforestry or ‘agroecological intensification’ for reducing climate change vulnerability. The survey was conducted in the Tehri-Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, a Himalayan State of India. Existing traditional agroforestry was found to provide ecosystem services to farmers at various scales ranging from the global to household level, contributing to the livelihoods and resilience of the farmers to climate change. The strategies of farmers for adaptating to climate change include adoption of agroforestry due to its diversified agricultural and forest products and services. The analysis suggests that policies should consider agroforestry as a tool for improving the livelihood and resilience to climate change of farmers.
Rajiv Pandey; Roberta Aretano; Ajay K. Gupta; Dhanraj Meena; Bhuvnesh Kumar; Juha Alatalo. Agroecology as a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for Smallholders of Tehri-Garhwal in the Indian Himalayan Region. Small-scale Forestry 2016, 16, 53 -63.
AMA StyleRajiv Pandey, Roberta Aretano, Ajay K. Gupta, Dhanraj Meena, Bhuvnesh Kumar, Juha Alatalo. Agroecology as a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for Smallholders of Tehri-Garhwal in the Indian Himalayan Region. Small-scale Forestry. 2016; 16 (1):53-63.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRajiv Pandey; Roberta Aretano; Ajay K. Gupta; Dhanraj Meena; Bhuvnesh Kumar; Juha Alatalo. 2016. "Agroecology as a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for Smallholders of Tehri-Garhwal in the Indian Himalayan Region." Small-scale Forestry 16, no. 1: 53-63.
Forests are living dynamic systems and these unique ecosystems are essential for life on earth. Forest fires are one of the major environmental concerns, economic, and social in the worldwide. The aim of current research is to identify general indicators influencing on forest fire and compare forest fire susceptibility maps based on the boosted regression tree (BRT), generalized additive model (GAM), and random forest (RF) data mining models in the Minudasht Township, Golestan Province, Iran. According to expert opinion and literature review, fifteen condition factors on forest fire have been selected in the study area. These are slope degree, slope aspect, elevation, topographic wetness index (TWI), topographic position index (TPI), plan curvature, wind effect, annual temperature and rainfall, soil texture, distance to roads, rivers, and villages, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and land use. Forest fire locations were identified using MODIS images, historical records, and extensive field checking. 106 (≈70%) locations, out of 151 forest fires identified, were used for models building/training, while the remaining 45 (≈30%) cases were used for the models validation. BRT, GAM, and RF data mining models were used to distinguish between presence and absence of forest fires and its mapping. These algorithms were used to perform feature selection in order to reveal the variables that contribute more to forest fire occurrence. Finally, for validation of models, the area under the curve (AUC) for forest fire susceptibility maps was calculated. The validation of results showed that AUC for three mentioned models varies from 0.7279 to 0.8770 (AUCBRT = 80.84%, AUCGAM = 87.70%, and AUCRF = 72.79%,). Results indicated that the main drivers of forest fire occurrence were annual rainfall, distance to roads, and land use factors. The results can be applied to primary warning, fire suppression resource planning, and allocation work.
Zohre Sadat Pourtaghi; Hamid Reza Pourghasemi; Roberta Aretano; Teodoro Semeraro. Investigation of general indicators influencing on forest fire and its susceptibility modeling using different data mining techniques. Ecological Indicators 2016, 64, 72 -84.
AMA StyleZohre Sadat Pourtaghi, Hamid Reza Pourghasemi, Roberta Aretano, Teodoro Semeraro. Investigation of general indicators influencing on forest fire and its susceptibility modeling using different data mining techniques. Ecological Indicators. 2016; 64 ():72-84.
Chicago/Turabian StyleZohre Sadat Pourtaghi; Hamid Reza Pourghasemi; Roberta Aretano; Teodoro Semeraro. 2016. "Investigation of general indicators influencing on forest fire and its susceptibility modeling using different data mining techniques." Ecological Indicators 64, no. : 72-84.
A significant threat to the natural and cultural heritage of Mediterranean natural protected areas (NPAs) is related to uncontrolled fires that can cause potential damages related to the loss or a reduction of ecosystems. The assessment and mapping of the vulnerability to fire can be useful to reduce landscape damages and to establish priority areas where it is necessary to plan measures to reduce the fire vulnerability. To this aim, a methodology based on an interactive computer-based system has been proposed in order to support NPA's management authority for the identification of vulnerable hotspots to fire through the selection of suitable indicators that allow discriminating different levels of sensitivity (e.g. Habitat relevance, Fragmentation, Fire behavior, Ecosystem Services, Vegetation recovery after fire) and stresses (agriculture, tourism, urbanization). In particular, a multi-criteria analysis based on Fuzzy Expert System (FES) integrated in a GIS environment has been developed in order to identify and map potential "hotspots" of fire vulnerability, where fire protection measures can be undertaken in advance. In order to test the effectiveness of this approach, this approach has been applied to the NPA of Torre Guaceto (Apulia Region, southern Italy). The most fire vulnerable areas are the patch of century-old forest characterized by high sensitivity and stress, and the wetlands and century-old olive groves due to their high sensitivity. The GIS fuzzy expert system provides evidence of its potential usefulness for the effective management of natural protected areas and can help conservation managers to plan and intervene in order to mitigate the fire vulnerability in accordance with conservation goals.
Teodoro Semeraro; Giovanni Mastroleo; Roberta Aretano; Gisella Facchinetti; Giovanni Zurlini; Irene Petrosillo. GIS Fuzzy Expert System for the assessment of ecosystems vulnerability to fire in managing Mediterranean natural protected areas. Journal of Environmental Management 2016, 168, 94 -103.
AMA StyleTeodoro Semeraro, Giovanni Mastroleo, Roberta Aretano, Gisella Facchinetti, Giovanni Zurlini, Irene Petrosillo. GIS Fuzzy Expert System for the assessment of ecosystems vulnerability to fire in managing Mediterranean natural protected areas. Journal of Environmental Management. 2016; 168 ():94-103.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTeodoro Semeraro; Giovanni Mastroleo; Roberta Aretano; Gisella Facchinetti; Giovanni Zurlini; Irene Petrosillo. 2016. "GIS Fuzzy Expert System for the assessment of ecosystems vulnerability to fire in managing Mediterranean natural protected areas." Journal of Environmental Management 168, no. : 94-103.
Teodoro Semeraro; Cosimo Giannuzzi; Leonardo Beccarisi; Roberta Aretano; Antonella De Marco; Maria Rita Pasimeni; Giovanni Zurlini; Irene Petrosillo. A constructed treatment wetland as an opportunity to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services. Ecological Engineering 2015, 82, 517 -526.
AMA StyleTeodoro Semeraro, Cosimo Giannuzzi, Leonardo Beccarisi, Roberta Aretano, Antonella De Marco, Maria Rita Pasimeni, Giovanni Zurlini, Irene Petrosillo. A constructed treatment wetland as an opportunity to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services. Ecological Engineering. 2015; 82 ():517-526.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTeodoro Semeraro; Cosimo Giannuzzi; Leonardo Beccarisi; Roberta Aretano; Antonella De Marco; Maria Rita Pasimeni; Giovanni Zurlini; Irene Petrosillo. 2015. "A constructed treatment wetland as an opportunity to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services." Ecological Engineering 82, no. : 517-526.
New broader, adaptable and accommodating sets of themes have been proposed to help to identify, understand and solve sustainability problems. However, how this knowledge will foster decisions that lead to more desirable outcomes and analyses necessary to transition to sustainability remains a critical theoretical and empirical question for basic and applied research. We argue that we are still underestimating the tendency to lock into certain patterns that come at the cost of the ability to adjust to new situations. This rigidity limits the ability of persons, groups, and companies to respond to new problems, and can make it hard to learn new facts because we pre-select facts as important, or not, in line with our established values. Changing circumstances demand to reappraise values like in the case of Pirsig's monkey and its rice. There is an urgent need to go beyond such local, static and short-term conceptions, where landscape sustainability has been incorrectly envisioned as a durable, stable condition that, once achieved, could persist for generations. We argue that to manage a global transition toward more environmentally efficient and, therefore, more sustainable land-use we have to reappraise societal values at the root of overregulation and rigidity.
Giovanni Zurlini; Irene Petrosillo; András Bozsik; Jon Cloud; Roberta Aretano; Noa Kekuewa Lincoln. Sustainable landscape development and value rigidity: the Pirsig‘s monkey trap. Landscape Online 2015, 40, 1 -19.
AMA StyleGiovanni Zurlini, Irene Petrosillo, András Bozsik, Jon Cloud, Roberta Aretano, Noa Kekuewa Lincoln. Sustainable landscape development and value rigidity: the Pirsig‘s monkey trap. Landscape Online. 2015; 40 ():1-19.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGiovanni Zurlini; Irene Petrosillo; András Bozsik; Jon Cloud; Roberta Aretano; Noa Kekuewa Lincoln. 2015. "Sustainable landscape development and value rigidity: the Pirsig‘s monkey trap." Landscape Online 40, no. : 1-19.
The present study aims to assess the socioecological vulnerability of smallholders through an index of Tehri Garhwal Himalaya. The index provides a realistic approach to recognize the contributions of social and ecological factors for household welfare vulnerability to climate change. The approach puts forward various indices for each component of vulnerability to climate change - exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity including two more indices: one for overall impact under the exposure of climate change and another for overall vulnerability. The five indices were proposed to assess the vulnerability status of with and without agroforestry practicing households in Himalayan region. These indices are based on 35 indicators (8 for exposure; 12 for sensitivity, 15 for adaptive capacity), selected through inductive approaches. A questionnaire for households was designed for the above aim and was administered to 121 heads of households through face-toface interviews with 77 households practicing agroforestry and 44 without agroforestry. The questionnaire dealt the general household information, and indicators of the vulnerability including the issues related to agroforestry. The results highlight slightly higher adaptive capacity of agroforestry practicing households due to specific contribution of agroforestry. The low contribution of agroforestry among smallholders was due to small land holding. The study also results that remoteness, specific issues of smallholders’ such as poverty, education and employment are responsible for the present condition. In particular this study clearly shows that poverty is the key driver for vulnerability. All of these issues can be addressed if future programs and policies, include and implement regulations to remedy attributive factors. This paper may be applicable to other mountainous regions providing insights for effective adaptation strategies to climate change.
Rajiv Pandey; Dhanraj Meena; Roberta Aretano; Sachidananda Satpathy; Teodoro Semeraro; Ajay Kumar Gupta; Sushma Rawat; Giovanni Zurlini. Socio-ecological Vulnerability of Smallholders due to Climate Change in Mountains: Agroforestry as an Adaptation Measure. Change and Adaptation in Socio-Ecological Systems 2015, 2, 1 .
AMA StyleRajiv Pandey, Dhanraj Meena, Roberta Aretano, Sachidananda Satpathy, Teodoro Semeraro, Ajay Kumar Gupta, Sushma Rawat, Giovanni Zurlini. Socio-ecological Vulnerability of Smallholders due to Climate Change in Mountains: Agroforestry as an Adaptation Measure. Change and Adaptation in Socio-Ecological Systems. 2015; 2 (1):1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRajiv Pandey; Dhanraj Meena; Roberta Aretano; Sachidananda Satpathy; Teodoro Semeraro; Ajay Kumar Gupta; Sushma Rawat; Giovanni Zurlini. 2015. "Socio-ecological Vulnerability of Smallholders due to Climate Change in Mountains: Agroforestry as an Adaptation Measure." Change and Adaptation in Socio-Ecological Systems 2, no. 1: 1.
We want to draw the attention to some emerging land-use cross-scale patterns resulting from social-economic factors and associated with an historical characteristic sequence of different land-use regimes that could indicate overregulation in social-ecological landscapes (SELs). We postulate that these emerging patterns with clearly defined spatial areas with fixed rules and increasing merging and enlargements of specific functions in some SEL locations are early warning signal of regime shifts and can be typical in many different human-dominated parts of the world. This current overall tendency could make in fact land administration inflexible, and planning may reinforce rigidity, erode resilience, and promote regime shifts and collapse in SELs instead of the adaptability required to counter surprises due, for instance, to climate change. The problem we presently face is how a “static” and “ordered” landscape condition in SELs, provided by the cross-scale intersections of land use, plans, and norms can be made sustainable in face of unpredictable disturbance and change. If we don’t have proper mechanisms to monitor and predict changes and if we are not able to adapt through feedback mechanisms to changes in the environment, we might get stuck in a rigidity trap like the Pirsig’s monkey and we are at high risk for failing. We show that a potential way to address such issues is to look at recent trends of different land-use regimes, along with a simple framework to interpret resulting spatial patterns across scales. We provide examples of this approach and discuss what a cross-scale land-use pattern could mean, what it tells about the condition of SELs, and what the effects could be of changing observed conditions in SELs because of, for instance, climate change. We exercise the approach for the Apulia region in southern Italy taking advantage of recent historical trends observed in main drivers and of the rich information provided by cross-scale pattern analysis in the pattern transition space provided by classic neutral landscape models. We suggest that the degree to which the observed pattern departs from a particular neutral model can indicate whether major constraints or organizing structure has been placed on the landscape and how those landscapes might evolve/react to additional variation due to land use and climate change. The degree of overregulation provided by cross-scale patterns of land use is a warning to planners and managers that the problem is becoming widespread and can no longer be addressed simply with short-term and local-scale solutions. To manage a transition toward more environmentally efficient and, therefore, more sustainable land use, we should design and manage landscape elements and structure to create less contagious and more heterogeneous landscapes. Nevertheless, we have to change societal values at the root of overregulation and rigidity. We have to be aware that we might get stuck in a rigidity trap to appreciate the similarity of our common condition and to start real cooperation.
G. Zurlini; T. Semeraro; Roberta Aretano; Maria Rita Pasimeni; A. De Marco; I. Castorini; N. Zaccarelli; I. Petrosillo. Emerging Land-Use Cross-Scale Patterns and the Pirsig’s Monkey Trap. Law and Agroecology 2015, 333 -357.
AMA StyleG. Zurlini, T. Semeraro, Roberta Aretano, Maria Rita Pasimeni, A. De Marco, I. Castorini, N. Zaccarelli, I. Petrosillo. Emerging Land-Use Cross-Scale Patterns and the Pirsig’s Monkey Trap. Law and Agroecology. 2015; ():333-357.
Chicago/Turabian StyleG. Zurlini; T. Semeraro; Roberta Aretano; Maria Rita Pasimeni; A. De Marco; I. Castorini; N. Zaccarelli; I. Petrosillo. 2015. "Emerging Land-Use Cross-Scale Patterns and the Pirsig’s Monkey Trap." Law and Agroecology , no. : 333-357.
Roberta Aretano; Teodoro Semeraro; Irene Petrosillo; Antonella De Marco; Maria Rita Pasimeni; Giovanni Zurlini. Mapping ecological vulnerability to fire for effective conservation management of natural protected areas. Ecological Modelling 2015, 295, 163 -175.
AMA StyleRoberta Aretano, Teodoro Semeraro, Irene Petrosillo, Antonella De Marco, Maria Rita Pasimeni, Giovanni Zurlini. Mapping ecological vulnerability to fire for effective conservation management of natural protected areas. Ecological Modelling. 2015; 295 ():163-175.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRoberta Aretano; Teodoro Semeraro; Irene Petrosillo; Antonella De Marco; Maria Rita Pasimeni; Giovanni Zurlini. 2015. "Mapping ecological vulnerability to fire for effective conservation management of natural protected areas." Ecological Modelling 295, no. : 163-175.
One solution to mitigate climate change can be the production of renewable energy. In this context, the aims of this paper are: (1) the identification of local unsuitable areas for the installation of Utility-Scale Solar Energy (USSE) in a municipality in southern Italy; (2) the assessment of the effects of their installation on local natural CO2 sequestration and on avoided CO2; and (3) the evaluation of their contribution to the global climate regulation through scenario analysis. Since 2007, 82 authorizations have been obtained for the installation of USSE in the municipality and 42 over 64 already completed have been installed in unsuitable areas. For what concerns the remaining USSE, two short-term scenarios are analysed in order to take into account their contribution in terms of climate regulation service. The first scenario is called Business As Usual with new planned USSE installed by 2014 also in unsuitable areas, and the second one with the new USSE installed only in suitable areas identified in this study. Surprisingly, Scenario 2 is characterized by a reduced natural capacity to sequester CO2 emissions and by a lower contribution of vegetation in providing the ecosystem service climate regulation in comparison with Scenario 1
Antonella De Marco; Irene Petrosillo; Teodoro Semeraro; Maria Rita Pasimeni; Roberta Aretano; Giovanni Zurlini. The contribution of Utility-Scale Solar Energy to the global climate regulation and its effects on local ecosystem services. Global Ecology and Conservation 2014, 2, 324 -337.
AMA StyleAntonella De Marco, Irene Petrosillo, Teodoro Semeraro, Maria Rita Pasimeni, Roberta Aretano, Giovanni Zurlini. The contribution of Utility-Scale Solar Energy to the global climate regulation and its effects on local ecosystem services. Global Ecology and Conservation. 2014; 2 ():324-337.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAntonella De Marco; Irene Petrosillo; Teodoro Semeraro; Maria Rita Pasimeni; Roberta Aretano; Giovanni Zurlini. 2014. "The contribution of Utility-Scale Solar Energy to the global climate regulation and its effects on local ecosystem services." Global Ecology and Conservation 2, no. : 324-337.
Maria Rita Pasimeni; Irene Petrosillo; Roberta Aretano; Teodoro Semeraro; Antonella De Marco; Nicola Zaccarelli; Giovanni Zurlini. Scales, strategies and actions for effective energy planning: A review. Energy Policy 2014, 65, 165 -174.
AMA StyleMaria Rita Pasimeni, Irene Petrosillo, Roberta Aretano, Teodoro Semeraro, Antonella De Marco, Nicola Zaccarelli, Giovanni Zurlini. Scales, strategies and actions for effective energy planning: A review. Energy Policy. 2014; 65 ():165-174.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMaria Rita Pasimeni; Irene Petrosillo; Roberta Aretano; Teodoro Semeraro; Antonella De Marco; Nicola Zaccarelli; Giovanni Zurlini. 2014. "Scales, strategies and actions for effective energy planning: A review." Energy Policy 65, no. : 165-174.