Biomonitoring of ozone: A tool to initiate the young people into the scientific method and environmental issues. A case study in Central Italy

The wide diffusion of tropospheric ozone is a major environmental problem, in urban area as well as in rural and remote localities. Its increasing man-related levels are connected to severe impacts on human life and welfare, in terms of adverse health effects, damage to manufacts and injury to plants. Biological monitoring is a powerful tool for filling the gap between the causes and the effects of environmental toxins, as bioindication agents assess in an easy-to-detect fashion the effects of pollution on (selected) biota. A project was launched in 2012 to involve some 190 students (ages 11–16) from three schools in Central Italy in biodetection of ozone effects with the hypersensitive plant Nicotiana tabacum Bel-W3. The project also involved teachers and families of the pupils. Results implied the reading of 12,000 biological data (ozone injury on cotyledons) and were fortified by data captured by four automatic analyzers (1300 raw data of hourly means). Biological and chemical data compared favorably and were treated with geostatistical methods; results are exposed in the form of cartographic restitutions. Under the guidance of their teachers, the pupils had several opportunities to practice with many basic and applied study areas and disciplines and were initiated into the scientific method in a simple and absorbing manner. Though primarily an educational exercise, the survey provided sound research elements and the picture of pollution that emerged has increased the knowledge of air quality in the area. Biomonitoring is confirmed to be a powerful tool to involve young people in environmental topics.     

Perception and preference of trees: A psychological contribution to tree species selection in urban areas

Trees can enhance human mental and physical well-being in urban environments. However, the tree benefits in urban planning are insufficiently recognised, and there is little knowledge on the tree characteristics that are relevant to humans and how they are evaluated. This paper presents perceptual tree parameters and their relation to human preferences. In study 1, participants sorted 24 tree images by perceived similarity. Hierarchical cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling (MDS) revealed the distinction between conifers and deciduous trees, crown shape, the two-dimensional crown size to trunk height ratio and the crown density as important to humans. In study 2, participants rated the trees based on their preferences. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that a high two-dimensional crown size to trunk height ratio and a high crown density predicted deciduous tree preferences. These findings are discussed in light of the savannah hypothesis and the Gestalt grouping principle of closure. In the task of tree selection and placement for urban areas, the identified perceptual tree parameters may allow for achieving a coherent overall picture with a simultaneous increase of tree species richness. Thus, urban landscape planning can apply the presented findings for increasing ecosystem health and residential satisfaction.     

Assessing multiple dimensions of distributional justice: Access,biodiversity and landscape structure of green spaces for multiple social groups of the Metropolitan Region of Santiago de Chile

It is broadly recognized the value of green spaces to human well-being and health, hence several cities are taken actions for improving their existence in urban areas. However, it is also recognized that the distribution of those green spaces is not reaching all communities evenly. Several studies on distributional justice have assess. the disparities on the distribution of green spaces worldwide but they tend to focus on. the quantity or the accessibility from residences to green spaces. We proposed to. assess distributional justice as a multidimensional indicator that incorporates size, quantity, quality, access to biodiversity and distance traveled towards visiting a green. space to enrichen our evaluation of distributional justice and disclose disparities further. from green space availability. By using the Metropolitan Region of Santiago as a case. study we evaluated the distributional justice of green spaces by multiple social groups. based on a combination of surveyed, measured and collected spatially explicit data. Our results disclosed that low social status communities have access to green spaces. of smaller size, more dispersed, on lesser amounts and poorer on bird richness than. higher social status communities. Lower social status communities traveled more to. visit green spaces of higher quality and mostly move only one class up in the social. status. Our research showed larger complexities in distributional justice of green. spaces which should be evaluated and incorporated in decision making towards. greening.     

Barriers to the effective planning and management of residential encroachment within urban forest edges: A Southern Ontario,Canada case study

Studies document degradation and loss of publicly owned urban woodland area following adjacent residential development due to residential encroachment. Residential encroachment is the negative impacts of housing land uses within both rural and urban green infrastructure networks. Prevailing planning, design and management approaches in Southern Ontario municipalities in Canada indicate planning and management tools have been developed to remove and impede encroachment impacts; however, many are infrequently implemented. This lack of implementation contributes to a high prevalence and spatial area of encroachment within Southern Ontario municipal woodland edges with adjacent housing. Long interviews were conducted with the planners, landscape architects, woodland managers and bylaw enforcement staff of six Southern Ontario municipalities to determine the barriers to implementation of municipal encroachment tools. Results indicate key barriers to policy implementation that reflect a lack of awareness of, and priority placed on addressing, residential encroachment impacts, and impacts following the point of development in general. Barriers include: (1) insufficient community and municipal access to information regarding residential encroachment and their significance relative to other development impacts; (2) lack of clarity of goals by municipalities and between departments; (3) insufficient municipal leadership and commitment to limiting encroachment; (4) lack of sufficient means within municipal departments to prevent and address encroachment; and (5) ineffectual dynamics of enforcement. Recommendations for overcoming barriers to the development and implementation of effective approaches for addressing encroachment are provided.     

Managing the potential for outdoor recreation: Adequate mapping and measuring of accessibility to urban recreational landscapes

Following the increasing public health concerns related to physical inactivity in the population, the relationship between outdoor recreation and public health has been increasingly acknowledged over the last decades. To improve public health, planners and policy-makers aim to provide good accessibility to recreational landscapes to facilitate outdoor recreational activity. At the same time, they are facing development pressure due to urban growth. In order for planners and policy-makers to secure people access to urban and near urban recreational areas, there is a need to map and measure access in a way that is adequate as a basis for decision-making in planning and design processes. Access is often defined as distance, or proximity, from residents’ homes to recreational areas. This paper explores different ways to map and measure distance to recreational areas, and aims to provide better decision support for planners and decision-makers. Moss municipality in Norway serves as a case study. We begin by addressing the meaning of the term ‘recreational landscape’ and how the choice of definition affects the results when mapping recreational areas. We also discuss who we are measuring distance for, and how different user groups will have different thresholds or critical distances affecting their frequency of visits to a recreational area. Last, we explore different methods for measuring distance within a GIS environment. The paper shows how the purpose of the analysis must be decisive when defining recreational landscapes and choosing methods for measuring access to recreational landscape, in order to provide valuable input to planners and policy-makers aiming at enhancing the possibility for outdoor recreation for people.     

Interpreting habitat distribution models of an elusive species,the marbled murrelets: a response to Burger and Page

Burger and Page (this volume) evaluated our models of habitat preferences and breeding success of a threatened seabird, the marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus), based on the largest available set of confirmed nest-sites found in coastal old-growth forest of the Pacific North-West. We believe our study documented novel and unexpected patterns of landscape-level distribution of marbled murrelets in both heavily logged and relatively intact old-growth landscapes and provided insights into how these patterns influence their reproduction, and, eventually, management. Considering the importance of the issue and to ensure appropriate and responsible use of the information we welcome discussion, detailed scrutiny and evaluation of our original results. Burger and Page claim to have identified flaws with model interpretation, data quality, statistical approaches, presentation and interpretation of our results that would invalidate our conclusions. We respond that most of their critique is irrelevant and/or misdirected with respect to our study and the interpretation of GIS data models, and that valid aspects of their claims do not critically affect our conclusions.