Sensitivity to information upscaling of agro-ecological assessments: Application to soil organic carbon management

Upscaling of agro-ecological indicators applied in regional analyses is sensitive to scale issues of the input data. This study develops a methodology to quantify this sensitivity for an indicator of soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics at the farming system level. A reference case consists of seven fully described farms in northern Italy. Both upscaling in complexity by substituting measured input with estimated input and upscaling in space by extending the methods to farms not included in the reference case are addressed. The indicator increased with 3-107% at four farms after substituting measured management input with that estimated by an expert, whereas it remained unchanged or decreased at the other three farms. Taking the modal value from a cluster of pedological input did not lead to additional uncertainty in most cases, and only slightly increased it in others. We evaluated spatial upscaling by including 733 farms divided in 18 clusters that were described with less information as compared to the reference farms. Within each cluster, we observed relevant variability of the indicator (coefficients of variation of 12-43%), as a consequence of the heterogeneity of farms comprised in each cluster. In each cluster we calculated the indicator for one virtual farm, defined by using modal values for basic farm inputs. In this case the indicator was highly correlated (R² = 0.98) with the average of the values obtained using measured basic farm inputs. We conclude that upscaling in complexity and space introduces uncertainty in the values of the indicator compared to the reference case. The extent of such differences depends on the variability of the systems under analysis and on indicator sensitivity.     

Assessment of cable tensile forces in active winch-assist harvesting using an anchor machine configuration

European Journal of Forest Research - The growing interest in accessing steep terrain is pushing the expansion of the operating range of ground-based machines through winch-assist technology....     

Drivers of adoption of eucalypt tree farming by smallholders in Thailand

Eucalypt (Eucalyptus spp.) tree farming is a source of income for many smallholders in developing and emerging countries and critical to the resource supply of many pulp and paper companies. These companies rely on smallholders adopting tree farming, sometimes by offering a contract. This paper reports a study from four regions of Thailand, where smallholder eucalypt tree farming is important, which investigated what characteristics of smallholders were associated with greater adoption of tree farming. A total of 461 eucalypt tree farmers and 171 non-tree farmers were randomly selected and surveyed in these regions, using a door-to-door household survey. A logit analysis corroborated hypotheses about the drivers of adoption. Qualitative analyses were used to inform interpretation of the quantitative results and shed light on the role of eucalypt tree farming in smallholders’ livelihood. Results demonstrate that those with suitable land available are more likely to adopt eucalypt tree farming than others. In addition, perception of land tenure security matters in the adoption of tree growing, but holding a formal land tenure document does not. Adoption of eucalypt tree farming in Thailand is not part of a land use intensification strategy. Instead, eucalypts are used as an alternative crop for low productivity land, on which eucalypts are the most profitable crop. Eucalypt tree farming also gives smallholders an opportunity to diversify their income. In addition, this alternative land use has the advantage of requiring low labour inputs between planting and harvest. This is particularly advantageous for many tree growers who have off-farm income or rely on hired labour for farming their land.     

Toward forest ‘‘sprawl':monitoring and planning a changing landscape for urban sustainability

The present study analyzes the structure and dynamics of the forest landscape in a peri-urban area(Rome, Italy) during the city's expansion from 1949 to2008 using landscape metrics and change detection analysis of digital maps of the area(1500 km2). While urban settlements increased continuously from 6.5 to 27.5 % of the study area, woodlands changed less clearly, with a moderate increase(from 11.2 to 11.9 % of the total area)and a higher fragmentation as a consequence of Rome's expansion. The structure of forest landscape changed along the urban-to-rural gradient with patch size increasing with the distance to the inner city in 1949 and substantial landscape homogeneity in 2008. The indicators proposed in this study inform dedicated measures for conserving forest and maintaining landscape diversity. Measures adopted in Rome's forestation plan to counteract woodlandffragmentation were analyzed and discussed. Based on the complex landscape dynamics found for Rome, an integrated multiscale planning approach targeting forest conservation is considered a key contribution to urban sustainability.     

A portable NMR sensor for moisture monitoring of wooden works of art, particularly of paintings on wood

It is proposed the use of a mobile device based on a NMR single-sided sensor for in situ non-invasive determination of the moisture content (MC) of wood items, especially items of Cultural Heritage interest. The MC is obtained through the moisture volume fraction, which is an appropriate quantity for the sensor and corresponds to the fraction of its measurements sensitive volume occupied by water. The device has been used here to track changes in MC of wood specimens caused by changes over time of the environmental relative humidity. The kinetics of water adsorption has been related to results obtained with the gravimetric method. Measurements on an old painting, the Pietà (1516–1517), oil on a poplar wood panel by Sebastiano del Piombo (1485 Venice, 1547 Rome), Civic Museum, Viterbo, Italy, have shown, conclusively, the good sensitivity of the sensor and its capability to behave as a non-invasive and in situ utilizable device. Results of in situ painting measurements show that the NMR sensor can track moisture fluctuations that are outside the sensitivity range and precision of electro-hygrometric approach.     

Assessing logging residues availability for energy production by using forest management plans data and geographic information system (GIS)

European Journal of Forest Research - The aim of the work was to quantify the mass of logging residues (branches and tops; t yr?1 dry matter, DM) for energy generation starting from...     

Seasonal variation in nitrogen isotopic composition of bog plant litter during 3 years of field decomposition

In this study, we describe the seasonal variation in ¹⁵N abundance in the litter of two Sphagnum species and four vascular plant species during 3 years of field decomposition in an Italian Alpine bog. Litter bags were periodically retrieved at the end of summer and winter periods, and the δ¹⁵N in residual litter was related to mass loss, litter chemistry, and climatic conditions. In Sphagnum litter, higher rates of decomposition during summer months were associated with an increase of δ¹⁵N probably due to the incorporation of microbial organic compounds rich in ¹⁵N. The litter of Eriophorum vaginatum and Carex rostrata was characterized by a decrease of δ¹⁵N, so that the final signature was significantly lower than in initial litter. On the other hand, the residual litter of Potentilla erecta and Calluna vulgaris was characterized by a final δ¹⁵N higher than in initial litter. Our data reported a seasonality of ¹⁵N abundance in the residual litter of Sphagnum species, but not in that of vascular plant species, thus highlighting the role of differences in litter chemistry.     

Reclamation of Polluted Soil: Phytoremediation Potential of Crop-Related BRASSICA Species

Soils polluted by heavy metals can be reclaimed using a number of expensive tactics that either remove the contaminants or stabilize them within the soil. The value of metal accumulating plants for environmental remediation has recently been appreciated and promising results have been obtained. This paper reports a study on the behavior of Brassica napus, Brassica juncea, Raphanus sativus and Brassica carinata grown on a substrate contaminated by several heavy metals caused by the use of contaminated irrigation water. Data on carbon dioxide assimilation, biomass growth and the bioconcentration and translocation factor of each metal in each species were measured. The polluted substrate caused only a small variation in photosynthesis, however transpiration was more affected by the experimental substrate and in all three species of the genus Brassica the presence of metals in the substrate resulted in higher transpiration levels.Two bioconcentration factors were calculated respectively for the roots (BCF) and the shoots (BCF); the BCF was >1 for all the species for Cd, Cu, Ni and Zn without significant differences among species. All the values of BCF were lower than 0.5; among the metals, all Brassica species demonstrated a similar performance for Cd and Zn, whereas for other elements the bioconcentration factor was very low.     

Optimization of a method based on the simultaneous measurement of acoustic and mechanical properties of winegrape seeds for the determination of the ripening stage

An instrumental texture analysis method has been optimized for the differentiation of grape ripening stages based on the simultaneous determination of mechanical and acoustic parameters of the seeds. Two factorial central composite design was used to optimize the most influencing operative conditions (speed and deformation) on mechanical and acoustic measurements. This experimental design in combination with response surface methodology showed that the most responsive parameters to changes in seeds during ripening were Young's modulus of elasticity, many acoustic parameters measured with instrumental gain set to 0 (acoustic energy, linear distance, and number of peaks) and others measured at 24 dB gain (linear distance, number of peaks, and average pressure level). However, the optimal operative conditions depended on the texture parameter used. A correlation study between texture parameters and phenolic compounds of the seeds revealed that acoustic parameters like the average pressure level could be proposed as phenolic maturity indices.     

Signal-driven computations in speech processing

Learning a language requires both statistical computations to identify words in speech and algebraic-like computations to discover higher level (grammatical) structure. Here we show that these computations can be influenced by subtle cues in the speech signal. After a short familiarization to a continuous speech stream, adult listeners are able to segment it using powerful statistics, but they fail to extract the structural regularities included in the stream even when the familiarization is greatly extended. With the introduction of subliminal segmentation cues, however, these regularities can be rapidly captured.