The Experts below are selected from a list of 38694 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Christopher J. Weston - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Effect of thinning and burning fuel Reduction treatments on forest carbon and bushfire fuel Hazard in Eucalyptus sieberi forests of South-Eastern Australia.
The Science of the total environment, 2019Co-Authors: Liubov Volkova, Christopher J. WestonAbstract:More frequent hot and windy weather in fire prone forested landscapes requires that a full suite of fuel Reduction measures be investigated for effectiveness in fuel Hazard Reduction, environmental impact and carbon (C) outcomes. Although prescribed fire and thinning are routinely applied in forests of North America to reduce fuel loads, there are few detailed studies from Australia. We report the impacts of fuel Reduction treatments including burning, mechanical thinning and the combination of both on forest C and fuel Hazard in open forests dominated by Eucalyptus sieberi in south-eastern Australia. Carbon losses to the atmosphere and redistribution within the forest were calculated from stocks within each fuel category before and after treatment. Mechanical thinning + burning was the most effective treatment for reducing aboveground C and fuel Hazard, with major Reductions in dead trees, stumps and understorey, as well as stems removed for sale as pulpwood. However forest floor fuel loads increased in thinned treatments relative to control forests. The overall fuel Hazard rating in the burn only treatment was significantly reduced from extreme to low immediately following burning. In thinned only stands, the overall fuel Hazard rating did not change from the pre-treatment rating of extreme, due to high surface and forest floor fuel loads and loose and flammable bark on the retained overstorey trees. This result suggests the current fuel Hazard guide in use in Australia should be revised to enable it to better describe the benefits of thinning for fuel Reduction - in this case the removal of about 50% of aboveground C mostly as overstorey trees, and a significant Reduction in understorey, dead trees and stumps.
Joao P Honrado - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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mountain farmland protection and fire smart management jointly reduce fire Hazard and enhance biodiversity and carbon sequestration
Ecosystem services, 2020Co-Authors: Silvana Pais, Nuria Aquilue, Joao Carlos Campos, ângelo Filipe Dos Reis Pereira Cortinhas E Sil, Bruno Marcos, Fernando Martinezfreiria, Jesus Dominguez, Lluis Brotons, Joao P HonradoAbstract:Abstract The environmental and socio-economic impacts of wildfires are foreseen to increase across southern Europe over the next decades regardless of increasing resources allocated for fire suppression. This study aims to identify fire-smart management strategies that promote wildfire Hazard Reduction, climate regulation ecosystem service and biodiversity conservation. Here we simulate fire-landscape dynamics, carbon sequestration and species distribution (116 vertebrates) in the Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Geres-Xures (NW Iberia). We envisage 11 scenarios resulting from different management strategies following four storylines: Business-as-usual (BAU), expansion of High Nature Value farmlands (HNVf), Fire-Smart forest management, and HNVf plus Fire-Smart. Fire-landscape simulations reveal an increase of up to 25% of annual burned area. HNVf areas may counterbalance this increasing fire impact, especially when combined with fire-smart strategies (Reductions of up to 50% between 2031 and 2050). The Fire-Smart and BAU scenarios attain the highest estimates for total carbon sequestered. A decrease in habitat suitability (around 18%) since 1990 is predicted for species of conservation concern under the BAU scenario, while HNVf would support the best outcomes in terms of conservation. Our study highlights the benefits of integrating fire Hazard control, ecosystem service supply and biodiversity conservation to inform better decision-making in mountain landscapes of Southern Europe.
Christoph Hauer - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Floodplain evaluation matrix (FEM): An interdisciplinary method for evaluating river floodplains in the context of integrated flood risk management
Natural Hazards, 2015Co-Authors: Helmut Habersack, Bernhard Schober, Christoph HauerAbstract:Strengthening of non-structural measures for flood protection by enforcing natural retention processes on river floodplains not only is required by the EU Floods Directive but also implicates a variety of socio-economic conflicts related to the multipurpose use of floodplains. In order to ensure the achievement of multiple benefits of such non-structural measures in the most effective way, it is crucial to determine which floodplains are highly relevant for preservation and/or restoration not only concerning flood protection (hydrology/hydraulics) but also for ecological and sociological reasons. Therefore, the main objectives of this paper are to identify on different spatial scales those hydrological/hydraulic, ecological and sociological parameters that are important for an integrated evaluation of floodplain effectiveness. The results are finally assembled in the novel multidisciplinary floodplain evaluation matrix (FEM) serving as decision support for the relevant stakeholders and indicating where efforts of floodplain preservation/restoration should be spent first within an integrated flood risk management. At the end of this paper, an integrative evaluation on macro-scale level for the Austrian Kamp River is exemplarily presented. Detailed sectoral investigations of the hydrological and hydraulic parameters are further described in a case study of the Austrian Danube (see paper “Assessing the role of floodplains along the Austrian Danube for flood Hazard Reduction using the hydrological and hydraulic parameters of the FEM-method”).
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floodplain evaluation matrix fem an interdisciplinary method for evaluating river floodplains in the context of integrated flood risk management
Natural Hazards, 2015Co-Authors: Helmut Habersack, Bernhard Schober, Christoph HauerAbstract:Strengthening of non-structural measures for flood protection by enforcing natural retention processes on river floodplains not only is required by the EU Floods Directive but also implicates a variety of socio-economic conflicts related to the multipurpose use of floodplains. In order to ensure the achievement of multiple benefits of such non-structural measures in the most effective way, it is crucial to determine which floodplains are highly relevant for preservation and/or restoration not only concerning flood protection (hydrology/hydraulics) but also for ecological and sociological reasons. Therefore, the main objectives of this paper are to identify on different spatial scales those hydrological/hydraulic, ecological and sociological parameters that are important for an integrated evaluation of floodplain effectiveness. The results are finally assembled in the novel multidisciplinary floodplain evaluation matrix (FEM) serving as decision support for the relevant stakeholders and indicating where efforts of floodplain preservation/restoration should be spent first within an integrated flood risk management. At the end of this paper, an integrative evaluation on macro-scale level for the Austrian Kamp River is exemplarily presented. Detailed sectoral investigations of the hydrological and hydraulic parameters are further described in a case study of the Austrian Danube (see paper “Assessing the role of floodplains along the Austrian Danube for flood Hazard Reduction using the hydrological and hydraulic parameters of the FEM-method”). Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
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A novel assessment of the role of Danube floodplains in flood Hazard Reduction (FEM method)
Natural Hazards, 2015Co-Authors: Bernhard Schober, Christoph Hauer, Helmut HabersackAbstract:During the last decades, river floods accounted for enormous damages especially in highly developed and/or densely populated regions worldwide. Moreover, due to anthropogenic alterations of hydrology and river morphology (climate change, land use changes in the catchment, channelling and constricting rivers) and due to the ongoing accumulation of values (such as settlements, infrastructure facilities, etc.) in flood prone areas, this amount of damages is likely to rise in future. Integrated flood risk management is legally in force and aims at reducing the negative effects of floods by combining structural and non-structural flood protection measures. Non-structural measures such as the preservation or restoration of floodplains are considered by the EU Floods Directive as an effective tool for reducing flood risks. For most of the rivers, however, very little is known about the effectiveness of floodplains in regard to hydrological and hydraulical flood Hazard Reduction. This lack in knowledge often obstructs the integration of these natural flood retention processes into the concepts of integrated flood risk management. In the present study, the Austrian Danube was investigated along its entire 350 km length, determining reaches and floodplains with high relevance for flood water retention and thus for reducing flood Hazards downstream. A novel analysis based on one-dimensional and two-dimensional hydrodynamic-numerical modelling, using hydrological and hydraulic parameters defined under the so-called floodplain evaluation matrix method (FEM; Habersack et al. in Nat Hazards, in print, 2013 ), was carried out to evaluate retention effectiveness on various spatial scales. The results illustrate the magnitude and the variability of flood retention and hydraulic parameters with respect to different hydrological settings (flood wave shape, recurrence probability).
ângelo Filipe Dos Reis Pereira Cortinhas E Sil - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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mountain farmland protection and fire smart management jointly reduce fire Hazard and enhance biodiversity and carbon sequestration
Ecosystem services, 2020Co-Authors: Silvana Pais, Nuria Aquilue, Joao Carlos Campos, ângelo Filipe Dos Reis Pereira Cortinhas E Sil, Bruno Marcos, Fernando Martinezfreiria, Jesus Dominguez, Lluis Brotons, Joao P HonradoAbstract:Abstract The environmental and socio-economic impacts of wildfires are foreseen to increase across southern Europe over the next decades regardless of increasing resources allocated for fire suppression. This study aims to identify fire-smart management strategies that promote wildfire Hazard Reduction, climate regulation ecosystem service and biodiversity conservation. Here we simulate fire-landscape dynamics, carbon sequestration and species distribution (116 vertebrates) in the Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Geres-Xures (NW Iberia). We envisage 11 scenarios resulting from different management strategies following four storylines: Business-as-usual (BAU), expansion of High Nature Value farmlands (HNVf), Fire-Smart forest management, and HNVf plus Fire-Smart. Fire-landscape simulations reveal an increase of up to 25% of annual burned area. HNVf areas may counterbalance this increasing fire impact, especially when combined with fire-smart strategies (Reductions of up to 50% between 2031 and 2050). The Fire-Smart and BAU scenarios attain the highest estimates for total carbon sequestered. A decrease in habitat suitability (around 18%) since 1990 is predicted for species of conservation concern under the BAU scenario, while HNVf would support the best outcomes in terms of conservation. Our study highlights the benefits of integrating fire Hazard control, ecosystem service supply and biodiversity conservation to inform better decision-making in mountain landscapes of Southern Europe.
Helmut Habersack - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Floodplain evaluation matrix (FEM): An interdisciplinary method for evaluating river floodplains in the context of integrated flood risk management
Natural Hazards, 2015Co-Authors: Helmut Habersack, Bernhard Schober, Christoph HauerAbstract:Strengthening of non-structural measures for flood protection by enforcing natural retention processes on river floodplains not only is required by the EU Floods Directive but also implicates a variety of socio-economic conflicts related to the multipurpose use of floodplains. In order to ensure the achievement of multiple benefits of such non-structural measures in the most effective way, it is crucial to determine which floodplains are highly relevant for preservation and/or restoration not only concerning flood protection (hydrology/hydraulics) but also for ecological and sociological reasons. Therefore, the main objectives of this paper are to identify on different spatial scales those hydrological/hydraulic, ecological and sociological parameters that are important for an integrated evaluation of floodplain effectiveness. The results are finally assembled in the novel multidisciplinary floodplain evaluation matrix (FEM) serving as decision support for the relevant stakeholders and indicating where efforts of floodplain preservation/restoration should be spent first within an integrated flood risk management. At the end of this paper, an integrative evaluation on macro-scale level for the Austrian Kamp River is exemplarily presented. Detailed sectoral investigations of the hydrological and hydraulic parameters are further described in a case study of the Austrian Danube (see paper “Assessing the role of floodplains along the Austrian Danube for flood Hazard Reduction using the hydrological and hydraulic parameters of the FEM-method”).
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floodplain evaluation matrix fem an interdisciplinary method for evaluating river floodplains in the context of integrated flood risk management
Natural Hazards, 2015Co-Authors: Helmut Habersack, Bernhard Schober, Christoph HauerAbstract:Strengthening of non-structural measures for flood protection by enforcing natural retention processes on river floodplains not only is required by the EU Floods Directive but also implicates a variety of socio-economic conflicts related to the multipurpose use of floodplains. In order to ensure the achievement of multiple benefits of such non-structural measures in the most effective way, it is crucial to determine which floodplains are highly relevant for preservation and/or restoration not only concerning flood protection (hydrology/hydraulics) but also for ecological and sociological reasons. Therefore, the main objectives of this paper are to identify on different spatial scales those hydrological/hydraulic, ecological and sociological parameters that are important for an integrated evaluation of floodplain effectiveness. The results are finally assembled in the novel multidisciplinary floodplain evaluation matrix (FEM) serving as decision support for the relevant stakeholders and indicating where efforts of floodplain preservation/restoration should be spent first within an integrated flood risk management. At the end of this paper, an integrative evaluation on macro-scale level for the Austrian Kamp River is exemplarily presented. Detailed sectoral investigations of the hydrological and hydraulic parameters are further described in a case study of the Austrian Danube (see paper “Assessing the role of floodplains along the Austrian Danube for flood Hazard Reduction using the hydrological and hydraulic parameters of the FEM-method”). Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
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A novel assessment of the role of Danube floodplains in flood Hazard Reduction (FEM method)
Natural Hazards, 2015Co-Authors: Bernhard Schober, Christoph Hauer, Helmut HabersackAbstract:During the last decades, river floods accounted for enormous damages especially in highly developed and/or densely populated regions worldwide. Moreover, due to anthropogenic alterations of hydrology and river morphology (climate change, land use changes in the catchment, channelling and constricting rivers) and due to the ongoing accumulation of values (such as settlements, infrastructure facilities, etc.) in flood prone areas, this amount of damages is likely to rise in future. Integrated flood risk management is legally in force and aims at reducing the negative effects of floods by combining structural and non-structural flood protection measures. Non-structural measures such as the preservation or restoration of floodplains are considered by the EU Floods Directive as an effective tool for reducing flood risks. For most of the rivers, however, very little is known about the effectiveness of floodplains in regard to hydrological and hydraulical flood Hazard Reduction. This lack in knowledge often obstructs the integration of these natural flood retention processes into the concepts of integrated flood risk management. In the present study, the Austrian Danube was investigated along its entire 350 km length, determining reaches and floodplains with high relevance for flood water retention and thus for reducing flood Hazards downstream. A novel analysis based on one-dimensional and two-dimensional hydrodynamic-numerical modelling, using hydrological and hydraulic parameters defined under the so-called floodplain evaluation matrix method (FEM; Habersack et al. in Nat Hazards, in print, 2013 ), was carried out to evaluate retention effectiveness on various spatial scales. The results illustrate the magnitude and the variability of flood retention and hydraulic parameters with respect to different hydrological settings (flood wave shape, recurrence probability).
