The Experts below are selected from a list of 63990 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Giovanni Bianucci - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Metaxytherium subapenninum (Bruno, 1839) (Mammalia, Dugongidae), the Latest Sirenian of the Mediterranean Basin
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2012Co-Authors: Silvia Sorbi, Daryl P. Domning, Stefano Claudio Vaiani, Giovanni BianucciAbstract:ABSTRACT Metaxytherium subapenninum was a halitheriine dugongid distributed along the northwestern coasts of the Mediterranean Basin during the early and late Pliocene. It represents the latest sirenian species of the Mediterranean Basin, the latest Metaxytherium species in the world, and also the latest species belonging to the paraphyletic subfamily Halitheriinae. We review M. subapenninum in the light of new discoveries, including its stratigraphic and geographic distribution, osteology, paleoecology, and relationships. M. subapenninum represents a more derived stage of evolution in comparison with the earlier Metaxytherium species. It is characterized in particular by an increase in body size, an increase in tusk size, and a dorsal broadening of the nasal process of the premaxilla. Its variation in tusk size does not appear to represent sexual dimorphism as in the modern Dugong, but instead progressive intraspecific evolution of larger tusks as a feeding adaptation convergent on that of derived dugong...
Lynn Huntsinger - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the impact of land abandonment on species richness and abundance in the Mediterranean Basin a meta analysis
PLOS ONE, 2014Co-Authors: Tobias Plieninger, Mirijam Gaertner, Lynn HuntsingerAbstract:CITATION: Plieninger, T., Hui, C., Gaertner, M. & Huntsinger, L. 2014. The impact of land abandonment on species richness and abundance in the Mediterranean Basin: a meta-analysis, PLoS ONE, 9(5):e98355, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0098355.
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the impact of land abandonment on species richness and abundance in the Mediterranean Basin a meta analysis
PLOS ONE, 2014Co-Authors: Tobias Plieninger, Mirijam Gaertner, Cang Hui, Lynn HuntsingerAbstract:Land abandonment is common in the Mediterranean Basin, a global biodiversity hotspot, but little is known about its impacts on biodiversity. To upscale existing case-study insights to the Pan-Mediterranean level, we conducted a meta-analysis of the effects of land abandonment on plant and animal species richness and abundance in agroforestry, arable land, pastures, and permanent crops of the Mediterranean Basin. In particular, we investigated (1) which taxonomic groups (arthropods, birds, lichen, vascular plants) are more affected by land abandonment; (2) at which spatial and temporal scales the effect of land abandonment on species richness and abundance is pronounced; (3) whether previous land use and current protected area status affect the magnitude of changes in the number and abundance of species; and (4) how prevailing landforms and climate modify the impacts of land abandonment. After identifying 1240 potential studies, 154 cases from 51 studies that offered comparisons of species richness and abundance and had results relevant to our four areas of investigation were selected for meta-analysis. Results are that land abandonment showed slightly increased (effect size = 0.2109, P<0.0001) plant and animal species richness and abundance overall, though results were heterogeneous, with differences in effect size between taxa, spatial-temporal scales, land uses, landforms, and climate. In conclusion, there is no “one-size-fits-all” conservation approach that applies to the diverse contexts of land abandonment in the Mediterranean Basin. Instead, conservation policies should strive to increase awareness of this heterogeneity and the potential trade-offs after abandonment. The strong role of factors at the farm and landscape scales that was revealed by the analysis indicates that purposeful management at these scales can have a powerful impact on biodiversity.
Juli G Pausas - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Socioeconomic Factors Drive Fire-Regime Variability in the Mediterranean Basin
Ecosystems, 2018Co-Authors: Brahim Chergui, Soumia Fahd, Xavier Santos, Juli G PausasAbstract:In recent decades, fires in Mediterranean Europe have become larger and more frequent. This trend has been driven by socioeconomic changes that have generated rural depopulation and changes in traditional land use. Within the Mediterranean Basin, the most contrasting socioeconomic conditions are found by comparing southern European with North African countries, and thus our hypothesis is that this difference generates contrasting fire regimes between the two regions. Specifically, we predict that current fire regimes in Mediterranean Africa resemble past fire regimes in the Mediterranean Europe when rural activities dominated the landscape. To test our hypothesis, we compared fire statistics from the western Rif (northern Morocco, 1988–2015) and from Valencia (eastern Spain, 1880–2014). The results suggest that the Rif has a typical Mediterranean fire regime with fires occurring in the hot, dry summer season. However, fires are very small and the annual proportion of burnt area is very low, compared to the current regime in Valencia (post-1970s). The current Rif fire size class distribution matches the fire regime in Valencia prior to the 1970s before the collapse of the rural population and when fires were fuel-limited. The shift in the recent decades in fire regime observed in different countries of the Mediterranean Europe (from small, fuel-limited fires to drought-driven fires) can be identified when moving from the southern to the northern rim of the Basin. That is, most spatial and temporal variability in fire regimes of the Mediterranean Basin is driven by shifts in the amounts of fuel and continuity imposed by changes in socioeconomic drivers.
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fire regime changes in the western Mediterranean Basin from fuel limited to drought driven fire regime
Climatic Change, 2012Co-Authors: Juli G Pausas, Santiago FernandezmunozAbstract:Wildfires are an integral part of Mediterranean ecosystems; humans impact on landscapes imply changes in fuel amount and continuity, and thus in fire regime. We tested the hypothesis that fire regime changed in western Mediterranean Basin during the last century using time series techniques. We first compiled a 130-year fire history for the Valencia province (Spain, Eastern Iberian Peninsula, Western Mediterranean Basin) from contemporary statistics plus old forest administration dossiers and newspapers. We also compiled census on rural population and climatic data for the same period in order to evaluate the role of climate and human-driven fuel changes on the fire regime change. The result suggested that there was a major fire regime shift around the early 1970s in such a way that fires increased in annual frequency (doubled) and area burned (by about an order of magnitude). The main driver of this shift was the increase in fuel amount and continuity due to rural depopulation (vegetation and fuel build-up after farm abandonment) suggesting that fires were fuel-limited during the pre-1970s period. Climatic conditions were poorly related to pre-1970s fires and strongly related to post-1970s fires, suggesting that fire are currently less fuel limited and more drought-driven than before the 1970s. Thus, the fire regime shift implies also a shift in the main driver for fire activity, and this has consequences in the global change agenda.
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are wildfires a disaster in the Mediterranean Basin a review
International Journal of Wildland Fire, 2008Co-Authors: Juli G Pausas, Joan Llovet, Anselm Rodrigo, Ramon VallejoAbstract:Evolutionary and paleoecological studies suggest that fires are natural in the Mediterranean Basin. However, the important increase in the number of fires and area burned during the 20th century has created the perception that fires are disasters. In the present paper, we review to what extent fires are generating ecological disasters in the Mediterranean Basin, in view of current fire regimes and the long-term human pressure on the landscapes. Specifically, we review studies on post-fire plant regeneration and soil losses. The review suggests that although many Mediterranean ecosystems are highly resilient to fire (shrublands and oak forest), some are fire-sensitive (e.g. pine woodlands). Observed erosion rates are, in some cases, relatively high, especially in high fire severity conditions. The sensitive ecosystems (in the sense of showing strong post-fire vegetation changes and soil losses) are mostly of human origin (e.g. extensive pine plantations in old fields). Thus, although many Mediterranean Basin plants have traits to cope with fire, a large number of the ecosystems currently found in this region are strongly altered, and may suffer disasters. Post-fire disasters are not the rule, but they may be important under conditions of previous human disturbances.
Silvia Sorbi - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Metaxytherium subapenninum (Bruno, 1839) (Mammalia, Dugongidae), the Latest Sirenian of the Mediterranean Basin
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2012Co-Authors: Silvia Sorbi, Daryl P. Domning, Stefano Claudio Vaiani, Giovanni BianucciAbstract:ABSTRACT Metaxytherium subapenninum was a halitheriine dugongid distributed along the northwestern coasts of the Mediterranean Basin during the early and late Pliocene. It represents the latest sirenian species of the Mediterranean Basin, the latest Metaxytherium species in the world, and also the latest species belonging to the paraphyletic subfamily Halitheriinae. We review M. subapenninum in the light of new discoveries, including its stratigraphic and geographic distribution, osteology, paleoecology, and relationships. M. subapenninum represents a more derived stage of evolution in comparison with the earlier Metaxytherium species. It is characterized in particular by an increase in body size, an increase in tusk size, and a dorsal broadening of the nasal process of the premaxilla. Its variation in tusk size does not appear to represent sexual dimorphism as in the modern Dugong, but instead progressive intraspecific evolution of larger tusks as a feeding adaptation convergent on that of derived dugong...
Tobias Plieninger - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the impact of land abandonment on species richness and abundance in the Mediterranean Basin a meta analysis
PLOS ONE, 2014Co-Authors: Tobias Plieninger, Mirijam Gaertner, Lynn HuntsingerAbstract:CITATION: Plieninger, T., Hui, C., Gaertner, M. & Huntsinger, L. 2014. The impact of land abandonment on species richness and abundance in the Mediterranean Basin: a meta-analysis, PLoS ONE, 9(5):e98355, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0098355.
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the impact of land abandonment on species richness and abundance in the Mediterranean Basin a meta analysis
PLOS ONE, 2014Co-Authors: Tobias Plieninger, Mirijam Gaertner, Cang Hui, Lynn HuntsingerAbstract:Land abandonment is common in the Mediterranean Basin, a global biodiversity hotspot, but little is known about its impacts on biodiversity. To upscale existing case-study insights to the Pan-Mediterranean level, we conducted a meta-analysis of the effects of land abandonment on plant and animal species richness and abundance in agroforestry, arable land, pastures, and permanent crops of the Mediterranean Basin. In particular, we investigated (1) which taxonomic groups (arthropods, birds, lichen, vascular plants) are more affected by land abandonment; (2) at which spatial and temporal scales the effect of land abandonment on species richness and abundance is pronounced; (3) whether previous land use and current protected area status affect the magnitude of changes in the number and abundance of species; and (4) how prevailing landforms and climate modify the impacts of land abandonment. After identifying 1240 potential studies, 154 cases from 51 studies that offered comparisons of species richness and abundance and had results relevant to our four areas of investigation were selected for meta-analysis. Results are that land abandonment showed slightly increased (effect size = 0.2109, P<0.0001) plant and animal species richness and abundance overall, though results were heterogeneous, with differences in effect size between taxa, spatial-temporal scales, land uses, landforms, and climate. In conclusion, there is no “one-size-fits-all” conservation approach that applies to the diverse contexts of land abandonment in the Mediterranean Basin. Instead, conservation policies should strive to increase awareness of this heterogeneity and the potential trade-offs after abandonment. The strong role of factors at the farm and landscape scales that was revealed by the analysis indicates that purposeful management at these scales can have a powerful impact on biodiversity.
