Area Values Research Articles

What experiences do tourists seek in national parks? Analysis of TripAdvisor reviews

The article aims to analyse and compare experiences gained by tourists visiting three national parks in Poland. The authors focused on the following questions: What are people's experiences visiting national parks in Poland? Do the natural assets of the national parks affect visitors' unique experiences, or are environmentally valuable areas not crucial for their experiences? The authors used mixed quantitative (text mining, correspondence analysis) and qualitative (content analysis) methods. The data for analysis were opinions written by TripAdvisor users. Reviews on TripAdvisor indicate that the most important experiences for tourists in the National Parks studied were Nature appreciation and Physical activity. The other groups of experiences reflected in the reviews were: Aesthetic, Connection, Tension and Excitement. This confirms that nature is the most important feature of national parks for tourists, but it also indicates a trend to maintain good health and the desire to regenerate physical strength in areas of natural beauty.

Some Physiological Responses of Native Sheep Breeds to Environmental Conditions during Grazing in Natura 2000 Habitats

The calcareous xerothermic grasslands of the Festuco-Brometea class are among the most endangered Natura 2000 sites in Europe. The greatest threats include a lack of grazing, secondary succession, and invasive alien and expansive native species. The abandonment of such grasslands is caused by the low nutritional value of biomass, as well as by difficult habitat conditions. The aim of this study was to assess the physiological responses of native sheep breeds to hard environmental conditions when grazing in Natura 2000 habitats and to confirm the hypothesis that native sheep of the Świniarka and Uhruska breeds can be used to protect valuable natural habitats. The analysed grasslands were characterised by very difficult climatic and edaphic conditions and a low fodder value for sheep. Grazing in environmentally valuable areas, sometimes poor in fodder, did not adversely affect the welfare of grazed sheep. In both the Uhruska and Świniarka breeds, there were no indicators for heat or nutritional stress, but physiological changes were observed in the animals’ adaptation to new environmental conditions. Despite poor fodder positions, Świniarka sheep improved their condition and body weight. Fluctuations in indicators showing an adaptation process were also visible.

Shortfalls in our understanding of the causes and consequences of functional and phylogenetic variation of freshwater communities across continents

Freshwater ecosystems harbour a disproportionately high biodiversity relative to their area, being also one of the most threatened ecosystem types worldwide. However, our capacity to design evidence-based conservation plans for this realm is restricted by all biodiversity shortfalls that have been recognized so far. In this context, the paucity of comparable field data and information on traits and phylogenies of freshwater organisms should be emphasized. Here, we highlight how increased knowledge could be gained and where we should aim at in research on the functional and phylogenetic features of freshwater communities. First, attempts to combine datasets from different sources should pay careful attention to data harmonization. Second, more effort should be focused on natural history observations on species habitats and life histories, providing the backbone of information for multi-trait databases. Third, fully resolved phylogenies would be required for deciphering the evolutionary relationships of freshwater organisms. Provided that these three hurdles can be overcome, conducting studies of local freshwater communities across continental spatial extents would pave the way for mapping functionally important ecosystems and evolutionarily valuable areas for the conservation of freshwater organisms and their habitats.

ANALYSIS AND OFFERS FOR THE REGULATIONS IMPROVEMENT OF THE DRAFT LAW «ON AMENDMENTS TO LEGISLATIVE ACTS OF UKRAINE ON IMPROVING EFFICIENCY OF THE PROTECTED ARES AND OBJECTS OF THE NATURE-RESERVE FUND MANAGEMENT»

In this article, the author analyses the main provisions of the draft Law «On Amendments to Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Improving Efficiency of Protected Areas and Objects of the Nature-Reserve Fund Management» of 12th January 2023. In broad outline, the specifics of the draft law consist not just of the improvement of the regulations governing the management of protected areas, which according to the national legislation and using its terms are legally recognised as areas of the «State Nature Conservation Fund», but aims to improve regulations for management and use of other valuable nature areas. The comparative analysis of the particular provisions of the draft law with the currently effective legislation demonstrates that the amendment of the Law of Ukraine «On the Nature Conservation Fund of Ukraine» by introducing the term «protected areas» into the most of its provisions hardly correspond with other provisions of this law as well as with other legal acts of the Ukrainian legislation. The author analyses the provisions of the draft Law «On Amendments to Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Improving Efficiency of Protected Areas and Objects of the Nature-Reserve Fund Management» in terms of different categories of the protected areas: the Emerald Network sites, wetlands of international importance etc. As each of the categories has its own specific, the author comes to the conclusion that the process of the Regulations’ development may lead to huge bureaucracy leaving a much less space for conservation, research and other environmental protection activities. In addition, there is an essential gap in the draft law because it does not clearly establish who shall be responsible for the development of Regulations. The study pays considerable attention to legal regulations of the Emerald Network sites, which total area is twice bigger than the protected areas of all the Nature Conservation Fund belonging. The author emphasises that a specific law on the Emerald Network is required. This is caused not only by Ukraine’s commitments under the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine, but because Ukraine is a party of the Bern Convention stipulating the creation of the Emerald Network in the countries where the convention was adopted and ratified. Therefore, the draft law «On the areas of the Emerald Network» that has already been submitted to the Parliament of Ukraine would rather be adopted than the Law «On the Nature Conservation Fund of Ukraine» is extended to the Emerald Network. In the course of the study, the provisions of the draft law on the legal regime of biosphere reserves of Ukraine are analyzed, taking into account implementation of their main functions. Based on the real practice of the nature reserve fund’s functioning, the author notes that the powers and activities of the nature reserve fund state protection service are of primary importance for ensuring their regime. However, in reality, it is proposed to radically reduce its status and remove articles related to the authority of this body. There is a purposeful, unjustified sharp reduction in the role of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in the coordination and generalization of scientific research and, in general, the leveling of the scientific component in the activities of the nature reserve fund objects. The author draws attention to the fact that the problems and shortcomings of this draft law are not exhaustive. Their research and analysis will be continued in the following scientific works.

Forecasting Stock Market Indices Using the Recurrent Neural Network Based Hybrid Models: CNN-LSTM, GRU-CNN, and Ensemble Models

Various deep learning techniques have recently been developed in many fields due to the rapid advancement of technology and computing power. These techniques have been widely applied in finance for stock market prediction, portfolio optimization, risk management, and trading strategies. Forecasting stock indices with noisy data is a complex and challenging task, but it plays an important role in the appropriate timing of buying or selling stocks, which is one of the most popular and valuable areas in finance. In this work, we propose novel hybrid models for forecasting the one-time-step and multi-time-step close prices of DAX, DOW, and S&P500 indices by utilizing recurrent neural network (RNN)–based models; convolutional neural network-long short-term memory (CNN-LSTM), gated recurrent unit (GRU)-CNN, and ensemble models. We propose the averaging of the high and low prices of stock market indices as a novel feature. The experimental results confirmed that our models outperformed the traditional machine-learning models in 48.1% and 40.7% of the cases in terms of the mean squared error (MSE) and mean absolute error (MAE), respectively, in the case of one-time-step forecasting and 81.5% of the cases in terms of the MSE and MAE in the case of multi-time-step forecasting.

Enhancement of shear strength of cohesionless granular soil using M-Sand dust waste

In recent times, shortage in the availability of river sand for construction activity has led to the production of Manufactured Sand (M-Sand) in huge quantities. This in turn has led to the production of huge volumes of M-Sand Dust Waste (MSDW) as a waste by-product which is disposed of nearby, in available open spaces and landfills. This leads to wastage of valuable land areas and also pollutes the air in surrounding areas leading to health hazards to the humans. An effort has been made in this project, to check the suitability of utilizing MSDW as a filling material in reinforced earth walls and to replace the conventional granular backfill materials with MSDW. As per IRC: SP: 102-2014, based on the particle gradation of MSDW, liquid limit, plastic limit test and direct shear test, it was observed that MSDW is suitable to be utilized as filling material in reinforced earth walls. Also, index properties of 3 types of granular backfill materials namely Silty Sand, M-Sand and River Sand were studied in this project and MSDW was used as a replacement to these granular soil in percentages of 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% by dry weight of soil. Based on the experimental results, it was concluded that ideal percentage replacement of Silty Sand and M-Sand with MSDW was found to be 20% for which maximum angle of internal friction (ϕ) was observed to be 43° and 49° respectively. Optimum percentage replacement of River Sand with MSDW was found to be 80% for which maximum ϕ value was observed to be 45° in comparison to 40° observed for River Sand without replacement.

Tree rings as an ecological indicator of the reaction of Swiss stone pine (Pinus cembra L.) to climate change and disturbance regime in the extreme environment of cliff forests

Tree rings are an ecological indicator, useful for studying the adaptation of trees in a changing environment, especially in the unique habitat of high-elevation cliff forests. The main aim of this study was to characterize tree-ring changes in Stone pine (Pinus cembra L.) growing in the extreme conditions of cliff forests of the Western Carpathians (at elevation 1300–1600 m a.s.l.), in order to reconstruct the growth release pattern and to better understand the influence of climate. The study was based on 104 tree ring series covering a 449-year-long chronology (1561–2009). In the last century, mean annual temperature has increased by +2.0 °C and precipitation has decreased slightly in the Tatras. The growth of stone pine was strongly related to summer temperature of June and July. In the last decades, the negative influence of summer precipitation on tree growth has abated; this may be related to warmer summers and decreasing precipitation. Temperature of the previous autumn, winter, and early spring, which had a significant influence on stone pine growth in the past, is not an important factor now. In the extreme environment of mountain cliffs, the influence of temperature and precipitation on tree growth is not stable over time under changing climate. The current changes in climate seem to promote stone pine and its potential upward elevational shift. The numerous past disturbance events have affected a limited number of trees, suggesting that single individuals have been randomly eliminated from the cliff stands during the last three centuries. Our results highlight the complex pattern of the reaction of stone pine on cliffs to changes in the environment. Swiss stone pine, a long-lived tree species, shows high adaptability for colonization of mountain cliffs and is an excellent object for studying the response of plants to changing climate. Understanding the effect of interactions between climate, disturbances, and the radial growth of trees in extreme environments of cliff forests on different temporal scales (monthly, seasonal, yearly) should increase our knowledge of such ecologically valuable areas.

Artificial Intelligence and Public Health: An Exploratory Study

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize research by automating data analysis, generating new insights, and supporting the discovery of new knowledge. The top 10 contribution areas of AI towards public health were gathered in this exploratory study. We utilized the "text-davinci-003" model of GPT-3, using OpenAI playground default parameters. The model was trained with the largest training dataset any AI had, limited to a cut-off date in 2021. This study aimed to test the ability of GPT-3 to advance public health and to explore the feasibility of using AI as a scientific co-author. We asked the AI asked for structured input, including scientific quotations, and reviewed responses for plausibility. We found that GPT-3 was able to assemble, summarize, and generate plausible text blocks relevant for public health concerns, elucidating valuable areas of application for itself. However, most quotations were purely invented by GPT-3 and thus invalid. Our research showed that AI can contribute to public health research as a team member. According to authorship guidelines, the AI was ultimately not listed as a co-author, as it would be done with a human researcher. We conclude that good scientific practice also needs to be followed for AI contributions, and a broad scientific discourse on AI contributions is needed.

A susceptible coordination hybrid based terbium sensibilization coupled ESIPT effects for pattern discrimination of analogues.

Multianalyte detection and analogue discrimination are extremely valuable frontier areas for their wide applications in environmental, medical, clinical and industrial analyses. Nowadays, researchers rack their brains on how to develop excellent multianalyte chemosensors that have presented huge challenges in designing high-efficient fluorescent sensing materials and constructing high-throughput detection methods. In this paper, we propose a novel strategy to utilize the dual-emission fluorescent detection platform as a lab-on-a-molecule, arising from the disalicylaldehyde-coordinated hybrid H2Qj3/Tb based terbium sensibilization coupled excited-state intramolecular proton transfer effects. Using the statistical analysis (PCA and HCA) for sensing signals of three fluorescence channels (431, 543 and 583nm), we demonstrate this elaborate chemosensor with multianalyte detection of three species (solvents, anions and cations) and pattern discrimination of analogues. As a result, the H2Qj3/Tb shows great lab-on-a-molecule characters for each set of species, resulting in the easier identification of many critical analytes (e.g., H2O, NO2- and Fe3+) and discrimination of analogues. In addition, it is also proven to be able to provide reliable content determination for an analyte, especially the NO2- (LOD=0.37μM), and discrimination for mixed analogues. A combination of easy-to-implement preparation procedure and data analysis technique makes this work promising for not only designing similar lanthanide-based materials but also realizing more high-efficient multianalyte sensing systems towards various potential applications.

A Mathematical Analysis of 4IR Innovation Barriers in Developmental Social Work—A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) era also known as digital age is central to the advancement of the construction industry as the industry is currently facing a myriad of challenges, including poor productivity and project failure. Therefore, there is an urgent need for industry to adopt 4IR innovations to increase the building business’s performance. The study explored the relationship between the critical barriers to 4IR innovations to foster sustainable development. The study embraced a numerical exploration approach which employed a questionnaire to obtain information from building industry experts. The questionnaire data were used to classify the 4IR barriers into policy and structure, readiness, and acquisition, using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). Likewise, a predictive model was developed using Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS). It explained the relationship between the barrier categories and the barriers to 4IR innovation adoption for sustainable development. The results showed that policy and structure were critical components of 4IR adoption that the stakeholders of the construction industry must pay close attention to. The study also provided valuable areas for future research to enhance 4IR innovation adoption for sustainable development.

Mountain Tree Species Mapping Using Sentinel-2, PlanetScope, and Airborne HySpex Hyperspectral Imagery

Europe’s mountain forests, which are naturally valuable areas due to their high biodiversity and well-preserved natural characteristics, are experiencing major alterations, so an important component of monitoring is obtaining up-to-date information concerning species composition, extent, and location. An important aspect of mapping tree stands is the selection of remote sensing data that vary in temporal, spectral, and spatial resolution, as well as in open and commercial access. For the Tatra Mountains area, which is a unique alpine ecosystem in central Europe, we classified 13 woody species by iterative machine learning methods using random forest (RF) and support vector machine (SVM) algorithms of more than 1000 polygons collected in the field. For this task, we used free Sentinel-2 multitemporal satellite data (10 m pixel size, 12 spectral bands, and 21 acquisition dates), commercial PlanetScope data (3 m pixel size, 8 spectral bands, and 3 acquisitions dates), and airborne HySpex hyperspectral data (2 m pixel size, 430 spectral bands, and a single acquisition) with fusion of the data of topographic derivatives based on Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and airborne laser scanning (ALS) data. The iterative classification method achieved the highest F1-score with HySpex (0.95 RF; 0.92 SVM) imagery, but the multitemporal Sentinel-2 data cube, which consisted of 21 scenes, offered comparable results (0.93 RF; 0.89 SVM). The three images of the high-resolution PlanetScope produced slightly less accurate results (0.89 RF; 0.87 SVM).

Anthropogenic impact on soils of protected areas—example of PAHs

The following study presents the concentrations of 10 individual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs10) and the total concentration of PAHs (ΣPAHs) determined in soils of protected areas in Southern Poland (EU). The protected areas discussed here include 5 landscape parks and 5 nature reserves located in the Małopolska region. Surface soil samples were collected at 39 locations characterised by different natural conditions and different human pressure level. The samples were used to determine the contents of anthracene, benzo[a]pyrene, benz[a]anthracene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[g,h,i]perylene, chrysene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene, indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene and naphthalene. These concentrations of individual PAHs ranged from < 0.005 to 6.34 mg/kg. When considering the legal regulations currently in force, this meant that permissible values were exceeded in 23% of the samples analysed, while increased concentrations were found in another 26% of the samples. The limit values were exceeded most in the case of benzo[b]fluoranthene and benzo[a]pyrene. This occurred with samples collected in the vicinity of transportation routes, mainly local roads. In the case of naphthalene and anthracene, the limit values were not exceeded. Increased or excessive PAHs concentrations do not occur in the vicinity of major industrial plants located near the boundaries of individual landscape parks, which indicates how these pollutants spread. The paper also points to the need to develop new legal solutions to improve the method for assessing PAHs concentrations and their impact on valuable natural areas.

A bolder conservation future for Indonesia by prioritising biodiversity, carbon and unique ecosystems in Sulawesi

As more ambitious protected area (PA) targets for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework are set beyond Aichi Target 11, renew thinking into spatial prioritisation is required to enable PA expansion that maximises environmental values. Our study focuses on the biodiverse and forest-rich Indonesian island of Sulawesi, which has a terrestrial PA network that covers 10% of the island. We used Marxan to investigate trade-offs in the design of an expanded PA network that prioritised different conservation features (biodiversity, forest cover, carbon stock, karst and valuable metal-rich areas) under varying island-wide coverage targets (17%, 30%, and 50%). Our first scenario, which required existing PAs to be selected, required larger areas to meet these coverage targets, in contrast to our second scenario, which allowed for any part of the island to be chosen, irrespective of PA status. The vast Mekongga and Bangkiriang Landscapes, and Gorontalo corridor were consistently identified as a high priority for protection under all scenarios. To meet our conservation targets through expanding current PAs, creating new PAs, and creating corridors that connect existing PAs, we used a spatially explicit three-phase approach. Our findings identified 26,508 km2 of priority areas to be included in the current PA network, potentially assisting Indonesia in meeting its post-2020 GBF target, if our approach is replicated across Indonesia as a national or sub-national analysis. We discuss various land management options through other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) and the costs to deliver this strategy.

GIS-Based Visitor Count Prediction and Environmental Susceptibility Zoning in Protected Areas: A Case Study in Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia

The most valuable protected natural areas, including national parks, are subjected to the increased visitors count and density, threatening the environmental sustainability and biodiversity conservation. To establish a basis for land management to mitigate these influences, the novel geographic information (GIS)-based environmental susceptibility zoning method was proposed. The study area covered the Plitvice Lakes National Park, as the oldest and largest national park in Croatia, using the historical 20-year visitor data with 19 tourist and hiking routes. Two geospatial analysis methods were evaluated as follows: (1) short-term prediction of visitors count data based on a 10-year historical intervals, and (2) the environmental susceptibility zones delineation method integrated two fundamental factors in the assessment of environmental impacts from route density and historical visitors count on a monthly basis. Four accuracy assessment metrics indicated a moderate accuracy of short-term visitors count prediction, with the coefficient of determination ranging from 0.700 to 0.951. The routes which continue from both entrances indicated the largest visitors load is in the central part of the park, mostly located in the moderately restricted zone. These observations indicated moderate present environmental susceptibility with stable outlook, providing an insight for the nature park management adjustment.

Tenacibaculosis caused by Tenacibaculum maritimum: Updated knowledge of this marine bacterial fish pathogen.

Tenacibaculosis occurs due to the marine bacterial pathogen Tenacibaculum maritimum. This ulcerative disease causes high mortalities for various marine fish species worldwide. Several external clinical signs can arise, including mouth erosion, epidermal ulcers, fin necrosis, and tail rot. Research in the last 15 years has advanced knowledge on the traits and pathogenesis mechanisms of T. maritimum. Consequently, significant progress has been made in defining the complex host-pathogen relationship. Nevertheless, tenacibaculosis pathogenesis is not yet fully understood. Continued research is urgently needed, as demonstrated by recent reports on the re-emerging nature of tenacibaculosis in salmon farms globally. Current sanitary conditions compromise the development of effective alternatives to antibiotics, in addition to hindering potential preventive measures against tenacibaculosis. The present review compiles knowledge of T. maritimum reported after the 2006 review by Avendaño-Herrera and colleagues. Essential aspects are emphasized, including antigenic and genomic characterizations and molecular diagnostic procedures. Further summarized are the epidemiological foundations of the T. maritimum population structure and elucidations as to the virulence mechanisms of pathogenic isolates, as found using biological, microbiological, and genomic techniques. This comprehensive source of reference will undoubtable serve in tenacibaculosis prevention and control within the marine fish farming industry. Lastly, knowledge gaps and valuable research areas are indicated as potential guidance for future studies.

Detecting individual dead trees using airborne laser scanning

The global crises – climate change and biodiversity loss – have created a need for precise and wide-scale information of forests. Airborne laser scanning (ALS) provides a means for collecting such information, as it enables mapping large areas efficiently with a resolution sufficient for object-level information extraction. Deadwood is an important component of the forest environment, as it stores carbon and provides a habitat for a wide variety of species. Mapping deadwood provides information about the valuable areas regarding biodiversity, which can be used in, e.g., conservation and restoration planning. The aim of this thesis was to develop automated methodology for detecting individual fallen and standing dead trees from ALS data. Studies I and II presented a line detection based method for detecting fallen trees and evaluated its performance on a moderate-density ALS dataset (point density approx. 15 points/m2) and a high point density unmanned aerial vehicle borne laser scanning (ULS) dataset (point density approx. 285 points/m2). In addition, the studies inspected the dataset, methodology, and forest structure related factors affecting the performance of the method. The studies found that the length and diameter of fallen trees significantly impact their detection probability, and that the majority of large fallen trees can be identified from ALS data automatically. Furthermore, study I found that the amount and type of undergrowth and ground vegetation, as well as the size of surrounding living trees determine how accurately fallen trees can be mapped from ALS data. Moreover, study II found that increasing the point density of the laser scanning dataset does not automatically improve the performance of fallen tree detection, unless the methodology is adjusted to consider the increase in noise and detail in the point cloud. Study III inspected the feasibility of high-density discrete return ULS data for mapping individual standing dead trees. The individual tree detection method developed in the study was based on a three-step process consisting of individual tree segmentation, feature extraction, and machine learning based classification. The study found that, while some of the large standing dead trees could be identified from the ULS dataset, basing detection on discrete return data and the geometrical properties of trees did not suffice for acquiring applicable deadwood information. Thus, spectral information acquired with multispectral laser scanners or aerial imaging, or full-waveform laser scanning is necessary for detecting individual standing dead trees with a sufficient accuracy. The findings of this thesis contribute to the existing deadwood detection methodology and improve the understanding of factors to take into account when utilizing ALS for detecting dead trees at a single-tree-level. Although remotely sensed deadwood mapping is still far from a resolved topic, these contributions are a step towards operationalizing remotely sensed biodiversity monitoring.

Conservation of forest ecosystems in regional complex nature reserves

Based on the analysis of expedition, stock, published and official cadastral materials on the specially protected natural areas, the article characterizes complex (landscape) nature reserves of the Vologda region in the context of the landscape concept of formation of the network of specially protected natural areas in the region, and gives assessment of the compliance of the nature reserves with biodiversity conservation tasks under the taiga zone conditions. The history of establishment of nature reserves, the species and age composition of forests, the typological diversity of forests, availability of valuable natural areas, rare and protected species of plants and animals in 75 nature reserves were analyzed.

DEVELOPMENT OF CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN TUZLA CANTON TOURISM

The Tuzla Canton has a large number of valuable areas of cultural and historical heritage, which reflect diversity, authenticity, and which represents a significant potential in the development of cultural entrepreneurship in the field of tourism. The paper presents examples of creative entrepreneurship significant for the development of modern tourism in the Tuzla Canton. The goal is to present Tuzla Canton as a tourist destination for the development of a new culture of entrepreneurship that can ensure profitability, increase employment and raise the standard of living of the population. The possibilities for the development of creative enterprises in the Tuzla Canton are great, but it is necessary to seriously involve the ministries and other entities for the development of tourism in the process of design and development of the tourism strategy and the promotion of the tourism market.

Nowe gatunki obce i rodzime rozprzestrzeniające się w północno-wschodniej Polsce poza granicami swoich pierwotnych zasięgów

The paper presents data on 32 alien plant species as well as seven ones native for other regions of the country which had not been recorded in NE Poland before or were known so far from only a few sites. The most important source of the spread of alien species in the initial stages of colonization is their intentional introduction into cultivation. Ornamental plants constitute 48.7% of recorded new species. The railway routes allowed spontaneous colonization of nine species (23%). The remaining species (28%) were most likely introduced by road transport of people and goods. The vast majority of alien species (77%) begin colonization in highly disturbed man-made habitats, especially ruderal ones in urban areas, as well as roadsides and embankments along communication routes, and so far they have appeared only in the sites of such types in the region. Only a few plants of alien origin are able to colonize forest habitats (i.a. trees and shrubs spreading by birds: Crataegus coccinea, Malus toringo and Rubus laciniatus). The expansion of Miscanthus sacchariflorus may pose the greatest risk of entering semi-natural habitats and naturally valuable areas in the near future. Predictions regarding the possibility of an explosive spread of Iva xanthiifolia did not come true. This may also apply to Erechtites hieraciifolius.

Uşak Kenti Ekolojik Sınır Özelliklerinin Belirlenmesi

Tüm dünyada doğal alanlar veya doğala yakın özellikte alanlar üzerinde artan kentleşme hareketleri ekolojik yapı ve peyzaj bütünlüğüne zarar vermektedir. Bu olumsuz ve hızlı değişimin etkilerini kontrol etmek ve azaltmak için planlama çalışmaları önem taşımaktadır. Planlamanın doğru yapılabilmesi için çeşitli analiz ve izleme çalışmaları gerekmektedir. Sınır analizi bir alanın çevresiyle olan uyumunu ölçme ve değerlendirmede etkili bir yöntemdir. Bu çalışmada Uşak kentinin kentsel yayılımı sınır analizi yöntemiyle değerlendirilmiştir. Çalışmada kentin en son geldiği kentsel sınırı 2020 yılı uydu görüntüsü üzerinden ArcGIS 10 yazılımı aracılığı ile sayısallaştırılmış ve sınırdaki alan kullanım türleri tespit edilmiştir. Çalışmada sınır analizi sonuçları kentin sınırında ekolojik değeri düşük kentsel alan kullanımlarının yoğun olduğunu göstermiştir. Kentsel alan kullanımlarının ekolojik yönden değerli doğal alanlarla komşuluk içinde bulunması ilerleyen yıllarda doğal alanların zarar görebileceğini göstermektedir. Bu sonuç kentin doğal alanları yönündeki gelişimini kontrol etmek ve kentsel gelişmeyi doğallık değeri düşük arazilere yönlendirmek açısından fikir oluşturacaktır. Ayrıca çalışmada kentin açık yeşil alan oranları ve dağılımları tespit edilmiştir. Sonuçta kentte açık yeşil alanların niceliksel olarak kişi başına düşmesi gereken standardı karşılamadığı görülmüştür.