Ecological Sensitive Areas Research Articles

A Spatio-Temporal Examination of Land Use and Land Cover Changes in Smart Cities of the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor

This study provides a detailed analysis of land use and land cover (LULC) changes at the district level within the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) from 2001 to 2021. Using the Indian Meteorological Department’s sub-divisional framework and MODIS data across seven primary LULC classes, the analysis is instrumental in informing infrastructure planning for existing and future smart cities and industrial clusters within the DMIC. The key findings reveal a yearly increase of 3031.40 sq. km. per year in agricultural land, with decreases in shrubland, grassland, and bareland of −1774.72 sq. km. per year, −1119.62 sq. km. per year, and −203.76 sq. km. per year, respectively. On the other hand, forests grew by a modest 148.14 sq. km. per year, while waterbodies and built-up lands saw minor increases of 55.73 sq. km. and 21.48 sq. km. per year. Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs) were evaluated for LULC changes. The smart cities of Pune and Thane serve as excellent examples of balanced urban development and natural growth management. However, the study also highlights the need for further research to investigate LULC impacts on climatic variables, advocating for a regional planning approach in the DMIC.

An integrated model chain for diagnosing and predicting conflicts between production-living-ecological space in lake network regions: A case of the Dongting Lake region, China

The disorderly expansion of human production-living construction activities into aquatic ecological sensitive areas has triggered severe production-living-ecological space (PLES) conflicts. However, research on the risk-triggering mechanisms of PLES conflicts in lake network regions and multidimensional scenario simulation techniques is relatively lacking. To address these issues, this study constructs an integrated model chain by coupling the Markov-GMOP-PLUS model to achieve a quantified diagnosis and simulated regulation of spatial conflict strength index (SCSI) under sustainable development goals. Applying it to the Dongting Lake region reveals that: (1) The overall PLES exhibited a distribution pattern where “ecological space encompasses production space, with living space interspersed within”. The category conversion mainly reflected the encroachment of agricultural production space on the plain water ecological space, with a conversion area of up to 899.48 km2. (2) The distinctive “high in the north, low in the south” PLES conflict pattern was closely aligned with the land use structure and water system distribution, with conflict hotspots persistently clustering in the core lake network regions amid rapid urbanization. Among these, the growth rate of severe conflicts in the last ten years was 3.86 times that of the previous ten years. (3) The sustainable development scenario showcased the most effective conflict mitigation by curtailing production-living space expansion and ecological space encroachment. This scenario reversed the growth trend in conflict high-value zones and the reduction trend in low-value zones, with change rates of −3.30 % and 7.05 %, respectively, compared to 2020. This study provides a scientific basis for formulating sustainable land-use policies in lake network regions.

A KNETSCH PROPOSITION AND A DUE PROCESS FOR THE EVALUATION OF MINING PROJECTS IN ECOLOGICALLY SENSITIVE AREAS: AN ILLUSTRATION THROUGH TWO AUSTRALIAN CASE STUDIES

Drawn on some Knetsch observations, this paper illustrates a due process for the economic evaluation of mining projects that impact sensitive and irreversible ecological assets. Towards this end, two case studies of coal mining projects in Australia are considered — one on the Liverpool Plains in New South Wales and the other on the Galilee Basin in Central Queensland. The adverse environmental and social externalities of these projects are well known — especially the impacts on the Gunnedah and the Great Artesian Basins. Notwithstanding these impacts, which are exceedingly difficult to value, private financial analyses demonstrate significant revenue gains. Mining firms find such gains difficult to ignore. Nevertheless, economic analyses illustrate that the net benefits to Australia are possibly absent even without accounting for the costs of environmental social externalities. Given that the property rights of the mineral reserves are vested with the State, the Resource Rent Tax (RRT) becomes a legitimate fiscal policy tool. The paper argues that the assessment of mining decisions must account for the depreciation of the Mineral asset. When this depreciation is measured alongside the Hartwick–Rule, the mining projects demonstrate monetary viability only when the RRT is enforced and is invested in its entirety on options that generate annual returns in excess of 3% to 4%. If recognized, the costs of environmental and social externalities could readily wipe out this, and for that matter any, monetary viability owing to the irreversible nature of the natural social endowments.

Analysis of desertification and the driving factors over the Loess Plateau

Land desertification poses a severe global ecological threat. Loess Plateau, a typical region, was extensively studied. This study conducted a fitting analysis between the Vegetation Index: Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), kernel Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (kNDVI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Albedo. A holistic analytical methodology was established, encompassing desertification evaluation, spatiotemporal changes, intensity, driving mechanisms, and management zoning. The results indicate that NDVI and albedo exhibit the best fit with an R2 value of 0.72. Desertification primarily occurred in the northwest, displaying significant fluctuation. Climatic factors and human activities were the main drivers of Desertification Difference Index (DDI). Precipitation promoted DDI, while temperature inhibited it, and human activities primarily play a promoting role. Furthermore, management zones were delineated, encompassing ecological sensitive areas requiring urgent land protection, ecological restoration areas necessitating land management and restoration projects, ecological improvement areas and ecological stability areas aiming to maintain the existing ecological balance while concurrently strengthening monitoring.

Analysis of Economic Resource Ecological Environment Coupling Coordination in Qinghai Province

Qinghai Province is the birthplace of the Yellow River, Yangtze River and Lancang River, which is an important water source and ecological sensitive area in China. Analyzing the coupling and coordination of economy, resources and ecological environment in Qinghai Province is of great significance for promoting the sustainable development of Qinghai Province and exploring the path of coordinated development of ecology and economy. The comprehensive evaluation index system of economic development, resource conditions and ecological environment was constructed. Based on the relevant data from 2011 to 2021, the entropy method and coupling coordination degree model were used to analyze the coordination relationship among the three systems. The results show that the coupling effect and coordination relationship among economic development, resource conditions and ecological environment in Qinghai Province have been improved, but the overall coordination degree is still not strong. Therefore, Qinghai province needs to continuously promote ecological economy and economic ecology, and actively explore a new path of coordinated development between ecology and economy.

The optimization model of soil and water conservation ecological construction for power transmission and transformation projects in ecologically sensitive areas in Sichuan and Chongqing area in the new era is analyzed

In the construction and development of modern society, the overall characteristics of soil and water conservation ecological construction are not only reflected in the coordination of biological measures and engineering measures, but also in the sustainable development of economy and technology, which is the fundamental demand of the comprehensive treatment and optimization model of soil and water conservation for power transformation projects in ecologically sensitive areas of Sichuan and Chongqing in the new era. Therefore, after understanding the development requirements of ecological sensitive areas in Sichuan-Chongqing area, this paper mainly studies the optimization model of ecological construction of soil and water conservation according to the construction management content of power transmission and transformation projects, so as to provide technical support for urban construction and development in the new era.

Optimizing Ecological Spatial Network Topology for Enhanced Carbon Sequestration in the Ecologically Sensitive Middle Reaches of the Yellow River, China

The destruction of vegetation structure and quantity leads to the weakening of the carbon sequestration capacity of the ecosystem. Building an ecological spatial network is a potent method for studying vegetation spatial distribution structures. The relationship between the spatial distribution structure of vegetation networks and carbon sequestration, as approached from the perspective of complex network theory, is understudied. This study uses the minimum resistance model (MCR) and morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) to study the eco-space network and ecological node spatial structure and topological characteristics of vegetation in the ecologically sensitive area of the middle reaches of the Yellow River (ESAMRYR). Based on the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford approach (CASA) model, the vegetation Net Primary Productivity (NPP) of the study area is calculated, and the ecological carbon sequestration function of the ecological node is estimated, and the relationship between the ecological node and the topological indicators is analyzed. The study shows that the forest land carbon storage in the regions situated toward the south and east of the Yellow River ecologically sensitive area is the highest, accounting for twice the proportion of the area, and is very important in terms of increasing carbon storage. Most of the ecological sources in the study area have a higher topological importance than functional importance, and the sources with low coordination are mainly distributed in the southwest and northeast. We construct a topology and function coupling optimization model (TFCO) to explore the coordination between vegetation structure and carbon sequestration function, to determine the network optimization direction, and to propose optimization solutions. Analysis of network robustness and carbon sequestration capacity shows that the sturdiness and carbon sequestration of the enhanced network are significantly improved. This study provides strategies and methods for protecting ecological sensitive areas, optimizing vegetation spatial distribution, and enhancing carbon sequestration capacity.

基于生态安全格局的粤港澳地区陆域空间生态保护修复重点区域识别

区域和景观尺度的生态保护修复应以保障生态安全、促进生态过程实现为目标。将生态安全格局构建、生态连通性修复方法引入国土空间生态修复识别领域, 以粤港澳大湾区外延范围——粤港澳地区为研究区, 基于生态系统服务重要性和敏感性评价、最小阻力模型、电路理论模型, 识别了生态源地、生态廊道及障碍点、生态夹点、生态敏感区, 提供了一种中尺度的国土空间生态保护修复重点区域识别研究案例。结果表示：(1)研究区生态源地总面积5.27万km², 潜在生态廊道138条, 共同构成了环绕粤港澳大湾区的环形生态屏障, 但局部区域仍存在一定的保护空缺。(2)研究区生态障碍点、生态夹点面积分别为442.7、9.1 km², 对其进行针对性修复可显著改善生态连通性。(3)研究区生态敏感区共4302.48 km², 青云山、九连山、起微山等重要生态源地内存在部分生态退化区域, 对其进行修复可防范生态风险、提升生态功能。未来应通过空间规划途径对重要源地和生态廊道加强保护监管, 对生态节点、生态敏感区、生态退化区进行分区分类修复。研究结果可为未来粤港澳地区生态保护修复工作提供科学参考。;Ecological restoration in regional and landscape scale should aim to improve ecological connectivity and promote the realization of ecological processes. This paper introduces the ecological security pattern and the restoration of ecological connectivity into the field of ecological restoration identification. Taking the extended area of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region as the research area, based on the evaluation of the importance of ecological functions and ecological sensitivity, the minimum cumulative resistance model (MCR) and circuit theory model, the ecological source, ecological corridors, barriers, and ecological pinch points are identified, providing a meso-scale research case on the identification of key areas of land and space ecological restoration. The results indicate (1) The total area of ecological sources in the study area is 52700 km², which are mainly distributed in the main mountain ranges of northern, western and eastern Guangdong, and the central and eastern mountains of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Lantau Island and Hong Kong Island. The ecological sources and ecological corridors together form a circular ecological barrier surrounding the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, but there are still protection vacancies in some areas. (2) The areas of ecological barriers and ecological pinch points in the study area are 442.7 and 9.1 km² respectively. The targeted restoration of them can significantly improve ecological connectivity. (3) The ecological sensitive areas is 4302.48 km². There are some ecological degraded areas in important ecological sources such as Qingyun Mountain, Jiulian Mountain and Qiwei Mountain. Restoration of these areas can prevent ecological risks and improve ecological functions. In the future, ecological protection and restoration should strengthen the protection and supervision of important sources and ecological corridors through spatial planning, and carry out zoning and classification restoration of ecological nodes, ecological sensitive areas, and ecological degraded areas. The research results can provide a scientific reference for future ecological protection and restoration work in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

Urban perimeters issues in low-density areas

In the domain of spatial planning, there is a concern to preserve the territory whilst ensuring a proper expansion of urban perimeters. Cities, towns and villages should be contained within urban perimeters for building and urbanization purposes. The concept of urban perimeter is defined as the closed polygonal line demarcating the continuous territory of urban land-use. The spatial planning instruments should define the urban land-use referring to areas totally or partially urbanized or built. Regarding low-density territories with a greater propensity to urban sprawl and population ageing, the previously mentioned rules are not always met. Thus, this study focuses on the case of the Interior region of Portugal classified as low-density territory. Here the number of inhabitants is decreasing with low demand for urban spaces. However, the urban perimeters were mainly defined without being based on territorial features, topographic mapping or ecological sensitive areas. Thus, for a diversity of aspects, there are inappropriate areas to build that were wrongly included as part of urban areas, creating as a result urban void. One main reason for this problem are the topographic conditions that don’t fit with the urbanization and building requirements in urban perimeters. In this sense, this research aims to describe the articulation between the urbanization and building processes, under the rules of the Municipal Master Plans, regarding the topographic features of urban perimeters. The conclusion shows that the most sloped areas are those that were less sought after for urbanization, however these zones comprise a significant part of the urban perimeters. Finally, there is the need to stress that in low-density territories, many urban voids will never be urbanized.

How to Identify Future Priority Areas for Urban Development: An Approach of Urban Construction Land Suitability in Ecological Sensitive Areas.

The suitability of urban construction land (SUCL) is key to the appropriate utilization of land resources and represents an important foundation for regional exploration and land management. This study explores the SUCL conceptual framework by considering the theory of human-land relationships. The upper reaches of the Yangtze River were studied, a typical ecologically-sensitive area of China. The spatial pattern and control of the SUCL were determined using the improved entropy method. The results show that an area of 91 × 104 km2 was categorized as prohibited or restricted, and these categories account for 28.61% and 50.66% of the total area, respectively. Priority areas and suitable areas are mainly located in the Chengdu Plain, the urban agglomeration of southern Sichuan Province, Chongqing, and the economic corridor in the west, and the surrounding cities of Guiyang and Kunming. SUCL hotspots feature obvious spatial heterogeneity and are concentrated in Sichuan Basin and Guizhou Plateau. The SUCL is obviously constrained by the physical geography of this region. In addition, towns affected by the pole–axis effect have stronger suitability for development and construction. These findings will be very useful for land managers as they provide relevant information about urban development in mountainous areas.

Multi-criteria analysis for mapping of environmentally sensitive areas in a karst ecosystem

Karst ecosystems are one of the ecologically sensitive areas most affected by the dramatic harmful effects of the desertification process due to their structural, geomorphologic, and ecologic characteristics. The objective of this study was to assess and mapping ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs) for monitoring desertification and improving degraded forest areas in karst ecosystems. Sensitive ecological areas were evaluated using the Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use Methodology (MEDALUS) by considering soil quality, vegetation quality, climate quality, and management quality. Three new parameters (exposed rocky surface index, soil organic carbon index, and depression area index) were added specifically to karst ecosystem were evaluated using the Analytic Hierarchic Process (AHP) to determine ecological sensitivity. The study area is Sarimsak Karstic Mountain located in Andirin, Kahramanmaras. Soil organic carbon exposed rocky surface and depression area indices were evaluated over 110 soil samples. Values of each indices were determined according to the AHP methodology. The new SQImodified map, which was generated using new indices unique to karstic ecosystems provided a more precise spatial distribution. The results indicated that 44.49% of the study area is Critical, 51.94% is Fragile, and 3.58% is Potential in terms of desertification levels. In areas identified as Critical; agricultural fields, rangelands, and rocky surfaces cover 71.54%. Urban areas were evaluated as 100% Fragile class. Forested areas were evaluated in the Fragile and Potential class. The forest cover class affects Fragile and Potential status very closely. With the increase in forest cover rate, it has reduced fragility. The most critical ESAi classification area (C3) was detected in rangelands. Specific indices should be created to provide a realistic perspective in the combat to desertification in karst ecosystems.

Economic and social benefits of a strategy of ecological monitoring for oil and gas companies operating in the Russian Arctic

Ecological monitoring provides a more complete picture of the possible effects of extractive activities for oil and Gas companies operating in the Russian Arctic and in other ecological sensitive areas. This paper proposes a framework to evaluate the adequacies of different monitoring systems for Operations in the Arctic for oil and Gas companies. Our research also demonstrates how Ecological monitoring could be a useful strategic tool for long term risk reduction, accident avoidance and to improve the socio-economic development for indigenous communities.

Anthropogenic influence on the physico-chemical parameters of Dhamra estuary and adjoining coastal water of the Bay of Bengal

Estuaries receive the anthropogenic pollutants of their watershed area. Dhamra estuary, on the east coast of India, is such an estuary that receives a huge amount of pollutants, and it will eventually pose a threat to the ecological sensitive areas in its vicinity. Therefore, a study was carried out on physico-chemical parameters and chlorophyll-a to delineate the sources of variation during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. Surface water sampling was carried out from 12 stations in the estuarine and coastal area. Factor analysis and cluster analysis were applied to seasonal data to understand the sources of variation. From the study, it was observed that the chemical parameters are severely affected by anthropogenic influences such as sediment dredging, aquaculture effluent, and waste from industry and sewage from upstream. In the long run, this will affect the nearby nesting ground of vulnerable Olive Ridley turtles, high bio-diverse mangrove forests, and saltwater crocodile habitat.

Integrating large mammal behaviour and traffic flow to determine traversability of roads with heterogeneous traffic on a Central Indian Highway

Roads impact wildlife in multiple ways, most conspicuous amongst which are animal-vehicle collisions (AVCs). Mitigation measures to reduce AVCs at the local scale are often centred on species-specific crossing zones and collision hotspots. However, at the road network scale, consideration of interactions among road, species and traffic characteristics influencing AVC occurrence is required to design effective mitigation strategies. We modelled traversability—the probability of an animal successfully crossing a road- across an Indian highway for six large mammal species under different scenarios of road and traffic characteristics. Among the study species, group-living and slow-moving animals had higher AVC probabilities that increased significantly with increasing traffic volume and proportions of heavy vehicles in the traffic flow. The risk of AVC was higher for species that were active near roadside habitat during peak traffic hours. Our approach could help identify roads that pose potential mortality risks to animals using empirical data on animal and traffic characteristics. Results suggest that regulating traffic volume and heterogeneity on existing road stretches could potentially reduce animal mortality and barrier effect. Mitigation on roads expected to carry heavy traffic loads passing through ecologically-sensitive areas should be prioritised to ensure traversability for animal communities.

Exploration of smart city construction under new urbanization: A case study of Jinzhou-Huludao Coastal Area

Smart city construction is an important direction of global urban development, which reflects the bright future of human life. Building smart cities is also a long-term task for China to promote new-type urbanization and healthy urban development. Nowadays, China's new urbanization takes wisdom, intelligence and green ecology as the core theory, and an increasing cities have joined the planning and construction of green ecology, intelligent and intelligent urbanization. Landscape pattern optimization is one of the important ways in achieving regional ecological security. With the rapid development of urbanization, the ecological space has been continuously compressed. How to coordinate the contradiction between regional ecological security and social and economic development has become the main problem facing China's land use. In this study, GLP-ESA-ACO coupling model is used to optimize the allocation of landscape pattern under the goal of ecological security and economic coordination, and Jinzhou-Huludao coastal area is taken as an example for empirical research. Maximizing comprehensive benefits is taken as the objective of optimizing landscape pattern allocation, and GLP is applied to quantitatively constrain landscape types from three aspects of ecological security, ecological service function and social and economic development. Based on the ecological suitability assessment of construction land, considering the change rule of landscape pattern characteristics and the ecological service value of each land type, the appropriate land use distribution map is determined as the spatial constraint of landscape pattern optimization. Using ant colony optimization algorithm, under the constraints of quantity and space, and under the guidance of ecological protection, the optimization sequence is determined, and the optimal allocation results of various landscape types are obtained and superimposed to obtain the final optimal allocation map of landscape pattern in Jinzhou-Huludao coastal area. The results show that: (1) The optimal plan meets the land use indicators of actual planning, takes the maximization of comprehensive benefits as the goal, strictly controls the development and construction of ecological sensitive areas along the coastline, and is superior to the urban planning of destroying the ecological coastal zone tidal flat wetland through reclamation; (2) In the optimal plan, the grassland in the northwest mountain area of Jinhu coastal area is converted into forest, which is consistent with the actual situation in the coastal area of Jinzhou-Huludao in 2020, and the hot spots of inland urban construction in the optimal plan are basically consistent with the actual situation. The research method is scientific and reasonable, which can coordinate the contradiction between regional ecological security and social and economic development, provide theoretical basis for land use planning and rational allocation of land resources, and also provide reference for similar research in other regions.

Urbanization in Small Cities and Their Significant Implications on Landscape Structures: The Case in Ethiopia

Fundamental ideas concerning urbanization are primarily based on studies performed in large cities. It is of interest to study whether or not similar phenomena take place in smaller cities. Small cities are an inherent component of urbanization, and in the future, the majority of globalization is expected to occur in small and mid-sized cities. Understanding the effects of small cities on landscape structures is, therefore, an essential component in planning city land expansion. Accordingly, this study focused on six towns of the Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfinnee, Ethiopia, which is broadly known to be experiencing dramatic growth. Time-series Landsat images from 1987 to 2019 with an integrated method, landscape metrics, and built-up density analysis were employed to characterize and compare the dynamics of landscape structures, urban expansion patterns, process, and overall growth status in the towns. The results highlight that all the towns experienced accelerated growth in the built-up areas and highly scattered nature in spatial growth. Landscape ecology analysis confirmed a highly fragmented urban landscape, a significant loss of natural land covers, and disconnected and complicated agro-vegetation patches in all towns, suggesting a lack of rigorous implementation of the master plan. Results also indicated that the Oromia Special Zone surrounding Finfinnee has failed to control urban sprawl to surrounding ecological sensitive areas. The study results, more broadly, highlight that the small cities would have a limited physical and demographic footprint and relatively less contribution to the national economic agglomeration; nonetheless, they can have a notable and important impact in terms of their ecological and environmental influence. Hence, the study suggests policies for monitoring such dynamics and protecting agro-environmental connectivity with particular focus on the small cities.

Toward GIS-Based Approach for Identification of Ecological Sensitivity Areas: Multi-Criteria Evaluation Technique for Promotion of Tourism in Soon Valley, Pakistan

Ecologically sensitive areas are sensitive regions which provide natural habitat to native and migratory wildlife. The area under study is Soon Valley which is of significant value since it is rich in natural resources and an important tourist attraction. It has the potential to benefit the communities’ environment, along with providing aesthetic, recreational and economical benefits. Special attention is required for the preservation of these areas to develop the tourism industry in this region. This paper aims to highlight the spatial locations of Soon Valley according to the ecological sensitivity. To achieve this purpose, ecological knowledge is integrated with geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing techniques. An ecological assessment study was conducted based on the ecological indicators and their synthesis to identify ecologically significant and preference areas within the area under study. For this purpose, eight ecological indicators were defined and the spatial extent for each indicator was mapped in GIS. For analysis purpose, weightage factor and buffer area for each class were defined in accordance with the significance of the feature. The final analysis revealed four classes including very high (6%), high (20%), moderate (39%) and low (34%) ecological sensitive areas.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EIA) AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN (EMP): A CASE STUDY OF KACHCHH, GUJARAT, INDIA

This case study outlines some noteworthy features of the process of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Management Plant (EMP) of Deendyal (Kandla) Port Trust (DPT) and Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) lignite mines, Kachchh, Gujarat, India. These key viewpoints incorporate task depiction, options, checking, portrayal of the earth, open cooperation, biophysical impacts, social effects, sway essentialness, total impacts evaluation, observing, and introduction, which are earmarked in annexure in the form of sectors requiring EIA, Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA), basic guidelines, and environmental laws. The case study reflects the detailed scenario of physical, biological, and socioeconomic profiles of the study areas, which directly or indirectly the environmental as well as ecological characteristics of the proposed project sites. The suggestive steps, recommendations and mitigation measures are also discussed herewith.

Quarry limestone dust as fine aggregate for concrete

In quarrying activities, rock is extracted and transformed into aggregate of various sizes for civil engineering applications. In this process waste fine aggregates (dust waste) are generated. The disposal of this type of waste is a further cost in the extraction process, but also a possible cause of environmental pollution (e.g. leaching into water reserves, atmospheric pollution as a result of small particles causing respiratory diseases or deposited on plants disrupting photosynthesis, affecting aquatic habitats, etc.). A strategy for the effective recycling of quarry dust does not only reduce waste generation and disposal, but also addresses protection of the environment. The Italian quarrying industry covers a relevant portion of global mineral extraction resulting in a significant production of fine waste. In some cases quarries are located close to ecological sensitive and protected areas and to the coast with higher risks for biodiversity (an example is the limestone extraction industry in Trapani, Sicily). In this context, the paper reviews the strategies proposed in the use of limestone fine waste, especially for concrete, and discusses an experimental program intended to assess the mechanical properties of concrete made with the fine limestone waste produced in the area of Trapani, as a partial substitute of fine aggregate (sand).

Relationship between vegetation types, soil and topography in southern forests of Iran

For sustainable forest management, understanding the ecological factors that determine vegetation composition are important. Here, the relation between the vegetation composition and environmental factors (elevation, aspect, slope, CaCO3, K, P, C, N, C/N, bulk density, soil porosity, saturation moisture content, EC, pH, sand, silt and clay) was investigated in the Khonj forests, Fars Province, Iran. Characteristic land units, each 200 m2, were chosen for sampling to analyze species composition, soil characteristics and topographic factors. The floristic data were classified using a two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN). Means were then compared using an ANOVA and Duncan multiple range test to detect any variations between groups. Also, the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin index and Bartlett test were used to measure sampling adequacy. The four vegetation groups identified comprised the species Achillea wilhelmsii, Tanacetum parthenium, Convolvulus spinosus, Capparis spinosa. A detrended canonical correspondence analysis (DCCA) ordination diagram clearly illustrated the relationship between vegetation and environmental factors. According to the results, group 1 with A. wilhelmsii as the indicator species has a positive relation with slope and elevation. T. parthenium was the indicator species of group 2, that appears in areas with high silt and low bulk density and sand. The results showed that group 3 with Convolvulus spinosus as the indicator species was distributed in soils with high bulk density, low silt and pH as well. Group 4 with C. spinosa as the indicator species occurs in sandy soils and low slopes. Using DCCA, we determined the relationship between species and environmental factors more accurately. Results of this study can be used to restore vegetation or maintain species composition in ecological sensitive areas.