Landscape Constraints Research Articles

Modern methods for geodetic work at hydrological observation stations

This study evaluates the applicability and accuracy of satellite geodetic techniques (RTK and GNSS static surveys) in comparison with conventional сlass IV leveling at hydrological stations. Using Hydrological Station No. 72055 (Okhta River) as a case study, we demonstrate that satellite-based measurements may exhibit lower accuracy than leveling—particularly in urbanized and forested areas, where elevation deviations can reach 0.426 m. However, in the Arctic, where the geodetic reference network is degraded, GNSS methods can be employed given sufficient open-sky visibility. The findings emphasize the importance of selecting measurement techniques based on landscape constraints and accuracy requirements.

Integrating the Capital Asset Pricing Model with the Analytic Hierarchy Process and the Delphi Method: a proposed method for estimating the discount rate in constrained real estate development initiatives

The legislative framework on territorial and urban planning has become increasingly rich and complex in the European Union, particularly Italy. The structured – and often hindering – system of division of responsibilities between the central State, Regions, local institutions, and organisms generates different levels of administrative verification. The environmental and landscape constraints by which each Public Administration with jurisdiction over the territory exercises its powers strongly impact territorial management and negatively affect investments. Over the years, this has been one of the main reasons behind the significant dilation of the risk and the time required to obtain the necessary authorizations to start construction, producing “business risk.” Based on this premise, this work presents a methodological investigation of the relationships between environmental and landscape constraints, the regulatory framework involving the building, and its Market Value. This is finally aimed at finding suitable methods and procedures to formulate a reasonable discount rate considering the constraints and the related regulations that operate on an asset. A multi-step method integrating the Capital Asset Pricing Model, Analytic Hierarchy Process, and Delphi Method is proposed to assess the discount rate component related to urban risk.

Local and landscape constraints of adult population of Anastrepha obliqua (Diptera: Tephritidae) in mango orchards

Introduction: The West Indian fruit fly, Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart), is one of the most economically important pests of mangoes in Mexico and the Neotropics. Objective: To analyze adult population patterns of A. obliqua and their relation to local and landscape factors. Methods: We selected 11 “Manila” mango orchards along the middle part of La Antigua River, which were characterized to determine their biophysical structure and landscape configuration considering their distance to six different land uses/land covers. Anastrepha obliqua population was estimated by collecting adult flies in colorless polyethylene plastic bottle traps baited with a protein for three weeks in June 2022. Results: A total of 1 869 adults of A. obliqua were trapped, of which 75 % were females and 25 % were males. Abundance varied from 68 to 490 adult flies per orchard, while capture frequency from 0.36 to 1.8 flies/trap/day. Abundance increased in highly shaded orchards, and capture frequency decreased in orchards with highly soil compaction. Abundance and the frequency of capture increased in orchards near isolated trees of Spondias spp. and decreased in orchards near sugarcane plantations. Shade management in mango orchards may be used as an effective strategy to promote biotic interactions to naturally regulate A. obliqua populations, meanwhile, soil compaction represents a limiting ecological condition, which might severely impact fruit fly larvae survival. Conclusions: Adult population of A. obliqua depends on several local and landscape factors because they indicate resource availability and ecological conditions. These findings could be considered for control strategies in the integrated management of this pest to promote protection and improve the fruit quality of mango crop.

Habitat fragmentation drives divergent survival strategies of a cold‐water fish in a warm landscape

Abstract Climate change is a global phenomenon, but natural selection occurs within landscapes. Many global analyses predict how climate change will shape behavior and physiology, but few incorporate information from the landscape scales at which animals actually respond to selective pressure. We compared cold‐water fish (redband trout Oncorhynchus mykiss newberrii) from neighboring habitats in a naturally warm, recently fragmented basin to understand how different responses to warming may arise from landscape constraints. Trout in warm, hydrologically connected Upper Klamath Lake fled summer temperatures and sought refuge in cool tributaries, while trout in an equally warm but fragmented reach of the Klamath River endured summer conditions. Trout in the river were more physiologically tolerant of high temperatures than trout in the lake across multiple metrics, including capacity for aerobic activity, recovery from exertion, and loss of equilibrium. Two independent metrics of energetic condition indicated that the behavioral strategy of trout in the lake came at a substantial energetic cost, while the physiological strategy of trout in the river was able to mitigate most energetic consequences of high temperatures. No clear genetic basis for increased tolerance was found in trout from the river, which may suggest tolerance was derived from plasticity, although our analysis could not rule out genetic adaptation. Our results show that landscape processes such as fragmentation can cause different climate survival strategies to emerge in neighboring populations. Connecting the mechanisms that favor similar survival strategies among related organisms at broad scales with mechanisms that drive landscape‐scale variability within taxa should be a major goal for future predictions of biological responses to climate change.

CarbonVCA: A cadastral parcel-scale carbon emission forecasting framework for peak carbon emissions

CarbonVCA: A cadastral parcel-scale carbon emission forecasting framework for peak carbon emissions

Landscape constraints on mire lateral expansion

Little is known about the long-term expansion of mire ecosystems, despite their importance in the global carbon and hydrogeochemical cycles. It has been firmly established that mires do not expand linearly over time. Despite this, mires are often assumed to have expanded at a constant rate after initiation simply for lack of a better understanding. There has not yet been a serious attempt to determine the rate and drivers of mire expansion at the regional, or larger spatial scales. Here we make use of a natural chronosequence, spanning the Holocene, which is provided by the retreating coastline of Northern Sweden. By studying an isostatic rebound area we can infer mire expansion dynamics by looking at the portion of the landscape where mires become progressively scarce as the land becomes younger. Our results confirms that mires expanded non-linearly across the landscape and that their expansion is related to the availability of suitably wet areas, which, in our case, depends primarily on the hydro-edaphic properties of the landscape. Importantly, we found that mires occupied the wettest locations in the landscape within only one to two thousand years, while it took mires three to four thousand years to expand into slightly drier areas. Our results imply that the lateral expansion of mires, and thus peat accumulation is a non-linear process, occurring at different rates depending, above all else, on the wetness of the landscape.

The PRISMI Plus Toolkit Application to a Grid-Connected Mediterranean Island

Islands are a constrained environment due to their geographical peculiarities and their land use accounting for, especially in the touristic locations, strong variability during the year. Consequently, the variation of energy demand to be met by variable renewable energy leads to a complex issue. This study aims at investigating the PRISMI Plus approach applied to the Island of Procida to drive the transition towards low-carbon and high-renewable energy system. The toolkit involves the analysis of local renewable energy potential, their potential matching of the energy demand, and the prioritization of the technological solutions to achieve the decarbonization targets set by the energy planning strategies. Three scenarios are designed for 2030 considering low, middle, and high penetration of renewable energy in the systems, results indicate that the amount of power production in low, middle, and high penetration of renewable energy scenarios are 0.18, 14.5, 34.57 GWh/year, respectively. The environmental and landscape constraints lead to a restricted set of available solutions. The decarbonization of the electricity supply is foreseen thanks to the available local solar resources plus the electrification of other sectors, i.e. heating by using Heat Pumps and transport by using Electric Vehicles.

Strategi Keberlanjutan Obyek Wisata Melalui Tata Lansekap Studi Kasus Desa Karangmalang Sragen

<p class="Abstract"><em><span lang="IN">This research focused on landscape design plan to improve the sustainability of a tourist object. The method used is a programmed design which includes determining the problem, collecting relevant data and information, analyzing design decisions and ending with the determination of a landscape design plan. The data and information obtained consist of factual data, namely tourism activity programs, village tourism potential, landscape constraints for tourism sustainability, as well as normative data, namely spatial planning of tourist objects, sustainability principles, and landscape governance principles. The results of the analysis consist of determining the landscape theme, determining the type of vegetation design, and determining the variation of plant placement by criteria of tourism attributes and sustainability aspects.</span></em></p>

Wind Turbines and Rooftop Photovoltaic Technical Potential Assessment: Application to Sicilian Minor Islands

In order to achieve climate goals and limit the global temperature rise, an increasing share of renewable-energy sources (RESs) is required. However, technologies for the use of RESs need to be integrated into the landscape and ecological heritage to ensure a fully sustainable energy transition. This work aims to develop a scalable technique for integrating the estimation of rooftop PV and wind potential into spatial planning, providing a framework to support decision-makers in developing energy policies. The methodology is applied to the minor Sicilian islands, which are characterised by significant environmental and landscape constraints. The methodology is used to identify the areas eligible for the installation of onshore wind turbines and the usable roof surfaces for the installation of PV systems. It is shown that the available technical potential of rooftop PV installations could ensure a higher production than the actual consumption on 13 of the 14 islands studied. Nevertheless, efforts must be made to improve the legal framework, which currently places major limits on the use of wind energy.

Lateral Vibration Control of Long-Span Small-Radius Curved Steel Box Girder Pedestrian Bridge with Distributed Multiple Tuned Mass Dampers.

Curved pedestrian bridges are important urban infrastructure with the desired adaptability to the landscape constraints and with aesthetic benefits. Pedestrian bridges feature thin cross-sections, which provide sufficient load capacities but lead to low natural frequencies that make the bridges susceptible to vibration under pedestrian excitation. This study investigates the lateral vibration of a curved bridge with a small radius down to 20 m, proposes an approach to mitigate the lateral vibration of bridges with large curvatures using distributed multiple tuned mass dampers (MTMD), and conducts in-situ bridge tests to evaluate the vibration mitigation performance. The lateral vibration was investigated through in-situ tests and finite element analysis as well as the code requirements. The key parameters of the distributed MTMD system were improved by strategically selecting the mass ratio, bandwidth, center frequency ratio, and damper number. The results showed that the curved bridge was subjected to significant lateral vibration due to the coupling of torque and moment, and the recommended design parameters for the studied bridge were derived, i.e., the total mass ratio is 0.02, bandwidth is 0.15, center frequency ratio is 1.0, and damper number is 3. The proposed approach effectively improves the deployment of MTMD for lateral vibration control of the curved bridge. The field tests showed that the vibration was reduced by up to 82% by using the proposed approach.

Assessing the Siting Potential of Low-Carbon Energy Power Plants in the Yangtze River Delta: A GIS-Based Approach

China announced a target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. As one of the most promising pathways to minimize carbon emissions, the low-carbon electricity supply is of high consideration in China’s future energy planning. The main purpose of this study is to provide a comparative overview of the regional siting potential of various low-carbon power plants in the Yangtze River Delta of China. First, unsuitable zones for power plants are identified and excluded based on national regulations and landscape constraints. Second, we evaluate the spatial siting potential of the seven low-carbon energy power plants by ranking their suitability with geographic information system (GIS)-based hierarchical analysis (AHP). The results revealed that around 78% of the area is suitable for power plant siting. In summary, biomass power plants have high siting potential in over half of the spatial areas. Solar photovoltaic and waste-to-electricity are encouraged to establish in the long-term future. The maps visualize micro-scale spatial siting potential and can be coupled with the sustainability assessments of power plants to design an explicit guiding plan for future power plant allocation.

Front Propagation of Exponentially Truncated Fractional-Order Epidemics

The existence of landscape constraints in the home range of living organisms that adopt Lévy-flight movement patterns, prevents them from making arbitrarily large displacements. Their random movements indeed occur in a finite space with an upper bound. In order to make realistic models, by introducing exponentially truncated Lévy flights, such an upper bound can thus be taken into account in the reaction-diffusion models. In this work, we have investigated the influence of the λ-truncated fractional-order diffusion operator on the spatial propagation of the epidemics caused by infectious diseases, where λ is the truncation parameter. Analytical and numerical simulations show that depending on the value of λ, different asymptotic behaviours of the travelling-wave solutions can be identified. For small values of λ (λ≳0), the tails of the infective waves can decay algebraically leading to an exponential growth of the epidemic speed. In that case, the truncation has no impact on the superdiffusive epidemics. By increasing the value of λ, the algebraic decaying tails can be tamed leading to either an upper bound on the epidemic speed representing the maximum speed value or the generation of the infective waves of a constant shape propagating at a minimum constant speed as observed in the classical models (second-order diffusion epidemic models). Our findings suggest that the truncated fractional-order diffusion equations have the potential to model the epidemics of animals performing Lévy flights, as the animal diseases can spread more smoothly than the exponential acceleration of the human disease epidemics.

Geochemical anomaly definition using stream sediments landscape modeling

Geochemical anomaly definition using stream sediments landscape modeling

Transforming a Historic Public Office Building in the Centre of Rome into nZEB: Limits and Potentials

According to the last census of 2019, about two million Italian buildings are more than 100 years old. Building energy retrofitting involves a diverse mix of influencing factors, depending on history, intended use, and construction techniques. This paper aims to assess the energy needs of a historic building by evaluating the variability of climatic conditions and internal loads, as well as the thermal capacity of the building envelope. The energy analysis was conducted using dynamic simulation systems (TRNSYS). The purpose of the study is to provide an analysis of the current energy conditions of the building to identify the main critical issues and suggest the most suitable interventions to be implemented. All the transformations were conducted to meet the nZEB requirements and evaluate technical and economic feasibility, compatibility with architectural and landscape constraints, and large-scale replicability. Specifically, to reach the proposed targets, a 36 kWp PV system was implemented for an area of 210 m2, in addition to the Air Handling Unit (AHU) already present. The profit index is above the unit, and it yields a time range between three and four years. Therefore, fully respecting the energy performance parameters required by the Italian legislation, the study demonstrated the unattainability of the nZEB class for a listed building.

Landscape context and dispersal ability as determinants of population genetic structure in freshwater fishes

Abstract Dispersal is a critically important process that dictates population persistence, gene flow, and evolutionary potential, and is an essential element for identifying species conservation risks. This study aims to investigate the contributions of dispersal syndromes and hydrographic barriers on patterns of population connectivity and genetic structure in fishes occupying the particularly rugged and fragmented landscape of the Kimberley Plateau, Western Australia. We assessed population genetic structure between three neighbouring catchments (the Mitchell, King Edward, and Drysdale rivers) in three congeneric groups of freshwater fishes that exhibit varied dispersal syndromes within and among groups: (1) Melanotaenia australis and M. gracilis; (2) Syncomistes trigonicus and S. rastellus; and (3) Hephaestus jenkinsi and H. epirrhinos. Within each species we sampled the upper, middle, and lower reaches of each catchment and assessed patterns of gene flow between and within catchments using microsatellite markers. Our results suggest that contemporary connectivity between catchments is greatly limited or absent in all study species, regardless of their dispersal syndromes. However, gene flow within catchments varied in line with predicted dispersal potential, with poor dispersers exhibiting limited gene flow and significant genetic structuring. We conclude that the rugged landscape and historical habitat isolation has contributed to patterns of population fragmentation among fish populations from different river catchments. However, it appears dispersal syndromes influence connectivity and gene flow within catchments, where landscape constraints are not as pervasive. This study presents a comparative population genetic analysis of freshwater fishes with differing dispersal syndromes and colonisation ability. Our findings provide new insights into factors shaping patterns of biodiversity on the Kimberley Plateau, and the evolutionary uniqueness of fish communities from different river catchments draining the plateau. More broadly, they highlight the importance of accounting for dispersal‐related traits when planning management and conservation strategies.

Combining MaxEnt model and landscape pattern theory for analyzing interdecadal variation of sugarcane climate suitability in Guangxi, China

Combining MaxEnt model and landscape pattern theory for analyzing interdecadal variation of sugarcane climate suitability in Guangxi, China

Optimizing biodiversity gain of European agriculture through regional targeting and adaptive management of conservation tools

Optimizing biodiversity gain of European agriculture through regional targeting and adaptive management of conservation tools

Varying potential of conservation tools of the Common Agricultural Policy for farmland bird preservation

Varying potential of conservation tools of the Common Agricultural Policy for farmland bird preservation

Examining the Impact of Risk Perception on the Accuracy of Anisotropic, Least-Cost Path Distance Approaches for Estimating the Evacuation Potential for Near-Field Tsunamis

Coastal hazards that can strike with little or no warning, such as tsunamis, are problematic in terms of population exposure and the threat of loss of life. With projected increases in coastal populations, exposure is likely to increase among these communities. For near-field tsunamis, the evacuation window can be as little as 15 to 20 min, and evacuation can be problematic for numerous reasons, such as population demographics, limited road networks, local topographic constraints, lack of proper education, and misaligned risk perception of the general populace. It is therefore critical for tsunami evacuation planning and education to be highly effective. To address this need, we employed a participatory mapping approach to explore potential evacuation enhancement by evaluating existing least-cost path pedestrian evacuation models, perception of landscape constraints, and additional risks to nearfield tsunamis in Aberdeen, Washington. Stakeholders were tasked with drawing their understood evacuation routes on maps which were analyzed for approximate time to reach safety and compared to least-cost path pedestrian evacuation models. A quantitative analysis of selected evacuation pathways revealed participants consistently overestimated evacuation time and did not follow modeled least-cost pathways. The results suggest traditional modeling (e.g., least-cost path and agent-based models) underestimate travel time to safety. Thus, there is a need for additional outreach, notably in communities where traditional evacuation models might create a false sense of security.

Relationships between landscape constraints and a crayfish assemblage with consideration of competitor presence

Abstract AimCrayfish are globally diverse and one of the most important taxa in North American streams. Despite their importance, many species are of conservation concern and efforts to improve conditions are limited. Here, we address two major impediments to improving conditions: (a) our lack of knowledge of the interplay among natural landscape and human‐induced changes; and (b) a very limited understanding of how species interactions affect overall crayfish distributions.LocationOzark Highlands ecoregion, USA.MethodsWe used both existing data and field‐collected data to examine the relationships between 12 Faxonius species and physicochemical variables at multiple spatial scales. Data were analysed using a generalized linear mixed model. After fitting our environmental variables, we also considered possible relationships between species considered strong competitors and species occurrence.ResultsOur results indicated that elevation, lithology, an interaction between drainage area and anthropogenic disturbance, and the presence of strong competitors were associated with Faxonius occurrences. Faxonius occurrences were associated with assemblage‐structuring variables: lithology and elevation. More interestingly, we found several patterns of interactions between drainage area and disturbance. The most common pattern among several species was a decline in occurrence in larger drainages when disturbance was high; however, longpincered crayfish (Faxonius longidigitus) was more likely to occupy large drainages as disturbance increased. Additionally, the presence of species considered strong competitors resulted in lower occurrence probability for many species, including two of the species classified as competitors.Main conclusionsIn addition to identifying the relationships between native species and assemblage‐structuring variables, we show how the probability of species occurrences relate to interactions between disturbance and natural landscape features. Further, our results suggest competitor presence also plays a role in structuring distributions at the stream segment scale. Our findings emphasize the value of considering both competitor presence and interactions among landscape variables and disturbances in structuring crayfish assemblages.