Landscape Protection Research Articles

New records of pteridophytes in Mount Matutum Protected Landscape, South Central Mindanao, Philippines with notes on its economic value and conservation status

New records on distribution of pteridophytes in Mount Matutum Protected Landscape were documented. The species list was accounted with reference to specimen collections from various herbaria posted in digital databases and reliable literature on pteridophyte flora. Results further showed 105 new records for MMPL and its vicinity-South Cotabato, Sarangani province and General Santos City. From these, seven were new records for South Central Mindanao Region (Region 12). About 19 families, 56 genera were represented – 41 were epiphytes, 10 lithophytes, and 45 soil inhabitants, the rest with dual habits – two (ground and lithophytic); seven (epiphytic and lithophytic). Moreover, 11 species were found to be threatened based on national list while local conservation assessment based on relative frequency noted 91 threatened species. A conservation plan for these valuable species in the protected landscape is also proposed to ensure sound intervention and sustainable environment for this plant group.

The current state and prospects of the nature reserve fund of the Volodymyr district of the Volyn region

With the growth of anthropogenic load on the landscape, there is a need to preserve them in their natural state, because the improvement of people's well-being should not be accompanied by the destruction of the surrounding environment. This issue is especially important for cross-border territories, because the problem of environmental protection is one of the priority issues of the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine. The increase in the area of the nature reserve fund contributes to the preservation of biological diversity in Ukraine and in Europe. This region needs the protection and protection of unique landscapes by bequeathing them, or transferring them to a higher protected category, which will make it possible to preserve unique natural complexes, landscape and biotic diversity, rare and endangered species of animals and plants. Volodymyrskyi district is located on the territory of one polysky (Turiyskyi) and two broad-leaved (Lutskyi and Ivanychivskyi) natural landscape areas. Within the district, the vast majority of nature conservation objects are of local importance, only 1 nature reserve has national status, and there are no national nature parks or nature reserves here either. Nature conservation facilities are very unevenly distributed throughout the district, and there are also communities within which there is none. The largest number of protected areas is in the Zaturtsivska Territorial Community (10), which has both polis and broad-leaved landscapes, and there the conservation rate is 10%. The lowest rate of conservation is 2.9%, despite the fact that there are 9 protected objects, in the Ustilug community. Valuable natural territories reserved for the creation of new or expansion of existing objects of the nature reserve fund have been determined within the district, in particular, such is the promising national nature park «Western Pobuzhzhia», where the steppe and forest-steppe landscapes will be protected and it will stretch along the river valley. The Western Bug and its tributaries Luga.

Pesticide occurrence in protected surface waters in nature conservation areas of Germany

A complete ban on pesticide use in sensitive areas, such as nature conservation areas (NCA), is currently being debated in the EU as part of the Sustainable Use Regulation. NCA are strictly protected landscapes in Germany with minimal agricultural activity (<4.5 %) that serve as vital ecological refuges. However, it is largely unknown whether surface waters in German NCA are contaminated by pesticides. The current study uses extensive monitoring data (n = 3,822,553 measurements, 1998–2020, 208 pesticides) from the federal state of Saxony (18,416 km2), Germany, to characterize pesticide occurrence, contamination levels and risks (defined as exceedance of regulatory threshold levels) for surface waters in NCA (n = 68,277 measurements, mean size = 2.5 km2) in comparison to unprotected areas (n = 3,754,276). Pesticide detection frequencies show strong correlation between NCA and unprotected areas (UPA, R2= 0.70–0.92), but concentrations to be ∼40 % lower in protected areas. Ecological risk distributions for three major species groups are similar between NCA and UPA (fish = 79.8 % overlap in density distribution, invertebrates = 78.6 %, plants = 81.9 %). Threshold exceedances differ greatly among groups (fish = 0.9 %, aquatic invertebrates = 14.7 %, plants = 20.4 %). Based on principal component analysis, ecological risks for aquatic plants and aquatic invertebrates are strongly correlated with upstream agricultural land use (80.5–82.4 %) and are negatively correlated with upstream (semi)-natural land cover (90.1–97.3 %). Fluvial transport appears to be the most important pathway for contaminants into NCA surface waters, likely due to small conservation area size. Overall, surface waters in NCA are exposed to numerous organic contaminants causing ecological risks, highlighting the need to improve protection of these valuable water resources.

Periphyton (microbiome) of filamentous algae studied by polarization microscopy, aided also by some contrasting optical methods.

Polarization microscopy, possibly together with some contrast techniques (dark field and color phase contrast), was used to study the periphyton (microbiome) growing on filamentous green algae. The material containing filamentous algae with periphyton on the surface was collected in the villages of Sýkořice and Zbečno (Křivoklátsko Protected Landscape Area). The objects were studied in a LOMO MIN-8 St. Petersburg polarizing microscope and a Carl Zeiss Jena NfpK laboratory microscope equipped with an In Ph 160 basic body with variable dark field or color phase contrast and a Nikon D70 DSLR digital camera. Cells of filamentous algae of the genera Cladophora, Vaucheria, and Oedogonium were studied and the periphyton attached to them formed by cyanobacteria of the genera Chamaesiphon and Pleurocapsa and algae of the genera Characium, including diatoms of the genera Eunotia and Synedra. In all cases, the cell walls of the host algae showed a very strong birefringence. In contrast, the walls of cyanobacteria of the genera Chamaesiphon and Pleurocapsa were characterized by a much weaker birefringence (Pleurocapsa somewhat thicker), and the diatom frustules of the genera Eunotia and Synedra were almost without a birefringence. Strongly birefringent granules were found in the cytoplasm of the green alga of the genus Characium, which forms periphyton on the filamentous green algae of the genus Vaucheria. The periphyton on the filamentous alga of the genus Oedogonium, formed by cyanobacteria of the genus Pleurocapsa and diatoms of the genera Eunotia and Synedra, deposited in a massive layer of mucus containing birefringent crystals, showed a particularly strong birefringence. At the end of the vegetation of filamentous algae, their parts and remnants of periphyton (diatom frustules and crystals) became part of the detritus at the bottom of the culture vessel. The use of polarization microscopy in the study of filamentous algae with periphyton on the surface allows us not only to determine the birefringence of the observed structures, but also to partially deduce their chemical composition, or regular arrangement ofparticles, so-called shape birefringence.

The Evaluation of Rural Outdoor Dining Environment from Consumer Perspective.

The quality of the environment should be measured by the satisfaction of the public and guided by the issues of public concern. With the development of the internet, social media as the main platform for people to exchange information has become a data source for planning and management analysis. Nowadays, the rural catering industry is becoming increasingly competitive, especially after the pandemic. How to further enhance the competitiveness of the rural catering industry has become a hot topic in the industry. From the perspective of consumers, we explored consumers' preferences in a rural outdoor dining environment through social media data. The research analyzed the social media data through manual collection and object detection, divided the landscape of the rural outdoor dining environment into eight categories with 35 landscape elements, and then used BP (Back Propagation) neural network nonlinear fitting and least square linear fitting to analyze the 11,410 effective review pictures from eight rural restaurants' social media comments in Chengdu. We derived the degree of consumer preference for the landscape quality of the rural outdoor dining environment and analyzed the differences in preference among three different groups (regular customers, customers with children, and customers with the elderly). The study found that agricultural resources are an important factor in the competitiveness of rural restaurant environments; that children's emotions when using activity facilities can positively influence consumers' dining experiences; that safety and hygiene environment are important factors influencing the decisions of parent-child dining; and that older people are more interested in outdoor nature, etc. The research results provide suggestions and knowledge for rural restaurant managers and designers through human-oriented needs from the perspective of consumers, and clarify the preferences and expectations of different consumer groups for rural restaurant landscapes while achieving the goal of rural landscape protection.

High deforestation trajectories in Cambodia slowly transformed through economic land concession restrictions and strategic execution of REDD+ protected areas

Protected Areas (PAs) are continuously being established in tropical forests in an effort to preserve biodiversity and reduce deforestation. It was recently demonstrated that PAs are more effective at reducing forest loss than unprotected control sites across southeast Asia. The voluntary REDD+ scheme offers a new framework for the protection of high deforestation landscapes, jurisdictions, and countries backed by international carbon finance. Here we analyzed the economic drivers of deforestation in Cambodia and the effectiveness of 3 REDD+ projects vs. adjacent protected areas. We find that Economic Land Concessions were a predominant driver of deforestation in Cambodia and influenced the trajectory of illegal forest conversion in PAs. Furthermore, REDD+ projects offer significantly more protection against deforestation than adjacent PAs in two of the three analyzed cases, likely due to enhanced funding enabling implementation of targeted community activities and rigorous monitoring and enforcement.

Changes in the Vegetation, Soil Seed Bank and Soil Properties at Bait Sites in a Protected Area of the Central European Lower Montane Zone

Feeding places for shooting wild boar (so-called bait sites) are spreading in some regions and they have a growing impact on natural ecosystems. Bait sites were investigated to detect the changes in vegetation, the soil seed bank and soil nutrients. The study area is situated in the Mátra Landscape Protection Area, representing a typical oak forest in the Central European lower montane zone (in Hungary). Two types of bait sites were selected: forests and clearings. A vegetation survey, a soil seed bank experiment and a soil analysis were conducted. The degree of degradation of vegetation was similar at the various bait sites, but only the abundance of weeds was higher in the clearings. The density of weed seeds in the soil varied regardless of type, clearly showing the effects of artificial seed sources. The number of weed species was, however, significantly higher in the clearings. The degree of Jaccard-similarity between the vegetation and the seed bank was the highest in the clearings. The dominance of long-term persistent seeds did not differ among bait sites, indicating frequent disturbances at these sites. The amount of soil nutrients was significantly (more than 10 times) higher in the clearings and this, along with their greater openness, may be responsible for the higher number of weed species in their seed banks. The vegetation and the soil of the clearings proved to be more degraded, mainly due to their habitat characteristics, but the seed bank was similarly infected in the less weedy forests; thus, all bait sites may equally be the focal points of a possible invasion. It means new challenges for the management, considering that climate change and the intensive logging and hunting activities can strengthen the effects of bait sites.

Spatial Determinants of Forest Landscape Degradation in the Kilimanjaro World Heritage Site, Tanzania

Forest degradation occurs in natural World Heritage Sites (WHS) in the Global South despite the implementation of various strategic policies and the World Heritage Convention (WHC) on forest protections of the sites and this poses challenges to improving natural heritage sustainability. The current study aims to investigate spatial determinants of forest degradation in the Kilimanjaro WHS, Tanzania, to support strategic policies for forest landscape protection and natural heritage sustainability. Using remotely sensed, Digital Elevation Model, and tourism location data, we performed the supervised classification of satellite images, Digital Elevation, Euclidean distance, and linear regression modeling to identify spatial determinants of forest degradation. Our key findings indicated that while spatial determinants vary with different locations, human (tourism) activities e.g., developments of campsites, picnics, tourist routes, the historical site, and attraction areas are associated with forest degradation in the southern parts of the site. In addition to human activities, natural factors such as low levels of elevation and degrees of slope are associated with forest degradation at the site. However, in the northwest and southwest of the site, high degrees of slope are associated with the degradation. Our findings showed that while bare land surface encroached the primary forest with about 2.88%, moorland vegetation encroached the primary forest with about 16.95%, indicating a large degradation of the primary forest with about 19.83% for the past four decades. The information provided in this study is crucial to support site managers and decision-makers in strategic policies and WHC implementations on forest protection for natural heritage sustainability.

Is ecological vulnerability assessment based on the VSD model and AHP-Entropy method useful for loessial forest landscape protection and adaptative management? A case study of Ziwuling Mountain Region, China

• Ecological vulnerability was assessed and mapped via the AHP-entropy method and VSD model. • Spatiotemporal changes existed in the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. • Apparent spatial cluster patterns of ecological vulnerability existed. • An integrated method was developed for adaptive management to dryland sustainability. Ecological vulnerability assessment is an effective tool to aid decision-makers in understanding the impact of natural and anthropogenic variables on ecosystems. Yet, we know little about incorporating ecological vulnerability into accurate decision-making for climate change adaptation and human activities governance. This study proposes a comprehensive framework to link the Vulnerability Scoping Diagram (VSD) model, Analytic Hierarchy Process-Entropy method, hot spot and cluster analysis into ecological vulnerability assessment and management in the Ziwuling Mountain Region (ZMR), a typical loessial forest landscape in arid China. There were significant spatial and temporal changes in the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity index in the ZMR from 1990 to 2017. The exposure and adaptive capacity index increased from 1990 to 2017. The subareas with a high exposure value were distributed in the north and south ZMR, and the subareas with a high adaptive capacity value were distributed in the east ZMR. The ecological vulnerability declined during the study period, with the smaller value subareas allocated in the middle and south ZMR and higher value in the north and southwest. Significant spatial clustering patterns on the hot and cold spots of ecological vulnerability existed in the ZMR. The clustering subareas of hot spots on ecological vulnerability were mainly characterized by dry steppe, less precipitation, and less vegetation coverage. The subareas of cold spots of ecological vulnerability were dominated by forestry and forestry-agricultural landscapes. Some suggestions and countermeasures were put forward for adaptive management and sustainability enhancement. Our results provide integrative methods linking the VSD model, AHP-entropy method, hot spot and cluster analysis to ecological vulnerability reduction and adaptive management for dryland sustainability, especially for the forest social-ecological systems in the Chinese Loess Plateau.

Exploring the Linguistic Landscape of a Historical and Cultural City in China: From the Perspective of Language Ecology

In recent years, “linguistic landscape” has gradually become a hot research topic in the field of sociolinguistics. Compared with the current research situation abroad, the focus of the research in China is still on basic concepts, theoretical frameworks, research methods, and research reviews, with insufficient case studies and relatively narrow research perspectives. This study selects several typical places in Shaoxing, a national historical and cultural city in China, as the research sites. With the quantitative and qualitative research methods, this study investigates the current situation of linguistic landscape, including language use, physical characteristics, cultural and historical elements, translation of texts on bilingual and multilingual signs, multimodal signs, and attitudes and perceptions, and examines the interactions between linguistic landscape and its environment. The study concludes that the linguistic landscape in the city is well constructed with distinctive historical and cultural characteristics and is in harmony with the environment except for a few ecological problems. And it suggests that more researchers pay attention to the protection, inheritance and development of linguistic landscape, and experts and scholars from a wider range of fields jointly conduct research on LL with Chinese characteristics, and finally accelerate the process of globalization and internationalization in China.

Together Apart: Evaluating Lichen-Phorophyte Specificity in the Canarian Laurel Forest.

The effects of host tree identity on epiphyte lichen communities are a controversial issue, as the results obtained in different forest environments studied are not consistent. We investigated the host preferences for lichens in the laurel forest of Macaronesia. For this purpose, we analyzed the lichen communities growing on the four most common trees (Erica canariensis Rivas-Mart., M. Osorio and Wildpret, Morella faya (Aiton) Wilbur, Laurus novoca-nariensis Rivas-Mart., Lousa, Fern. Prieto, E. Días, J.C. Costa and C. Aguiar, and Ilex canariensis Poir. in Lamarck) in the laurel forest of the Canary Islands. The diversity, richness, and lichen composition showed a repetitive and common pattern with the functional traits studied. Although the existence of specificity with respect to the phorophyte species was not demonstrated, there was a clear affinity of the epiphytic lichens to the physico-chemical features of the bark (texture and pH), canopy architecture, foliar characteristics, etc. Our results highlight the importance of the natural diversity of tree species in the laurel forest. Due to the diversity and uniqueness of the lichen species that support each of the phorophytes, this fact should be taken into account in landscape protection and restoration actions, especially in those islands where the forest is highly fragmented.

Russian experience in the protection of the historic urban landscape

Russian experience in the protection of the historic urban landscape

Design Strategies for the Vicinity of Historic Sites: The Case of Designing in the Landscape Protection Area of Ardeshir and Dokhtar Castles

Design Strategies for the Vicinity of Historic Sites: The Case of Designing in the Landscape Protection Area of Ardeshir and Dokhtar Castles

Research on landscape reproduction of ancient city historic blocks

Abstract Ancient city is an important carrier of urban historical landscape development, with the development of urbanization, the protection and development of ancient city landscape has become a hot topic. Taking Taierzhuang ancient city in Shandong province and Quanzhou ancient city in Fujian province as investigated examples. This paper discusses the different characteristics and problems of the derivation landscape reproduction and “airborne” landscape reproduction. It further discusses the necessity of historical landscape reproduction and the complexity of landscape reproduction.

Forest Recreation and Landscape Protection

Forests, which are viewed as an important natural resource for humanity, have been constantly threatened with degradation or even extinction since the dawn of the modern period [...]

Functional Connectivity of Naturally Valuable Habitats in the Jeseníky Protected Landscape Area

Abstract This paper focuses on evaluating the functional connectivity of naturally valuable habitats within the territory of the Jeseníky Protected Landscape Area (PLA). Analysis of functional connectivity was carried out for individual zones of classified nature preservation. The methodological approach that is applied is based on determining indicators for expressing the degree of the natural character of individual landscape segments (Nd), the distance to naturally valuable habitats (Dn), and a composite index Distance to Nature (D2N). The results for the individual zones and the PLA as a whole are mutually compared and consequently confronted with values for the territory of the entire Czech Republic. All three research questions, i.e. whether naturally valuable habitats prevail in the most valuable area in the first protected zone of the Jeseníky PLA, whether the distance to naturally valuable habitats in the first zone of the Jeseníky PLA is the shortest, and whether the territory of the Jeseníky PLA is better functionally interlinked when compared with the remaining territory of the Czech Republic (CR), were answered positively. The results highlight the need to assess the connectivity of natural habitats in the least protected zones of other PLAs in the Czech Republic and EU, to decide whether planning measures to support the ecological network are necessary.

Understanding different cultural ecosystem services: An exploration of rural landscape preferences based on geographic and social media data.

Rural landscapes offer a variety of cultural ecosystem services (CESs). However, the relationship between rural landscape characteristics and different CESs is still poorly understood. Therefore, this study explored the rural areas of Huzhou city, China, as a case study to assess the main rural landscape characteristics of different CESs based on public preferences. First, 148 scenic spots were classified into four CESs (physical, experiential, intellectual and inspirational), and the public preferences for each scenic spot were determined by combining tourists' scores obtained from social media and government assessment scores. Then, the landscape characteristic indicators were constructed from the natural, infrastructural and sensory perspectives by combining geographic and social media data. Finally, the random forest model was used to evaluate the public preferences for rural landscape characteristics overall and for different CESs. The word frequency analysis showed that, in addition to the nature landscape, infrastructure and service had a strong influence on public preferences. The relationship with rural landscape characteristics varied across different CESs. For physical CESs, the convenience of infrastructure played a greater role than natural landscape characteristics. Experiential CESs, on the other hand, were affected by natural landscape characteristics themselves. Intellectual CESs had higher requirements for both infrastructure and nature. Inspirational CESs included sensory evaluation indicators, in addition to their focus on natural landscape characteristics and infrastructure, indicating that this category of CESs was more concerned with inner experience. The use of social media data has enriched the dimensions of sensory elements and provided new ideas and information supplements for comprehensively understanding different CESs, thus better supporting the management, planning and protection of rural landscapes.

Evidence for a critical leopard conservation stronghold from a large protected landscape on the island of Sri Lanka

The decline and extirpation of large carnivore populations can lead to cascading effects in natural ecosystems. An understanding of large carnivore population densities, distribution and dynamics is therefore critical for developing effective conservation strategies across landscapes. This is particularly important in island environments where species face increased extinction risk due to genetic isolation coupled with local losses of finite habitat. The Sri Lankan leopard Panthera pardus kotiya is one of two remaining island-living leopards on Earth and the only apex predator in Sri Lanka. Despite its iconic status in Sri Lanka, robust research on the species has been limited to only a handful of scientific studies, limiting meaningful scientific recommendations for the species’ conservation and management. In this study, we conducted a single season camera trap survey in Sri Lanka’s largest protected area, Wilpattu National Park (1317 km 2 ), located in the country’s northwest. Our objective was to estimate key ecological state variables of interest (density, abundance, sex-specific movement and spatial distribution) of this leopard subspecies. Our results indicate that Wilpattu National Park supports a density of 18 individuals/100 km 2 (posterior SD=1.5; 95% HPD interval=16–21) with a mean abundance of 144 (posterior SD=15) individual leopards and a healthy sex ratio (f:m=2.03:1). The estimated activity range for male leopards > 2 years old was 49.53 km 2 (Posterior SD=3.43; HPD interval=43.09–56.41) and for female leopards > 2 years old was 22.04 km 2 (Posterior SD=1.82; HPD interval=18.34–25.65). This density falls at the higher end of published estimates for the species anywhere in its global range, based on similar methods. Given Sri Lanka’s limited size, this national park system should be considered as a critical stronghold that maintains a source population of leopards, contributing to the long-term population viability of leopards in the larger landscape.

장소를 인식하는 이미지 평가항목에 대한 중요도 분석

Purpose: This place, which is currently becoming an issue due to historical preservation and landscape protection, is also a place where urban residents around Taereung actually visit often. Thus, this study aims to analyze the importance of the evaluating factors in creating a relatable image of the city. Methods: Evaluation items were selected by reviewing related books and research literatures and reassessing the reviewed items through an expert group interview (FGI). For the selected evaluation items, the relative importance of the evaluation items for the place image was analyzed by applying the hierarchical analysis technique (AHP) to each user group. Result: A place becomes a memory in people's experiences and time, and it has the image and identity of the region where those experiences and memories are found again as a space called “place”. The method of analyzing the importance of evaluation items between place images used in this study quantified the factors recognized as abstract images and identified the degree of influence between elements, but has limitation in that it targeted specific places. However, the analysis method on the place image recognition suggests the use of itemized variables for characteristics between place images, so future research on the identity of other place images can be conducted together. Also, the evaluation method of the image that recognizes the place has an objective meaning in that it can measure the image of the place quantitatively. In the future, it can be applied in creating an image forming factor or urban identity for place recognition in many regions

The Approach to Typology of The Biocultural Landscape In Slovakia.

The European Landscape Convention aims to promote landscape protection, management and planning. This must be done based on identification and knowledge of those basic landscape types that were created by the interaction of human and nature over the course of historical development. This paper presents a methodological approach for creation and evaluation of representative biocultural types of landscape, in order to elaborate an effective strategy for landscape protection, and proposes a management strategy of sustainable use of representative biocultural landscapes of Slovakia. That will ensure the regular maintenance of the landscape in view of current global trends and factors affecting the landscape. Our interdisciplinary approach is based on previous landscape classifications and the interaction of natural and cultural elements. The classification of the biocultural landscape is obtained as a result of multi-criteria analysis in GIS and synthesis of maps of potential vegetation, real ecosystems and current land use, abiotic conditions of representative geoecosystems of Slovakia, and other specific statistical data. We assessed the perception and significance of individual landscape types by way of a questionnaire survey. In Slovakia, seven basic types of landscape were singled out, ranging from natural to semi-natural to anthropogenic, within which other subtypes were specified. We assessed the protection of individual types, as well as threats and degradation of the landscape. Insufficient protection is given to the most valuable types of biocultural landscape and new tools and methods of support and protection have to be implemented.