Little is known about the relationship between fire regimes and plant diversity in Australia's temperate grassy woodlands. The effect of fire frequency on shrubs in grassy woodland remnants across Western Sydney's Cumberland Plain was examined. Shrub species richness and composition were compared in sites that had experienced a high, moderate or low frequency of fire over the previous 20 years. Nine sites were surveyed, three in each fire frequency category; most sites, including all low-fire-frequency sites, had burnt 9-36 months prior to sampling.

Accurate a priori predictions of the sensitivity of species to vegetation management depend on an understanding of mechanisms underlying species response. To date information on where birds forage in the vegetation strata has been used to predict bird species response to vegetation change caused by livestock grazing. Profiting from this link between vegetation structural diversity and bird diversity, we test whether this variable, bird foraging height, can be used to predict the impact of a different type of habitat alteration; vegetation encroachment.

The rural proletariat constitute a substantial proportion of the global poor. Leading better lives is central to their political practices. In this paper, I aim to elaborate the political practices that attend to these aspirations, interrogations and contests. I examine existing approaches to studying political practices of the rural proletariat. I do this with a focus on India, where the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is in force since 2005. I locate the program against the backdrop of neoliberal transformations in India.

The paper is based on an on-going 3-year study in the wetland communities of Kampala. The study uses participatory methods and aims to contribute to (i) the development of low-income wetland communities, (ii) to prepare these communities to become less dependent on wetlands without receding into poverty, and (iii) the better management of the wetlands. The communities in direct dependence and intimate interaction with Nakivubo wetlands are mainly poor, live and work under hazardous conditions, and their activities pose a threat to the ecological function of the wetlands.

This paper examines invasion of grasslands on Cape York Peninsula, Australia, by Melaleuca viridiflora and other woody species, and the role of storm-burning (lighting fires after the first wet season rains) in their maintenance. Trends in disturbance features, fuel characteristics, ground layer composition, and woody plants dynamics under combinations of withholding fire and storm-burning over a 3-year period were measured on 19 plots in three landscape settings. Population dynamics of M.

Woody plants have been increasing in many woodland and savanna ecosystems owing to land use changes in recent decades. We examined the effects of encroachment by the indigenous shrub Leptospermum scoparium (Myrtaceae) on herb-rich Eucalyptus camaldulensis woodlands in southern Australia. Species richness and compositional patterns were examined under the canopy of L. scoparium and in surrounding open areas to determine the species most susceptible to structural changes. Richness was significantly lower in areas of moderate to high L.

The industrialization of agriculture in western societies has often led to either intensified use or abandonment of farmland and open pastures, but experimental evidence on how the dynamics of farmed ecosystems affect space use by large herbivores is limited. We experimentally manipulated farmland patches with cutting and (early summer) low- and high-intensity domestic sheep Ovis aries grazing according to traditional use in north Norway.

This is a judgment of Supreme Court of India to check grabbing of village common land including ponds and water bodies (called in different names) by unscrupulous persons, political clout, powerful vested interests, corrupt state authorities, etc by fraudulent practices and ensure their protection and safeguard.

This is an inderactive portal to help citizrns of Bangalore check if their residence falls on a storm waterdrain. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has notified properties with survey numbers that are encroaching on BBMP website. Our portal makes it easy to access these documents and give a summary view.

Patches of wooded vegetation in nutrient-poor grassland characteristically contain high soil moisture and nutrient availability compared with surrounding grassland. These `islands of fertility¿ appear stable in size, suggesting that tree recruitment at the patch boundary is limited. We hypothesize that tree establishment in adjacent grassland is limited by (1) competition for resources, (2) fire or (3) herbivory. In a South African grassland, we measured moisture availability and conducted a bioassay experiment to analyse whether soil nutrient limits tree recruitment at the patch boundary.

Historically, the Nile Delta has played an integral part in Egyptian civilization, as its fertile soils have been cultivated for centuries. The region offers a lush oasis among the expansive arid climate of Northern Africa; however, in recent decades, many anthropogenic changes to the environment have jeopardized Egypt’s agricultural productivity. Political instability and lack of sufficient regulations regarding urban growth and encroachment have put agricultural land in the area at risk.

For a long time sub-Saharan Africa has been considered to have abundant and underutilized land than any other continent. On the contrary, recent studies show that many rural Africans live in increasingly densely populated areas where all arable land is allocated or under cultivation. This has led to a long-term decline in farm size and reduced fallows.