A new phytoplankton-based index was designed to respond to the Water Framework Directive (WFD) requirements concerning the assessment of lake ecological status. The “Indice Phytoplancton Lacustre” (IPLAC) is a multimetric index, taking into account biomass, abundance and species composition of communities. The first metric is based on the total phytoplankton biomass (MBA), the second on the abundance and taxonomic composition (MCS) of 165 indicator taxa. The IPLAC was developed on 2 independent databases, one for the calibration and the second for the validation of the metrics.

The gap between point measurements made during a measurement campaign and the required discrete data of human thermal comfort in the form of maps could be overcome by statistical or numerical models. City planners usually demand thermal maps with a resolution below 50m. The required input data for the statistical models were meteorological data at high resolution as well as land use and land cover data including morphological data. Meteorological data were obtained through car traverses on a measuring campaign on hot summer days in July 2014.

The past two decades saw rapid and massive urbanization and industrialization in China. Despite much research has been reportedly done at local and regional scales, little has been reported on the trajectories, patterns, and drivers of these two intertwining processes at the national level. This is mainly due to the fact that until recently, high resolution spatial data of land use and land cover change were not available at national level. The research reported in this paper aimed to fill this knowledge gap.

Small livestock (goats, sheep, llamas, camels…) like other agricultural activities could have to face dramatic social, economical and environmental challenges. These challenges are identified underlining that these activities are often important and well present in countries with low incomes or in less favored areas. Although they are often low input production systems with lower environmental impacts, they face desertification and less water availability, genetic erosion, soil degradation and degradation of rangelands, competitions for land use.

This paper develops a dynamic micro-economic land use model that maximizes social welfare and internalizes externality from greenhouse gas emissions to obtain the optimal land use allocation for traditional row crops and bioenergy crops (corn stover, miscanthus and switchgrass), the mix of cellulosic feedstocks and fuel and food prices. We use this carbon tax policy as a benchmark to compare the implications of existing biofuel policies on land use, social welfare and the environment for the 2007-2022 period.

The importance of agriculture is decreasing all over the world. The aim of the paper is to compare the ownership structure and land use in some selected former Central and Eastern European countries. The property structure and land use is in dichotomy, the production is performed simultaneously on small-size farms which produce primarily for self-consumption. The importance of farm land leases is increasing.

Context Primates are one of the most charismatic and widely studied vertebrate groups. However, the study of new world primates in green patches within urban areas has been neglected. Such primates have been viewed as a source of human–animal conflict; however, their ecological importance to urban ecosystems and their role in human well being is poorly understood. Aims To increase understanding of both ecological and socioeconomical factors affecting the distribution, density and group sizes of urban marmosets in a large Brazilian city (Belo Horizonte).

Context Reptiles, especially snakes, can cause a fear reaction in the public and are, therefore, a good model to examine human–wildlife conflicts. Human city dwellers often respond to the presence of snakes or other reptiles by calling out the responsible agency for animal control, which has to mediate the situation. Aims To determine how the temporal and spatial occurrence of human–reptile conflicts were associated with environmental conditions and socio-economic factors in a large Brazilian city (Belo Horizonte).

Fecal pollution enters coastal waters through multiple routes, many of which originate from land-based activities. Runoff from pervious and impervious land surfaces transports pollutants from land to sea and can cause impairment of coastal ocean waters. To understand how land use practices and water characteristics influence concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) and pathogens in natural waters, fourteen coastal streams, rivers, and tidal lagoons, surrounded by variable land use and animal densities, were sampled every six weeks over two years (2008 & 2009).

This paper presents the conceptual design and application of a new land-change modelling framework that represents geographical, sociological, economic, and ecological aspects of a land system. The framework provides an overarching design that can be extended into specific model implementations to evaluate how policy, land-management preferences, and land-market dynamics affect (and are affected by) land-use and land-cover change patterns and subsequent carbon storage and flux.

Steppe, an important belt to protect North China from dust storms, is vulnerable and has been degraded in recent decades because of climatic change and heavy grazing. In order to improve steppe management, this study presents a framework for the monitoring of grazing intensity in Xilingol steppe of middle Inner Mongolia, northern China, by integrating the CENTURY ecosystem model-based simulation and remotely sensed MODIS data-based inversion.