Early urban impact on Mediterranean coastal environments.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Kaniewski D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3866597 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Early urban impact on Mediterranean coastal environments.
Kaniewski David D Van Campo Elise E Morhange Christophe C Guiot Joël J Zviely Dov D Shaked Idan I Otto Thierry T Artzy Michal M
Scientific reports 20131218
A common belief is that, unlike today, ancient urban areas developed in a sustainable way within the environmental limits of local natural resources and the ecosystem's capacity to respond. This long-held paradigm is based on a weak knowledge of the processes underpinning the emergence of urban life and the rise of an urban-adapted environment in and beyond city boundaries. Here, we report a 6000-year record of environmental changes around the port city of Akko (Acre), Israel, to analyse ecologi ...[more]
Similar Datasets
Project description:Changes in the spatial patterns and rate of urban development will be one of the main determinants of future coastal flood risk. Existing spatial projections of urban extent are, however, often available at coarse spatial resolutions, local geographical scales or for short time horizons, which limits their suitability for broad-scale coastal flood impact assessments. Here, we present a new set of spatially explicit projections of urban extent for ten countries in the Mediterranean, consistent with the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). To model plausible future urban development, we develop an Urban Change Model, which uses input variables such as elevation, population density or road network and an artificial neural network to project urban development on a regional scale. The developed future projections for the five SSPs indicate that accounting for the spatial patterns of urban development can lead to significant differences in the assessment of future coastal urban exposure. The increase in exposure in the Extended Low Elevation Coastal Zone (E-LECZ = area below 20 m of elevation) until 2100 can vary, by up to 104%, depending on the urban development scenario chosen. This finding highlights that accounting for urban development in long-term adaptation planning, e.g. in the form of land-use planning, can be an effective measure for reducing future coastal flood risk on a regional scale.
| S-EPMC7468119 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This dataset presents the macrobenthic species occurrence frequency in four coastal intertidal reefs environment of Paraiba state Brazil. The species were classified in bioindicators groups based in morpho-anatomical, physiological and ecological characteristics. In the dry and wet season in each reef, the sampling units were randomly positioned and photographed inside a circular area with a 10 m radius. Thirty points were plotted over photos to quantify the percentage of species occurrence frequency. Taxons hard to identify by photo were grouped in a unique category. Currently, macrobenthic species are used as bioindicators of the local state of conservation by managing agencies. The population ecology monitoring of macrobenthic species with bioindicator potential is useful to recognize seasonal environmental patterns or local anthropic impactful. The research article on these data [1] will be published in the journal Ocean and Coastal Management for some interpretive insights. Title: Evaluation of the conservation status and monitoring proposal for the coastal reefs of Paraíba, Brazil: bioindication as an environmental management tool.
| S-EPMC7289742 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Archaea (archaebacteria) are a phenotypically diverse group of microorganisms that share a common evolutionary history. There are four general phenotypic groups of archaea: the methanogens, the extreme halophiles, the sulfate-reducing archaea, and the extreme thermophiles. In the marine environment, archaeal habitats are generally limited to shallow or deep-sea anaerobic sediments (free-living and endosymbiotic methanogens), hot springs or deep-sea hydrothermal vents (methanogens, sulfate reducers, and extreme thermophiles), and highly saline land-locked seas (halophiles). This report provides evidence for the widespread occurrence of unusual archaea in oxygenated coastal surface waters of North America. Quantitative estimates indicated that up to 2% of the total ribosomal RNA extracted from coastal bacterioplankton assemblages was archaeal. Archaeal small-subunit ribosomal RNA-encoding DNAs (rDNAs) were cloned from mixed bacterioplankton populations collected at geographically distant sampling sites. Phylogenetic and nucleotide signature analyses of these cloned rDNAs revealed the presence of two lineages of archaea, each sharing the diagnostic signatures and structural features previously established for the domain Archaea. Both of these lineages were found in bacterioplankton populations collected off the east and west coasts of North America. The abundance and distribution of these archaea in oxic coastal surface waters suggests that these microorganisms represent undescribed physiological types of archaea, which reside and compete with aerobic, mesophilic eubacteria in marine coastal environments.
| S-EPMC49357 | biostudies-other
Project description:Coastal lagoons, both hypersaline and freshwater, are common, but still understudied ecosystems. We describe, for the first time, using high throughput sequencing, the extant microbiota of two large and representative Mediterranean coastal lagoons, the hypersaline Mar Menor, and the freshwater Albufera de Valencia, both located on the south eastern coast of Spain. We show there are considerable differences in the microbiota of both lagoons, in comparison to other marine and freshwater habitats. Importantly, a novel uncultured sulfur oxidizing Alphaproteobacteria was found to dominate bacterioplankton in the hypersaline Mar Menor. Also, in the latter prokaryotic cyanobacteria were almost exclusively comprised by Synechococcus and no Prochlorococcus was found. Remarkably, the microbial community in the freshwaters of the hypertrophic Albufera was completely in contrast to known freshwater systems, in that there was a near absence of well known and cosmopolitan groups of ultramicrobacteria namely Low GC Actinobacteria and the LD12 lineage of Alphaproteobacteria.
| S-EPMC3391805 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Marine debris is a burgeoning global issue with economic, ecological and aesthetic impacts. While there are many studies now addressing this topic, the influence of urbanisation factors such as local population density, stormwater drains and roads on the distribution of coastal litter remains poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we carried out standardized surveys at 224 transect surveys at 67 sites in two estuaries and along the open coast in Tasmania, Australia. We explored the relative support for three hypotheses regarding the sources of the debris; direct deposition by beachgoers, transport from surrounding areas via storm water drains and coastal runoff, and onshore transport from the marine system. We found strong support for all three mechanisms, however, onshore transport from the marine reservoir was the most important mechanism. Overall, the three models together explained 45.8 percent of the variation in our observations. Our results also suggest that most debris released into the marine environment is deposited locally, which may be the answer to where all the missing plastic is in the ocean. Furthermore, local interventions are likely to be most effective in reducing land-based inputs into the ocean.
| S-EPMC5345086 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a promising and versatile crop due to its remarkable adaptability to diverse environments and the exceptional nutritional value of its seeds. Nevertheless, despite the recent extensive research on quinoa seeds, the straw associated with this crop has received comparatively little attention. The valorisation of this by-product provides an opportunity to improve the overall outcomes of quinoa cultivation. In this work, three quinoa varieties were evaluated for two years (2019 and 2020) under three different Mediterranean water environments (irrigation, fresh rainfed, and hard rainfed), aiming to assess the straw yield and nutritional quality and to study the changes in the crop nutritional uptake associated with different water environmental conditions. The nutritional analysis included the quantification of the ash, crude protein, crude fat, minerals (P, K, Ca, Mg), and fibre (gross fibre (GF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), hemicellulose, cellulose) contents. As the results reveal, most of the parameters evaluated were susceptible to change mainly with the water environment but also with the genotype (or their interaction), including the yield, crude protein, relative feed value (RFV), and mineral content, which generally decreased under water-limiting conditions. Moreover, a comparative analysis revealed that straw Ca, Mg, and K contents were generally higher than in seeds. Overall, this study demonstrates that quinoa straw quality is genotypic and environmentally dependent, and these factors should be considered when aiming at improving straw feed value for livestock nutrition.
| S-EPMC10974331 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundUrban environments are important determinants of human health. The term walkability summarizes features of the urban built environment that promote walking and other types of physical activity. While the beneficial effects of active and public transport have been well established, the health impact of other features of walkability are less well documented.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review of health impact assessments (HIAs) of walkability. Studies were identified through PUBMED and Science Direct, from two German websites related to urban health and reference tracking. Finally, 40 studies were included in the present review. We applied qualitative thematic analysis to summarize the major results from these studies.ResultsMost of the HIAs (n = 31) reported the improvement of health or health behaviour resulting from an investigated project or policy. However, three HIAs reported a lack of improvement or even a decrease of health status. In parallel, 13 HIAs reported a gain in economic value, whereas one reported a lack or loss of economic effects. Moreover, three HIAs reported on social effects and six HIAs gave additional recommendations for policies or the implementation of projects or HIAs.ConclusionsMost HIAs investigate the impact of increasing active or public transport. Other features of walkability are less well studied. With few exceptions, HIAs document beneficial impacts of improving walkability on a variety of health outcomes, including reductions of mortality and non-communicable diseases.
| S-EPMC10024446 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The earliest dates for the West Mediterranean Neolithic indicate that it expanded across 2,500 km in about 300 y. Such a fast spread is held to be mainly due to a demic process driven by dispersal along coastal routes. Here, we model the Neolithic spread in the region by focusing on the role of voyaging to understand better the core elements that produced the observed pattern of dates. We also explore the effect of cultural interaction with Mesolithic populations living along the coast. The simulation study shows that (i) sea travel is required to obtain reasonable predictions, with a minimum sea-travel range of 300 km per generation; (ii) leapfrog coastal dispersals yield the best results (quantitatively and qualitatively); and (iii) interaction with Mesolithic people can assist the spread, but long-range voyaging is still needed to explain the archaeological pattern.
| S-EPMC5293084 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Urbanization is among the largest threats to wildlife populations through factors such as fragmentation, isolation, and habitat destruction. Urban open spaces, such as parks and golf courses, have the potential to provide wildlife with suitable habitat within an urbanized matrix. These refugia may be particularly important for amphibians, which represent one of the most endangered and least vagile vertebrate groups on earth. During the spring and summer of 2018, we conducted surveys to determine the presence of anurans at 51 wetland sites within the Piedmont ecoregion of South Carolina. Nearly one-third of these wetlands were located within urban open spaces, one-third in low development areas, and one-third in highly developed areas. Impervious surface and total road length surrounding the wetlands were measured at two scales, a core habitat scale (300 m) and average maximum migration scale (750 m), and we measured several within-wetland habitat variables. Urban Open Space wetlands had levels of surrounding impervious surface similar to High Urbanization wetlands at the larger scale and were intermediate between Low and High Urbanization wetlands at the smaller scale. The total length of road segments occurring within buffers (at both scales) surrounding our study wetlands was higher for Urban Open Space compared to Low and High Urbanization sites. Among the within-wetland variables measured, Low Urbanization sites had higher canopy cover and were more likely to have a terrestrial buffer zone relative to the other categories. Species richness decreased significantly as total road length increased among all wetlands. Wetland category was not a significant driver explaining species richness, but β-diversity was more variable among Urban Open Space wetlands than either Low or High Urbanization wetlands. Urban Open Space wetlands did not appear to increase suitability for anurans relative to High Urbanization wetlands. Urban Open Space wetlands had higher variability in species composition, which was perhaps attributable to the diversity among sites represented in the Urban Open Space category.
| S-EPMC7822500 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Arid coastal habitats are stressful regions subjected to the effects of biotic and abiotic factors. Vascular plants in these habitats display different responses to cope with these environmental fluctuations. This work addressed the morpho-anatomical features and chemical responses of two medicinal vascular plant species Artemisia monosperma Delile and Limbarda crithmoides (L.) Dumort., growing naturally along the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. Soil properties (physical and chemical), morpho-anatomical features and chemical constituents (secondary metabolites, antioxidant activity and essential oils) for the two species were performed. Our results displayed that both species are surviving where soils are alkaline, high saline with low moisture and organic carbon. The morphology of both species appeared woody low shrub with fleshy leaves. The most marked anatomical attributes were the thick cuticle of the epidermal layer in leaves and stems, compact palisade cells and abundant idioblasts (secretory ducts, phenolic compounds and calcium oxalate). Also, sclerenchymatous pericycle fibers in stem and glandular trichomes on the leaf had appeared in A. monosperma. Both plants exhibited a considerable content of phenolics, flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids and antioxidant activity with a higher level in A. monosperma than L. crithmoides. The leaf extracts of both plants showed higher values than the stem extracts. The sesquiterpenes group were the major identified compounds of the essential oils (EOs) in A. monosperma and L. crithmoides, and the majority were oxygenated sesquiterpenes with percentages of 42.63% and 51.49%, respectively. The second major group of EOs was monoterpenes, which were represented in A. monosperma in concentrations (34.04%) much higher than those recorded in L. crithmoides (4.97%). Exploring the local adaptation mechanism used by the target plants helps us to understand how these plants can acclimatize to harsh conditions, and this provides critical insights into the protection and survival strategy of species under extreme conditions.
| S-EPMC7999453 | biostudies-literature