Landscape is a crucial component of world heritage and, in the last few years, landscape projects have played a vital role in the development of sustainable scenarios. As reported in the European Landscape Convention, landscape means an area, as perceived by people, of which the character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors. Therefore, in landscape planni...

This study presents the results referring to the analysis of QuickBird high resolution satellite images to establish patterns associated to the landscape dynamics in bamboo forests at the Intervales Park (São Paulo State, Brazil), considering its ecologic aspects. The methodology was based on visual image interpretation, as a preliminary step for digital processing. The results show the possibi...

ZONE OF TENSION Historically, landscapes graded from urban centers to scattered villages, to a diverse mosaic of farmlands and natural areas (Figure 1). This gradient allowed both a visual and physical transition while maintaining ecologic, economic, and social connections within the larger landscape. Conflicts between urban and rural residents were minimal, in part due to the limited interface...

Ecological niche modeling of Triatominae bugs allow us to establish the local risk of transmission of the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes Chagas disease. This information could help to guide health authority recommendations on infection monitoring, prevention, and control. In this study, we estimated the geographic distribution of triatomine species in Colombia and identified the relat...

In this issue, Robinson’s highly influential paper is reprinted, along with a paper advocating the use of multi-level thinking by Subramanian et al., and commentaries by Oakes and Firebaugh. On re-reading Robinson’s paper, I was again struck by the clarity of the basic take-home message: ecological data can estimate individual associations in only very rare situations. Robinson illustrated the ...

In the mid-1990s, the independent national Task Force on Community Preventive Services (the Task Force) was created under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services to summarize what is known about the effectiveness of community-based interventions to improve population health outcomes. The Task Force wanted to examine broad social determinants of health from an ecologic perspe...

The linkage between global climate change and forests have assumed political prominence as forest sinks are now acknowledged as a means for off-setting carbon dioxide (CO,) emissions under the Kyoto Protocol targets. As such, policies to stimulate forest carbon sequestration in an open economy will require varying levels of economic information to allow for decisions that are both eficient and ...

Dairy operations today are suffering from narrow profit margins. This has intensified the drive for efficiency. At the same time dairy farmers have to take into account consumers demands such as food safety and quality, zoönotic disease transmission, animal welfare, reduction of the use of medical treatments, and an acceptable environmental impact of livestock production (after Berckmans, 2003;...

The interaction of geomorphic and ecologic landscape components has been largely conceptualized as independent. In one direction, geomorphic processes and landforms shape the distribution of biota. Conversely, in the other direction, biota modify geomorphic processes and landforms. Increasingly, the interactions between geomorphic and ecological components are more circular and developmentally ...

Abstract Crop intensification is required to meet the food demands of an increasing population. This paper presents data from three paired scaling-up initiatives compare benefits landscape-based interventions over individual plot-level using evidence generated in Indian semi-arid tropics. A range soil and water conservation were implemented a decentralized manner following approach. The approac...