We compile over 270 wildlife counts of Kenya's wildlife populations conducted over the last 30 years to compare trends in national parks and reserves with adjacent ecosystems and country-wide trends. The study shows the importance of discriminating human-induced changes from natural population oscillations related to rainfall and ecological factors. National park and reserve populations have de...

this paper presents a mapping procedure for risk mapping of water and wind erosion, whichhelps to identify protective measures needed in the planning and management of natural parks. the map of water erosion risk was developed by combining the original and revised universal soil loss equation methodologies (usle-rusle), and the map of wind erosion risk was developed using quirantes’ method. usi...

Biodiversity is under increasing pressure worldwide from increasing human population, global economic and social changes, and climate change. These pressures result from the interaction between the expanding influence of humanity and ecological processes that alter the delivery of ecosystem goods and services (Dudley and Stolton 2012). Most of the world’s national parks conserve places of high ...

We implemented an integrated ecological assessment using a GIS-based decision support system model for Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River (UPDE) and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DEWA)-national park units with the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Our assessment examined a variety of aquatic and terrestrial indicators of ecosystem components that reflect the par...

this method is based on assigning some weghing values for natural, cultural, and recreational resources of a site for national parks. numerical value are used to determine whether a particular area is suitable for the of national parks. delfi technique is also employed to reduce the subjectivity as well as, bias in site selection, criteria used in parts of the world for this p~ are the basis of...

The mission of the United States (US) National Park Service (NPS) is to “conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations” (NPS, 1916). NPS currently manages 397 parks covering about 358,200 km2, or approximately 4...

Soil microbes play a key role in controlling ecosystem functions and providing ecosystem services. Yet, microbial communities in urban green space soils remain poorly characterized. Here we compared soil microbial communities in 41 urban parks of (i) divergent plant functional types (evergreen trees, deciduous trees and lawn) and (ii) different ages (constructed 10, ∼50 and >100 years ago). The...