Effect of soil spatial configuration on Trifolium repens varies with resource amount.

Soil spatial heterogeneity involves nutrients being patchily distributed at a range of scales and is prevalent in natural habitats. However, little is known about the effect of soil spatial configurations at the small scale on plant foraging behavior and plant growth under different resource amounts. Here, we experimentally investigated how a stoloniferous species, Trifolium repens, responded to varied resource amounts and spatial configuration combinations.

Landscape ecological concepts in planning: review of recent developments.

Context: Landscape ecology as an interdisciplinary science has great potential to inform landscape planning, an integrated, collaborative practice on a regional scale. It is commonly assumed that landscape ecological concepts play a key role in this quest.

Objectives: The aim of the paper is to identify landscape ecological concepts that are currently receiving attention in the scientific literature, analyze the prevalence of these concepts and understand how these concepts can inform the steps of the planning processes, from goal establishment to monitoring.

Assessing planning implementation using the conformance and performance approach: The case of Romania's local environmental action plans.

Many of the outcomes of environmental plans are difficult to measure. Therefore, little is known as to whether such plans achieve their goals, whether outcomes are reached and lessons learned to influence future plans. Our study aims to address this gap by systematically evaluating the implementation of Local Environmental Action Plans (LEAPs) of 29 counties in Romania and the factors affecting it.

An evaluation of environmental plans quality: Addressing the rational and communicative perspectives.

Environmental action plans are important instruments intended to provide sustainable solutions for the most pressing environmental issues. As they should be updated regularly, efforts to evaluate their quality are essential for enabling incremental improvements in upcoming versions. The aim of our study was to systematically evaluate the quality of Romania's Local Environmental Action Plans (LEAPs) by following a theoretical framework that includes principles from both rational and communicative approaches to assessing plan quality.

Factors driving collaboration in natural resource conflict management: Evidence from Romania.

A critical challenge in natural resource management is to bring all stakeholders together to negotiate solutions to critical problems. However, various collaborative approaches to heading off conflicts and resolving natural resource management disputes have been used. What drives these efforts, however, still needs further research.

Road traffic and nearby grassland bird patterns in a suburbanizing landscape.

An extensive road system with rapidly increasing traffic produces diverse ecological effects that cover a large land area. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of roads with different traffic volumes on surrounding avian distributions, and its importance relative to other variables. Grassland bird data (5 years) for 84 open patches in an outer suburban/rural landscape near Boston were analyzed relative to: distance from roads with 3000-8000 to >30,000 vehicles/day; open-habitat patch size; area of quality microhabitat within a patch; adjacent land use; and distance to other open patches.