In general, the socioeconomic analysis of natural systems does not enter into the realms of natural science. This paper, however, estimates the human-welfare effects of possible physicochemical and biological impacts of climate change on Mediterranean shrublands over the coming 50 years. The contingent choice method was applied to elicit the trade-offs in perceived values for three climate-sensitive attributes of shrubland (plant cover, fire risk, and soil erosion) and for the costs of programs designed to mitigate changes. Soil erosion was found to be the attribute of shrubland that most concerned the population, followed by fire risk and then plant cover. An increase of 1% in the shrubland area affected by erosion was estimated to cost each person on average 2.9 euros per year in terms of lost welfare, a figure that is equivalent in terms of perceptions of social welfare to an increase of 0.24% in the shrub area burned annually and a decrease of 3.19% in the area of plant cover. These trade-off values may help ecologists, policy makers, and land managers to take social preferences into account.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(2007)017[0091:voceom]2.0.co;2 | DOI Listing |
PhytoKeys
January 2025
Botany Unit, Pharmacy Building, University Complutense of Madrid, E-28040 Madrid, Spain University Complutense of Madrid Madrid Spain.
A new species of () is described from the calcareous, high-mountain Spanish flora in the central part of the Iberian Peninsula. It is found in a Mediterranean climate at high-elevation, perennial, calcareous grasslands, as well as in marble screes of anthropogenic origin in the Sierra de Guadarrama, Central System (Spain), in a reserve area within the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park, at 1996 m asl. Taxonomic morphological measurements were performed on collected specimens from Sierra de Guadarrama as well as on geographically-adjacent (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Plant Sci
January 2025
College of Forestry, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, China.
Introduction: The quality of fruits has long been a key focus for breeders, and the development of scientifically sound and reasonable methods for evaluating fruit quality is of great significance in selecting superior cultivars. The mulberry tree, as a plant resource that serves both medicinal and dietary purposes, contains rich nutritional components and various bioactive compounds. These include properties such as immune enhancement, lipid-lowering effects, and anti-tumor activities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Plant Sci
January 2025
Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research, Henan Key Laboratory of Yellow Basin Ecological Protection and Restoration, Zhengzhou, China.
Vegetation productivity and ecosystem carbon sink capacity are significantly influenced by seasonal weather patterns. The time lags between changes in these patterns and ecosystem (including vegetation) responses is a critical aspect in vegetation-climate and ecosystem-climate interactions. These lags can vary considerably due to the spatial heterogeneity of vegetation and ecosystems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMethodsX
June 2025
CUMT-UCASAL Joint Research Center for Biomining and Soil Ecological Restoration, State Key Laboratory for Fine Exploration and Intelligent Development of Coal Resources, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, 221116, PR China.
A critical challenge in ecological restoration of open-pit mine dumps in cold regions with limited topsoil resources is how to rapidly mitigate the plant growth-inhibitory effects of mineral black clay, thereby converting it into arable soil. Leveraging the high degradation capacity of coal seam-associated microorganisms on fossil carbon materials, combined with soil conditioning techniques, this study developed a microbial-based approach for modifying black clay. Seed germination experiments informed both laboratory and field trial designs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Exp Bot
January 2025
Department of Plant Biology, University of Szeged, Közép fasor 52., H6726 Szeged, Hungary.
The beneficial effects of priming technology are aimed at the promotion of growth and development and stress tolerance in plants. Different seed pre-treatment and vegetative priming approaches (osmo-, chemical, physical, hormonal, redox treatments) increase the level of nitric oxide (NO) being an active contributor to growth regulation and defence responses. On the other hand, seed pre-treatment or vegetative priming mainly with the NO donor, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) helps to mitigate different abiotic stresses like salinity, cold, drought, excess metals.
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