Environmental road construction in dry grasslands
The road as every technical work should upgrade the area that crosses and should not destroy it. In other words, it must be compatible with the environment. The primary concern of a forest engineer should be the compatibility of such infrastructural works with the environment. “Compatibility with the environment” means to define, describe and assess the effects of a road construction work on the environment, and to take measures for its protection. Aim of this paper is to find the evaluation principles as far as the impacts on the landscape and environment by the road construction is concerned and opening it up in order to determine an objective and practical evaluation of different route alternatives, before the construction is completed. A combination of digital photogrammetry and GIS technology was used to evaluate the compatibility between the road and the natural environment. In order to evaluate the compatibility, practical criteria of the intensity of the human influence as well as criteria of the environment absorbency to such interventions were used. The digital maps and the spatial analysis were used for the efficient and reliable evaluation of these criteria. We tried to adapted the already existed assessment criteria for infrastructural works that are used to examine and evaluate the impact on the natural environment of such works, as well as to choose the best (compatible) environmental solution from various alternatives during the phase of the grassland roads’ planning. From the analysis of the results of the above criteria we were led to useful conclusions regarding the construction of grassland roads.
Diachronic evolution of grasslands and open shrublands in pastoral landscapes of Greece
In recent years, studies of diachronic evolution have been carried out in several pastoral landscapes of Greece based on aerial photographs. These studies covered a total area of 69,372 ha and included the Kolchiko and Hortiatis watersheds of central Macedonia, the Kopatsari and Askio region of western Macedonia and the valley of Portaikos – Pertouli in Thessaly. This paper aims to review all these studies so that the trends in grassland and shrubland evolution are evaluated. The transformation of these landscapes was evaluated by means of Geographic Informational Systems (G.I.S.) and sequential sets of aerial photographs and orthophotos, covering a period from 1945 to 1998. Changes in grassland pattern were evaluated by the use of landscape metrics. From these studies it became evident that the pastoral landscapes have changed significantly over the last 65 years in terms of land use/ cover structure and landscape pattern. A major trend has been the reduction of the area covered by grasslands in favour of forests, dense shrublands and agricultural lands. Furthermore, a reduction of open shrublands in favour of dense ones was also recorded. Landscape metrics revealed that grassland patches are becoming more fragmented and disperse over the years. The reduction of grasslands and open shrublands represent a major obstacle to employing sustainable practices in livestock husbandry.
The contribution of herbs to the quality of life: The case of Evros prefecture (A first approach)
Herbs (aromatic, edible, medicinal plants) constitute an important natural resource. They are mostly used for medicinal purposes as they contain antioxidants, vitamins and trace elements. They have numerous other applications in aromatherapy, in human nutrition and in cosmetics. Additionally, they support agricultural activities such as apiculture and livestock farming. The aim of this paper was to investigate the attitudes of the local people in a remote rural area regarding the contribution of herb resources in the quality of their life, and to indicate the typology of these attitudes. The study was conducted in the area of Evros prefecture, Greece, with the use of a specially designed questionnaire. The data was processed using the methods of descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis. The results indicated that local people recognize the contribution of herb resources in human health and that they are products of high nutritional value. The inadequate management and wildfires were recognized as major threats. Finally, people value all of the intended benefits that herb resources offer and especially the protection of nature and the landscape and the enhancement of well being through healthy nutrition. The implementation of the non – linear analysis in principal components with optimal scaling method reveal that local people of Evros prefecture can be grouped according to their attitudes towards herb resources.
Density and richness of soil seed banks in loess grasslands
We studied the vegetation and seed banks in a Salvio-Festucetum loess grassland and in and formerly grazed and then abandoned Cynodonti-Poëtum loess pasture. We answered the following questions: (i) How dense are the local seed banks? (ii) Which species of the vegetation possess a seed bank? Soil samples were collected in early spring, 2010. Samples were concentrated and treated using the seedling emergence method. Percentage cover of vascular plants was recorded in twelve, 1-m2-sized plots in June, 2009. We found that the mean densities of seed banks were similar in both grassland types (20,200 seeds/m2 in Salvio-Festucetum and 22,800 seeds/m2 in Cynodonti-Poëtum, respectively). Altogether, 94 species were detected both in vegetation and seed banks. In the pasture the species-poor loess vegetation (a mean of 10.2 species/m2) was characterised by the high cover of Festuca rupicola (mean cover of 45%). Conversely, we detected significantly higher species richness in Salvio-Festucetum grassland (t-test; p< 0.001, mean, 27 species/m2). The seed bank was characterised by common forbs (Hypericum perforatum 6,200 seeds/m2, Galium verum 4,270 seeds/m2, Achillea collina 2,100 seeds/m2) and graminoid species (Poa angustifolia 1,060 seed/m2, Carex stenopylla and C. praecox 2,480 seeds/m2) in both grassland types. Dense seed banks were typical for Conyza canadensis (6,760 seeds/m2) and Veronica persica (1,215 seeds/m2). Most of the characteristic species of loess grasslands possessed only sparse seed banks (e.g. Salvia austriaca, S. nemorosa, Pimpinella saxifraga, Medicago falcata). Our results suggest that the seed bank can have only a limited role in maintaining species diversity in loess grasslands.
The impact of grazing on woody vegetation characteristics in cub-zone of Ostryo – Carpinion
The present work deals with the impact of grazing in a disturbed Mediterranean ecosystem in Greece. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of grazing on silvicultural and vegetation characteristics of woody species. The study area was divided into two parts a protected and a grazed one, which were then separated into three belts of different latitude. The characteristics measured were total height, diameter for trees and root collar diameter for shrubs, crown length, richness, density and abundance cover in order to obtain a clear perspective of the vegetation and to estimate and compare the diversity between parts. In total, there were 822 individuals, 480 of which in the protected part. From the sixteen woody species identified 6 species were common in both parts, with Quercus coccifera as the dominant species. The results showed that grazing has a negative effect on the silvicultural characteristics of the woody species, mainly to their height growth, as is evident in the protected part where differentiation and discrimination of the vegetation storeys occurs. In addition , the number of tree storey species in the protected part was higher than in the grazed part and as herbivores prefer eating specific species the number of left over species was reduced leaving only these that exhibit tolerance to grazing leading thus, the grazed ecosystem to a regressive succession., The slope position is a factor that affects richness, density, abundance –cover and diversity as significant differences were found among the middle slope, upper and foot slope in both parts.
