Development of environmental education program («yperatou» cards) for wildlife
Environmental Education is the education related to the environment, indicating the discovery of the environment as an instrument for more effective learning. Within the context of Environmental Education, contact with the environment contributes to increasing interest in environmental issues and the empowerment of taking action about them. The purpose of this project is to develop an Environmental Education program featuring bird species typical of Greece’s wild fauna, based on an old game with cards («yperatou»). This game as a method of Environmental Education is based on a certain environmental issue, facilitates learning, has rules and is entertaining. The end product of the game consists of 32 cards, in line with the original ¨yperatou¨ card game, depicting birds from the wildlife in Greece. There are 8 categories of cards each of which corresponds to a family of birds (the class is mentioned as well). Every category consists of four representative species of the family. Each card contains a photo of the bird. The features chosen to be compared with each other, within the game, are the length of the bird, its wingspan and its weight (male and female separately). For the realization of the material information was drawn from the bibliography relating to Environmental Εducation and wildlife and, finally, related photos were found on Google.
Assessment of management actions to combat desertification based on stakeholders’ opinions
Desertification is an important environmental and socio-economic problem that affects much of the world’s drylands, resulting in a significant loss of biological and economic productivity. Responding to desertification by improving the efficiency of land and resource management represents a crucial step towards social welfare in drylands. While science has made noticeable progress in aiding our understanding of the drivers and processes of desertification, the assessment of the practices to combat desertification, the exchange of experience and knowledge, and the incorporation of the social dimension in the solutions often remain limited. An answer to the above problem was attempted to be given by the European research project PRACTICE. The purpose of this study was to assess certain actions to combat desertification which are applied in the degraded public forest lands of the Lagadas County, northern Greece over the last 30 years. They included: a) moderate grazing by livestock (1 sheep equivalent/ha/year) b) overgrazing by livestock (3 sheep equivalents/ha/year) c) no management (grazing or reforestation) d) partial reforestation with pines and e) full reforestation with pines. For their assessment, the integrated protocol developed by PRACTICE was applied involving the participation of stakeholders and based on biophysical data collected from the study area. The assessment showed that moderate grazing was the best management practice followed by partial reforestation. No management was considered to be the third best practice. The above results suggest that moderate grazing is a top management option for rangeland restoration of the Lagadas County.
A proposal for the improvement of rangeland management through the use of specially trained forest workers
Human factor is of central importance in the execution of protection, improvement and utilization works of forest and rangeland areas. The present study examines and analyzes the results of a questionnaire-based survey conducted with specialists and forest workers with regard to the problems of the forest operations sector and the contribution of a forest workers’ training system to the forest and rangeland management in Greece. The majority of the interviewed forest workers were very positive on participating in specialized training on works related to rangeland management because of the proximity of these tasks to their current occupational profile. A further reason for their willingness could be traced into their expectations for a future income increase. The existence of a specially trained forest workforce is expected to successfully cope with the modern and increased demands of multiple purpose rangeland management in our country.
Seasonal grazing of water buffaloes on grasslands and agricultural land at the area of the Lake Kerkini area, Serres Prefecture
At the area of the Lake Kerkini of Serres Prefecture the time (%) that water buffaloes spent on the activity of feeding at grasslands and agricultural land as well as the contribution of grasses, woody plants and forbs in their diet was investigated during 2013. A focal sampling technique was applied to six adult water buffaloes. It was found that the animals remained at the grazing areas more time during spring (8h 52min) and summer (10h 16min) and they devoted more time to the activity of feeding during these periods (373 and 349 min for spring and summer, respectively). Water buffaloes spent more time (P<0.05) feeding on grasslands during the summer and winter months (94.9% and 78.8%, respectively) in comparison to crop residues (5.1% and 21.2%, respectively). During autumn water buffaloes devoted significantly more time (P<0.05) to feeding on crop residues (53.9%) compared to pastures (6.0%) which were grazed only this period. Water buffaloes spent significantly more time (P<0.05) feeding on grasses (74.0%) compared to woody species (21.7%) and forbs (4.3%) throughout the year.
Chemical composition of Quercus ithaburensis subsp. macrolepis (Kotschy) Hedge & Yaltirik acorns from different regions
Valonia oak woodlands can be considered as agroforestry systems as they produce wood products, nuts and forage simultaneously. The objective of this study was the evaluation of the chemical composition of valonia oak acorns originated from two different regions. The acorns were collected from an islanding region (Isle of Kea) and from the continental Greece (Xiromero, Aitoloacarnania). The crude protein, the NDF, ADF and ADL contents were estimated in each acorn. According to the results, no significant differences were recorded between the two populations regarding the NDF, ADF and ADL contents. On the contrary, CP content of acorns from Kea was significantly higher than this of acorns from Xiromero. Crude protein contend of acorns is insufficient to meet maintenance demand of ruminants but could be considered as a supplementary feed for the winter period.
