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The Andes mountain range in South America has a high level of endemism and is a major source of ecosystem services. The Andes is increasingly threatened by anthropogenic disturbances that have allowed the establishment of non-native plants, mainly in the lower elevation areas. However, synergies between climate change and anthropogenic pressure are promoting the spread of non-native plants to higher elevation areas. In this article, we evaluate and identify the main non-native plants invading Andean ecosystems, and assess their taxonomic families, growth forms and distribution patterns. Based on a systematic literature review, we identified the importance of climatic and anthropogenic factors as drivers of non-native species establishment in Andean ecosystems and the main impacts of non-native plants in the Andes. We then identified research gaps across each biogeographic region in the Andes. Finally, we highlight key elements to better tackle the problem of non-native plant invasions in Andean ecosystems, including the need for a systematic monitoring of invasion patterns and spread (e.g. MIREN protocol) and a common policy agenda across international borders for the prevention and management of non-native plants in this highly vulnerable region.

Climate change and other global change drivers threaten plant diversity in mountains worldwide. A widely documented response to such environmental modifications is for plant species to change their elevational ranges. Range shifts are often idiosyncratic and difficult to generalize, partly due to variation in sampling methods. There is thus a need for a standardized monitoring strategy that can be applied across mountain regions to assess distribution changes and community turnover of native and non-native plant species over space and time. Here, we present a conceptually intuitive and standardized protocol developed by the Mountain Invasion Research Network (MIREN) to systematically quantify global patterns of native and non-native species distributions along elevation gradients and shifts arising from interactive effects of climate change and human disturbance. Usually repeated every five years, surveys consist of 20 sample sites located at equal elevation increments along three replicate roads per sampling region. At each site, three plots extend from the side of a mountain road into surrounding natural vegetation. The protocol has been successfully used in 18 regions worldwide from 2007 to present. Analyses of one point in time already generated some salient results, and revealed region-specific elevational patterns of native plant species richness, but a globally consistent elevational decline in non-native species richness. Non-native plants were also more abundant directly adjacent to road edges, suggesting that disturbed roadsides serve as a vector for invasions into mountains. From the upcoming analyses of time series, even more exciting results can be expected, especially about range shifts. Implementing the protocol in more mountain regions globally would help to generate a more complete picture of how global change alters species distributions. This would inform conservation policy in mountain ecosystems, where some conservation policies remain poorly implemented.

Invasive alien species represent a major threat to global biodiversity and the sustenance of ecosystems. Globally, mountain ecosystems have shown a degree of resistance to invasive species due to their distinctive ecological features. However, in recent times, the construction of linear infrastructure, such as roads, might weaken this resistance, especially in the Mediterranean basin region. Roads, by acting as efficient corridors, facilitate the dispersal of alien species along elevation gradients in mountains. Here, we investigated how the ecological features and road-associated disturbance in native plant communities affected both the occurrence and cover of alien plant species in Central Apennines (Italy). We implemented the MIREN road survey in three mountain transects conducting vegetation sampling in plots located both adjacent to and distant from the roads at intervals of ~ 100 m in elevation. We then used community-weighted means of Ecological Indicator Values for Europe together with Disturbance Indicator Values applied to plant species of native communities as predictors of alien species occurrence and cover in a machine-learning classification and regression framework. Our analyses showed that alien species’ occurrence was greater in proximity to the road where high soil disturbance occurred and in warm- and light-adapted native communities. On the other hand, alien species cover was more strongly related to moderate grazing pressure and the occurrence of nitrophilic plant communities. These findings provide a baseline for the current status of alien plant species in this Mediterranean mountain region, offering an ecological perspective to address the challenges associated with their management under global change.

Invasion by alien plant species may be rapid and aggressive, causing erosion of local biodiversity. This is particularly true for islands, where natural and anthropogenic corridors promote the rapid spread of invasive plants. Although evidence shows that corridors may facilitate plant invasions, the question of how their importance in the spread of alien species varies along environmental gradients deserves more attention. Here, we addressed this issue by examining diversity patterns (species richness of endemic, native and alien species) along and across roads, along an elevation gradient from sea-level up to 2050 m a.s.l. in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain), at multiple spatial scales. Species richness was assessed using a multi-scale sampling design consisting of 59 T-transects of 150 m × 2 m, along three major roads each placed over the whole elevation gradient. Each transect was composed of three sections of five plots each: Section 1 was located on the road edges, Section 2 at intermediate distance, and Section 3 far from the road edge, the latter representing the “native community” less affected by road-specific disturbance. The effect of elevation and distance from roadsides was evaluated for the three groups of species (endemic, native and alien species), using parametric and non-parametric regression analyses as well as additive diversity partitioning. Differences among roads explained the majority of the variation in alien species richness and composition. Patterns in alien species richness were also affected by elevation, with a decline in richness with increasing elevation and no alien species recorded at high elevations. Elevation was the most important factor determining patterns in endemic and native species. These findings confirm that climate filtering reflected in varying patterns along elevational gradients is an important determinant of the richness of alien species (which are not adapted to high elevations), while anthropogenic pressures may explain the richness of alien species at low elevation.

The article aims to reconstruct the experience of Miren’s exiled shoemaker cooperative in the Savinja Valley during the First World War. It draws on two sources, the history of the cooperative, written by its long-standing leader Anton Vuk, and the diary for part of 1917, kept by its secretary Leopold Kemperle. When Italy entered the war, the inhabitants of Miren were evacuated as early as 23 May 1915. The leadership of the shoemaker cooperative (established in 1907) chose Altenburg Castle (Slo. Vrbovec) at Rečica in the Savinja Valley as a suitable accommodation for its workshops and settled workers in the nearby area. Even in exile, the organization continued to abide by its cooperative principles by systematically ensuring material supply and the production of military and civilian footwear, by provisioning the refugee colony with food, clothing, firewood, and coal, and by distributing refugee and military support. Članek poskuša rekonstruirati begunsko izkušnjo čevljarske zadruge iz Mirna v Savinjski dolini med prvo svetovno vojno. Temelji na dveh virih, zgodovini čevljarske zadruge, ki jo je napisal njen dolgoletni vodja Anton Vuk (1883–1967), in dnevniku za del leta 1917, ki ga je vodil tajnik zadruge Leopold Kemperle (1886–1950). Po vstopu Italije v vojno so se morali prebivalci Mirna izseliti že 23. maja 1915. Vodstvo čevljarske zadruge (ustanovljena 1908) je primerne prostore za delavnice našlo v gradu Vrbovec pri Rečici v Savinjski dolini, družine delavcev in delavk pa so naselili v okoliških krajih. Čevljarska zadruga je tudi v begunstvu delovala po zadružnih načelih, sistematično je skrbela za proizvodnjo vojaške in civilne obutve, dobavo materiala, preskrbo begunske kolonije z živili, obleko, drvmi in premogom ter za begunske in vojaške podpore. 

  \"The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit, identified the intensive care unit as one of the markers of quality in a hospital,\" she said. \"An Intensivist is a physician trained in critical care medicine and what that person does is take care of the whole patient.\" \"Intensivists make sure that everybody is on the same road and going in the same direction,\" she said. \"The other big component is that the ICU team is immediately available for any change in the patient's status.\" [Miren Schinco] said one of the \"pillars\" of the Intensivist program is a \"standardization of protocols\" that is rooted in \"evidence-based medicine.\"

ROME, Jun. 19, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Self-described as the largest international research organization, \"Bioversity International\" is dedicated to promoting conservation efforts and the use of agricultural biodiversity. Emile Frison, director-general of Bioversity International, explains the critical role this science plays in meeting the development needs of people and societies. EMILE FRISON: There are about 30,000 edible plant species. Yet just three of these (rice, wheat, maize) provide 60 percent of our calories. Agricultural biodiversity is the foundation for our food, our medicines, and all of the other goods we depend on to live. It has inestimable value socially, economically, scientifically, culturally and even aesthetically. But if this value is not better recognized, agricultural biodiversity is in danger of disappearing. IPS: A recent declaration of the G8 development ministers in view of the G8 meeting in July seems to recognize the importance of agriculture for development. But support to agriculture has fallen from 17 percent of total aid spending in 1980 to less than 3 percent in 2006. Do you think that research in agriculture can be considered good investment for economic development?

In the case of La Estrella and the third house we see, French-designed El Rio, with its high glass walls, Habitat-showroom furniture and a \"river\" running through the lounge area, it definitely is. In the second house, Noche y Dia, the beauty is of a more distressed kind. Gloomy inside, with high chipboard walls, Noche y Dia has flatpack cardboard furniture that even [Miren Iriarte] finds hard to praise: \"This is not very sustainable - the cardboard soon deteriorates and you have to keep replacing it.\" The village's only British-designed house, Casa Bernoulli, hasn't quite come up to expectations either, as we see when we step inside and are met with rain-stained wood and plaster. \"People think it's always sunny here and it's not,\" says Miren. \"We want guests who stay with us to enjoy the experience, but they will also be helping us to test which houses work perfectly and which need improving.\" As laboratories go, it sounds pretty cushy. So I ask if we can stay there, this evening, as we're leaving the island next day. Gamely, even though it's Easter and Miren is about to head away for the weekend, she agrees. \"Give me your passport numbers and a credit card and come back this afternoon. I'll leave a key and all the information on the gate.\" She smiles, kissing us goodbye. \"It's a wonderful place to enjoy. You'll have a different experience.\"

\"I have very strong ties to Prince Albert. My family has been here a long time,\" said [Miren Madariaga], who turns 20 Tuesday. Taking her first year at the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology Woodland Campus, Madariaga moved to Saskatoon to study at the University of Saskatchewan for her second year. Photo: Melanie Dolton, Daily Herald / P.A. ROOTS: Miren Madariaga signed on for another year at the Diefenbaker museum allowing her to continued doing what she loves best - working with people and promoting the city of Prince Albert. ;

[Koch], [Miren Ann] Of Mukwonago.