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Taxonomic and geographic misattributions in biodiversity inventories remain a pressing issue in biogeographical research, particularly in regions with overlapping or similar place names. The Republic of Cabo Verde (also known as Cabo Verde Islands) and the Cape Verde Peninsula (Senegal) exemplify this challenge, where historical and recent studies have struggled to provide accurate species distributions due to unverified, erroneous and ambiguous records. This underscores the necessity of comprehensive, reliable datasets to delineate species occurrences across these distinct geographic areas. This study provides a rigorously verified inventory of coastal fish species occurring within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic of Cabo Verde, focusing on depths between 0 and 200 metres. By delineating the faunal composition specific to Cabo Verde, this work addresses the recurrent confusion with species lists referencing the Cape Verde Peninsula (Senegal). A total of 393 species, distributed among 125 families and 40 orders, is documented, offering an invaluable resource for refining biodiversity assessments and providing information forconservation strategies in this biogeographically unique region. Two species, Thalassoma newtoni (Osório, 1891) and Diodon eydouxii Brisout de Barneville, 1846, are reported for the first time from Cabo Verde in this paper.

Agriculture is considered to be among the economic sectors having the greatest greenhouse gas mitigation potential, largely via soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. However, it remains a challenge to accurately quantify SOC stock changes at regional to national scales. SOC stock changes resulting from SOC inventory systems are only available for a few countries and the trends vary widely between studies. Process-based models can provide insight in the drivers of SOC changes, but accurate input data are currently not available at these spatial scales. Here we use measurements from a soil inventory dating from the 1960s and resampled in 2006 covering the major soil types and agricultural regions in Belgium together with region-specific land use and management data and a process-based model. The largest decreases in SOC stocks occurred in poorly drained grassland soils (clays and floodplain soils), consistent with drainage improvements since 1960. Large increases in SOC in well drained grassland soils appear to be a legacy effect of widespread conversion of cropland to grassland before 1960. SOC in cropland increased only in sandy lowland soils, driven by increasing manure additions. Modeled land use and management impacts accounted for more than 70% of the variation in observed SOC changes, and no bias could be demonstrated. There was no significant effect of climate trends since 1960 on observed SOC changes. SOC monitoring networks are being established in many countries. Our results demonstrate that detailed and long-term land management data are crucial to explain the observed SOC changes for such networks.

VOC emissions from terrestrial ecosystems provide one of the principal controls over oxidative photochemistry in the lower atmosphere and the resulting air pollution. Such atmospheric processes have strong seasonal cycles. Although similar seasonal cycles in VOC emissions from terrestrial ecosystems have been reported, regional emissions inventories generally omit the effect of seasonality on emissions. We compiled measurement data on seasonal variations in monoterpene emissions potentials for two evergreen species (Quercus ilex and Pinus pinea) and used these data to construct two contrasting seasonal response functions for the inclusion in monoterpene emission models. We included these responses in the Niinemets et al. model and compared simulation results to those of the MEGAN model, both with and without its predicted seasonality. The effect of seasonality on regional monoterpene emissions inventories for European Mediterranean forests dominated by these species was tested for both models, using the GOTILWA+ biosphere model platform. The consideration of seasonality in the Niinemets et al. model reduced total estimated annual monoterpene emissions by up to 65% in some regions, with largest reductions at lower latitudes. The MEGAN model demonstrated a much weaker seasonal response than that in the Niinemets et al. model, and did not capture the between species seasonality differences found in this study. Results suggest that previous regional model inventories based on one fixed emission factor likely overestimate regional emissions, and species‐specific expressions of seasonality may be necessary. The consideration of seasonality both largely reduces monoterpene emissions estimates, and changes their expected seasonal distribution.

The last Pinniped species update was in 2010, as part of the list of the terrestrial and marine biota from the Azores. This list includes a chapter dedicated to marine mammals, based on previously published bibliography. No new species were added since that list was publlished. However, there were new occurrences since the last update.

Since the first published comprehensive checklist of Azorean fishes - covering the whole Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) region - several new records have been published and an updated checklist published in 2010. This new dataset covers all confirmed species of actinopterygians for the Azorean EEZ. In this update, we made corrections to the previous checklists, updated the taxonomy according to the most recent bibliography and added two new species to the Azorean Actinopterygii checklist.

Ancient coppice woodlands are forest stands of coppice origin with a long-term continual development and preserved typical natural and historic elements of old coppices. Significant natural elements in ancient coppices include polycormons of coppice shoots, pollard trees, trees with holes, dendrotelms, reserved trees, ecotones, glades and significant plant and animal species. Significant historic elements of localities with ancient coppices include archaeological monuments, boundary ditches and walls, boundary stones, boundary trees, myths and legends, sacral objects, old roads and paths, technical objects and plough land remainders. The paper presents differentiation of assumptions for the occurrence of ancient coppices in the territory of the Czech Republic using the COPF coefficient and examples of results from basic regional inventory (Kuřim region) and detailed local survey (locality Lebeďák) of coppice-originated forests. The extinction of the phenomenon of ancient coppice woodlands would mean irreparable impoverishment of the natural and cultural heritage.

Historical forest management practices in the southwestern US have left forests prone to high-severity, stand-replacement fires. Reducing the cost of forest-fire management and reintroducing fire to the landscape without negative impact depends on detailed knowledge of stand composition, in particular, above-ground biomass (AGB). Lidar-based modeling techniques provide opportunities to increase ability of managers to monitor AGB and other forest metrics at reduced cost. We developed a regional lidar-based statistical model to estimate AGB for Ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forest systems of the southwestern USA, using previously collected field data. Model selection was performed using Bayesian model averaging (BMA) to reduce researcher bias, fully explore the model space, and avoid overfitting. The selected model includes measures of canopy height, canopy density, and height distribution. The model selected with BMA explains 71% of the variability in field-estimates of AGB, and the RMSE of the two independent validation data sets are 23.25 and 32.82 Mg/ha. The regional model is structured in accordance with previously described local models, and performs equivalently to these smaller scale models. We have demonstrated the effectiveness of lidar for developing cost-effective, robust regional AGB models for monitoring and planning adaptively at the landscape scale.

The regions of Central and South America most susceptible to the occurrence of landslides will become even more vulnerable in the context of climate change. The Josefina disaster, in 1993, demonstrated both the vulnerability of local infrastructures and communities in the Paute River basin (Ecuador). Since this natural phenomena, several landslide inventories and susceptibility studies were developed, revealing the vulnerability of the Paute River basin to unstable terrain and the need for further studies throughout the basin. Despite this, no studies have been done since then to update the information generated. This paper describes a Mobile Application for Regional Landslide Inventories (MARLI), a simple but efficient open-access platform to report landslide events using the Open Data Kit system. Its design makes reporting fast, simple and cost-effective with an added benefit, and a specialized knowledge is not required for its use. MARLI was tested for the collection of landslides in Cuenca (Ecuador). From the data taken in the field, it was possible to analyze the performance and suitability of collected data and compare the results with regional inventories in the same area. Additionally, these results can be used for the elaboration and update of large-scale inventories or the training of automatic identification systems of landslides and later evaluation of their precision in a small-medium scale. Likewise, this product constitutes a fundamental input for the formulation of mitigation strategies, to formulate the appropriate response and in time, also the elaboration of reconstruction plans before the increase in the occurrence of such phenomena.

Background Rockfalls pose a serious threat along the main road network, representing a major hazard in mountainous territory and causing damage and victims. Currently, susceptibility mapping represents a starting point to identify areas more susceptible to rockfall occurrence, a key approach in land use planning and risk management. Despite the extensive use of these maps by decision makers and administrators, the usability of such maps over time and their reliability represent a poorly discussed and examined feature. Methods Here, we proposed a-posteriori analysis of a three-year-old rockfall susceptibility map, generated along the main road network of the Aosta Valley, an alpine region of north-western Italy. To verify map consistency over time, we implemented a dual-analysis in GIS-environment and by text mining, to respectively analyse the geocoded data and textual information derivable from the regional landslide inventory. The first one allowed us to extract rockfall events occurred after the susceptibility map generation. By this way, we operated to spatially and temporally verify the map consistency. Jointly, the textual information reported in the Event Description Form, linked to each geocoded event, are being exploited. This allowed us to derive relevant information about occurred damage and their degree, presence of protective measures or secondary roads, i.e. involvement of, farm or forestry, road. Results The implemented approach allowed us to prove the quality of the previous map in terms of reliability, robustness and degree of fitting respect to the succession of rockfall occurrence over time. After only three years as many as 198 rockfall events have been occurred and collected since the map was generated. Particularly, 80% of rockfall fit with “high” and “very high” susceptibility classes, and pointed out large involvement of main roads in rockfall occurrence, representing the most affected target with damage to road pavement and vehicles, as well as a relevant involvement of existing rockfall barriers and of the dense network of forestry roads and footpaths that characterize this alpine region. Results The proposed approach representing a starting point in landslide susceptibility map verification and usability as valid instrument for a reliable land planning.

Western Siberia contains the world’s most extensive wetlands. Despite its recognition as a significant global carbon reservoir, the spatial structure and composition of micro-topographical elements in patterned wetlands have never been analyzed in detail. To address this uncertainty, we applied a multi-scale approach to make a general and realistic estimation of land cover in Western Siberia. Our approach was based on using a regional wetland typology map (1:2500 000 scale), further refined by satellite image classifications (LANDSAT TM, ETM+ in 1:200 000 scale) on test areas designated in the boreal region of Western Siberia. In addition, QuickBird imagery was used for evaluation the fraction of area occupied by micro-topographical elements within patterned wetlands. Finally, we estimated the areal fractions of these micro-landscapes composing the vegetation mosaic of 20 classes on the wetland typology map for each climatic region of the study area. The total area of peatlands was calculated at 68.5 × 106ha, which is higher than earlier estimates. We found almost equal areal extents of ridge–hollow and ridge–hollow–pool patterned wetlands in almost all climatic regions of Western Siberia; in the northern boreal region, however, the ridge–hollow–pool wetland type became dominant and exceeded the areal extent of ridge–hollow wetlands in a proportion of 80–20%. Also, the open water fraction increased dramatically in the northern boreal region. The results of this survey can be used in models of ecosystem carbon dynamics and inventory of trace gas fluxes in wetlands.