Spatial Scale Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Greenways are promoted for land conservation in both rural and urban areas, but less attention has been paid to the potential of greenways to serve urban biodiversity conservation goals. This paper presents results of a biodiversity... more

Greenways are promoted for land conservation in both rural and urban areas, but less attention has been paid to the potential of greenways to serve urban biodiversity conservation goals. This paper presents results of a biodiversity planning study of a highly urbanized environment in Washington, DC (USA) that demonstrate the critical role of ecological greenways and parks in urban species conservation. The Cameron Run study raises fundamental questions about the way biodiversity is defined in urban areas, the scale of analysis required in heterogeneous urban environments, the role of sociocultural factors in urban biodiversity conservation, and the importance of regional greenway connections across the urban gradient.The Cameron Run study is a pilot project for an urban biodiversity information node (UrBIN) in the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) program of the US Geological Survey (USGS). This paper draws connections between the rapidly expanding literature on biodiversity conservation and the smaller, but growing, body of research concerning the ecology of greenways and urban areas, and it does so through the lens of landscape planning. Findings on the Cameron Run watershed are reported, and biodiversity conservation in the watershed is discussed in the context of greenway efforts at local and metropolitan scales.

A general conceptual framework for large-scale neocortical dynamics based on data from many laboratories is applied to a variety of experimental designs, spatial scales, and brain states. Partly distinct, but interacting local processes... more

A general conceptual framework for large-scale neocortical dynamics based on data from many laboratories is applied to a variety of experimental designs, spatial scales, and brain states. Partly distinct, but interacting local processes (e.g., neural networks) arise from functional segregation. Global processes arise from functional integration and can facilitate (top down) synchronous activity in remote cell groups that function simultaneously at several different spatial scales. Simultaneous local processes may help drive (bottom up) macroscopic global dynamics observed with electroencephalography (EEG) or magnetoencephalography (MEG).A local/global dynamic theory that is consistent with EEG data and the proposed conceptual framework is outlined. This theory is neutral about properties of neural networks embedded in macroscopic fields, but its global component makes several qualitative and semiquantitative predictions about EEG measures of traveling and standing wave phenomena. A ...

The paper explored the significance of residents’ experience with an array of green infrastructure in Taiping, a small town in central Peninsular Malaysia. It argued that the existence of a composite of greenery and open spaces in a town... more

The paper explored the significance of residents’ experience with an array of green infrastructure in Taiping, a small town in central Peninsular Malaysia. It argued that the existence of a composite of greenery and open spaces in a town with pleasing qualities contributes to cognitive performance, through contact and participation. In particular, it examined the relationship of participation in the green spaces to residents’ cognitive well-being. Green infrastructure network is greenery and open spaces linked by walkways, streets, waterways and drainage ways around and between urban areas, at all spatial scales. In Taiping, the green infrastructure network consists of the Lake Gardens (town park), river corridors, street plantings, school playfields, neighbourhood open spaces, home gardens and loose-fit spaces such as pocket spaces in between buildings and shop-houses. Ease of access to green infrastructure network, physically and visually facilitates residents to participate in ac...

It is obvious that real water saving measures are only possible if the current water resources are clearly understood. For a basin in western Turkey, simulation modeling at three different scales, field, irrigation scheme and basin level... more

It is obvious that real water saving measures are only possible if the current water resources are clearly understood. For a basin in western Turkey, simulation modeling at three different scales, field, irrigation scheme and basin level was performed to obtain all terms of the water balance. These water balance numbers were used to calculate the Productivity of Water (PW) at the three levels. The four performance indicators considered were: PWirrigated (yield / irrigation), PWinflow (yield / net inflow), PWdepleted (productivity / depletion), and PWprocess (productivity / process depletion), all expressed in kg yield per m3 water. For the two cotton fields considered at the field scale level, the more upstream field performed better than the field at the tail-end. This was partly a result of the difference in climatic condition, but was mainly due to the location of the two fields: upstream vs. downstream. At the irrigation scheme level PWirrigated was higher than at the individual cotton field, since non-irrigated crops were also included. Other PW values were lower as crops more sensitive to drought were also found in the irrigated areas. Basin scale PWs are lower than those at the irrigation scheme, as large areas of the basin were covered with less productive land covers. It is concluded that performance indicators are useful ways of representing water dynamics with clearly understandable numbers, and that it is important to consider all the spatial scales at the appropriate level of detail.

Soil organic carbon (OC) mobilization due to erosional processes can have consequences regarding CO2 emission or sequestration. OC can be mineralized (emitted as CO2 to the atmosphere) during detachment, transport and deposition of soil... more

Soil organic carbon (OC) mobilization due to erosional processes can have consequences regarding CO2 emission or sequestration. OC can be mineralized (emitted as CO2 to the atmosphere) during detachment, transport and deposition of soil particles, or buried in depositional settings, where it can also be stabilized. The contradicting results in the published literature in the last decade point towards a lack of information concerning OC dynamics in relation to different erosion processes at different spatial scales. The objective of this work was to characterize the quantity and type of erosion OC mobilized by the different erosion processes identified at a catchment scale with respect to the original soils where they came from. With the purpose of analysing the type (labile or stable) and quantity of organic carbon (OC) mobilized by different erosive processes identified at the slope-bed connection, the erosion deposits of gullies, sheet erosion, bank erosion and tillage erosion wer...

A study supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), in the context of its General Studies Programme, performed an investigation of the possible use of space for studies in pure and applied plasma physics, in areas not traditionally... more

A study supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), in the context of its General Studies Programme, performed an investigation of the possible use of space for studies in pure and applied plasma physics, in areas not traditionally covered by 'space plasma physics'. A set of experiments have been identified that can potentially provide access to new phenomena and to allow advances in several fields of plasma science. These experiments concern phenomena on a spatial scale (101-104 m) intermediate between what is achievable on the ground and the usual solar system plasma observations. Detailed feasibility studies have been performed for three experiments: active magnetic experiments, large-scale discharges and long tether-plasma interactions. The perspectives opened by these experiments are discussed for magnetic reconnection, instabilities, MHD turbulence, atomic excited states kinetics, weakly ionized plasmas, plasma diagnostics, artificial auroras and atmospheric studie...

Media discourses about drought impacts on lakes and reservoirs in Arizona and New Mexico between 2002 and 2004 are compared to show how discursive contexts shape the framing of drought in temporal and spatial scales. Discursive contexts... more

Media discourses about drought impacts on lakes and reservoirs in Arizona and New Mexico between 2002 and 2004 are compared to show how discursive contexts shape the framing of drought in temporal and spatial scales. Discursive contexts in the two states are ...

The islands of the Mediterranean Basin probably represent some of the ecosystems globally most at risk from invasive species. Compared to neighbouring mainland areas, island floras have a significantly higher proportion of alien plant... more

The islands of the Mediterranean Basin probably represent some of the ecosystems globally most at risk from invasive species. Compared to neighbouring mainland areas, island floras have a significantly higher proportion of alien plant species. Yet the circumstances that have led to this situation and the subsequent consequences of plant invasions remain poorly understood. This knowledge deficit is addressed in this paper through a comprehensive review of recent research findings. Most alien plants occurring on Mediterranean islands have been introduced intentionally for economic purposes although there still exists a sizeable proportion that arrives by accident. A wide range of alien plant functional types have colonized Mediterranean islands. While certain traits appear important, e.g. reproductive strategies, species characteristics are closely allied to the habitats invaded. Large-scale biogeographic studies have highlighted a strong correlation between local and regional abundan...