George N. Zaimes

Quantifying spatio-temporal patterns of forest fragmentation in Hymettus Mountain, Greece

The rapid land use/cover change (LUCC) and landscape fragmentation occurring around the world is largely attributed to human induced factors. Landscape fragmentation has become a central issue in landscape ecology and conservation policies due to its direct influence on biodiversity which consequently endangers the sustainability of ecological goods and ecosystem services. Thus, fragmentation monitoring and assessment is a critical issue in land use planning and sustainable environmental management in order to avoid any irreversible negative consequences. This research explores the application of methodologies that employ multi-temporal satellite imagery, combined with geographical information systems and landscape metrics, to assess forest fragmentation. The objective is to determine spatio-temporally the LUCCs focusing on the woody vegetation in Hymettus Mountain of Greece over the last decades. The study area, which has been designated as a Natura 2000 site, is situated near the city of Athens. It faces various perturbations triggered by socio-economic factors and the absence of an ongoing contextual appraisal for conservation. To quantify the LUCCs, nine Landsat images spanning 28 years are classified. Post classification comparison is applied to generate transition maps. Additionally, eight landscape metrics are calculated. The change detection results identify hot-spots of forest fragmentation where mitigation measures should be taken, so that further irreversible alteration of the ecosystem is prevented. The landscape metrics advocate that, during the last three decades, the woody vegetation have steadily been more fragmented. The primary direct causes are economic driven intense anthropogenic activities along with frequent wildland fires whereas the indirect cause is the absence of a sustainable environmental management and conservation strategy.

Riparian areas in urban settings: two case studies from Greece

Riparian areas are significant ecosystems due to the numerous and substantial services they provide. These ecosystem services can range from wildlife habitat, water quality improvement, flood mitigation and recreational opportunities. Human developments, including cities and towns are frequently established in the riparian areas and degrade their functionality. Maintaining healthy riparian areas in urban settings that sustain their connectivity with the natural riparian areas should be of a great priority. Fragmented riparian areas lose many of the aforementioned ecosystem services. At the same time healthy riparian areas are aesthetically pleasing, creating a feeling of escape for the inhabitants, while also increasing the real estate value of the adjacent structures. In this study examples of healthy and degraded urban riparian areas from two Greek cities are presented. Overall, the proper restoration and sustainable management of these areas can improve the quality of life in urban settings and maintain the services they provide.

ASSESSING SOIL EROSION RISK FOR RHODES ISLAND, GREECE WITH A GIS-BASED MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS

Reducing erosion in the Mediterranean region is a major priority because of its susceptibility and millennia long human inhabitation. The objective of this paper was to assess soil erosion risk on the semi-arid island of Rhodes, Greece. Rhodes has many protected areas that are part of the Natura 2000 network. To implement this assessment a Geographic Information System based Multi-criteria Decision Analysis was conducted. The Multi-criteria Decision Analysis was a combination of the Analytic Hierarchy Process and the Weighted Linear Combination. The criteria used, in the order of importance, were: I) Land-use, II) Slope, III) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), IV) Geology, V) Distance from Streams, VI) Fire Density, VII) Precipitation, VIII) Soil Quality, IX) Flow Length, X) Distance to Roads XI) Aspect and XII) Wetness. The final erosion risk map for the entire island had ranking values only of 3-6 although the scale ranged from 1-9. This indicates that there are no areas with extreme erosion risk. While less than 1% of the area had an erosion risk of 6, a significant percentage (15.4%) ranked as 5. Land managers should firstly implement best management practices in these areas (ranked as a 5 and 6). When comparing the Natura 2000 areas to the non Natura 2000 areas, the Natura 2000 had a larger percentage (~ 6%) of areas that ranked as 5, while the non Natura 2000 areas had a larger percentage (~ 6%) of areas that ranked as 4. Since the Natura 2000 areas are protected by the European Union, it was expected that they would be less vulnerable to erosion. The percentages of this study indicate that additional measures need to be implemented in these Natura 2000 areas to reduce soil erosion.

Environmental sustainability and ecotourism of riparian and deltaic ecosystems: opportunities for rural Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Greece

ABSTRACT Human and wildlife well-being are linked to riparian and deltaic ecosystems. Human impacts and climate changes affect their environmental sustainability. To secure their protection, various national laws and international agreements have been established. Ecotourism can assist in promoting conservation for sustainability and economic improvement. This study reviews work bearing on these matters, especially with regard to the unique region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace in Greece.

Simulation of torrent discharge using SWAT and evaluation by field survey in Thasos Island

In recent years, a vital part of water resources management plans is the implementation of hydrologic models. A wellknown example is the Soil and Water Assessment Tool most recognized as SWAT model. SWAT was applied in Thasos Island to simulate the water yield and highlight the most significant of the local torrents. The produced map identify four significant torrents: “Prinos” torrent, “Genna-Maries” torrent, “Limenaria-Kastrou Lakos” torrent and TheologosDipotamos” torrent. In addition, a field survey was conducted at the specific torrents to evaluate the results of the model and select the proper ones for further study and management plans in order to store surface water for other purposes and needs of the residents.

Forecasting precipitation and temperatures at the island of Cyprus to enhance wetland management

Droughts on the island of Cyprus are more frequently occurring during the last decades. This has and will have major impacts on natural resources, particularly on semi-aquatic and aquatic ecosystems. Wetlands are very important aquatic ecosystems with many functions and values, especially in semi-arid regions. The study area is the Wetland of the Larnanca Salt Lake that belongs to the Natura 2000 Network and the Ramsar Convention. It hosts thousands of migratory birds every year. Forecasting accurately the future climatic conditions of an area can greatly enhance the ability to provide the best possible managerial practices regarding a natural resource (e.g. wetland). These climate forecasts can provide significant information on future conditions of the Wetland of Larnaca Salt Lake, particularly when forecasting when and how long the drying conditions could last. In this study, an Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) was used as a tool for short term prediction of the precipitation in the study area. The methodology used two time series (temperature and precipitation) in order to train the ANN. Temperatures were used as the input variable to the ANN while precipitation was used as the output variables. The forecast was based on data from the period between 1993 and 2013. In order to estimate the accuracy of the produced results the correlation coefficient, the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) was correlated. Overall, this tool can help the responsible authorities of the wetland to manage it more efficiently.