Raffaele Pelorosso

A statistical GIS-based analysis of Wild boar (Sus scrofa) traffic collisions in a Mediterranean area

Abstract This study was aimed at analysing the most relevant environmental variables involved in vehicle–wild boar road collisions in a Mediterranean area, starting from a territorial information system implemented in a GIS environment. Landscape structure indices and local qualitative and quantitative variables were correlated to identify the most frequent predisposing factors of collisions. Statistical tests of the considered parameters indicated a higher frequency of collisions in the evening hours of late summer and autumn (P<0.05) compared with daytime and night-time, localized nearness to attraction points (feeding or resting sites; P<0.001) and closeness to no-hunting areas (P<0.001). In addition, local road parameters (shape of road, visibility at road sides, etc.) considerably increased the risk of collisions.

Simulating Brown hare (Lepus europaeus Pallas) dispersion: a tool for wildlife management of wide areas

Abstract The second half of the 20th century was characterised by intense processes of urbanisation, industrialisation and agricultural mechanisation, leading to a fragmentation of the agricultural and forest landscape. This, in turn, reduced the bio-permeability of the territory and affected the dispersion of many wild species. Brown hare (Lepus europeus) dispersion is dramatically affected by habitat fragmentation, presence of predators, intense tillage and elevated hunting pressure. Consequently, the only stable populations of hare are often in no-hunting areas where wildlife management is efficient. It is necessary, therefore, to identify not only additional areas suitable for reproduction, but also the most suitable dispersion pathways for hares, in order to optimise management. In the present study, by means of a Geographic Information System (GIS), a deterministic hare suitability model was developed on the basis of a multicriterial approach and fuzzy logic. Subsequently, a friction surface was derived from the suitability map in order to describe the land bio-permeability. Finally, on the basis of species potential, the spread of hares from stable population areas (source areas) to the remaining territory was simulated. The area of study was the province of Viterbo (central Italy). The suitability map showed good discrimination ability (ROC=0.705). The hare dispersion simulation map allowed the potential spreading of this species throughout the provincial territory to be analysed. Isolated or less connected zones were highlighted, allowing the distribution of habitat enhancements, and/or the institution of new no-hunting areas devoted to the reproduction and consequent spread of hares throughout the territory, to be localised. The presented flexible and reiterable methodology could prove useful for wildlife management and hunting planning over a wide area. It would thus provide an important contribution to reducing the importance of animal translocation and favouring an increase in native resources spontaneously spreading throughout a territory. In a more general sense, this study is in accordance with the sustainable land management perspective, meeting the requirements of environmental protection, without compromising the anthropic development of non-urban areas.

Energy Supply, Thermodynamics and Territorial Processes as a New Paradigm of Sustainability in Planning Science and Practice

The world’s population is growing constantly and, more importantly, the need for raw materials and food products is growing quickly, as a result of the western development model. The energy-consuming (energivorous) and consumerist nature of this model is being consolidated globally, ignoring both the issue of resource limitations, and the medium-long term environmental consequences (e.g. climate change, water pollution). This development model, in order to maintain its internal integrity and further develop (often at increasing rates of growth), needs to import energy and materials from the external environment and to produce waste and disorder (entropy) in an inexorable slide toward thermodynamic equilibrium. Sustainable development should focus on contrasting these processes as far as possible, and on developing suitable planning praxes. This paper aims to show how to achieve sustainable land-use through local resource evaluation, overturning the “linear” logic of acquisition-consumption-disposal of wastes, in search of circular processes, capable of reducing entropy growth in a social-ecological system. An analysis of the exergetic availabilities of the landscape mosaic demonstrates great potential for exploiting energy supplies from local and renewable sources, thus lessening the system’s overall impact on the global environment.

Sustainability And Planning. Thinking and Acting According to Thermodinamics Laws

The paper deals with environmental sustainability, in terms of intrinsic vulnerability and thermodynamics laws concepts, applied to urban green infrastructures. This approach gives also the track to build more resilient and complex landscapes. Integrating intrinsic vulnerability and thermodynamics laws concepts, an effective strategy could be conceived to face best management practices in planning more sustainable and healthy cities.

Bio-Energy Connectivity And Ecosystem Services. An Assessment by Pandora 3.0 Model for Land Use Decision Making

Landscape connectivity is one of the major issues related to biodiversity conservation and to the delivery of Ecosystem Services (ES). Several models were developed to assess landscape connectivity but lack of data and mismatching scale of analysis often represent insurmountable constraints for the correct evaluation and integration of ecological connectivity into plans and assessment procedures. In this paper a procedure for ES assessment related with Habitat and Bio-Energy Landscape Connectivity (BELC) is proposed. The method is based on the connectivity measure furnished by the last version of PANDORA model and uses a modified formulation of current ES evaluation. The implementation of the model in a real case has highlighted its potential multi-scale workability. The spatial approach of the model aims at furnishing a further tool for the spread of ES and landscape ecology concepts into procedures of assessment (e.g. EIA, SEA) and land use planning at different administrative scales.

Nitrate leakage in a high buffalo breeding district (Caserta province)

Abstract Livestock farming in Campania region is largely concentrate in Volturno Garigliano catchments, with a great excess of animals referred to the agricultural land and consequently serious wastewater management problems. The actual strategy of “planned manurig”, up to date used, could be unsatisfactory because spreading is too much expensive, because the agricultural land of the farm are too little related to the number of animals and because we wish in an enlargement of the buffalo breeding in the region. A surveying on nitrate concentration over 150 wells was carried on in 1999-2000 and a repetition on 40 wells was carried in 2005 to asses the change in nitrate leakage. On the basis of the kriging analysis some conclusions were advanced.

Percezione e identità paesaggistica: un’opportunità di sviluppo per i territori rurali

In questo articolo si propone un percorso metodologico partecipato per la definizione di azioni di sviluppo e tutela di un territorio rurale relazionate ai valori identitari che la popolazione riconosce. Tale approccio bottom-up mira a stimolare il coinvolgimento della stessa popolazione e i decisori politici in una logica win-win tesa a valorizzare le risorse e i capitali naturali, sociali e umani del territorio. Il presente lavoro, attraverso un caso studio specifico, si propone quindi come una proposta metodologica per la salvaguardia dei paesaggi i cui caratteri rurali sono ancora riconosciuti dalla popolazione e la creazione di sistemi socio-ecologici piu resilienti ed adattativi.

Second law of thermodynamics and urban green infrastructure - A knowledge synthesis to address spatial planning strategies

Planning of ecosystem services provided by the Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) is a key issue for urban sustainability. Planning strategies driven by the second law of thermodynamics (SLT) are innovative approaches to sustainability but they are still in seminal phase. In this article, a coupled review of SLT within spatial planning is accomplished looking at the main applications in urban green infrastructure (UGI) planning. The work has supported the definition of a preliminary low-entropy UGI planning strategy (Pelorosso, Gobattoni, & Leone, 2017) but it also aims to contribute to the improvement and/or development of even more solid planning strategies based on SLT. In particular, a systemic review of UGI planning and thermodynamics has been carried out to identify all the occurrences to date in the scientific literature. Secondly, a scoping review of SLT-related concepts of exergy, entropy and urban metabolism is presented in order to investigate the main applications of, and gaps in, urban spatial planning. Results indicate that UGI and ecosystem service planning based on SLT is a relatively new field of research. Moreover, some general indications are derived for the development of spatial UGI planning strategies based on SLT.

Reducing Urban Entropy Employing Nature-Based Solutions: The Case of Urban Storm Water Management

This paper presents the theory behind the concept of low-entropy cities based on the second law of thermodynamics. This concept aims to provide a bridge among different approaches on city sustainability studies, highlighting the links between natural processes and the socio-ecological complexity of urban systems. A practical low-entropy application is then proposed for urban storm water management, examining the planning of nature-based solutions with the support of a modelling approach. A further novelty of this work is the attempt to combine entropy with resilience assessment for urban green infrastructure planning.

Increasing Hydrological Resilience Employing Nature-Based Solutions: A Modelling Approach to Support Spatial Planning

Despite numerous studies on urban resilience, few practical applications of spatial explicit and quantitative resilience indicators in green infrastructure planning are present in literature. This paper presents a methodological framework to assess the hydrological resilience of an urban context employing modelling approach. The proposed resilience index is then used to support the definition of nature-based and engineered solutions aimed to increase resilience to floods as well as to enhance the green infrastructure multi-functionality in a densely populated district of Bari. The paper aims then to contribute to the introduction of resilience assessment and sustainable storm water management in practice urban planning in a context of climate adaptation plans.