Managing sustainable farmed landscape through 'alternative' food networks: a case study from Italy

This paper focuses on a case study of an 'alternative' food network based in the Abruzzo National Park, Italy, to explore how ideas of sustainable farmland management can be expressed through broader understandings of developing networks of care concerned with local economies and societies, high-quality specialist food products, particular 'traditional' farming practices and livestock breeds, as well as the ecology of a farmed landscape. The scheme allows customers, internationally as well as in Italy, to 'adopt' a milking sheep on a large mountain farm. In return, adopters are sent food products from the farm. The adoption scheme is inter-twined with an agri-tourism project which provides accommodation, runs a restaurant and engages in educational activities. The scheme is the result of the individual initiative of its founder, and is associated with a strongly expressed ethical position concerning the value of sustaining valued local rural landscapes and lifestyles, and the importance of 'reconnecting' urban dwellers with rural areas, farming and 'quality' food production. Yet the localness of the scheme is sustained through wider national and international networks: volunteer and paid workers are drawn from several European countries, funding has been acquired from the EU LEADER programme, and internet and transport technologies are essential in connecting with and supplying an international customer base. The broader economy of care instanced in this case study draws attention to a need to develop strategies for sustainable farmland management constructed around wider programmes of social, economic and cultural, as well as environmental, concern.     

NEW 10BE COSMOGENIC AGES FROM THE VIMMERBY MORAINE CONFIRM THE TIMING OF SCANDINAVIAN ICE SHEET DEGLACIATION IN SOUTHERN SWEDEN

The overall pattern of deglaciation of the southern part of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet has been considered established, although details of the chronology and ice sheet dynamics are less well known. Even less is known for the south Swedish Upland because the area was deglaciated mostly by stagnation. Within this area lies the conspicuous Vimmerby moraine, for which we have used the terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (¹⁰Be) exposure dating technique to derive the exposure age of six glacially transported boulders. The six ¹⁰Be cosmogenic ages are internally consistent, ranging from 14.9 ± 1.5 to 12.4 ± 1.3 ka with a mean of 13.6 ±0.9 ka. Adjusting for the effects of surface erosion, snow burial and glacio-isostatic rebound causes the mean age to increase only by c. 6% to c. 14.4± 0.9 ka. The ¹⁰Be derived age for the Vimmerby moraine is in agreement with previous estimates forthe timing of deglaciation based on radiocarbon dating and varve chronology. This result shows promise for further terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide exposure studies in southern Sweden.     

Late Holocene in central Brazil: vegetation changes and humidity variability in a tropical wetland

The Pandeiros wetland is a high biodiversity ecosystem located within a semiarid region of the Cerrado biome, a neotropical savanna. This large wetland is of key importance for ecological and hydrological balance in central Brazil and for the conservation of the Cerrado fauna and flora. In this study, we present the first palaeoecological investigation of the Pandeiros wetland based on pollen analysis of a palm swamp sediment core encompassing the Late Holocene. Our results show that the wetland was subject to multicentennial-scale oscillations in water availability during the Late Holocene; in particular, higher local humidity was documented between 4100 and 3100 cal a bp and from 2600 to 1000 cal a bp , and two events of drier local conditions occurred at approximately 2900 and 900 cal a bp. Our results also indicate a general decreasing trend in arboreal density in the Pandeiros River Basin from the beginning of the Late Holocene to the present, with the greatest expansion of dry forest occurring between 3600 and 3100 cal a bp.     

Pilgrimstad revisited – a multi‐proxy reconstruction of Early/Middle Weichselian climate and environment at a key site in central Sweden

Wohlfarth, B., Alexanderson, H., Ampel, L., Bennike, O., Engels, S., Johnsen, T., Lundqvist, J. & Reimer, P. 2010: Pilgrimstad revisited – a multi‐proxy reconstruction of Early/Middle Weichselian climate and environment at a key site in central Sweden. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00192.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. The site Pilgrimstad in central Sweden has often been cited as a key locality for discussions of ice‐free/ice‐covered intervals during the Early and Middle Weichselian. Multi‐proxy investigations of a recently excavated section at Pilgrimstad now provide a revised picture of the climatic and environmental development between ～80 and 36 ka ago. The combination of sedimentology, geochemistry, OSL and ¹⁴C dating, and macrofossil, siliceous microfossil and chironomid analyses shows: (i) a lower succession of glaciofluvial/fluvial, lacustrine and glaciolacustrine sediments; (ii) an upper lacustrine sediment sequence; and (iii) Last Glacial Maximum till cover. Microfossils in the upper lacustrine sediments are initially characteristic for oligo‐ to mesotrophic lakes, and macrofossils indicate arctic/sub‐arctic environments and mean July temperatures >8 °C. These conditions were, however, followed by a return to a low‐nutrient lake and a cold and dry climate. The sequence contains several hiatuses, as shown by the often sharp contacts between individual units, which suggests that ice‐free intervals alternated with possible ice advances during certain parts of the Early and Middle Weichselian.     

Re‐dating the Pilgrimstad Interstadial with OSL: a warmer climate and a smaller ice sheet during the Swedish Middle Weichselian (MIS 3)?

Alexanderson, H., Johnsen, T. & Murray, A. S. 2009: Re‐dating the Pilgrimstad Interstadial with OSL: a warmer climate and a smaller ice sheet during the Swedish Middle Weichselian (MIS 3)? Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2009.00130.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Pilgrimstad in central Sweden is an important locality for reconstructing environmental changes during the last glacial period (the Weichselian). Its central location has implications for the Scandinavian Ice Sheet as a whole. The site has been assigned an Early Weichselian age (marine isotope stage (MIS) 5 a/c; >74 ka), based on pollen stratigraphic correlations with type sections in continental Europe, but the few absolute dating attempts so far have given uncertain results. We re‐excavated the site and collected 10 samples for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating from mineral‐ and organic‐rich sediments within the new Pilgrimstad section. Single aliquots of quartz were analysed using a post‐IR blue single aliquot regenerative‐dose (SAR) protocol. Dose recovery tests were satisfactory and OSL ages are internally consistent. All, except one from an underlying unit that is older, lie in the range 52–36 ka, which places the interstadial sediments in the Middle Weichselian (MIS 3); this is compatible with existing radiocarbon ages, including two measured with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The mean of the OSL ages is 44±6 ka (n=9). The OSL ages cannot be assigned to the Early Weichselian for all reasonable adjustments to water content estimates and other parameters. The new ages suggest that climate was relatively mild and that the Scandinavian Ice Sheet was absent or restricted to the mountains for at least parts of MIS 3. These results are supported by other recent studies completed in Fennoscandia.     

Modelling spatially and temporally distributed phenomena: new methods and tools for GRASS GIS

Abstract

The concept of GRASS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System) as an open system has created a favourable environment for integration of process based modelling and GIS. To support this integration a new generation of tools is being developed in the following areas: (a) interpolation from multidimensional scattered point data, (b) analysis of surfaces and hypersurfaces, (c) modelling of spatial processes and, (d) 3D dynamic visualization. Examples of two applications are given-spatial and temporal modelling of erosion and deposition, and multivariate interpolation and visualization of nitrogen concentrations in the Chesapeake Bay.     

Using TOPMODEL towards identifying and modelling the hydrological patterns within a headwater,humid, tropical catchment

Increasing pressure on the tropical environment requires a more thorough understanding of hydrological processes as part of reconciling the conflicting demands of economic development vis-à-vis sustainable land management. Using TOPMODEL, a physically based semi-distributed topohydrological model, we test its validity in modelling the stream flow dynamics (hydrograph) in a 1 ha tropical rainforest catchment in French Guiana. Another objective is through field validation of TOPMODEL to ascertain possible runoff generation mechanisms. The field validation of the temporal and spatial hydrodynamics across a rainfall–runoff event reveals that TOPMODEL may be suited for applications to this particular tropical rainforest environment; in fact, this is possibly the first successful application of such a model within the humid tropics. The main reasons why the model was successful are the presumed low hydraulic conductivities of the subsoil, coupled with the absence of an additional deep groundwater body, the contribution from which has caused difficulties in application of topographically, ‘physically’ based runoff models elsewhere in the humid tropics. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MIS 3 marine and lacustrine sediments at Kriegers Flak,southwestern Baltic Sea

Anjar, J., Larsen, N. K., Björck, S., Adrielsson, L. & Filipsson, H. L. 2010: MIS 3 marine and lacustrine sediments at Kriegers Flak, southwestern Baltic Sea. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00139.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Sediment cores from the Kriegers Flak area in the southwestern Baltic Sea show a distinct lithological succession, starting with a lower diamict that is overlain by a c. 10 m thick clay unit that contains peat, gyttja and other organic remains. On top follows an upper diamict that is inter‐layered with sorted sediments and overlain by an upward‐coarsening sequence with molluscs. In this paper we focus on the clay unit, which has been subdivided into three subunits: (A) lower clay with benthic foraminifera and with diamict beds in the lower part; (B) thin beds of gyttja and peat, which have been radiocarbon‐dated to 31–35 ¹⁴C kyr BP (c. 36–41 cal. kyr BP); and (C) upper clay unit. Based on the preliminary results we suggest the following depositional model: fine‐grained sediments interbedded with diamict in the lower part (subunit A) were deposited in a brackish basin during a retreat of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet, probably during the Middle Weichselian. Around 40 kyr BP the area turned into a wetland with small ponds (subunit B). A transgression, possibly caused by the damming of the Baltic Basin during the Kattegat advance at 29 kyr BP, led to the deposition of massive clay (subunit C). The data presented here provide new information about the paleoenvironmental changes occurring in the Baltic Basin following the Middle Weichselian glaciation.     

Late Pleistocene glacial history of Jameson Land, central East Greenland, derived from cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al exposure dating

Previous work has presented contrasting views of the last glaciation on Jameson Land, central East Greenland, and still there is debate about whether the area was: (i) ice-free, (ii) covered with a local non-erosive ice cap(s), or (iii) overridden by the Greenland Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Here, we use cosmogenic exposure ages from erratics to reconcile these contrasting views. A total of 43 erratics resting on weathered sandstone and on sediment-covered surfaces were sampled from four areas on interior Jameson Land; they give ¹⁰Be ages between 10.9 and 269.1 kyr. Eight erratics on weathered sandstone and till-covered surfaces cluster around ∼70 kyr, whereas ¹⁰Be ages from erratics on glaciofluvial landforms are substantially younger and range between 10.9 and 47.2 kyr. Deflation is thought to be an important process on the sediment-covered surfaces and the youngest exposure ages are suggested to result from exhumation. The older (>70 kyr) samples have discordant ²⁶Al and ¹⁰Be data and are interpreted to have been deposited by the Greenland Ice Sheet several glacial cycles ago. The younger exposure ages (≤70 kyr) are interpreted to represent deposition by the ice sheet during the Late Saalian and by an advance from the local Liverpool Land ice cap in the Early Weichselian. The exposure ages younger than Saalian are explained by periods of shielding by non-erosive ice during the Weichselian glaciation. Our work supports previous studies in that the Saalian Ice Sheet advance was the last to deposit thick sediment sequences and western erratics on interior Jameson Land. However, instead of Jameson Land being ice-free throughout the Weichselian, we document that local ice with limited erosion potential covered and shielded large areas for substantial periods of the last glacial cycle.     

The Appinite-Migmatite Complex of Sanabria, NW Iberian Massif, Spain

The Sanabria appinitic rocks and host migmatites form an unusual,non-peri-batholithic complex in which all the typical membersof the appinite suite are present. It differs from most appiniticcomplexes in the deeper level of emplacement and the close temporaland spatial association with migmatites. Consequently, manyin situ relationships that resulted from the invasion of maficmagma into a crustal anatectic zone are extremely well preserved.The complex shows unequivocal relations between members of theappinitic suite and between these and migmatites derived byanatexis of a gneissic formation (Ollo de Sapo gneiss). Theserelations point to derivation of monzodiorites and biotite dioritesby hydrous basalt fractionation combined with fluid-assistedmelting of the crustal rocks surrounding the appinitic intrusions.This hydrous basic magma may be derived from an enriched regionof the mantle associated with subduction. Petrogenetic modelshave been tested using a combination of field relations andgeochemical data. Despite the complexity of the processes involved,it is concluded that water played an important role in the petrogenesisof the intermediate and mafic magmas. Reaction between monzodioritemelts and the host migmatites was responsible for the generationof a range of intermediate rocks within the complex. The needfor water to facilitate magma generation in both the mantleand the crust suggests that melting is linked with subduction.This interpretation has important implications because appiniticmagmatism may be considered as indicative of subduction processesinvolved not only in the generation of the mafic end-membersof the suite, but also in the generation of batholiths withwhich the appinitic rocks are spatially and temporally associated. KEY WORDS: appinite; monzodiorite; migmatite; Variscan orogen; Iberian massif