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AbstractEscalating pressures caused by the combined effects of population growth, demographic shifts, economic development and global climate change pose unprecedented threats to sandy beach ecosystems worldwide. Conservation of beaches as functional ecosystems and protection of their unique biodiversity requires management interventions that not only mitigate threats to physical properties of sandy shores, but also include ecological dimensions. Yet, beach management remains overwhelmingly focused on engineering interventions. Here we summarise the key outcomes of several workshops, held during the 2006 Sandy Beach Ecology Symposium in Vigo, Spain, that addressed issues of climate change, beach management and sampling methodology. Because efficient communication between managers and ecologists is critical, we summarise the salient features of sandy beaches as functional ecosystems in 50 ‘key statements’; these provide a succinct synopsis of the main structural and functional characteristics of these highly dynamic systems. Key outcomes of the workshops include a set of recommendations on designs and methods for sampling the benthic infaunal communities of beaches, the identification of the main ecological effects caused by direct and indirect human interventions, the predicted consequence of climate change for beach ecosystems, and priority areas for future research.

The experiment determined the technical and financial efficiency of five storage techniques, specifically designed for SRF poplar chips stored at the farm site in small (20 m3) piles. The treatments on test were: uncovered storage, storage under a temporary roof structure, cover under a semi-permeable fleece sheet, cover under two types of plastic sheet (i.e. white and black). Each treatment was replicated 3 times. Researchers monitored temperature and moisture content trends inside the piles, and determined dry matter losses at the end of the 170 days storage period. In general, piles under plastic cover presented opposite trends compared to all other piles. They acquired moisture rather than losing it, and showed gradual temperature trends instead of a typical peak-and-drop behaviour. Dry matter losses varied from 5.1% to 9.8%, and were highest for the uncovered treatment, and lowest for the plastic cover treatment. Under the conditions of north-western Italy, uncovered storage was a cost-effective option. Protecting the piles with some cover incurred more cost than it saved, resulting in a higher storage cost per unit energy. Although more expensive, sheltering the piles under a simple roof structure offered the benefit of a higher reduction of moisture content, which may turn the chips into a higher quality fuel. Of course, these results were closely related to the Southern European climate, and the specific year of the test. Occasional wetter years may overturn these results. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

We conducted a comparative study of chipping logging residues at the roadside landing or at the yarder pad, the latter inaccessible to heavy road vehicles. Field data was collected from real operations in the Italian mountain, and it was used for building a simulation model that could generalize the results of the study. The model was built with Arena 14 and carefully reflected interaction delays between individual units along the chain. Chipping at the pad with a chipper and two shuttles was the best compromise solution of low supply cost and fuel consumption. At a mean cost of Euro22.7 per fresh tonne, this solution was 10% cheaper than chipping at the landing. Using three chip shuttles did not allow a meaningful reduction of supply cost over a two-shuttle chain, but resulted in a 7% increase of fuel consumption. The distance between the pad and the roadside landing was by far the most important factor in determining supply cost, and accounted for 80% of the variability in the data, for both systems. Under these circumstances, the higher speed and payload of the chip shuttles made it preferable to chip at the pad, provided enough shuttles are available.

Vineyards cover about eight millions of hectares worldwide and their annual pruning generates a large amount of ligno-cellulosic biomass, potentially available for industrial and energy use. Commercial pruning residue harvesters are now available, which may allow cost-effective recovery. The study aimed at determining the quantity and the quality of pruning residues potentially derived from vineyard management. Data were obtained from 17 fields in Northern and Central Italy. Fields were harvested with seven different machines. The experimental design adapted to the necessities of field trials, but was adequate for testing the main sources of variability. Net residue yield varies around 1 oven dry tonne per hectare, with minor differences between grape varietals and harvesting technologies. Losses are still high, and are generally related to ineffective management techniques. Moisture content at harvest varies between 40% and 45%, whereas the higher heating value is slightly lower than that of forest fuels. Comminuted vineyard residues are unsuitable for firing residential boilers, due to the frequent presence of oversize and/or undersize particles. The application of pesticides does not result in any significant contamination with noxious chemicals, because these products are almost completely weathered before residues are recovered. In wine-producing regions, the recovery of vineyard pruning residue may represent a substantial source of industrial bio-fuel. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Currently, the use of a mix of renewable and traditional energy sources is deemed to help in solving increasing energy demands and environmental issues, thus making it particularly important to assess the availability of renewable energy sources.In a heavily forested region, such as the Italian Alps, one of the main renewable energy sources is woody biomass.A reliable evaluation of biomass availability must take into account the local management of forest resources and the ability to reach forest areas, which is related to existing road networks, and the characteristics and morphology of the terrain.We have developed a new methodology to estimate forest biomass availability for energy production in the Alpine area and to support management decisions, combining the morphological features of the mountain landscape with the current capabilities of forest technology. The approach has been implemented in a tool for forest biomass evaluation based on the Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) framework and to refine the current estimates made by the local government.The methodology was tested on the forests of Trentino province (Italy), providing an accurate evaluation of biomass availability, which can be effectively used to identify possible locations for biomass power plants and to suggest new forest management guidelines.The methodology, combining GRASS, PostgreSQL and PostGIS, can be applied to a wide area and can also be executed as a new GRASS module. Being open source it is already available for testing and development. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Three systems for recovering kiwifruit pruning residues were compared for their cost-effectiveness. The systems were a shredder with a built-in dumping container; a shredder with drop-down re-usable bins, of the type normally used for fruit collection, working with a dedicated bin-collection system; and a round baler equipped with an add-on bale storage unit. All systems were light enough to be towed or carried behind a compact vineyard tractor. Harvesting and processing productivity, including all delays, ranged from 1.8 to 3.7 tonnes per scheduled machine hour (SMH). After standardization, calculated recovery cost varied between 8.4 and 28.6 Euros t-1 for the residue delivered at the field edge. The shredder with a built-in dumping container emerged as the best performer, favored because of a faster pick-up and a more efficient single-pass work mode. Overall, this system is simpler, more productive, and offers the lowest processing cost. The annual utilization of all the dedicated recovery implements tested should at least be 50 ha year-1 (approx. 500 t year-1) in order to obtain acceptable cost results. Kiwifruit orchards offer a very high residue yield, about four times higher than vineyards and olive tree groves. This favors cost-effective recovery and makes them a significant potential source of energy biomass, the exploitation of which may also simplify residue management and improve plant health conditions.

The study analyzed the performance of a mobile screening device for upgrading coarse wood chips to residential user standards, by removing oversize particles and fines. The machine was designed for transportation to forest landings, logistic terminals and plant chip yards. Average productivity was 1.9 oven-dry tons (odt) h(-1), corresponding to a screening cost of 28.5€ odt(-1). This figure was lower than the price increase obtained by upgrading industrial chips to residential user standards. Hence, screening offered a profit of 4.7€ odt(-1), or 16% of the original screening cost. The screening process was capable of upgrading chips from industrial to residential specifications, by reducing the incidence of oversize particles below the 1% critical threshold. Screening also allowed a substantial reduction in the content of fines. A similar effect was not verified for crushed wood, which failed to meet the specifications for residential fuel.