Sustainable Landscape Development with Regional Parks - Overcoming Problems of Landscape Multifunctionality in Urban Agglomerations

Urban agglomerations all over Europe are growing at the expense of the surrounding landscapes. Given the enormous growth of built-up land for settlement and transport use within recent decades in Western and Southern Europe and, more recently, comparable trends within Central and Eastern European EU accession states landscape and open space policy in urban regions is an emerging core issue and action field for targeted sustainable spatial development (Office for Publications of the European Communities 1999). For European urban regions strategies and instruments to secure and improve open spaces play an important role because quality of life, the image of the region as well as international competitive capacity are tightly linked with the existence of valuable open space structures. Although Germany has a comparatively well-developed system of landscape protection (e.g. landscape planning, nature protection) and inclusion of landscape issues in the political instruments of town and regional planning, every day 105 ha of open space is transformed into sealed land. Conflicts between ecological and socio-economic aspects tend to obstruct the implementation of traditional landscape policy instruments, which frequently ignore the multifunctionality of urban landscapes (Apolinarski/Gailing/Röhring 2004). For these reasons in some urban regions protagonists involved in landscape policy have recognized that metropolitan open space depends not only on the top-down approach of public landscape protection, but also on active landscape management and development. They have established Regional parks in order to enhance the value of open spaces by means of project-oriented regional management. Improving living conditions and mobilising urban landscape is to be achieved by the collaborative implementation of local projects and by overcoming problems of institutional interplay (Young 2002) between fields such as local recreation, sustainable agriculture, nature protection, protection of cultural heritage or landscape architecture. In the sense of multifunctional landscape management individual open space interests are integrated and the status of open space is strengthened in a holistic approach. Former “residual space” can thus acquire a lobby in formal planning processes. Case studies of the “Berlin-Brandenburger Regionalparks”, the “Regionalpark RheinMain” and the “Emscher Landschaftspark” demonstrate that Regional parks are an innovative form of regional governance in agglomerations and urban surroundings (Gailing 2004). Despite problems like the underestimation of agricultural land use or the dependence on public finances, Regional parks can be identified as efficient tools to strengthen the status of the landscape in urban and regional policies. By bridging the gap between conception and implementation they are complementary to existing formal planning processes.

Sustainable Landscape Development with Regional Parks - Overcoming Problems of Landscape Multifunctionality in Urban Agglomerations

Urban agglomerations all over Europe are growing at the expense of the surrounding landscapes. Given the enormous growth of built-up land for settlement and transport use within recent decades in Western and Southern Europe and, more recently, comparable trends within Central and Eastern European EU accession states landscape and open space policy in urban regions is an emerging core issue and action field for targeted sustainable spatial development (Office for Publications of the European Communities 1999). For European urban regions strategies and instruments to secure and improve open spaces play an important role because quality of life, the image of the region as well as international competitive capacity are tightly linked with the existence of valuable open space structures. Although Germany has a comparatively well-developed system of landscape protection (e.g. landscape planning, nature protection) and inclusion of landscape issues in the political instruments of town and regional planning, every day 105 ha of open space is transformed into sealed land. Conflicts between ecological and socio-economic aspects tend to obstruct the implementation of traditional landscape policy instruments, which frequently ignore the multifunctionality of urban landscapes (Apolinarski/Gailing/Röhring 2004). For these reasons in some urban regions protagonists involved in landscape policy have recognized that metropolitan open space depends not only on the top-down approach of public landscape protection, but also on active landscape management and development. They have established Regional parks in order to enhance the value of open spaces by means of project-oriented regional management. Improving living conditions and mobilising urban landscape is to be achieved by the collaborative implementation of local projects and by overcoming problems of institutional interplay (Young 2002) between fields such as local recreation, sustainable agriculture, nature protection, protection of cultural heritage or landscape architecture. In the sense of multifunctional landscape management individual open space interests are integrated and the status of open space is strengthened in a holistic approach. Former "residual space” can thus acquire a lobby in formal planning processes. Case studies of the "Berlin-Brandenburger Regionalparks”, the "Regionalpark RheinMain” and the "Emscher Landschaftspark” demonstrate that Regional parks are an innovative form of regional governance in agglomerations and urban surroundings (Gailing 2004). Despite problems like the underestimation of agricultural land use or the dependence on public finances, Regional parks can be identified as efficient tools to strengthen the status of the landscape in urban and regional policies. By bridging the gap between conception and implementation they are complementary to existing formal planning processes

Perspectives on Institutional Change â Water Management in Europe

Agricultural Finance, Political Economy,

Strategies to Identify Adaptive Genes in Hybridizing Trees like Oaks and Poplars

Ecologically divergent, hybridizing species such as oaks and poplars provide models to identify genomic regions under selection and adaptive alleles that are transferred between species in hybrid zones. Oaks show patterns of genomic divergence characteristic for early stages of speciation with gene flow, in which large genomic regions are homogenized by interspecific gene flow interspersed by smaller regions (outlier regions) with high interspecific differentiation as result of divergent selection. These outlier regions can be identified using genome scans in hybrid zones and anchored to the Quercus robur genome sequence which will become available in the near future. Combined outlier and association genetic approaches can assess the role of individual genes in outlier genomic regions in adaptive trait variation. In contrast, hybridizing poplar species show a pattern of genomic divergence with large genomic regions of high interspecific differentiation punctuated by smaller regions of low differentiation as the result of interspecific gene flow. Genome scans in multiple hybrid zones of interfertile poplar species and in populations outside the area of sympatry will allow for the identification of genes that are exchanged between species by interspecific gene flow using the Populus trichocarpa genome sequence as a reference. Again association genetic approaches can be used for the characterization of variation in these introgressed genes with adaptive trait variation. In the present paper, the application of genomic approaches to identify genes for adaptive species divergence and reproductive isolation, and introgressed genes between species is discussed

A fast and cost-effective approach to develop and map EST-SSR markers: oak as a case study

Background: Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) are a source of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) that can be used to develop molecular markers for genetic studies. The availability of ESTs for Quercus robur and Quercus petraea provided a unique opportunity to develop microsatellite markers to accelerate research aimed at studying adaptation of these long-lived species to their environment. As a first step toward the construction of a SSR-based linkage map of oak for quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping, we describe the mining and survey of EST-SSRs as well as a fast and cost-effective approach (bin mapping) to assign these markers to an approximate map position. We also compared the level of polymorphism between genomic and EST-derived SSRs and address the transferability of EST-SSRs in Castanea sativa (chestnut). Results: A catalogue of 103,000 Sanger ESTs was assembled into 28,024 unigenes from which 18.6% presented one or more SSR motifs. More than 42% of these SSRs corresponded to trinucleotides. Primer pairs were designed for 748 putative unigenes. Overall 37.7% (283) were found to amplify a single polymorphic locus in a reference fullsib pedigree of Quercus robur. The usefulness of these loci for establishing a genetic map was assessed using a bin mapping approach. Bin maps were constructed for the male and female parental tree for which framework linkage maps based on AFLP markers were available. The bin set consisting of 14 highly informative offspring selected based on the number and position of crossover sites. The female and male maps comprised 44 and 37 bins, with an average bin length of 16.5 cM and 20.99 cM, respectively. A total of 256 EST-SSRs were assigned to bins and their map position was further validated by linkage mapping. EST-SSRs were found to be less polymorphic than genomic SSRs, but their transferability rate to chestnut, a phylogenetically related species to oak, was higher. Conclusion: We have generated a bin map for oak comprising 256 EST-SSRs. This resource constitutes a first step toward the establishment of a gene-based map for this genus that will facilitate the dissection of QTLs affecting complex traits of ecological importance

Experimental evidence for selection against hybrids between two interfertile red oak species

Reproductive isolation between related oak species within one taxonomic section is incomplete. Even though pre- and post-zygotic isolation mechanisms have been described for interfertile oak species, natural hybridization is common in contact zones between related oaks. The apparent restriction of inter-specific hybrids between ecologically divergent species to intermediate environments in contact zones suggests postzygotic isolation via environmental selection against hybrids in parental environments. Overrepresentation of hybrids in seeds as compared to adult trees provides additional indirect evidence for selection against hybrids. Here, we used genetic assignment analyses in progeny obtained from a sympatric stand of Quercus rubra and Quercus ellipsoidalis, two interfertile species with different adaptations to drought, to characterize the number of hybrids and “pure” species in the non-germinated acorns and in seedlings. The occurrence of 43.6 % F1 hybrids and introgressive forms among the non-germinated acorns and their very low frequency in the seedlings (9.3 %) is to our knowledge the first direct evidence for early selection against hybrids in oaks possibly as result of genetic incompatibilities. Additionally, we found a signature of positive selection on EST-SSR PIE200 in Q. rubra which needs further confirmation. These results contribute to our understanding of reproductive isolation and divergence between interfertile oak species with different ecological adaptations

Review Curriculum Evaluation of Physical Education Specialty Under the Perspective of Teacher Training Certification

The purpose of this study was to summarize the main body, content, method and application effects of physical education curriculum evaluation, to understand the current situation of physical education curriculum evaluation in China, and to construct an evaluation index system based on teacher training professional certification. The Chinese and English databases were searched by systematic evaluation, and the retrieval time was from December 31, 2018. The research literature that met the standard were included, and qualitative analysis was conducted by subject analysis method. A total of 100 studies were included, most of which summarized the concept, content and subject of physical education curriculum evaluation in different historical backgrounds. It has the following characteristics: The main body of evaluation is diversified, but it is still dominated by teachers\u27 and administrative departments\u27 top-down evaluation. The content of evaluation is diversified, but the homogenization is serious, and the essential problem of course evaluation is not explained enough yet. Evaluation methods are diversified, but there are few methods combining information technology and cross-boundary evaluation. Based on the three core concepts of teachers\u27 professional certification, the evaluation standard is established. With the student-oriented concept, establish the evaluation subject, content, method and means; Taking output orientation as the concept, integrate various methods or means to improve the quality of teaching and student training; Build a developmental evaluation system and promote the continuous improvement of physical education curriculum system

Analysis of environment-marker associations in American chestnut

American chestnut (Castanea dentata Borkh.) was a dominant tree species in its native range in eastern North America until the accidentally introduced fungus Cryphonectria parasitica (Murr.) Barr, that causes chestnut blight, led to a collapse of the species. Different approaches (e.g., genetic engineering or conventional breeding) are being used to fight against chestnut blight and to reintroduce the species with resistant planting stock. Because of large climatic differences within the distribution area of American chestnut, successful reintroduction of the species requires knowledge and consideration of local adaptation to the prevailing environmental conditions. Previous studies revealed clear patterns of genetic diversity along the northeast-southwest axis of the Appalachian Mountains, but less is known about the distribution of potentially adaptive genetic variation within the distribution area of this species. In this study, we investigated neutral and potentially adaptive genetic variation in nine American chestnut populations collected from sites with different environmental conditions. In total, 272 individuals were genotyped with 24 microsatellite (i.e., simple sequence repeat (SSR)) markers (seven genomic SSRs and 17 EST-SSRs). An FST-outlier analysis revealed five outlier loci. The same loci, as well as five additional ones, were significantly associated with environmental variables of the population sites in an environmental association analysis. Four of these loci are of particular interest, since they were significant in both methods, and they were associated with environmental variation, but not with geographic variation. Hence, these loci might be involved in (temperature-related) adaptive processes in American chestnut. This work aims to help understanding the genetic basis of adaptation in C. dentata, and therefore the selection of suitable provenances for further breeding efforts

Analysis of Environment-Marker Associations in American Chestnut

American chestnut (Castanea dentata Borkh.) was a dominant tree species in its native range in eastern North America until the accidentally introduced fungus Cryphonectria parasitica (Murr.) Barr, that causes chestnut blight, led to a collapse of the species. Different approaches (e.g., genetic engineering or conventional breeding) are being used to fight against chestnut blight and to reintroduce the species with resistant planting stock. Because of large climatic differences within the distribution area of American chestnut, successful reintroduction of the species requires knowledge and consideration of local adaptation to the prevailing environmental conditions. Previous studies revealed clear patterns of genetic diversity along the northeast-southwest axis of the Appalachian Mountains, but less is known about the distribution of potentially adaptive genetic variation within the distribution area of this species. In this study, we investigated neutral and potentially adaptive genetic variation in nine American chestnut populations collected from sites with different environmental conditions. In total, 272 individuals were genotyped with 24 microsatellite (i.e., simple sequence repeat (SSR)) markers (seven genomic SSRs and 17 EST-SSRs). An FST-outlier analysis revealed five outlier loci. The same loci, as well as five additional ones, were significantly associated with environmental variables of the population sites in an environmental association analysis. Four of these loci are of particular interest, since they were significant in both methods, and they were associated with environmental variation, but not with geographic variation. Hence, these loci might be involved in (temperature-related) adaptive processes in American chestnut. This work aims to help understanding the genetic basis of adaptation in C. dentata, and therefore the selection of suitable provenances for further breeding efforts

Patterns of contemporary hybridization inferred from paternity analysis in a four-oak-species forest

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Few studies address the issue of hybridization in a more than two-species context. The species-rich <it>Quercus </it>complex is one of the systems which can offer such an opportunity. To investigate the contemporary pattern of hybridization we sampled and genotyped 320 offspring from a natural mixed forest comprising four species of the European white oak complex: <it>Quercus robur</it>, <it>Q. petraea</it>, <it>Q. pubescens</it>, and <it>Q. frainetto</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 165 offspring were assigned unambiguously to one of the pollen donors within the study plot. The minimum amount of effective pollen originating from outside the plot varied markedly among the seed parents, ranging from 0.18 to 0.87. The majority of the successful matings (64.1%) occurred between conspecific individuals indicating the existence of reproductive barriers between oak species. However, the isolation was not complete since we found strong evidence for both first-generation (8.4%) and later-generation hybrids (27.5%). Only two out of eight seed parents, belonging to <it>Q. petraea </it>and <it>Q. robur</it>, showed a high propensity to hybridize with <it>Q. pubescens </it>and <it>Q. petraea</it>, respectively. Significant structure of the effective pollen pools (<it>Φ</it>_{<it>pt </it>}= 0.069, P = 0.01) was detected in our sample. However, no support was found for the isolation by distance hypothesis. The proportion of hybrids was much higher (79%) in the seed generation when compared to the adult tree generation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>First-generation hybrids were observed only between three out of six possible species combinations. Hybrids between one pair of species preferred to mate with one of their parental species. The observation of first and later-generation hybrids in higher frequency in acorns than in adults might be explained by selection against hybrid genotypes, the history of this uneven-aged forest or past introgression between species.</p