Ecologies, Volume 2, Issue 3 (September 2021) – 4 articles

Point events can be distributed regularly, randomly, or in clusters. A cluster of points is defined by the distance from which any point included in a cluster is farther from any other point outside the cluster. Many solutions and methods are possible to define clustering distance. I present here a simple method, nearest neighbour index clustering (NNIC), which separately identifies local clusters of points using only their neighbourhood relationships based on the nearest neighbour index (NNI). It computes a Delaunay triangulation among all points and calculates the length of each line, selecting the lines shorter than the expected nearest neighbour distance. The points intersecting the selected Delaunay lines are considered to belong to an independent cluster. I verified the performance of the NNIC method with a virtual and a real example. In the virtual example, I joined two sets of random point processes following a Poisson distribution and a Thomas cluster process. In the real example, I used a point process from the distribution of individuals of two species of Iberian lizards in a mountainous area. For both examples, I compared the results with those of the nearest neighbour cleaning (NNC) method. NNIC selected a different number of clustered points and clusters in each random set of point processes and included fewer points in clusters than the NNC method. Full article

Over the past years, an increasing number of initiatives was considered to address emerging global sustainability issues. Sustainability assessment tools were the most commonly applied methodologies towards measuring sustainability performance. There are a number of assessment tools and techniques for sustainable development. This article aims at identifying the various sustainability assessment tools at country level taking into consideration the integration of environmental, economic, and social dimensions. The target of this paper is to compare the various sustainability measurement techniques and their characteristics using evaluation criteria. The outcome of this analysis is used to direct and clarify researchers and practitioners on sustainability assessment at country level, more specifically in developing countries. The focus of the paper rests on the Brundtland Report definition of sustainable development. The work was carried out using a bibliometric analysis approach based on Web of Science platform from the period 2000 to 2020. There was tremendous works which were conducted on sustainability assessment during the last two decades. The comparative analyses show the research gap among the various tools with respect to the criteria they satisfied. The research discussion suggests that a sustainability assessment framework for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) is identified as a future research direction. Full article

A plant functional trait study was conducted to know the existing relationship between important leaf traits namely, specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), and leaf life span (LL) in tropical dry evergreen forest (TDEFs) of Peninsular India. Widely accepted methodologies were employed to record functional traits. The relationships between SLA and LDMC, LDMC and LL, and SLA and LL were measured. Pearson’s coefficient of correlation showed a significant negative relationship between SLA and LDMC, and SLA and LL, whereas a significant positive relationship was prevailed between LDMC and LL. The mean trait values (SLA, LDMC, and LL) of evergreens varied significantly from deciduous species. SLA had a closer relationship with LDMC than LL. Similarly, LL had a closer relationship with SLA than LDMC. Species with evergreen leaf habits dominated forest sites under study. Evergreen species dominate the study area with a high evergreen-deciduous ratio of 5.34:1. The S strategy score of trees indicated a relatively higher biomass allocation to persistent tissues. TDEFs occur in low elevation, semiarid environment, but with the combination of oligotrophic habitat, high temperature and longer dry season these forests were flourishing as a unique evergreen ecosystem in the drier environment. The relationships found between leaf traits were in concurrence with earlier findings. Trees of TDEFs survive on the poor-nutrient habitat with a low SLA, high LDMC, and LL. This study adds baseline data on key leaf traits to plant functional trait database of India. Full article

Environmental art education is gaining importance in schools as arts education begins to acquire a more significant role in environmental education. This emerging field of study is an interdisciplinary endeavor that is centered on the different fields of environmental education and visual art education and provides a means of making students aware of environmental issues through environmental art education. It has been suggested that students get into a relationship with nature prior to the request to conserve the environment in order to be nature connected. This abstract focuses on teaching and learning through the arts, a pedagogical way in which students discuss the challenging aspects of environmental issues. The aim of this study is to make students act like protectors of their environment through an eco-art place-based curriculum. This paper’s pedagogies will provide educators with a framework for developing environmental art education lessons and curricula. This experimental study has been planned to gather data from interviews and observation of students and by making the students participate in nature-related activities. The findings show that students prefer to let go of their fascination with formulating better ecological perspectives. On the positive side, a few students went through some frustration during the program and the activities. Students have given positive feedback on the program in positive terms, such as “fun”, “interesting”, and “cool”, to express their experience gained through the class activities. Full article