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The catchment area of River das Antas (Irati, Paraná, Brazil) is of high importance both for human consumption and irrigation. Within Irati, this river passes through a rural area and through the city of Irati, crossing both poor and rich neighbourhoods. We selected three study areas downstream (a rural area, poor community, and rich neighbourhood) in which we measured turbidity, the concentration of sediments and pH during rainy days. Our results showed downstream trends of increasing turbidity and concentrations of sediments with decreasing pH. The values of turbidity and of concentration of sediments were significantly different in the rural area, while the pH values were significantly different between the three study areas. These findings highlight the effect of agricultural activities in the generation of sediments and turbidity. The—presumably expected—effects of organic urban waste from the poor neighbourhood were also detected in the pH values. We conclude that efforts should be made to ensure that land planning and training/education programmes on sustainable farming practices are undertaken by the authorities to reduce water pollution and its effects on water bodies during rainfall events, since paving streets is not a feasible option in the short term due to the high costs associated with this measure.

A recently completed project on the Natura 2000 sites of Prespa National Park revealed that the area hosts 49 habitat types according to the EU classification, of which eight have a narrowly restricted distribution in Greece. The priority habitat type "*6260 Pannonic sand steppes" is reported here for the first time for Greece. The new locality represents its southernmost occurrence on the Balkan Peninsula. The aim of this paper therefore is to describe the Greek stands of this habitat type, investigate the factors affecting its occurrence and discuss the associated conservation issues. This is based on a total of 87 relevés sampled for this study and 8 additional relevés from the literature. The relevés were classified by applying TWINSPAN and ordinated using Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA). Six vegetation units could be distinguished. One of these corresponds to the habitat type *6260 and was found exclusively on inland sand dunes. Syntaxonomically, we assigned this unit to the alliance Sileno conicae-Cerastion semidecandri s.l. of the class Koelerio-Corynephoretea. Its occurrence in the study area seems to be determined by climatic factors, as well as by the sandy substrate, while anthropogenic disturbances such as grazing also appear to be beneficial to some degree. Apart from the Koelerio-Corynephoretea, another five grassland classes were distinguished in the national park, namely the Thero-Brachypodietea, Stellarietea mediae, Festuco-Brometea, Daphno-Festucetea and Juncetea trifidi. Key words: Habitats Directive, Koelerio-Corynephoretea, phytosociology, Sileno conicae-Cerastion semidecandri, syntaxonomy. IzvlečekNedavno končani projekt o območjih Natura 2000 v Narodnem parku Prespa je pokazal, da je na območju po EU klasifikaciji 49 habitatnih tipov, od katerih jih je osem z ozko razširjenostjo v Grčiji. Pojavljanje prednostnega habitata "*6260 Panonske stepe na peščenih tleh" v Grčiji objavljamo prvič. Nova lokacija predstavlja najjužnejše pojavljanje na Balkanskem polotoku. Namen članka je opisati sestoje tega habitatnega tipa v Grčiji, preučiti dejavnike, ki vplivajo na njegovo pojavljanje in razpravljati o vprašanjih, povezanih z njegovim ohranjanjem. Raziskava temelji na 87 vegetacijskih popisih in 8 dodatnih popisih iz literature. Popise smo numerično obdelali s pomočjo TWINSPAN klasifikacije in z uporabo korespondenčne analize z odstranjenim trendom (DCA). Ločili smo šest vegetacijskih enot. Ena ustreza habitatnemu tipu in smo jo našli le na celinskih peščenih sipinah. Sintaksonomsko smo jo uvrstili v zvezo Sileno conicae-Cerastion semidecandri s.l. in razred Koelerio-Corynephoretea. Njeno pojavljanje v preučevanem območju je pogojeno s klimatskimi dejavniki in peščeno podlago, antropogene motnje, kot na primer paša, pa do neke mere nanjo vplivajo pozitivno. Poleg travišč razreda Koelerio-Corynephoretea smo v parku našli še pet travišč iz razredov Thero-Brachypodietea, Stellarietea mediae, Festuco-Brometea, Daphno-Festucetea in Juncetea trifidi.

The present study reviews the impact of mechanical interventions, and controlled burning combined with grazing in the Mediterranean-climate regions (MCRs) of the world. Relevant studies were searched for in the Web of Science database. Additional studies were located in the citations of these publications, and in a local database. Finally, 26 studies were included in this review. Since 1978, several other relevant studies have emerged at a rate of 24% in a 5-year time step. The studies have focused on the effects of combined grazing with other management tools on vegetation structure (18 publications), biomass productivity (16 publications), and floristic diversity (12 publications). The results were analyzed for (a) sites and treatments and (b) effects on plant structure, productivity and floristic diversity. Herbaceous forage increased after a reduction in shrub cover. Shrubs tended to recover in the grazed pastures. Vegetation height was reduced in almost in all cases according to available data. Despite its potential recovery, shrub biomass was affected by grazing in most cases. The impact of subsequent grazing was mixed regarding floristic diversity. Grazing is a useful tool for landscape management in MCRs, but the proper way to combine it with other interventions depends on the management goals.