Environmental Problems of Albania

Qiriazi, Perikli; Sala, Skënder

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-4357-8_4

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…P. leucodermis Antoine) is a sub-endemic species occurring in isolated subalpine locations in the Balkan Peninsula and Southern Italy. The Balkan Peninsula plays a key role as a climatic transition zone between western and eastern Mediterranean and also between the Mediterranean and Central European synoptics [5][6][7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Growth of Bosnian Pine (Pinus hedreichii Christ.) at Tree-Line Locations from Kosovo and its Response to Climate

Bojaxhi¹,

Toromani²

2016

SEEFOR

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Background and purpose: Pinus heldreichii Christ. is a sub-endemic species occurring at tree-line locations in Kosovo and covering an area of 2500 ha. In high elevation sites radial growth is mainly controlled by low temperatures. The main purpose of this study was the analysis of radial growth of P. heldreichii and its response to local climate conditions. Materials and Methods: Research sites comprise of three high elevation stands of P. heldreichii with specific site conditions. Core samples were collected from 98 healthy dominant and co-dominant trees at breast height using increment borer. They were prepared and cross-dated using standard dendrochronological methods, while tree-ring widths were measured to the nearest 0.001 mm using the TSAP software. The ARSTAN program was used to standardize the tree-ring widths and to calculate dendrochronological statistical parameters. The growth-climate relationship was investigated using bootstrapped correlation function analysing the residual chronologies of each sampled site as a dependent variable and the climatic data from May of the (n-1) year up to the October of the n year for the common period 1951-2013 as an independent variable. Results: The length of Bosnian pine chronologies ranged from 175 to 541 years. All chronologies had high values of firstorder autocorrelation indicating that radial growth of P. heldreichii is affected by the climate conditions of the previous growing year. Koritnik chronology had the highest values of the mean sensitivity due to the influence of drought stress. This conclusion is also supported by the result of growth-climate relationship where radial growth is negatively correlated with June temperatures and positively associated with July and August precipitation. We found that radial growth of young trees from Koritnik site is limited by the combined effect of temperatures and summer drought stress. In high elevation sites, temperature is expected to control the growth of P. heldreichii, but this effect is becoming more restrictive with age. The positive correlation between radial growth and winter temperatures suggests that favorable thermal conditions during winter months influence snow melting or soil moisture availability and indirectly affect the radial growth of P. heldreichii at all three sampled sites. Conclusions: The first tree-ring width chronologies from Kosovo are an important step towards a denser tree ring network in the Balkan region. Growth-climate relationships indicated that for P.heldreichii growth does not depend only on one single dominant factor, but also on various combinations of precipitation and temperature resulting in different climatic sensitivity. Our results provide an important basis for additional tree-ring parameters such as maximum latewood density and stable isotope ratios to be processed, improving the level of knowledge about P. heldreichii's response versus site conditions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Growth of Bosnian Pine (Pinus hedreichii Christ.) at Tree-Line Locations from Kosovo and its Response to Climate

Bojaxhi¹,

Toromani²

2016

SEEFOR

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“…Vjosa River is 272 km long, from which roughly 80 km in Greece and 192 km in Albania [12]. It traverses the Southern Albania from East to West.…”

Section: Vjosa River Basen and The Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and Temporal Variations of the Hydrochemical Parameters in the Gravelly Aquifer of the Lower Course of Vjosa River, Albania

Dindi,

Shehu

2023

Hydrology

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Vjosa is the main river of South Albania. Currently, the confined Quaternary gravelly aquifer in its lower course supplies drinking water for roughly 300,000 local residents. In the past years, extracted groundwater quantity has increased, whereas the groundwater quality has been affected by seawater intrusion. This paper aims to assess the groundwater quality and to discuss the dominant hydrochemical processes in the aquifer. To fulfil this goal, the study discusses the groundwater quality’s spatial and temporal variations on the basis of the hydrochemical parameters and ratios for 2010–2021 period, during which data are collected from three monitoring wells, located 6, 14 and 17 km, from the sea. While for 1961–2009 period, hydro-chemical water types and TDS maps are prepared using roughly 100 chemical analyses. The hydro-chemical parameters are discussed related to the factors controlling the groundwater’s chemical constituents and the groundwater extraction. Heavy metals and nitrates’ contents indicate that the aquifer is not affected by anthropogenic pollution. The main conclusion is that the groundwater quality is affected by seawater intrusion due to overexploitation. The study reveals its gaps, mentions its possible usefulness, and underlines the discrepancy between the policy makers and the hydrogeologists approaches concerning groundwater extraction.

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“…Several international projects have also a limited impact, since they are unrealistically complicated and impossible to maintain with limited local funding and human resources (Šašić et al 2015). Furthermore, biodiversity data collected in extemporaneous efforts are often incomplete, with gaps for many taxa and habitats (Qiriazi andSala 2000, Mullaj et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, planning the development of an effective network of protected areas requires a thorough knowledge of local biodiversity. While Albania hosts a rich biodiversity (Qiriazi and Sala 2000, Mullaj et al 2007, only few data exist in the digital domain (e.g. Corine Biotopes (https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/clc-2012-raster), Emerald (http://cdr.eionet.europa.eu/al/coltswjhw/Emerald/envtncdca), Red Lists of Flora and Fauna of Albania (http://www.nationalredlist.org/files/2015/06/ Red-list-of-Albanian-flora-and-fauna-2013-MO-1280-20-11-2013.pdf )) and are often difficult to access, mainly due to scarcity of ICT resources and the absence of long-term vision and strategy in the past.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

BioNNA: the Biodiversity National Network of Albania

Pacifici¹,

Attorre²,

Martellos³

et al. 2018

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Recently, the Albanian Government started the process to join the European Union. This process also involves matching the EU parameters in protecting its biodiversity. In order to support the Albanian authorities, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Directorate for Development Cooperation (DGCS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) joined efforts in the project “Institutional Support to the Albanian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Water Administration for Sustainable Biodiversity Conservation and Use in Protected Areas”. This project aims at identifying priority needs in safeguarding ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. Another project funded by the EU – “Strengthening capacity in National Nature Protection – preparation for Natura 2000 network” – started in 2015 with the aim to raise awareness for assisting local and national Albanian institutions to better exploit the potential of protected areas. One of the main issues encountered during these projects was the need for a national biodiversity data repository. The Biodiversity National Network of Albania (BioNNA) has been created to aggregate occurrence records of plants and animals and aims at becoming the most relevant source of information for biodiversity data as far as Albania is concerned. In this paper, the authors detail structure and data of BioNNA, including the process of data gathering and aggregation, taxonomic coverage, software details and WebGIS development. BioNNA is a milestone on the path towards Albania’s inclusion in the EU and has also a relevant potential social relevance for improving people’s awareness on the importance of biodiversity in the country.

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Environmental Problems of Albania

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

The Growth of Bosnian Pine (Pinus hedreichii Christ.) at Tree-Line Locations from Kosovo and its Response to Climate

The Growth of Bosnian Pine (Pinus hedreichii Christ.) at Tree-Line Locations from Kosovo and its Response to Climate

Spatial and Temporal Variations of the Hydrochemical Parameters in the Gravelly Aquifer of the Lower Course of Vjosa River, Albania

BioNNA: the Biodiversity National Network of Albania

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