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The first aim of this article is to present a comprehensive analysis of industrial heritage ' in situ', highlighting the cultural and technological importance of the Roşia Montană archaeological site. This is an ancient gold-mining area, exploited since the Iron Age, and the site is one of the most representative of Romania in terms of cultural patrimony, with elements of mining heritage, vernacular architecture, archaeological remains from Roman period. The documentation has been drafted for the inclusion of the Roşia Montană archaeological mining site on the UNESCO World Heritage monuments tentative list; this is currently being assessed by the Romanian Ministry of Culture. The second aim of the article is to anticipate the impact of the resumption of extractive activity by a Canadian company. This situation is one of the most controversial topics in Romanian society, as a result of the response to the negative impact of mining, including the pollution of surface waters with cyanide and the flooding of an entire village, along with its valuable cultural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Ecuador and Colombia there are indigenous and peasant communities that still grow three Andean tubers: Ullucus tuberosum, Oxalis tuberosa and Tropaelum tuberosum. This paper, supported by a local ethnoecological analysis of the agricultural knowledge, explains the determinants for preservation in situ in both countries by means of cultural practices and beliefs associated with these species. It shows how existing laws, institutions, migration and land uses directly affect their planting areas and cultivation techniques. However, the persistence of beliefs about its uses stands out due to the prevalent memory of the adult population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent to which conservation is feasible is constrained by budgets and the financial sacrifice stakeholders are willing to bear. Therefore a possible objective for conserving a species is to minimise the cost of achieving that stated aim. For example, if a minimum viable population (MVP) of a species is to be conserved, the size and type of habitats reserved for this could be selected to minimise cost. This requires consideration of the comparative (relative) opportunity costs of reserving different land types for conservation. A general model is developed to demonstrate this and is applied to the case of the orangutan. In the ecological literature, recommendations for reserving different types of land for conservation have been based on comparisons of either the absolute economic returns they generate if converted to commercial use or on differences in the density of a species they support. These approaches are shown to be deficient because they ignore relative trade-offs between species population and economic conversion gains at alternative sites. The proposed model is illustrated for orangutan conservation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In agricultural systems, biodiversity includes diversity within species and among species and provides many benefits for production, resilience and conservation. This article addresses the effects of a strategy of in situ conservation called dynamic management (DM) on population evolution, adaptation and diversity. Two French DM initiatives are considered, the first one corresponding to an experimental context, the second to an on-farm management. Results from a study over 26 years of experimental DM of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) are first presented, including the evolution of agronomic traits and genetic diversity at neutral and fitness related loci. While this experiment greatly increased scientific knowledge of the effects of natural selection on cultivated populations, it also showed that population conservation cannot rely only on a network of experimental stations. In collaboration with a farmers’ network in France, researchers have begun studying the effects of on-farm DM (conservation and selection) on diversity and adaptation. Results from these studies show that on-farm DM is a key element for the long-term conservation and use of agricultural biodiversity. This method of in situ conservation deserves more attention in industrialised countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]