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One of the most challenging issues in Mediterranean ecosystems to date has been to understand the emergence of discontinuous changes or catastrophic shifts. In the era of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which encompass ideas around Land Degradation Neutrality, advancing this understanding has become even more critical and urgent. The aim of this paper is to synthesise insights into the drivers, processes and management of catastrophic shifts to highlight ways forward for the management of Mediterranean ecosystems. We use a multidisciplinary approach that extends beyond the typical single site, single scale, single approach studies in the current literature. We link applied and theoretical ecology at multiple scales with analyses and modelling of human-environment-climate relations and stakeholder engagement in six field sites in Mediterranean ecosystems to address three key questions: i) How do major degradation drivers affect ecosystem functioning and services in Mediterranean ecosystems? ii) What processes happen in the soil and vegetation during a catastrophic shift? iii) How can management of vulnerable ecosystems be optimized using these findings? Drawing together the findings from the use of different approaches allows us to address the whole pipeline of changes from drivers through to action. We highlight ways to assess ecosystem vulnerability that can help to prevent ecosystem shifts to undesirable states; identify cost-effective management measures that align with the vision and plans of land users; and evaluate the timing of these measures to enable optimization of their application before thresholds are reached. Such a multidisciplinary approach enables improved identification of early warning signals for discontinuous changes informing more timely and cost-effective management, allowing anticipation of, adaptation to, or even prevention of, undesirable catastrophic ecosystem shifts.

Slurry lakes are increasing in Cyprus due to the increase of livestock farming especially those intended for meat production such as Pig farming. It is well known that Pig Slurry lakes have a huge environmental impact in the atmosphere and the ecosystem by releasing greenhouse gas and polluting nearby habitats with human and animal pathogens, heavy metals, biogenic elements and pharmaceuticals, respectively. Therefore, the detection, record and mapping of slurry lakes is essential for the environmental authorities as also the monitoring of fullness and / or the leaking of each lake especially during the raining season. Through this study we were able to detect pig slurry lakes using Sentinel-2 images processed into the Sentinel Application Platform (Snap). Slurry lake positions and areas similar to slurry lakes, such as Dams and Mine lakes, were detected, pined and analyzed using satellite and ground spectral signatures. Data revealed the ability to detect and distinguish slurry lakes using the vegetation index TSAVI. Due to their small size, irrigation lakes where not detectable as the images from Landsat and Sentinel have 30- and 20-meter spatial resolution. Furthermore, the use of Sentinel Hub EO browser allowed the instant monitoring of slurry lakes but also the elevation level of the slurry lakes during time, using time-lapse images and comparison of images, in combination with the false color Agriculture index. Our observation can be used by the state authorities for the real-time remote sensing monitoring of Slurry lakes. Completed

The phylum of Nematoda is a species‐rich taxonomic group in abundant numbers across a wide range of habitats, including plant and animal pathogens, as well as good environmental health indicators. Morphological observations are of low throughput and more importantly have problems with their discriminatory capacity, particularly at the species level. For these reasons, diagnostic tools are of paramount importance for all fields of human, animal and plant nematology as well as for environmental studies in water and soil. Accurate, fast and low‐cost methodologies are required in order to identify and quantify the population of nematodes in samples from various sources. Scientists in basic research as well as in routine application fields need to have tools for resolving these identification obstacles. Their decisions can be human‐, animal‐ or plant‐health related, while many times legally committing. As a result, applicable and accredited methods are required and should be readily available in a common routine lab or in the field of battle or at border control agencies. This chapter aims to inform with the most current information on the available tools for nematode diagnostics, their positives and negatives and hints about the trends in the field and suggestions for those who would like to pursue further this field of biotechnology as researchers or simple users.

In Mediterranean forests and rangelands, the supply of important ecosystem services can decrease or cease as a consequence of disturbances and climatic oscillations. Land managers can sometimes prevent or mitigate the negative effects of disturbances through appropriate land management choices. In this study, we assess the contribution of land management practices (LMPs) to the resilience of eight Mediterranean forests and rangelands to multiple disturbances. The study uses a transdisciplinary approach, involving scientists, land managers, and local administrators. Data about disturbances, ecosystem services, the role of LMPs, and the resistance of LMPs to disturbances are combined using a semiquantitative index and analysed to evaluate how the LMPs implemented are suited to the disturbances affecting each study site. Our results indicate that the practices analysed are particularly effective in improving resilience of ecosystems against wildfires and torrential rainfalls. However, droughts are more difficult to address, and the examined practices were heavily affected by their occurrence. Tree planting appears to be highly affected by disturbances. Practices that selectively reduce the amount of vegetation appear to be beneficial in fostering recovery of ecosystems. Our assessment also suggests that it is particularly difficult to increase resilience to droughts and fires simultaneously. Practices that aimed to mitigate the impact of land use did not always prove valuable in terms of resilience. Finally, study sites that included efforts to address disturbances in their management objectives also displayed practices making the biggest contribution to resilience.

One of the most challenging issues in Mediterranean ecosystems to date has been to understand the emergence of discontinuous changes or catastrophic shifts. In the era of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which encompass ideas around Land Degradation Neutrality, advancing this understanding has become even more critical and urgent. The aim of this paper is to synthesize insights into the drivers, processes and management of catastrophic shifts to highlight ways forward for the management of Mediterranean ecosystems. We use a multidisciplinary approach that extends beyond the typical single site, single scale, single approach studies in the current literature. We link applied and theoretical ecology at multiple scales with analyses and modeling of human–environment–climate relations and stakeholder engagement in six field sites in Mediterranean ecosystems to address three key questions: i) How do major degradation drivers affect ecosystem functioning and services in Mediterranean ecosystems? ii) What processes happen in the soil and vegetation during a catastrophic shift? iii) How can management of vulnerable ecosystems be optimized using these findings? Drawing together the findings from the use of different approaches allows us to address the whole pipeline of changes from drivers through to action. We highlight ways to assess ecosystem vulnerability that can help to prevent ecosystem shifts to undesirable states; identify cost-effective management measures that align with the vision and plans of land users; and evaluate the timing of these measures to enable optimization of their application before thresholds are reached. Such a multidisciplinary approach enables improved identification of early warning signals for discontinuous changes informing more timely and cost-effective management, allowing anticipation of, adaptation to, or even prevention of, undesirable catastrophic ecosystem shifts.