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The present study attempted to estimate the socioeconomic impacts on hunting demand caused by a 2006 wildfire on a typical Mediterranean ecosystem in Greece (Kassandra peninsula). A questionnaire administered to a sample of local hunters was used to test the hypothesis that the wildfire and the consequent hunting ban, which was used by the Greek Forest Service as a measure for wildlife protection, posed a significant impact on the demand of hunters for hunting licenses and hunting trips. Using questionnaires as a source of information it was assessed what these impacts meant for the economy, either on local, or national scale, by estimating the income elasticity of demand for hunting licenses in the area of Kassandra and the expenses for hunting excursions before and after wildfire. It was observed that hunters attempted to preserve their activity despite the excessive hunting restrictions. Implications for hunting management and policy decision making were examined.

Climate change poses major threats to biodiversity and ecosystems. National policies on environmental issues address the problems created by these threats and set targets for their mitigation. In Greece, the National Biodiversity Strategy and the National Forest Strategy analyze, among others, the issue of climate change and how it is related to biodiversity conservation and forest management. As biodiversity and forests are interrelated, common strategies may be similar, overlapping, or opposite. In the present research, the issue of climate change is investigated in the two national strategies for finding out if an integration of policies is feasible. Such an integration may result in a cost efficient and smaller set of solutions that should be determined and may have important results in the funding of natural resources policy. Discourse analysis and content analysis with the text mining approach were used to compare the two policy texts. The results are both methodological and applied. Methodologically, text mining is confirmed in the present research to enhance the objectivity of discourse analysis, and it is recommended to complement it. In terms of the way the two policies deal with climate change, it is found that a future integration of a Biodiversity and Forest Strategy in Greece for climate change issues is relevant and may be applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal wetlands provide habitat for large numbers and many species of waterbirds. Man-made salinas are a particular habitat type often found in such wetlands. This study is an initiative to understand the differences in bird communities between a salina (including evaporation ponds and prebasin) and a saltmarsh. Bird counts and nest surveys took place in the wetlands of Angelochori, Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1991, when the salina was inactive, and in 1997, 2000-01 when it was active. Counts in evaporation ponds were richer in species, abundance and nests compared to the prebasin and the saltmarsh. These three wetland types supported different bird communities. Similarities among bird communities depended on the inundation of the salina with seawater. Evaporation ponds in their inactive period presented low similarity with the communities of the prebasin and the saltmarsh ; in the active period this was observed only for the saltmarsh. Species showing clear selection for the evaporation ponds were Charadrius alexandrinus, Calidris alpina, Calidris minuta, Recurvirostra avosetta, Sterna hirundo, Sternula albifrons, Sterna sandvicensis and Haematopus ostralegus ; the prebasin was preferred by Phoenicopterus roseus and Anas platyrhynchos, and the saltmarsh by Anas querquedula, Anas clypeata, Plegadis falcinellus, Tringa totanus, Tringa glareola, Tringa stagnatilis and Himantopus himantopus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]