Corrigendum to Soil microbial biomass and bacterial diversity in southern European regions vulnerable to desertification [Ecol. Indicat. 145 (2022) 1…

2023

The authors regret the incorrect publication of legend for Table 1 and Table 3 in black/white in the original article. The complete legend for Table 1 and Table 3 with colours, indicating degree of significance, are presented below.

The ancient urban agroforestry systems of the Conca D'Oro (Palermo, Italy) need protection to defend the city

2019

The favorable environmental conditions together with the ancient agronomic practices, e.g. the irrigation systems introduced by the Arabs, have made the plain surrounding Palermo, known as Conca d’Oro, the unique agriculture landscape famous worldwide. Several tree and vegetable species have spread throughout in time but the new crops, instead of replacing the others, were often integrated exploiting the different heights of the tree canopies. The result was the creation of complex agroecosystems characterized by orchards with several layers of trees (as walnut, loquat, citrus) and empty spaces where the farmers cultivated vegetables. The grass fed the animals in the stables while manure wa…

Life Desert Adapt, la sfida ambiziosa contro la desertificazione ambientale.

2018

Nel progetto la costruzione di modelli di sviluppo aziendale che adottano tecniche e misure di adattamento capaci di preparare le aree più a rischio.

The transformation of agricultural systems into agro-forestry systems as a mechanism of adaptation to climate and economic changes: some Sicilian cas…

2021

Many traditional agricultural systems show different limits both in ecological and economic terms. These limits are exacerbated by the increasingly extreme climatic conditions which in the southern regions are manifested essentially in a concentration of rainfall and in increasingly intense dry periods. As part of the LIFE (Desert Adapt) project, some companies involved in the project are modifying their cultivation systems without changing the land use destination. This appears possible by introducing elements of diversification which make the system more resilient as a whole but which guarantees safer economic resources. In particular, in the case of a "classic" agricultural company Calta…

Making smart use of woody alien plants

It is unquestionable that some alien woody plant species are a major issue for biodiversity conservation. However, being alien species generally adapted to warmer conditions than autochthonous/local ones, they could be particularly suited to cope with the new environmental and climatic conditions that are also forecasted in the coming decades in Sicily. This poses an issue that is not easy to deal with, whether trying to use these species for the advantages they could bring, for instance in the new reforestation activities, while avoiding them becoming a serious problem for biodiversity conservation in natural and seminatural areas. Here, we present three study cases of non-native tree spec…