Search results for " Castanea sativa"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
Plant litter decomposition and microbial characteristics in volcanic soils (Mt Etna, Sicily) at different stages of development
2006
Soils at different developmental stages were sampled from eight sites on the slopes of Mt Etna, Sicily (Italy) and characterized for total C, microbial biomass and microbial respiration. The values of these parameters were greatest for the most developed soils, but differences in recent management and site characteristics limited analysis of trends with soil development across the eight sites. The decomposition kinetics of both intact leaf litter and the water-insoluble fraction of leaf litter from three common species on Etna [Etnean broom (Genista aetnensis), European chestnut (Castanea sativa), and Corsican pine (Pinus nigra)] were determined in four of the soils (the two with the smalle…
The use of tree-rings and foliage as an archive of volcanogenic cation deposition.
2007
Tree cores (Pinus nigra ssp. laricio) and leaves (Castanea sativa) from the flanks of Mount Etna, Sicily were analysed by ICP-MS to investigate whether volcanogenic cations within plant material provide an archive of a volcano's temporal and spatial depositional influence. There is significant compositional variability both within and between trees, but no systematic dendrochemical correlation with periods of effusive, explosive or increased degassing activity. Dendrochemistry does not provide a record of persistent but fluctuating volcanic activity. Foliar levels of bioaccumulated cations correspond to modelled plume transport patterns, and map short-term volcanic fumigation. Around the fl…
The indigenous germplasm of chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) in the Etna area: Ecophysiological aspects and morphological traits of the fruits
2006
In Sicily, chestnut ( Castanea sativa Mill.) is present at altitudes that run from 300 to 1600 m asi and, due to the extreme variability of the environmental conditions, a large autochthonous germplasm has been dif- ferentiated. On the island, starting back as far as ancient times, chestnut was an important crop for rural com- munities but, after the Second World War, the tendency of the rural population to move to the capital cities and because of Cryphonectria parasitica attacks, chestnut plantings reduced dramatically. Recently, an investigation has commenced in the Etna area to collect the residual genetic resources of chestnut. Although many of the che- stnut genotypes found on the slo…