Search results for " CONSERVATION"
showing 10 items of 1644 documents
Intra- and Trans-Generational Phenotypic Responses of the Greater Wax Moth, Galleria mellonella, to a Low-Nutrition Larval Diet
2020
We investigated the intra- and trans-generational effects of larval diet on immune function, body size and development time of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). We found that moths reared on a diet diluted with cellulose (a low-nutrition diet) were about one-third smaller, had about one-fifth longer development time and exhibited about 10% stronger encapsulation responses as compared with moths reared on the standard diet. The low-nutrition parental diet prolonged the development time of male offspring that were fed the low-nutrition diet by about 4% and the development time of female offspring that were fed the standard diet by about 1%. However, females t…
Integrating soil survey, land use management and political ecology: A case study in a border area between Peru and Ecuador
2013
In Latin America countries, competition for access to natural resources among different groups has been a major reason for the outburst of violence over the last decades. One of the main aims of the political ecology concerns the understanding of the environmental conditions that can underlies the social conflict among people. Such understanding needs to be based on a detailed investigation of the natural resources of the landscape, mainly the soils. Few years ago the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs financed a soil survey with a humanitarian purpose: the development of a peace plan between Peru and Ecuador by improving the socio-economic conditions of the rural populations living in th…
Allium albanicum (Amaryllidaceae), a new species from Balkans and its relationships with A. meteoricum Heldr. & Hausskn. ex Halácsy
2019
A new species, Alliumalbanicum, is described and illustrated from Albania (Balkan Peninsula). It grows on serpentines or limestone in open rocky stands with a scattered distribution, mainly in mountain locations. Previously, the populations of this geophyte were attributed to A.meteoricum Heldr. & Hausskn. ex Halácsy, described from a few localities of North and Central Greece. These two species indeed show close relationships, chiefly regarding some features of the spathe valves, inflorescence and floral parts. They also share the same diploid chromosome number 2n =16 and similar karyotype, while seed testa micro-sculptures and leaf anatomy reveal remarkable differences. There are …
Economic performance of biogas plants using giant reed silage biomass feedstock
2015
Abstract With regard to energy crops for the production of raw materials to biomass for biogas plants, has developed a study to determine the optimal minimum size of a biogas plant powered by giant reed (Arundo donax L.) and utilizing livestock waste. In particular, all costs items relating to biomass supply, plant installation and transport costs were analyzed, by changing progressively two main variables: the electrical power capacity and the feedstock utilized (in the range from 100 to 999 kW) and the feedstock utilized, by substituting livestock waste with giant reed silage so as to determine the more economically advantageous option for the entrepreneur in proportion to power capacity …
The influence of land use on the genetic structure of populations of the common frog Rana temporaria
1990
In order to find out the influence of land use and topographic distance on the genetic structure of populations of the common frog Rana temporaria L. in the Saar-Palatinate lowlands (Federal Republic of Germany), tissue of larvae was examined by means of horizontal starch gel electrophoresis. A total of 24 loci coding for 14 different enzymes were studied. Genotype frequencies, allele frequencies and mean heterozygosity were calculated, and genetic distances using Nei's formula. Strong deviations from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were found; the degree of homozygosity was higher than expected. Separation by highways reduced average heterozygosity as well as genetic polymorphism of local p…
Characteristics of honeymoon tourism: Chinese tourist approach
2017
En el presente trabajo, enmarcado en el turismo alternativo, se estudia el turismo de luna de miel, la elección del destino turístico y los turistas chinos en el mercado internacional. Se concluye que el turismo de luna de miel es un tipo de turismo alternativo específico con 5 características distintivas: larga duración y planificación, temporada propia, público objetivo joven, necesidades particulares y toma de decisión compartida. La investigación muestra que para los turistas chinos este tipo de turismo presenta sus propias peculiaridades. ABSTRACT Within alternative tourism framework, the aim of this paper is to research tourism honeymoon, to choose the destination and to study Chinese…
Exposing the structure of an Arctic food web
2015
15 pages; International audience; How food webs are structured has major implications for their stability and dynamics. While poorly studied to date, arctic food webs are commonly assumed to be simple in structure, with few links per species. If this is the case, then different parts of the web may be weakly connected to each other, with populations and species united by only a low number of links. We provide the first highly resolved description of trophic link structure for a large part of a high-arctic food web. For this purpose, we apply a combination of recent techniques to describing the links between three predator guilds (insectivorous birds, spiders, and lepidopteran parasitoids) a…
The influence of ants on soil and water losses from an orange orchard in eastern Spain
2008
Herbicide applications have greatly reduced plant cover, and increased soil erosion on a new orange orchard planted on valley slopes in eastern Spain. This has increased the importance of soil fauna, such as ants, in regulating soil erosion processes. Ants increase water infiltration rates by forming soil macropores during nest construction, but new soil brought to the surface by ant activity could increase the sediments available for erosion. Simulated rainfall experiments were conducted on 20 paired plots (20 with ant activity and 20 controls) to study the impact of ants on surface water flow and sediment movement in an intensively managed orange orchard near Valencia, Spain. Simulated ra…
An Inventory Approach to the Assessment of Main Traditional Landscapes in Sicily (Central Mediterranean Basin)
2012
EU policy for the conservation of cultural landscapes is of particular importance for a region such as Sicily (Italy) which is the site of many Mediterranean traditional cultural landscapes as well as new landscapes created by contemporary agriculture. Such variety of landscape, however, is not supported or confirmed by specialised inventories that identify and classify the typical Main Traditional Landscape (MTL). On the basis of these considerations, the objective of the present paper is to draw up a preliminary inventory and present a brief characterisation of MTLs in Sicily, in line with the multidisciplinary experiences and approaches implemented at European and national levels. In def…
Functional Activation of Osteoclast Commitment in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia: A Possible Role for RANK/RANKL Pathway
2017
AbstractSkeletal erosion has been found to represent an independent prognostic indicator in patients with advanced stages of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). Whether this phenomenon also occurs in early CLL phases and its underlying mechanisms have yet to be fully elucidated. In this study, we prospectively enrolled 36 consecutive treatment-naïve patients to analyse skeletal structure and bone marrow distribution using a computational approach to PET/CT images. This evaluation was combined with the analysis of RANK/RANKL loop activation in the leukemic clone, given recent reports on its role in CLL progression. Bone erosion was particularly evident in long bone shafts, progressively inc…