Search results for " Mediterranean basin."

Climate Change in the Mediterranean Basin (Part II): A Review of Challenges and Uncertainties in Climate Change Modeling and Impact Analyses

2023

AbstractThe Mediterranean basin is particularly prone to climate change and vulnerable to its impacts. One of the most relevant consequences of climate change, especially for the southern Mediterranean regions, is certainly water scarcity as result of a reduction of surface runoff and groundwater levels. Despite the progress achieved in recent years in the field of climate change and its impact on water resources, results and outcomes should be treated with due caution since any future climate projection and derived implications are inevitably affected by a certain degree of uncertainty arising from each different stage of the entire modeling chain. This work offers a comprehensive overview…

Conservation genetics of an endemic from the Mediterranean Basin: high genetic differentiation but no genetic diversity loss from the last population…

2013

The Mediterranean Basin is a biodiversity hotspot, housing > 11.000 narrowly endemic plant species, many of which are declining due to mass tourism and agricultural intensification. To investigate the genetic resource impacts of ongoing habitat loss and degradation, we characterized the genetic variation in the last known populations of Leopoldia gussonei, a self-compatible endangered Sicilian Grape Hyacinth numbering less than 3,000 remaining individuals, using AFLP. Results demonstrated significant genome-wide genetic differentiation among all extant populations (I broken vertical bar(ST) = 0.05-0.56), and genetic clustering according to geographic location. Gene diversity was fairly c…

‘Back to the Future’—Oak wood-pasture for wildfire prevention in the Mediterranean

2021

In the summer of 2021, enormous wildfires in the Mediterranean eliminated huge areas of mainly coniferous forest, destroyed adjacent settlements and claimed the lives of many people. The fires indicate effects of climate change and expose consequences of rural demographic changes, deficits in regional and touristic development planning and shortcomings in forest policy. This forum article highlights the dimensions of the problem, calls for a paradigm shift and shows solutions. Land abandonment, woody plant encroachment and non-reflective afforestation are leading to increasing amounts of combustible biomass. To prevent disastrous fires in future, fundamental changes in tree species composit…

The Burdigalian GSSP: the missing tile to complete the Neogene interval of the Geological Time Scale

2014

Human Y-chromosome variation in the Western Mediterranean area: Implications for the peopling of the region

2001

Y-chromosome variation was analyzed in a sample of 1127 males from the Western Mediterranean area by surveying 16 biallelic and 4 multiallelic sites. Some populations from Northeastern Europe and the Middle East were also studied for comparison. All Y-chromosome haplotypes were included in a parsimonious genealogic tree consisting of 17 haplogroups, several of which displayed distinct geographic specificities. One of the haplogroups, HG9.2, has some features that are compatible with a spread into Europe from the Near East during the Neolithic period. However, the current distribution of this haplogroup would suggest that the Neolithic gene pool had a major impact in the eastern and central …

Relationship of Weather Types on the Seasonal and Spatial Variability of Rainfall, Runoff, and Sediment Yield in the Western Mediterranean Basin

2020

Producción Científica

Can the Caper (Capparis spinosa L.) Still Be Considered a Difficult-to-Propagate Crop?

2021

As a perennial xerophytic shrub, characterized by plesiomorphic features, the caper (Capparis spinosa L.) is naturally spread throughout the Mediterranean basin and occupies an important ecological role, as well as an economic one, in traditional and specialized systems for commercial production. This species, in spite of its wide diffusion, is currently considered at risk of genetic erosion, mainly due to overgrazing and overharvesting for domestic uses and for trade. This situation is made more serious because of the lack of efficient propagation techniques, determining the caper as a “difficult-to-propagate species”. In this review, we report the main available sexual and vegetative prop…

Primo caso di naturalizzazione di Pinus canariensis C. Sm.(Pinaceae) per la Sicilia e prima stazione di Acacia cyclops G. Don (Fabaceae) sull’isola m…

2013

Nella Riserva Naturale Orientata “Foce del Fiume Platani” (Sicilia meridionale) sono stati registrati il primo caso di naturalizzazione di Pinus canariensis (Pinaceae) per il territorio regionale ed il primo di Acacia cyclops (Fabaceae) per l’isola maggiore. Vengono inoltre fornite informazioni supplementari sulla demografia e sulla distribuzione di entrambe le specie nei rimboschimenti dell’area protetta, nonché una previsione del loro grado di invasività alla luce dei dati scientifici già pubblicati. First case of naturalization of Pinus canariensis in Sicily and first population of Acacia cyclops on the main island. Both cases of naturalization have been recorded within the Nature Reserv…

GREUTER HERBARIUM AND LIBRARY TRANSFERRED TO PALERMO (SICILY)

2009

An updated overview of invasive Caulerpa taxa in Sicily and circum- Sicilian Islands, strategic zones within the NW Mediterranean Sea

2017

The spread dynamics of invasive Caulerpa taxa (i.e. Caulerpa cylindracea, C. taxifolia var. taxi- folia and C. taxifolia var. distichophylla) in Sicily and circum-Sicilian Islands, based on relevant publications, grey literature, unpublished data and in situ observations during the last 23 years, is presented here and discussed. Their known distribution is mapped. New records are also reported. Transport-stowaway is considered the most plausible vector of introduction of invasive Caulerpa in the area. The three invasive taxa showed different spread dynamics. Caulerpa cylindracea and C. taxifolia var. distichophylla, behaved as highly successful and fast-spreading taxa, i.e. as true invasive…