Search results for " evolution."
showing 10 items of 9653 documents
Red list of threatened vascular plants in Italy
2021
Italy has a rich natural heritage, which is dangerously under pressure. In recent years, there is an increased awareness of the crucial role of plants in ecosystem functioning and in providing ecosystem services. Consequently, an updated Red List of the Italian vascular flora was compiled in this work, at the request of the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection, with the scientific support of the Italian Botanical Society. The IUCN Red List criteria were applied to 2,430 Italian native vascular plant taxa to assess their current extinction risk and to highlight the major threats affecting the Italian flora. Our results revealed that 54 taxa (2.2% of the assessed taxa) are extinc…
IDPlanT: the Italian database of plant translocation
2021
IDPlanT is the Italian Database of Plant Translocation, an initiative of the Nature Conservation Working Group of the Italian Botanical Society. IDPlanT currently includes 185 plant translocations. The establishment of a national database on plant translocation is a key step forward in data sharing and techniques improvement in this field of plant conservation. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/11263504.2021.1985004.
Taxa a rischio nella flora vascolare della Sicilia
2011
Biogeographia vol. XgO( - 2011 (Pubblicato il 23 dicembre 2011) La Biogeografia de/Ia Sicilia Taxa a rischio nella flora vascolare della Sicilia FRANCESCO MARIA RAIMONDO, GIUSEPPE BAZAN, ANGELO TROIA Dzjzartimento di Biologia Ambientale e Biodiversitd, Universird di Palermo via Arc/aimfi 38, 90123 Palermo (Italy) Key words: threatened species, vascular flora, red list, Sicily. SUMMARY An analysis was made to update the regional red list of endangered vascular plants in Sicily which, with 3,252 taxa (including a noteworthy number of endemic species), is one of the richest areas in the Mediterranean region. Considering previous regional and national red lists, recent taxonomic and floristic lite…
ISEBA – A Framework for IS Evolution Benefit Assessment
2005
Decisions regarding information system evolution strategy, including modernization or replacement, are economically significant. Selection of a proper method for analyzing potential options, acquisition of suitable metrics or follow-up data, and evaluation of the results are major challenges in the evolution strategy decision making. In order to address these challenges, a framework for Information System Evolution Benefit Assessment (ISEBA) was developed. ISEBA provides assistance in the selection of a benefit-evaluation method for the investment situation at hand. It is based on empirical research on industrial decision making and co-operation projects, and examination of existing researc…
Shell evolution above Z,N=50 within Skyrme density functional theory: The impact of deformation and tensor interactions
2017
Background: Recent years have seen considerable effort in associating the shell evolution (SE) for a chain of isotones or isotopes with the underlying nuclear interactions. In particular, it has been fairly well established that the tensor part of the Skyrme interaction is indispensable for understanding certain SE above Z,N = 50 shell closures, as a function of nucleon numbers. Purpose: The purpose of the present work is twofold: (1) to study the effect of deformation due to blocking on the SE above Z,N = 50 shell closures and (2) to examine the optimal parametrizations in the tensor part which gives a proper description of the SE above Z,N = 50 shell closures. Methods: I use the Skyrme-Ha…
(no title)
2017
Biological invasions are recognized as a significant evolutionary factor over short time scales. In particular, their effect is well recorded on the genetic structure of populations, the patterns of phenotypic evolution and the richness of parasite fauna associated to invasive populations. This study aims at quantifying the consequences of a biological invasion according to these three levels (genetical, phenotypical and parasitological) taking as example the Mozambique tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus. This African cichlid is characterized by an unusual conservation status since it is both (i) ranked among the world's worst invasive species due to its global dispersion during the 20th centu…
To correct or to cooperate : Mediational processes and L2 development
2018
The present article argues for a conceptual distinction between corrective feedback and mediation that emphasizes the status of the latter not as an instructional practice but as a defining feature of human psychology (Vygotsky, 1987) that has direct implications for how instruction might be approached. Specifically, Sociocultural Theory (SCT) posits that humans are always and everywhere mediated, as individuals draw upon meanings and ways of thinking they have already internalized as well as those that are available in their immediate environment to regulate their actions. With regard to second language (L2) education, rather than exclusively focusing on learner independent performance or…
Environmental effects on the covariation among pace-of-life traits
2019
Pace‐of‐life syndromes (POLSs) are suites of life‐history, physiological and behavioural traits that arise due to trade‐offs between allocation to current and future reproduction. Traits generally show covariation that can arise from genetic and environmental influences on phenotypes and constrain the independent evolution of traits, resulting in fitness consequences and impacts on population dynamics. The notion that correlations among traits may vary among populations along environmental gradients suggests an important role for the environment in shaping and maintaining POLSs. However, no synthesis has been attempted of the myriad ways in which environmental factors should influence POLSs…
Diversification in evolutionary arenas - assessment and synthesis
2019
Abstract Understanding how and why rates of evolutionary diversification vary is a central issue in evolutionary biology and ecology. The concept of adaptive radiation has attracted much interest, but is metaphorical and verbal in nature, making it difficult to quantitatively compare different evolutionary lineages or geographic regions. In addition, the causes of evolutionary stasis are relatively neglected. Here we review the central concepts in the evolutionary diversification literature and bring these together by proposing a general framework for estimating rates of diversification and quantifying their underlying dynamics, which can be applied across clades and regions and across spat…
Evolutionary advantage conferred by an eukaryote-to-eukaryote gene transfer event in wine yeasts
2015
Although an increasing number of horizontal gene transfers have been reported in eukaryotes, experimental evidence for their adaptive value is lacking. Here, we report the recent transfer of a 158-kb genomic region between Torulaspora microellipsoides and Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine yeasts or closely related strains. This genomic region has undergone several rearrangements in S. cerevisiae strains, including gene loss and gene conversion between two tandemly duplicated FOT genes encoding oligopeptide transporters. We show that FOT genes confer a strong competitive advantage during grape must fermentation by increasing the number and diversity of oligopeptides that yeast can utilize as a s…