Search results for " nature conservation"

Predicting the invasion of the acoustic niche: Potential distribution and call transmission efficiency of a newly introduced frog in Cuba

2021

8 pages; International audience; Leptodactylus fragilis is a recently introduced frog in Cuba, where it may impact local populations of amphibians in different ways. Here, we combined two methods to predict the invasion of the acoustic niche of Cuban amphibians by L. fragilis. We first use species distribution models to predict the spread and establishment of L. fragilis in Cuba. We then performed sound propagation experiments to evaluate the potential invasion of the acoustic niche in predicted suitable areas for the presence of L. fragilis. This species could have a successful establishment, spreading mainly in open areas, where its advertisement calls propagate efficiently, with low atte…

Tracking the invasion of the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii (Girard, 1852) (Decapoda Cambaridae) in Sicily: a “citizen science” approach

2017

Author(s): Faraone, Francesco Paolo; Giacalone, Gabriele; Canale, Domenica Emanuela; D'Angelo, Stefania; Favaccio, Giorgio; Garozzo, Vincenzo; Giancontieri, Giacoma Lidia; Isgro, Carmelo; Melfi, Raffaella; Morello, Bruno; Navarria, Federica; Russo, Giuseppe; Tinnirello, Viviana; Torre, Antonio; Torre, Daniele; Torre, Giancarlo; Urso, Giuseppe; Vinci, Pierluigi; Zizzo, Maria Grazia; Marrone, Federico | Abstract: The first record of the red swamp crayfish in Sicily dates back to 2003 and, since then, the species seemed to be confined to a few localities in western Sicily. A small “citizen science” project carried out from November 2016 onwards led to the creation of the “Sicilian Procambarus …

Record of a 10-year old European Wildcat Felis silvestris silvestris Schreber, 1777 (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) from Mt. Etna, Sicily, Italy

2020

Longevity data for wild felids are lacking in the literature.  Here we report a camera trap recapture of a European Wildcat Felis silvestris at Mt. Etna in Sicily, Italy after nine years.  This individual was clearly identifiable as its tail ended with a white ring rather than the typical black ring and had a unique shape of the dorsal stripe.  At first capture on 26 May 2009, this cat was assessed as an adult, so that the likely minimum age of this individual at the time of recapture on 10 June 2018 must have been be at least 10 years.  This finding represents the oldest known European Wildcat in the wild and provides insight into age structure in wildcat populations.

Spatiotemporal Dispersal and Deposition of Fish Farm Wastes: A Model Study from Central Norway

2017

Abstract A spatially explicit coupled hydrodynamic-mass transport model system was used to simulate dispersal of particulate organic matter from Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) farming in central Norway. Model setups of 32 m horizontal resolution were run for periods of up to 650 days for 3 sites of different oceanographic characteristics: one fjord location, one medium-exposed location influenced by fjord water and one coastal location. Records on feed used for each cage at each location were converted to feces released based on a published mass balance model. The results from the simulations were compared with scores from corresponding mandatory benthic surveys (MOM-B) of the sediment layer…

Multispecies tracking reveals a major seabird hotspot in the North Atlantic

2021

The conservation of migratory marine species, including pelagic seabirds, is challenging because their movements span vast distances frequently beyond national jurisdictions. Here, we aim to identify important aggregations of seabirds in the North Atlantic to inform ongoing regional conservation efforts. Using tracking, phenology, and population data, we mapped the abundance and diversity of 21 seabird species. This revealed a major hotspot associated with a discrete area of the subpolar frontal zone, used annually by 2.9–5 million seabirds from ≥56 colonies in the Atlantic: the first time this magnitude of seabird concentrations has been documented in the high seas. The hotspot is temporal…

Editorial: Changing Plankton Communities: Causes, Effects and Consequences

2019

The Bioactive Compounds and Antioxidant Activity of Food Products of Rhizophora stylosa Fruit (Coffee and Tea Mangrove)

2018

The objective of this study is to investigate the bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of coffee and tea mangrove (locally known in Indonesia) produced from the fruit of Rhizophora stylosa. Furthermore, three raw materials of coffee mangrove were also investigated to clarify their potencies. The crude extracts of five samples were subjected to antioxidant assay using DPPH. The results show that the extract of tea mangrove has the strongest activity; then, it was successfully fractionated using different polarity of solvents and yielded acetone and methanol fractions that had high antioxidant activity. The acetone fraction was purified and gave fractions A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, and A6, b…

The essentials of marine biotechnology

2021

Coastal countries have traditionally relied on the existing marine resources (e.g., fishing, food, transport, recreation, and tourism) as well as tried to support new economic endeavors (ocean energy, desalination for water supply, and seabed mining). Modern societies and lifestyle resulted in an increased demand for dietary diversity, better health and well-being, new biomedicines, natural cosmeceuticals, environmental conservation, and sustainable energy sources. These societal needs stimulated the interest of researchers on the diverse and underexplored marine environments as promising and sustainable sources of biomolecules and biomass, and they are addressed by the emerging field of ma…

Enrichment of Bacterioplankton Able to Utilize One-Carbon and Methylated Compounds in the Coastal Pacific Ocean

2018

International audience; Understanding the temporal variations and succession of bacterial communities involved in the turnover of one-carbon and methylated compounds is necessary to better predict bacterial impacts on the marine carbon cycle and air-sea carbon fluxes. The ability of the local bacterioplankton community to exploit one-carbon and methylated compounds as main source of bioavailable carbon during a productive and less productive period was assessed through enrichment experiments. Surface seawater was amended with methanol and trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), and bacterial abundance, production, oxygen consumption, as well as methanol turnover and growth rates of putative methylot…

The role of parasitism in adaptive radiations – when might parasites promote and when might they constrain ecological speciation?

2012

Research on speciation and adaptive radiation has flourished during the past decades, yet factors underlying initiation of reproductive isolation often remain unknown. Parasites represent important selective agents and have received renewed attention in speciation research. We review the literature on parasite-mediated divergent selection in context of ecological speciation and present empirical evidence for three nonexclusive mechanisms by which parasites might facilitate speciation: reduced viability or fecundity of immigrants and hybrids, assortative mating as a pleiotropic by-product of host adaptation, and ecologically-based sexual selection. We emphasise the lack of research on specia…