Search results for "0106 biological sciences"
showing 10 items of 4818 documents
Limited potential for bird migration to disperse plants to cooler latitudes
2021
Climate change is forcing the redistribution of life on Earth at an unprecedented velocity1,2. Migratory birds are thought to help plants to track climate change through long-distance seed dispersal3,4. However, seeds may be consistently dispersed towards cooler or warmer latitudes depending on whether the fruiting period of a plant species coincides with northward or southward migrations. Here we assess the potential of plant communities to keep pace with climate change through long-distance seed dispersal by migratory birds. To do so, we combine phenological and migration information with data on 949 seed-dispersal interactions between 46 bird and 81 plant species from 13 woodland communi…
Impacts of marine aquaculture at large spatial scales: evidences from n and p catchment loading and phytoplankton biomass
2011
International audience; While several studies point at off-shore aquaculture as a possible source of impacts on the local marine environment, very few have analysed its effects at large scales such as at the bay, gulf or basin levels. Similar analyses are hampered by the multiple sources of disturbance that may concomitantly affect a given area. The present paper addresses these issues taking the Gulf of Castellammare (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea) as an example. Nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) loads were calculated for the period 1970-2007, and compared to chlorophyll-a concentration as measured inside and outside the Gulf over the same period. Results indicate that N and P catchment loading h…
Modeling Macroalgal Forest Distribution at Mediterranean Scale: Present Status, Drivers of Changes and Insights for Conservation and Management
2020
Macroalgal forests are one of the most productive and valuable marine ecosystems, but yet strongly exposed to fragmentation and loss. Detailed large-scale information on their distribution is largely lacking, hindering conservation initiatives. In this study, a systematic effort to combine spatial data on Cystoseira C. Agardh canopies (Fucales, Phaeophyta) was carried out to develop a Habitat Suitability Model (HSM) at Mediterranean scale, providing critical tools to improve site prioritization for their management, restoration and protection. A georeferenced database on the occurrence of 20 Cystoseira species was produced collecting all the available information from published and grey lit…
Integrating natural capital assessment and marine spatial planning: A case study in the Mediterranean sea
2017
Abstract Marine and coastal ecosystems are among the most productive environments in the world and their stocks of natural capital offer a bundle of vital ecosystem services. Anthropogenic pressure seriously threatens health and long-term sustainability of marine environments. For these reasons, integrated approaches capable of combining ecological and socio-economic aspects are needed to achieve nature conservation and sustainability targets. In this study, the value of natural capital of the Egadi Islands Marine Protected Area (EI-MPA) was assessed through a biophysical and trophodynamic environmental accounting model. The emergy value of both autotrophic and heterotrophic natural capital…
Genetic structure in the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica: disentangling past vicariance events from contemporary patterns of gene flow
2010
The Mediterranean Sea is a two-basin system, with the boundary zone restricted to the Strait of Sicily and the narrow Strait of Messina. Two main population groups are recognized in the Mediterranean endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica, corresponding to the Western and the Eastern basins. To address the nature of the East-West cleavage in P. oceanica, the main aims of this study were: (i) to define the genetic structure within the potential contact zone (i.e. the Strait of Sicily) and clarify the extent of gene flow between the two population groups, and (ii) to investigate the role of present water circulation patterns vs. past evolutionary events on the observed genetic pattern. To achiev…
Baseline assessment of heavy metals content and trophic position of the invasive blue swimming crab Portunus segnis (Forskål, 1775) in the Gulf of Ga…
2018
This study provides a baseline assessment of cadmium, copper, iron, manganese, lead, and zinc concentrations in muscles, gills, and exoskeleton of the Lessepsian blue swimming crab Portunus segnis captured in the Gulf of Gabès (Southern Mediterranean Sea, Tunisia) in November 2015. Furthermore, the species’ trophic position is estimated using CN stable isotope analysis. The exoskeleton showed the lowest metal contents; in soft tissues, the essential Cu, Fe, and Zn and the non-essential Cd, Mn, and Pb showed the highest and lowest concentrations, respectively. The crab was characterized by a trophic position of 3.32, confirming its carnivorous trophic habits. Compared with literature data on…
Disentangling conditional effects of multiple regime shifts on Atlantic cod productivity
2020
AbstractRegime shifts are increasingly prevalent in the ecological literature. However, definitions vary, and many detection methods are subjective. Here, we employ an operationally objective means of identifying regime shifts, using a Bayesian online change-point detection algorithm able to simultaneously identify shifts in the mean and(or) variance of time series data. We detected multiple regime shifts in long-term (59-154 years) patterns of coastal Norwegian Atlantic cod (>70% decline) and putative drivers of cod productivity: North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO); sea-surface temperature; zooplankton abundance; fishing mortality (F). The consequences of an environmental or climate-relate…
Determining the potential impacts of fire and different land uses on splash erosion in the margins of drylands
2021
Abstract This research aimed to estimate the splash erosion and its evolution during the first months in specific land uses after a forest fire. The study area was located in Congosto (North-West Spain), in the margins of Spanish drylands, after a wildfire occurred in May 2012, which burned 15.56 ha of scrubland and Pinus reforestation. Two different burned land uses were selected and compared to control areas: i) burned pine forest; and, scrublands. Rainfall intensity and the number, sizes and speed of raindrops were measured by an optical disdrometer and soil loss by funnels. Moreover, infiltration, soil moisture content, aggregate stability, water repellence, pH and organic matter were a…
Suitability of Borago officinalis for Minimal Processing as Fresh-Cut Produce
2019
Borage (Borago officinalis L.) is a wild vegetable appreciated as a folk medicine and for culinary preparations. The introduction of borage as a specialized cultivation would allow for the diversification of vegetable crops and would widen the offerings of raw and minimally processed leafy vegetables. Thus, the aim of the research was to evaluate the quality and shelf-life of fresh-cut borage stored at different temperatures. Borage plants were grown during the autumn&ndash
Vegetation Diversity of Screes and Taluses of The Pamir and South-Western Tian Shan in Middle Asia
2021
AbstractThis paper presents the results of phytosociological research on scree vegetation of the Pamir and south-western Tian Shan. We collected 222 phytosociological relevés during field studies conducted in 2015–2019, applying the Braun-Blanquet approach. We identified 21 plant communities on mobile and stabilized screes of colluvial cones, aprons and fans, inhabiting mainly the montane and alpine belts in several ranges (e.g. Peter the First, Alichur, Shugnan, Shachdarian, Darvaz, Rushan, Vanch, Fergana, Kyrgyz and Terskey ranges). As a result we provide the first comprehensive hierarchical syntaxonomic synopsis of scree communities at montane and alpine elevations in the eastern Middle …