Search results for "Biogeography"

Widespread secondary contact and new glacial refugia in the halophilic rotifer Brachionus plicatilis in the Iberian Peninsula.

2011

Small aquatic organisms harbour deep phylogeographic patterns and highly structured populations even at local scales. These patterns indicate restricted gene flow, despite these organisms' high dispersal abilities, and have been explained by a combination of (1) strong founder effects due to rapidly growing populations and very large population sizes, and (2) the development of diapausing egg banks and local adaptation, resulting in low effective gene flow, what is known as the Monopolization hypothesis. In this study, we build up on our understanding of the mitochondrial phylogeography of the halophilic rotifer Brachionus plicatilis in the Iberian Peninsula by both increasing the number of…

Plant species richness, biogeographic and conservation interest of the vascular flora of the satellite islands of Sicily: patterns, driving forces an…

2013

The vascular flora has been investigated on about 60 of the approximately 100 islands and islets of the Sicilian archipelago. This paper provides detailed information on the number of exclusive, rare, or threatened vascular plants living on these islands and islets. Focusing on the 18 most-investigated islets, we evaluate the extent to which species richness, rate of endemism, number of alien plants, and number of terrestrial habitats have been influenced by 1) geographical setting, 2) geological history, 3) geo-pedological variability, 4) bioclimate, 5) number and patchiness of local plant communities, and 6) natural and human disturbance history and regime. Special attention is directed t…

Flora Mediterranea 22

2012

Biosystematic researches on Allium cupani group (Amaryllidaceae) in the Mediterranean area.

2015

Allium cupani Raf. is a species complex of the subgenus Allium L., which is taxonomically quite critical mainly for its marked karyological and morphological variability. In the present study, karyo-taxonomic characterization of some peculiar populations of this group from Italian, N African, Balcan and Aegean territories has been performed, using both living plants collected in the field and herbarium material. As a result, ten new species have been recognized and described within the A. cupani complex. They are A. panormitanum from N Sicily, A. samniticum from C Italy, A. mauritanicum from N Morocco and NW Algeria, A. balcanicum from mountains of Balkan Peninsula, A. tzanoudakisanum from …

Species and habitat biodiversity measure and conservation at different scale in small Mediterranean islands

2017

Small islands are geographically and ecologically well-defined areas in which biological processes are easier to schematize than in the mainland. There is a vast range of biodiversity measures, due to the large concept of biodiversity and the range of spatial, temporal and taxonomic scales used. Many existing measures are well designed and informative. But, very often they are inadequate for purposes beyond those for which they were specifically designed. Knowledge on trends in biodiversity loss is hindered by the absence of reliable basic data for most groups of organisms as well as habitats. Plants are primary producers and key structural elements for most ecosystems and islands are among…

The Olea europaea L. var. sylvestris (Mill.) Lehr. forests in the Mediterranean area

2019

This paper examines the forest communities dominated by Olea europaea L. var. sylvestris (Mill.) Lehr. that have been described up until now in the Mediterranean Region (including other isolated extrazonal areas in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula and in Northern Turkey) as more or less evolved aspects of woods, microwoods and high maquis that principally tend to make up climacic and edapho-climacic “series heads”. These forma- tions maintain a significant large-scale distributive potential within the infra- and thermomediterranean bioclimate belts (with a few penetrations into the mesomediterranean) with a dry-subhumid (and sometimes humid) ombrotype; however, they are currently quite ra…

Sicily: the island that didn't know to be an archipelago

2018

Recent geological studies demonstrated that most of Sicily was still under water during lower Pliocene, with the exception of the NE and the SE corners of the island (Peloritani Mts and Hyblaean Plateau, respectively). This geological evidence, so far not considered sufficiently by the scholars of the Sicilian flora, poses many still open questions on how and where many ancient lineages and Palaeogene relicts, currently found on the island, managed to survive. Purpose of this paper is to review the potential significance of isolation and ecological differentiation for the local floristic diversity and the evolution of narrow endemism in the Sicilian flora. In particular, the following drive…

The microcrustacean fauna of Sicily and the Central Mediterranean Sea area - Current knowledge and gaps to be filled

2006

The current knowledge of freshwater entomostracans from Sicily and some neighbouring central-Mediterranean countries is briefly reviewed. Data concerning different countries and different taxonomical groups are markedly inhomogeneous and often far from being representative of the real biota of the corresponding countries. This gap prevents a sound biogeographical analysis of the freshwater microcrustacean fauna of the area. The major gaps that have to be filled are highlighted and the need for more surveys and monitoring is emphasised.

When an island matches a glacial refugium: the case of Sicilian mammals

2011

Arbacia

2020

Arbacia is unique among shallow echinoid genus, not in line with the general rule that sea urchins should be either entirely tropical or entirely temperate, with limited overlap in the subtropics. Six extant Arbacia species have been described by Mortensen. The genus Arbacia has a Neotropical origin and four different fossil species have been described from the Late Miocene. Over the past century, Arbacia has been the subject of intense investigations into the cell biology, toxicology, biochemistry, and embryology. Recently, renewed interest in this genus arose from its phylogeny, ecology, and its resilience to ocean warming and acidification. According to several studies, impacts of ocean …