Search results for "Botanica"

Macrophytes in Inland Waters - From Knowledge to Management

2023

Effects of Caulerpa cylindracea on marine biodiversity

2017

The Mediterranean sea is an important hotspot for alien species. Following habitat loss, Invasive Alien Species (IAS) are considered to be amongst the most serious threats to biodiversity and natural ecosystem functioning. Among the IAS recorded in the Mediterranean sea, Caulerpa cylindracea Sonder, introduced from Australia and New Caledonia, has raised serious concern due to its negative impact on native communities. We provide some observations on the effects of the presence of C. cylindracea on the communities living along the coasts of the Island of Favignana (Egadi Islands, Marine Protected Areas).

The use of bioindicators (Posidonia oceanica and benthic foraminifera) to evaluate metal pollution in a complex ecological system: marine coastal env…

2007

Effects of NIS on Mediterranean marine ecosystems: the case study of Egadi Island MPA (Sicily, Tyrrhenian Sea)

2018

Habitat modification and loss, climate change and the introduction of Non-Indigenous Species (NIS, i.e. organisms introduced outside of their natural, past or present, range and outside of their natural dispersal potential) are considered to be the main threats to Mediterranean marine biodiversity and natural ecosystem functioning. NIS may become invasive (IAS = Invasive Alien Species) and may have significant environmental, socio-economic and human health impacts. The Mediterranean Sea is one of the major hotspots for NIS introductions, with the total for these species having almost reached the 1,000 figure (equivalent to ca. 6% of the total flora and fauna). NIS are entering the Mediterra…

Global diversity and geography of soil fungi

2014

Fungi play integral roles in soil nutrient cycling, but the determinants of fungal diversity and biogeographic patterns of key functional groups remain poorly understood. By using pyrosequencing data from hundreds of globally distributed soil samples, we demonstrated fungal diversity that expands upon the taxonomic and molecular diversity recorded so far. Except for ectomycorrhizal symbionts, fungal functional group richness was unrelated to plant diversity and plant-to-fungus richness ratio declined exponentially towards the poles. Climatic factors, followed by edaphic and spatial variables, constituted the best predictors of fungal richness and community composition at the global scale. F…

Rimedi popolari per la cura della calcolosi renale in Sicilia

2009

Essential Oil Composition of Alluaudia procera and in Vitro Biological Activity on Two Drug-Resistant Models

2019

Drug resistance is a major obstacle in antibiotic and antitumor chemotherapy. In response to the necessity to find new therapeutic strategies, plant secondary metabolites including essential oils (EOs) may represent one of the best sources. EOs in plants act as constitutive defenses against biotic and abiotic stress, and they play an important role in the pharmacology for their low toxicity, good pharmacokinetic and multitarget activity. In this context, natural products such as EOs are one of the most important sources of drugs used in pharmaceutical therapeutics. The aim of this paper was to identify the chemical composition of the essential oil of Alluaudia procera leaves, obtained by hy…

COMPARAZIONE DEI PROFILI METABOLICI DI VARIETÀ DI CILIEGIO DOLCE (Prunus avium L.) MEDIANTE TECNICHE DI METABOLOMICA UNTARGETED

La diffusione di cultivar altamente produttive ha influito negativamente sulla tutela dell’agro-biodiversità di Prunus avium L. determinando disinteresse nei confronti di varietà meno produttive ma meritevoli di attenzione per il valore delle loro caratteristiche organolettiche e del relativo patrimonio genetico. Il mondo scientifico ha mostrato interesse nei confronti di tale tematica e ha condotto azioni di conservazione in situ ed ex situ per preservare il germoplasma ancora esistente. La presente ricerca analizza l’agrobiodiversità del ciliegio dolce in relazione alla diversa composizione metabolomica dei frutti, espressione del genotipo che le caratterizza. L’attività di ricerca svolta…

Distribution patterns of phytoplankton functional groups in connected/isolated reservoirs in an urban drinking water system

2015

Eighteen reservoirs belonging to an urban drinking water system (Zhuhai city, South China) were investigated in the dry and flood seasons of 2013 to evaluate how hydrological connectivity may affect the specie richness and functional composition of phytoplankton. Eleven among the studied water bodies are connected through pipelines and seven are isolated. Twenty one phytoplankton functional groups were identified in the studied reservoirs. Cluster analysis showed that phytoplankton similarity is higher among connected reservoirs than among isolated ones. The average α-diversity is high in the connected reservoirs, but the average β-diversity is much higher in the isolated reservoirs. The hi…

Biotechnologies for identification of microorganisrns colonizing aerosol and surfaces of works of art in indoor environrnents

2012

Biological deterioration of organic and inorganic objects is a compIex process involving a relevant number of microbi al species. Particularly. fungi é1nd bacteria, wide spread in biosphere environments, are the main microorganisms related to the biodeterioration o[ cultural property. Moreover, complex microbial communities can relcase, in indoor environments, metabolic products or other airborne particles that may be detrimenral for human health, In order lo identify the components of microbial populations colonizing surfaces of works o[ art and/ or dispersed in thc aerosol of confìned/semi-confined environments, a molecular approach was laken. Samples were collected by non-destructive tec…