Search results for "DISPERSAL"
showing 10 items of 465 documents
Floristic, phenological and chorological differences in the annual vegetation of Sardinia.
2007
The therophytic flora of Sardinia has been split into four main groups, basing on the ecologic requirements of species. The following groups have been recognized: flora of dry entisoils, flora of periodically swampy or submerged entisoils, flora of coastal sites, flora of fields, road edges and human settlements. Either, most frequent or exclusive species were ascribed to each group. A species was considered “exclusive” when its relative frequency outside a given group was estimated ≤10%. Differences have been highlighted within the groups, dealing with chorology, growth form, flowering time, colour of flowers, pollination and seed dispersal strategies.
First evidence by satellite telemetry of lanner falcon's falco biarmicus feldeggii natal dispersal outside sicily, and a review of existing data
2019
The Italian population of the threatened European Lanner Falcon is mainly sedentary. Thanks to satellite telemetry, we recorded the first evidence on natal dispersal of a juvenile male (Falc36) outside Sicily. Falc36 was deployed with a GPS-GSM device in May 2017, after an initial phase of movements close to the natal cliff and of short wandering in Sicily crossed the Messina Strait in mid July and arrived in Apulia (south Italy). There we were able to follow his displacements and settling until the end of November when the transmitter broke up. Falc36 used mainly open habitats composed of arable field and heterogeneous agricultural areas firstly north of Altamura and Gravina, and from late…
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…
Predicting biological invasions in marine habitats through eco-physiological mechanistic models: a case study with the bivalveBrachidontes pharaonis
2013
Aim We used a coupled biophysical ecology (BE)-physiological mechanistic modelling approach based on the Dynamic Energy Budget theory (DEB, Dynamic energy budget theory for metabolic organisation, 2010, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; DEB) to generate spatially explicit predictions of physiological performance (maximal size and reproductive output) for the invasive mussel, Brachidontes pharaonis. Location We examined 26 sites throughout the central Mediterranean Sea. Methods We ran models under subtidal and intertidal conditions; hourly weather and water temperature data were obtained from the Italian Buoy Network, and monthly CHL-a data were obtained from satellite imagery. Results …
How do freshwater organisms cross the “dry ocean”? A review on passive dispersal and colonization processes with a special focus on temporary ponds
2014
Lakes and ponds are scattered on Earth’s surface as islands in the ocean. The organisms inhabiting these ecosystems have thus developed strategies to pass the barrier represented by the surrounding land, to disperse and to colonize new environments. The evidences of a high potential for passive long-range dispersal of organisms producing resting stages inspired the idea that there were no real barriers to their actual dispersal, and that their distribution was only limited by the ecological characteristics of the available habitats. The development of genetic techniques allowed to criticize this view and revealed the existence of a more complex and diverse biological scenario governed by an…
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…
Trophic and spatial complementarity on seed dispersal services by birds, wild mammals, and cattle in a Mediterranean woodland pasture
2021
Made available in DSpace on 2022-05-01T09:47:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2021-11-01 Università degli Studi di Palermo CYTED Ciencia y Tecnología para el Desarrollo Federación Española de Enfermedades Raras Most earth surfaces have undergone intensive land-use changes, creating habitat mosaics. Seed dispersal by animals is a crucial process in such mosaics, but community-wide studies comparing the functional complementarity and response to man-imposed habitat heterogeneity are rare. Here, we investigate the trophic and spatial seed dispersal networks underpinning a strong, woody vegetation expansion over a pastureland inside the largest forest remnant in western Sici…
The naturalization of the almond Prunus dulcis in different ecological contexts in the Mediterranean: An underestimated process?
2022
Although Prunus dulcis has been frequently listed in non-native floras all around the world, its naturalization has been rarely studied in the field. Probably, because this species has generally invaded synanthropic habitats. We assessed the density of natural regeneration of almond, biometric parameters (height and basal stem diameter), and the distribution in life stage classes in three different ecological contexts in Sicily (Mediterranean Italy): one natural habitat (maquis), one pine afforestation and two prickly pear orchards. We recorded 236 naturally regenerating almond individuals, with density ranging from 140 individuals per hectare (prickly pear orchard 1) up to 2,400 individual…
Plant-animal seed dispersal interactions as key drivers of ecological restoration in a changing world
2022
Many global and European commitments state the need to plant billions of trees and restore millions of hectares of degraded ecosystems to contrast biodiversity loss, desertification and climate change. Seed dispersal is a crucial process promoting vegetation dynamics, and in the Mediterranean, up to 65% of woody plant species need animals for seed dispersal. Therefore, such mutualistic ecological interaction represents a key nature-based solution to help us reaching our commitments. In this presentation first we will report the strong expansion rate and correlated finescale spatio-temporal patterns of woody natural regeneration over a pastureland, using a spatially-explicit framework deploy…