Search results for "Food Chain"
showing 10 items of 197 documents
Intervento
2020
The article intends to give an account of the terms of the debate regarding the relationship between the CAP and competition, highlighting the tensions between the Commission and Parliament and the repercussions in legislative choices in a dimension that still seems unresolved today. The oscillations of the pendulum between PAC and Antitrust in the context of the regulation of the agri-food system seem to reappear also in the regulation of unfair commercial practices. It does not seem easy to propose a reading that is not necessarily dichotomous, which would like to make a dimension of commonality between the discipline of competition and the CAP prevail, although an awareness, even among j…
Ecology and extent of freshwater browning - What we know and what should be studied next in the context of global change
2022
Water browning or brownification refers to increasing water color, often related to increasing dissolved organic matter (DOM) and carbon (DOC) content in freshwaters. Browning has been recognized as a significant physicochemical phenomenon altering boreal lakes, but our understanding of its ecological consequences in different freshwater habitats and regions is limited. Here, we review the consequences of browning on different freshwater habitats, food webs and aquatic-terrestrial habitat coupling. We examine global trends of browning and DOM/DOC, and the use of remote sensing as a tool to investigate browning from local to global scales. Studies have focused on lakes and rivers while seldo…
A Comparative Analysis of the Social Performance of Global and Local Berry Supply Chains
2016
The goal of this paper is twofold: to comparatively analyze the social performance of global and local berry supply chains and to explore the ways in which the social dimension is embedded in the overall performance of food supply chains. To achieve this goal, the social performance of five global and local food supply chains in two countries are analyzed: wild blueberry supply chains in Latvia and cultivated raspberry supply chains in Serbia. The study addresses two research questions: (1) What is the social performance of the local and global supply chains? (2) How can references to context help improve understanding of the social dimension and social performance of food supply chains? To…
Pesticide residues in some Baltic animals - a review of selected literature
1975
ABSTRACT During the last few years, considerable efforts have been devoted to the tracing of halogenated hydrocarbons, particularly DDT and PCB, and of mercury in Baltic animals. These investigations have already produced some important generalizations, which may be summarized as follows: (1) The concentrations of halogenated hydrocarbons and mercury in the tissues of Baltic animals are in general higher than those found in the corresponding species on the west coast of Sweden and in the Norwegian waters. (2) The highest levels of DDT compounds seem to occur in the animals of the southern Baltic and the Sound (oresund). (3) The highest contents of methylmercury in the Baltic fish occur in c…
ASSESSING MERCURY POLLUTION USING BLACK STORK EGGSHELLS
2021
Female birds whose bodies contain environmental contaminants produce eggs with shells that are likewise contaminated, making bird eggshells appropriate indicators for monitoring environmental toxins. Common contaminants include organic mercury compounds, especially methylmercury, which are known to bioaccumulate and biomagnify in the food chain. Black storks (Ciconia nigra) predominantly consume fish and are thus at risk for high mercury intake. In this study, we used eggshells of black storks as a proxy to reconstruct the concentration levels and distribution of mercury, a well-known toxic element, in various parts of Latvia. Preliminary analyses have shown that deposition levels of mercur…
Trophic Transfer of Trace Elements in an Isotopically Constructed Food Chain From a Semi-enclosed Marine Coastal Area (Stagnone di Marsala, Sicily, M…
2012
Trace element accumulation is particularly important in coastal and transitional environments, which act as contaminant buffers between the continental and marine systems. We compared trace element transfer to the biota in two locations with different open-sea exposures in a semi-enclosed marine coastal area (Stagnone di Marsala, Sicily, Italy) using isotopically reconstructed food chains. Samples of sediment, macroalgae, seagrasses, invertebrates, fish, and bird feathers were sampled in July 2006 and analysed for stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes (δ(13)C, δ(15)N) and trace elements (arsenic [As], cadmium [Cd], total mercury [THg], and lead [Pb]). Trophic magnification factors were calcul…
Widespread contribution of methane-cycle bacteria to the diets of lake profundal chironomid larvae.
2008
Reports of unexpectedly 13C-depleted chironomid larvae in lakes have led to an hypothesis that significant transfer of detrital organic matter to chironomid larvae may occur via methane-cycle bacteria. However, to date little is known of how such transfer might vary across species and lakes. We gathered data from 87 lakes to determine how widespread this phenomenon might be and to define boundaries for its likely magnitude. Carbon stable isotope values of chironomid larvae varied greatly between taxa. Very marked 13C-depletion was evident only in certain taxa, especially Chironomus plumosus, C. anthracinus, and C. tenuistylus, all characteristic of eutrophic or dystrophic lakes and known to…
Linking food webs to ecosystem processes: Piecewise linear models of soil microcosms
2008
Abstract A piecewise linear approach to link decomposer biomass and soil nitrogen dynamics is proposed. Dynamics of a detritus–fungus–nematode food chain were studied in a microcosm experiment and modelled to evaluate the role of fungal-feeding nematodes in N mineralization. The nematode dynamics switched from exponential growth to a resource-limited phase. At the same time the amount of ammonium nitrogen in soil started to increase, following an initial immobilization phase. Both nematode and ammonium dynamics could be described by two-phase linear equations. Two nitrogen models were compared. A model in which the nematode accounted for all mineralization could be fitted to the ammonium da…
Modelling the evolution of cognitive styles.
2019
Abstract Individuals consistently differ in behaviour, exhibiting so-called personalities. In many species, individuals differ also in their cognitive abilities. When personalities and cognitive abilities occur in distinct combinations, they can be described as ‘cognitive styles’. Both empirical and theoretical investigations produced contradicting or mixed results regarding the complex interplay between cognitive styles and environmental conditions. Here we use individual-based simulations to show that, under just slightly different environmental conditions, different cognitive styles exist and under a variety of conditions, can also co-exist. Co-existences are based on individual speciali…
Values and sustainable food consumption - promoting sustainably produced food products to Finnish consumers
2018
Food consumption and food choices are a vital part of humans’ lifestyles. In addition, it is widely acknowledged that food is one of the key consumption contexts for environmental and social impacts around the world. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the discussion on promoting sustainable food consumption. More specifically, this study provides insights into the promotion of sustainably produced food to consumers as well as into the value orientations linked with sustainable food consumption. This dissertation contributes to the existing literature on sustainable food consumption by showing that such consumption may be motivated by a plethora of value orientations – and their c…