Search results for "GIO"
showing 10 items of 14423 documents
Reproductive strategy as a piece of the biogeographic puzzle: a case study using Antarctic sea stars (Echinodermata, Asteroidea)
2017
13 pages; International audience; AimTo describe and analyse asteroid biogeographic patterns in the Southern Ocean (SO) and test whether reproductive strategy (brooder versus broadcaster) can explain distribution patterns at the scale of the entire class. We hypothesize that brooding and broadcasting species display different biogeographic patterns.LocationSouthern Ocean, south of 45 °S.MethodsOver 14,000 asteroid occurrences are analysed using bootstrapped spanning network (BSN), non-metrical multidimensional scaling (nMDS) and clustering to uncover the spatial structure of faunal similarities among 25 bioregions.ResultsMain biogeographic patterns are congruent with previous works based on…
Assessing escapes from short rotation plantations of the invasive tree species Robinia pseudoacacia L. in Mediterranean ecosystems: a study in centra…
2016
Abstract: Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) is a fast growing tree species native to temperate North America, and widely diffused and naturalized in Europe. It is one of the candidate species for establishing bioenergy plantations on marginal lands in temperate and sub-Mediterranean regions. This potential is in contrast to its well-known invasive habit, leading to a potential damage to plant biodiversity in many European countries. Advise against black locust plantation in regions where it is already invasive has been issued by several international reports, as well as the adoption of mitigation measures (e.g., “containment” buffer zones) to prevent the spread of the species into natu…
Comparative analysis of the proximate and elemental composition of the blue crab Callinectes sapidus, the warty crab Eriphia verrucosa, and the edibl…
2016
AbstractThe proximate composition and element contents of claw muscle tissue of Atlantic blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) were compared with the native warty crab (Eriphia verrucosa) and the commercially edible crab (Cancer pagurus). The scope of the analysis was to profile the chemical characteristics and nutritive value of the three crab species. Elemental fingerprints showed significant inter-specific differences, whereas non-significant variations in the moisture and ash contents were observed. In the blue crab, protein content was significantly lower than in the other two species, while its carbon content resulted lower than that characterizing only the warty crab. Among micro-elements…
Enabling policy innovations promoting multiple ecosystem benefits: lessons learnt from case studies in the Baltic Sea Region
2019
Abstract This paper analyses how specific institutional barriers and drivers affect the success of agri-environmental governance and policy innovations in four case study catchments in Germany, Latvia, Poland and Sweden. Possible adaptations of institutional settings are explored, aiming at increased effectiveness of policies and governance in delivering multiple ecosystem benefits along with reduced nutrient emissions and flood management. Factors of success synthesized from existing examples of innovative policy instruments in the EU and further afield are used to identify barriers and opportunities for the implementation of policy innovations in different institutional settings across th…
Benthic hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from the Weddell Sea (Antarctica)
2019
Hydrozoans are a conspicuous component of Antarctic benthic communitites. Recent taxonomic effort has led to a substantial increase in knowledge on the diversity of benthic hydroids from some areas of the Southern Ocean, including the Weddell Sea, the largest sea in the Antarctic region. However, the study of many hydrozoan taxa are still pending, and the diversity in this huge region is expected to be higher than currently known. In order to contribute to the knowledge of taxonomy, ecology and distribution of these cnidarians, a study of unpublished material collected by several German Antarctic expeditions aboard the RV Polarstern in the eastern sector of the Weddell Sea has been conducte…
Benthic hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from off George V Coast (East Antarctica)
2018
Hydrozoans are one of the main and most characteristic zoological groups of Antarctic benthic communities, yet there are Antarctic areas where the hydrozoan fauna is completely unknown or scarcely known as off George V Coast (East Antarctica). Hitherto, only two studies have dealt with hydroids from this area and only 16 species have been reported. The present study contributes to increase knowledge of the benthic hydroid fauna off George V Coast by studying material collected during a sampling survey associated with the CEAMARC project. A total of 12 species of benthic hydroids were found. Anthoathecata is only represented by Bimeria corynopsis, the remaining species, including Schizotrich…
On several species of Oswaldella Stechow, 1919 (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa), including the description of a new species
2018
Oswaldella is the most speciose genus of Antarctic hydroids, being one of the most characteristic genera of hydrozoans of the Antarctic benthic marine ecosystem. A relatively high number of taxonomic characters allow species identification, but some key ones are difficult to study properly with a light microscope. In order to improve knowledge of species of the genus, a SEM survey of five of the 27 known nominal species of Oswaldella was carried out, including type material of O. grandis and O. terranovae. The study has revealed no significant differences between O. stepanjantsae and O. terranovae and, consequently, the former is considered a junior synonym of the latter. The type material …
The soursop genome and comparative genomics of basal angiosperms provide new insights on evolutionary incongruence
2019
AbstractDeep relationships and the sequence of divergence among major lineages of angiosperms (magnoliids, monocots and eudicots) remain ambiguous and differ depending on analytical approaches and datasets used. Complete genomes potentially provide opportunities to resolve these uncertainties, but two recently published magnoliid genomes instead deliver further conflicting signals. To disentangle key angiosperm relationships, we report a high-quality draft genome for the soursop (Annona muricata, Annonaceae). We reconstructed phylogenomic trees and show that the soursop represents a genomic mosaic supporting different histories, with scaffolds almost exclusively supporting single topologies…
Assessing environmental conditions of Antarctic footpaths to support management decisions.
2016
Thousands of tourists visit certain Antarctic sites each year, generating a wide variety of environmental impacts. Scientific knowledge of human activities and their impacts can help in the effective design of management measures and impact mitigation. We present a case study from Barrientos Island in which a management measure was originally put in place with the goal of minimizing environmental impacts but resulted in new undesired impacts. Two alternative footpaths used by tourist groups were compared. Both affected extensive moss carpets that cover the middle part of the island and that are very vulnerable to trampling. The first path has been used by tourists and scientists since over …
Combined effects of fishing and oil spills on marine fish: Role of stock demographic structure for offspring overlap with oil
2018
It has been proposed that the multiple pressures of fishing and petroleum activities impact fish stocks in synergy, as fishing-induced demographic changes in a stock may lead to increased sensitivity to detrimental effects of acute oil spills. High fishing pressure may erode the demographic structure of fish stocks, lead to less diverse spawning strategies, and more concentrated distributions of offspring in space and time. Hence an oil spill may potentially hit a larger fraction of a year-class of offspring. Such a link between demographic structure and egg distribution was recently demonstrated for the Northeast Arctic stock of Atlantic cod for years 1959–1993. We here estimate that this …