Search results for "Genetic erosion"
showing 6 items of 16 documents
RECOVERY AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CHESTNUT GERMPLASM ON THE WESTERN SLOPES OF THE ASPROMONTE IN SOUTHERN CALABRIA
2010
For a considerable period of time chestnuts were a fundamental source of food and economy for the people in the Aspromonte area. After decades in which chestnut cultivation has been neglected as a result of depopulation in mountainous zones, the production capacity in this area has reduced resulting in an erosion of the native germplasm. A survey has been carried out to improve the knowledge about the chestnut germplasm present in this area and to evaluate its qualities with the objective of preserving native genetic resources, safeguarding them from genetic erosion phenomenon and individuating local genotypes of market value which could be used to promote a re-launch of local chestnut cult…
Can the Caper (Capparis spinosa L.) Still Be Considered a Difficult-to-Propagate Crop?
2021
As a perennial xerophytic shrub, characterized by plesiomorphic features, the caper (Capparis spinosa L.) is naturally spread throughout the Mediterranean basin and occupies an important ecological role, as well as an economic one, in traditional and specialized systems for commercial production. This species, in spite of its wide diffusion, is currently considered at risk of genetic erosion, mainly due to overgrazing and overharvesting for domestic uses and for trade. This situation is made more serious because of the lack of efficient propagation techniques, determining the caper as a “difficult-to-propagate species”. In this review, we report the main available sexual and vegetative prop…
Soil genetic erosion: a new concept for a new environmental challenge and a new soil paradigm
2018
The author proposes a new concept of soil erosion to shed new light on soil erosion an ecological environment conservation in order that politicians and administrators could pay great attention to preserve soil resources. A new concept of soil erosion is suggested by proposing ideas, explaining concepts, summarizing and case studies. The economic value should be assigned to the soil ecosystem services and the new concept of soil erosion that could be called “soil genetic erosion” is proposed. Soils are very diverse natural resources that positively affect and promote the economy of the social systems if they are maintained in good health.
The “Soil Genetic Erosion”: a new threat for soils?
2015
During the 1990’s the concept of pedodiversity started to be diffused in the scientific literature and the decrement of the soil diversity in space and time - particularly due to human activity - has been seen as a sort of underhand problem affecting soil ecosystems, considering that different soil types face gradual or drastic reduction or complete loss of their unique “genetic features”. Pedodiversity has received considerable recent interest, especially as peculiar aspect of biodiversity and has been assessed by several authors by applying diversity indices used in ecology. This paper takes into consideration the influence of human activities on the loss of pedodiversity in a Mediterrane…
The genetic heritage of Alpine local cattle breeds using genomic SNP data
2020
Abstract Background Assessment of genetic diversity and population structure provides important control metrics to avoid genetic erosion, inbreeding depression and crossbreeding between exotic and locally-adapted cattle breeds since these events can have deleterious consequences and eventually lead to extinction. Historically, the Alpine Arc represents an important pocket of cattle biodiversity with a large number of autochthonous breeds that provide a fundamental source of income for the entire regional economy. By using genotype data from medium-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays, we performed a genome-wide comparative study of 23 cattle populations from the Alpine Arc an…
The “genetic erosion” of the soil ecosystem
2013
Abstract This paper takes into consideration the influence of human activities on the loss of pedodiversity in a Mediterranean area due to large scale farming. In particular it examines the quantitative and qualitative soil changes in a period of 53 years (from 1955 to 2008) evaluating the loss of soil diversity at soil subgroups level of the USDA Soil Taxonomy system. The following indices were used: richness; Shannon’s diversity index; Simpson diversity index; Shannon’s evenness index; Simpson’s evenness index. In this case study, considering what we observed in time, the human intervention in soil transformation could increase the diversity in the landscape in an initial phase, but forwa…