Search results for "ITALY"
showing 10 items of 2893 documents
Diet and trophic niche of the invasive signal crayfish in the first invaded Italian stream ecosystem.
2021
The occurrence of the signal crayfsh Pacifastacus leniusculus in the Valla Stream was the frst established population of this invasive species recorded in an Italian stream ecosystem. We evaluated the seasonality of diet and trophic niche of invasive signal crayfsh in order to estimate the ecological role and efects on native communities of the stream ecosystem. We studied the diferences in food source use between sexes, life stages and seasons using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses. To supplement stable isotope analyses, we evaluated food source usage using traditional stomach content analysis. We tested the hypothesis that juveniles have a diferent diet, showing diferent trophi…
Climate–human interactions contributed to historical forest recruitment dynamics in Mediterranean subalpine ecosystems
2020
Long-term tree recruitment dynamics of subalpine forests mainly depend on temperature changes, but little is known about the feedbacks between historical land use and climate. Here, we analyze a southern European, millennium-long dataset of tree recruitment from three high-elevation pine forests located in Mediterranean mountains (Pyrenees, northeastern Spain; Pollino, southern Italy; and Mt. Smolikas, northern Greece). We identify synchronized recruitment peaks in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, following prolonged periods of societal and climate instability. Major European population crises in the 14th and 15th centuries associated with recurrent famines, the Black Death pandemic,…
A new rare species of Oedipoda Latreille, 1829 (Orthoptera: Acrididae) from South Italy
2019
Oedipoda cynthiae n. sp. (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Oedipodinae) is described from Apulia (South Italy). In the past, the same population here considered had been assigned to O. miniata and later to O. charpentieri. Morphological features, biogeographical considerations, and a preliminary molecular analysis confirm that this population must be assigned to a new species, which is described and illustrated here.
Fruit production and quality evaluation of four litchi cultivars (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) grown in Mediterranean climate
2017
Introduction - The agronomic and qualitative responses of the litchi fruit (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) grown in Mediterranean climate are not yet studied. In this study, yield components, physico-chemical and sensory traits of four commercial litchi cultivars were recorded over two productive seasons. Materials and methods - Fruits of the cvs Tai So, Wai Chee, Brewster and Kwai Mai were collected at commercial maturity stage and subjected to productive (yield, efficiency, number of fruits, crop load), analytical (fruit weight, transversal diameter, longitudinal diameter, moisture, total soluble solid content (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), TSS/TA ratio, seed weight, peel weight, percentage of …
Plant invasions on small Mediterranean islands. An overview
2016
Biological invasions have become one of the main drivers of habitat degradation and a leading cause of biodiversity loss in island ecosystems worldwide. The spread of invasive species poses a particular environmental threat on the islands of the Mediterranean Basin, which are hot spots of biodiversity and contain rare habitats and endemic species, especially on small islands, which are highly vulnerable to biodiversity loss. Following a recent survey, in this paper we aim to provide an overview of the present-day non-native vascular flora of small Mediterranean islands based on a sample of 37 islands located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Italy. By comparing the cu…
Bot gummosis of lemon (Citrus × limon) caused by neofusicoccum parvum
2021
Neofusicoccum parvum, in the family Botryosphaeriaceae, was identified as the causal agent of bot gummosis of lemon (Citrus × limon) trees, in the two major lemon-producing regions in Italy. Gummy cankers on trunk and scaffold branches of mature trees were the most typical disease symptoms. Neofusicoccum parvum was the sole fungus constantly and consistently isolated from the canker bark of symptomatic lemon trees. It was identified on the basis of morphological characters and the phylogenetic analysis of three loci, i.e., the internal transcribed spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS) as well as the translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1) and β-tubulin (TUB2) genes. The pathogenicity o…
Using Boops boops (osteichthyes) to assess microplastic ingestion in the Mediterranean Sea
2020
Abstract This study assesses microplastic ingestion in Boops boops at different geographical areas in the Mediterranean Sea. A total of 884 fish were caught at 20 coastal sites in Spain, France, Italy and Greece and analyzed using a common methodological protocol. Microplastics were found in 46.8% of the sampled fish, with an average number of items per individual of 1.17 ± 0.07. Filaments were the predominant shape type, while polyethylene and polypropylene were indicated by FTIR as the most common polymer types of ingested microplastics. The frequency of occurrence, as well as the abundance and proportion of types (size, shape, color and polymer) of ingested microplastics, varied among ge…
Mycotheca of Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms at Herbarium SAF as a Potential Source of Nutraceuticals and Cultivated Mushrooms
2018
Basidiomycetes strains (n = 39) belonging to 9 genera in 8 families are kept in the mycotheca of the Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences at the University of Palermo (Palermo, Italy). All of the strains are medicinal mushrooms, and some are of great commercial and nutraceutical interest.
Fruit quality evaluation of affirmed and local loquat (Eriobotrya japonicaLindl) cultivars using instrumental and sensory analyses
2016
Introduction. Fruit quality can be evaluated by combining instrumental and sensory analyses. These methodologies have been affirmed and tested on different fruit tree species, but loquat is still little known from this point of view. Materials and methods. In this trial, conducted in Palermo and Catania (Sicily, Italy), both instrumental and sensory analyses were carried out on fruit of 8 loquat affirmed cultivars (‘Golden Nugget’, ‘Peluche’) and local cultivars (‘Marceno’, ‘Sanfilippara’, ‘Nespolone di Trabia’, ‘Virticchiara’, ‘Bianco Dolce’ and ‘BRT20’) with the aim of assessing their quality traits. Results and discussion. The sensory results agreed quite well with the physicochemical da…
Guano-Derived Nutrient Subsidies Drive Food Web Structure in Coastal Ponds.
2016
A stable isotope study was carried out seasonally in three coastal ponds (Marinello system, Italy) affected by different gull guano input to investigate the effect of nutrient subsidies on food web structure and dynamics. A marked 15N enrichment occurred in the pond receiving the highest guano input, indicating that gull-derived fertilization (guanotrophication) had a strong localised effect and flowed across trophic levels. The main food web response to guanotrophication was an overall erosion of the benthic pathway in favour of the planktonic. Subsidized primary consumers, mostly deposit feeders, switched their diet according to organic matter source availability. Secondary consumers and,…