Search results for "Insula"
showing 10 items of 735 documents
Systematic consumption of non-marine gastropods at open-air Mesolithic sites in the Iberian Mediterranean region
2011
Arenal de la Virgen and Casa Corona, located in the upper Vinalopo Valley (SE of the Iberian Peninsula), are open-air Mesolithic sites dated to the Middle Holocene – 8600-7800 cal BP. Recent excavations have provided evidence of non-marine assemblages dominated by terrestrial (Sphincterochila candidissima and Iberus alonensis) and fresh water gastropods (Melanopsis tricarinata tricarinata) associated with habitation structures. These sites represent the first documented cases of systematic land snail consumption at open-air residential camps in the Iberian Mediterranean Region. This report presents the assemblage composition and modern ethological parameters, and discusses taphonomic proces…
Insular variation in central MediterraneanCrociduraWagler, 1832 (Mammalia, Soricidae)
1990
Morphometric variation of Crocidura mandible in Sicily and surrounding islands (Egadi archipelago, Ustica, Pantelleria and Gozo) was analyzed by principal component and canonical variate analyses in order to integrate recent chromosomal and biochemical observations. Specimens of C. suaveolens and C. leucodon from mainland Italy and of C. russula from Sardinia were used as reference in this analysis. The biometry of the only taxon of shrews living in Sicily is significantly different from the three reference samples. This result, coupled with a recently discovered new karyotype, provides strong evidence for a new Eurasian species, for which the name C. sicula Miller 1901, was chosen. Crocidu…
Four-year soil erosion rates in a running-mountain trail in eastern Iberian Peninsula
2019
During the last decades, the use of mountain trails for running is more and more popular. New trails are opened to allow the runners to practice and compete. This form of human impact on the landscape is new as the new trails do not follow the conservation strategies in design and maintenance as traditional mountain trails constructed by farmers, shepherds and muleteers do. This impact of sport events in nature is not measured and we know little about this impact on vegetation, fauna and soils. We surveyed in September 2018 a trail that was opened in September 2014 and was used for four official mountain trail races, and for training by local runners. Our interviews with organizers and user…
Restoration practices in Mediterranean habitats using native woody species
2017
Since the beginning of the XXI century, Legambiente (a national environmental association), supported by the University of Palermo, has launched several naturalization projects within three Sicilian nature reserves: 1)Isola di Lampedusa (Agrigento Province); 2)Macalube di Aragona (Agrigento Province); 3)Lago Sfondato (Caltanissetta Province). Interventions were carried out on bare lands and degraded sites where natural vegetation cover was almost completely disappeared. The main aim was to restore native habitats following the principles of ecological restoration. Accordingly, differently from the classical approach, consisting in the use of preparatory species, usually Pines, native shrubs…
Climate change and population dynamics during the late Mesolithic and the Neolithic transition in Iberia
2009
This paper explores how Early Holocene climate changes in the Western Mediterranean would have affected Late Mesolithic settlement distribution and subsistence strategies in Iberian Peninsula, thereby giving rise to various adaptive scenarios. The current radiocarbon data set concerning the Neolithisation process has revealed the rapidity of the spread of farming in Iberia. Considering both the implications of the last hunter-gatherers’ adaptation strategies and the population dynamics of agro-pastoral communities, we address the migration patterns underlying the Mesolithic- Neolithic transition. In conclusion, we propose that the initial colonization process was the result of two successiv…
Bacterioplankton Community Composition Along Environmental Gradients in Lakes From Byers Peninsula (Maritime Antarctica) as Determined by Next-Genera…
2019
This study comprises the first attempt to describe the planktonic bacterial communities of lakes from Byers Peninsula, one of the most significant limnological districts in the Maritime Antarctica, leveraging next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. For the survey, we selected 7 lakes covering the environmental gradient from inland to coastal lakes, some of them sampled both in surface and deep waters. Analysis provided just over 85,000 high quality sequences that were clustered into 864 unique Zero-radius Operational Taxonomic Units (ZOTUs) (i.e., 100% sequence similarity). Yet, several taxonomic uncertainties remained in the analysis likely suggesting the occurrence of local bacteri…
Functional Metabolic Diversity of Bacterioplankton in Maritime Antarctic Lakes
2021
A summer survey was conducted on the bacterioplankton communities of seven lakes from Byers Peninsula (Maritime Antarctica), differing in trophic and morphological characteristics. Predictions of the metabolic capabilities of these communities were performed with FAPROTAX using 16S rRNA sequencing data. The versatility for metabolizing carbon sources was also assessed in three of the lakes using Biolog Ecoplates. Relevant differences among lakes and within lake depths were observed. A total of 23 metabolic activities associated to the main biogeochemical cycles were foreseen, namely, carbon (11), nitrogen (4), sulfur (5), iron (2), and hydrogen (1). The aerobic metabolisms dominated, althou…
Tunneling induced decomposition of Mo(CO)(6) onto TiO2(110) surface
2012
International audience; Tunneling induced decomposition of Mo(CO)(6) from the gas phase was studied on TiO2(110) surface by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS). The efficiency of the procedure was followed by measuring the dot volume as a proportional indicator of the amount of the decomposed precursor. It was found that below 1 x 10(-5) Pa background pressure of Mo(CO)(6), there is no measurable effect and above 1 x 10(-4) Pa, the nanodot size is too large compared to the curvature of the tip (20-40 nm). A threshold bias of +3.1(+/- 0.1) V on the sample was measured for the decomposition of Mo(CO)(6) in gas ambient. In the absence of the precursor, dot formation was …
The origin of Swedish and Norwegian populations of the Eurasian harvest mouse (Micromys minutus).
2012
The harvest mouse (Micromys minutus) occurs throughout most of continental Europe. There are also two isolated and recently discovered populations on the Scandinavian peninsula, in Sweden and Norway. Here, we investigate the origin of these populations through analyses of mitochondrial DNA. We found that the two populations on the Scandinavian peninsula have different mtDNA haplotypes. A comparison of our haplotypes to published sequences from most of Europe showed that all Swedish and Norwegian haplotypes are most closely related to the haplotypes in harvest mice from Denmark. Hence, the two populations seem to represent independent colonisations but originate from the same geographical ar…
Tuning molecular self-assembly on bulk insulator surfaces by anchoring of the organic building blocks.
2013
Molecular self-assembly constitutes a versatile strategy for creating functional structures on surfaces. Tuning the subtle balance between intermolecular and molecule-surface interactions allows structure formation to be tailored at the single-molecule level. While metal surfaces usually exhibit interaction strengths in an energy range that favors molecular self-assembly, dielectric surfaces having low surface energies often lack sufficient interactions with adsorbed molecules. As a consequence, application-relevant, bulk insulating materials pose significant challenges when considering them as supporting substrates for molecular self-assembly. Here, the current status of molecular self-ass…