Search results for "MEDITERRANEAN BASIN"
showing 10 items of 210 documents
Sea surface temperature and torrential rains in the Valencia region: modelling the role of recharge areas
2015
Abstract. Heavy rain events are frequently recorded in the Western Mediterranean causing economic losses and even human casualties. The Western Mediterranean is a deep and almost closed sea surrounded by high mountain ranges and with little exchange of water with the Atlantic ocean. A main factor in the development of torrential rains is ocean-atmosphere exchanges of heat and moisture that can potentially destabilize air masses travelling over the sea. The study of air mass trajectories previous to the rain event permits the identification of sea areas that could probably contribute to the development or intensification of rainfall. From a previous Mediterranean sea surface temperature clim…
Dietary fiber intake and the Mediterranean population
2020
Abstract Dietary fiber encompasses carbohydrates not digested or absorbed in the small intestine, arriving intact to the colon. Its role in human health has been mentioned since the times of Hippocrates but only in the 1970s of the 20th century, and subsequently a myriad of epidemiological and clinical studies has shown that a diet with low content of dietary fiber is associated with several chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, certain neoplastic diseases, specially colon cancer, and also obesity. The Western dietary pattern, which is spreading in our current globalized world and in which many components are ultraprocessed, has very low fiber content. Conversely the M…
Long-term impact of rainfed agricultural land abandonment on soil erosion in the Western Mediterranean basin
2018
[EN] Land abandonment is widespread in the Mediterranean mountains. The impact of agricultural abandonment results in a shift in ecosystem evolution due to changes in soil erosion, but little is known about long-term soil and water losses. This paper uses 11 years of measurements in two paired plots (abandoned vs control) with four subplots to determine how soil and water losses evolved after abandonment within an agricultural parcel. For two years (2004¿2005) both plots were under tillage, and after 2006 one plot was abandoned. The monitored plots measured runoff and sediment concentration after each rainfall event.
Historical biogeography of olive domestication (Olea europaea L.) as revealed by geometrical morphometry applied to biological and archaeological mat…
2003
Aim This study intends to improve our understanding of historical biogeography of olive domestication in the Mediterranean Basin, particularly in the north-western area. Location Investigations were performed simultaneously on olive stones from extant wild populations, extant cultivated varieties from various Mediterranean countries, and archaeological assemblages of Spanish, French and Italian settlements. Methods A combination of morphometrics (traditional and geometrical) allowed us to study both the size and shape of endocarp structure. Concerning shape, a size-standardized method coupled with fitted polynomial regression analysis was performed. Results We found morphological criter…
Determining suitable fish to monitor plastic ingestion trends in the Mediterranean Sea
2019
The presence of marine litter is a complex, yet persistent, threat to the health and biodiversity of the marine environment, and plastic is the most abundant, and ubiquitous type of marine litter. To monitor the level of plastic waste in an area, and the prospect of it entering the food chain, bioindicator species are used extensively throughout Northern European Seas, however due to their distribution ranges many are not applicable to the Mediterranean Sea. Guidance published for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive suggests that the contents of fish stomachs may be analyzed to determine trends of marine plastic ingestion. In order to equate transnational trends in marine plastic ingest…
Time of emergence of Mediterranean summer maximum temperature.
2016
The time at which the signalof climate change emerges from the noise of natural climate variability is called “time of emergence”. This timeis analyzed here based on summertime mean maximum temperature in the Mediterranean basin for RCP8.5 andRCP4.5 scenarios. This time would be around 2040-50 (2060-70) in the eastern (western) basin. Differencesbetween the optimistic and pessimistic scenarios give a mean shift of around 15 years with the time ofemergence occurring earlier for RCP8.5 scenario.
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…
A Review of the Phytochemistry, Traditional Uses and Biological Activities of the Essential Oils of Genus Teucrium
2020
AbstractThe genus Teucrium is a large and polymorphic genus of the Lamiaceae family distributed in mild climate zones, particularly in the Mediterranean basin and Central Asia. Studies of nonvolatile constituents of Teucrium species showed that they are a rich source of neo-clerodane diterpenoids, considered as chemotaxonomic markers of the genus. In addition to the nonvolatile metabolites, there has been a large interest in the essential oils of this genus. In this review, a complete survey of the chemical composition and biological properties of the essential oils isolated from Teucrium taxa is provided. In traditional medicine, since ancient times, species of this genus have been widely …
Land Snails as a Diet Diversification Proxy during the Early Upper Palaeolithic in Europe
2014
Despite the ubiquity of terrestrial gastropods in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological record, it is still unknown when and how this type of invertebrate resource was incorporated into human diets. In this paper, we report the oldest evidence of land snail exploitation as a food resource in Europe dated to 31.3-26.9 ka yr cal BP from the recently discovered site of Cova de la Barriada (eastern Iberian Peninsula). Mono-specific accumulations of large Iberus alonensis land snails (Ferussac 1821) were found in three different archaeological levels in association with combustion structures, along with lithic and faunal assemblages. Using a new analytical protocol based on taphonomic…
Population genomics of wall lizards reflects the dynamic history of the Mediterranean Basin
2021
AbstractThe Mediterranean Basin has experienced extensive change in geology and climate over the past six million years. Yet, the relative importance of key geological events for the distribution and genetic structure of the Mediterranean fauna remains poorly understood. Here, we use population genomic and phylogenomic analyses to establish the evolutionary history and genetic structure of common wall lizards (Podarcis muralis). This species is particularly informative because, in contrast to other Mediterranean lizards, it is widespread across the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas, and in extra-Mediterranean regions. We found strong support for six major lineages within P. muralis, w…