Search results for "QUALITY"
showing 10 items of 8136 documents
The Impact of Climate Change on Lakes in Northern Europe
2009
In Northern Europe, most lakes are characterized by extended periods of winter ice cover, high spring inflow from snow melt and brown water produced by the transport of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from the surrounding catchments. In this chapter, the potential impact of climate change on the dynamics of these lakes is addressed by: (i) Describing the historical responses of the lakes to changes in the weather. (ii) Summarizing the results of modelling studies that quantify the impact of future changes in the climate on the lakes and the surrounding catchments. Many existing water quality problems could well be exacerbated by the effects of climatic change. It is therefore important to as…
Regional and Supra-Regional Coherence in Limnological Variabler
2009
Limnologists and water resources managers have traditionally perceived lakes as discrete geographical entities. This has resulted in a tendency for scientific lake studies to concentrate on lakes as individuals, with little connection either to each other or to large-scale driving forces. Since the 1990s, however, a shift in the prevailing paradigm has occurred, with lakes increasingly being seen as responding to regional, rather than local, driving forces. The seminal work on regional coherence in lake behaviour was that of Magnuson et al. (1990), who showed that many features of lakes within the same region respond coherently to drivers such as climate forcing and catchment processes. Fro…
Environmental Characteristics and Anthropogenic Impact Jointly Modify Aquatic Macrophyte Species Diversity
2018
Species richness and spatial variation in community composition (i.e. beta diversity) are key measures of biodiversity. They are largely determined by natural factors, but also increasingly affected by anthropogenic factors. Thus, there is a need for a clear understanding of the human impact on species richness and beta diversity, the underlying mechanisms, and whether human-induced changes can override natural patterns. Here, we dissect the patterns of species richness, community composition and beta diversity in relation to different environmental factors as well as human impact in one framework: aquatic macrophytes in 66 boreal lakes in Eastern Finland. The lakes had been classified as h…
Update in unified terroir zoning methodologies
2018
International audience; The concept of terroir is based on the assumption that the quality and the typicity of an agricultural product are linked to its origin. The precise definition of an origin requires zoning. Because terroir expression in viticulture is largely driven by interactions between the vine and its natural environment, soil and climate play a key role in terroir zoning. For clarity, soil-based and climate-based zoning are presented separately in this paper. They are, however, ideally carried out simultaneously, because of the existence of multiple interactions between these terroir factors. Prior to the implementation of zoning, the objectives need to be carefully defined. Th…
Effect of Multiple Parasitic Infections on the Tolerance to Pollutant Contamination
2012
8 pages; International audience; The horizontally-transmitted acanthocephalan parasite Polymorphus minutus and the vertically-transmitted microsporidian parasite Dictyocoela roeselum have both been shown to influence on the antitoxic responses of mono-infected Gammarus roeseli exposed to cadmium. The present study investigates the effect of this co-infection on the antitoxic defence responses of naturally infected females exposed to cadmium stress. Our results revealed that, depending on the cadmium dose, bi-infection induced only slight, significant increased cell damage in G. roeseli as compared to non-infection. In addition, the antitoxic defence pattern of cadmium-exposed bi-infected ho…
Osmotrophic glucose and leucine assimilation and its impact on EPA and DHA content in algae
2020
The uptake of dissolved organic compounds, that is, osmotrophy, has been shown to be an efficient nutritional strategy for algae. However, this mode of nutrition may affect the biochemical composition, for example, the fatty acid (FA) contents, of algal cells. This study focused on the osmotrophic assimilation of glucose and leucine by selected seven algal strains belonging to chlorophytes, chrysophytes, cryptophytes, dinoflagellates and euglenoids. Our laboratory experiments with stable isotope labeling showed that osmotrophy occurred in four of the selected seven strains. However, only three of these produced long chain omega-3 FAs eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5ω3) and docosahexaenoic a…
Males do not always switch females when presented with a better reproductive option
2014
8 pages; International audience; Paired individuals are expected to leave their current partner for newly encountered ones of higher quality. In such cases, animals should therefore be able to compare the quality of their current partner to the quality of a new prospective mate next to the couple. We tested this prediction in Gammarus pulex, an amphipod species where paired males have been described to switch females before copulation. Contrary to expectations, a majority of males remained paired to their current female when presented to an unpaired female of higher quality. In fact, males did not seem to compare the quality of the 2 females before switching. They rather based their decisio…
Is mate choice in Drosophila males guided by olfactory or gustatory pheromones ?
2010
International audience; Drosophila melanogaster flies use both olfactory and taste systems to detect sex pheromones and select the most suitable mate for reproduction. In nature, flies often face multiple potential partners and should have an acute sensory ability to discriminate between different pheromonal bouquets. We investigated both the pheromones and the chemosensory neurons influencing Drosophila mate choice. We measured various courtship traits in single tester males simultaneously presented with two target male and/or female flies carrying different pheromonal bouquets (pairs of control flies of the same or different sex, same-sex target pairs of pheromonal variant strains). The c…
Chemical–Physical, sensory analyses and consumers’ quality perception of local vs. imported loquat fruits: a sustainable development perspective
2020
Local products and their distribution through short supply chains play a key role in the sustainable development of many rural areas, as affirmed by the 2030 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Agenda. Moreover, in the last years, more and more consumers have shown a specific interest towards local production, pushed by the need for healthy eating, protecting the environment, and boosting the local economy. However, the cultivation of local fruit varieties or ecotypes has considerably decreased in the last decades because of their low production potential. As a result, many farmers have been forced to replace local orchards with few worldwide grown cultivars, causi…
Effects of Modified Atmosphere Packaging and Chitosan Treatment on Quality and Sensorial Parameters of Minimally Processed cv. ‘Italia’ Table Grapes
2021
Table grape is a non-climacteric fruit, very sensitive to water loss and gray mold during postharvest handling and storage. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of modified atmosphere packaging and chitosan treatment on quality and sensorial parameters of minimally processed cv. ‘Italia’ table grape during cold storage (14 days at 5 °C) and shelf-life (7 and 14 days of cold storage plus 5 days at 20 °C), reproducing a retail sales condition. Our data showed a significant effect of high CO2-modified atmosphere in combination with chitosan and alone on preserving quality, sensorial parameters, and delaying decay of minimally processed table grape. The most effective treatment in t…