Search results for "RICH"
showing 10 items of 3360 documents
A comparison of the structure of helminth communities in the woodmouse, Apodemus sylvaticus, on islands of the western Mediterranean and continental …
2003
We investigated the pattern of helminth species diversity in woodmouse, Apodemus sylvaticus, on western Mediterranean islands. We first performed a survey of the helminth fauna of A. sylvaticus in Sicily. Despite the small sampling effort, parasite species richness in Sicily is large in comparison with parasite species richness on other Mediterranean islands. We tested the nestedness of helminth parasite species from a number of Mediterranean localities using data compiled from epidemiological surveys of the helminth species of A. sylvaticus. We showed a nested pattern for woodmouse helminth species on western Mediterranean islands which suggests that the distribution of parasites on these …
A new species of Empruthotrema (Monogenea: Monocotylidae) from Pteromylaeus bovinus (Myliobatidae) from the Western Mediterranean.
2010
Empruthotrema chisholmae n. sp. is described from specimens recovered from a bull ray Pteromylaeus bovinus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817) at the Oceanogràfic Aquarium in Valencia, Spain. The bull ray was caught in the Spanish Mediterranean (Puerto de Mazarrón, Murcia). The new species resembles 4 others of the same genus ( Empruthotrema dasyatidis Whittington and Kearn, 1992, Empruthotrema kearni Whittington, 1990, Empruthotrema stenophallus Chisholm and Whittington, 2005, and Empruthotrema tasmaniensis Chisholm and Whittington, 1999) in having a haptor with 13 marginal loculi, the posteriormost loculus single and medial. The new species can be distinguished from these other species of the …
Saproxylic beetle assemblages of three managed oak woodlands in the Eastern Mediterranean
2008
Oak woodlands belong to the natural vegetation in most Mediterranean regions but have suffered from a long history of woodland devastation and overgrazing. The remaining woodlands have been managed in different ways, and we expected this to have effects on the fauna associated with trees. We investigated three different sites in the Eastern Mediterranean with flight-interception traps to analyse the impact of woodland management on dead wood and tree structures and the relevance for saproxylic beetle assemblages. Our results show significant differences in trunk diameter, stein density and dead wood diversity between the three sites. Old oaks in semi-open woodland are characterised by diver…
Fire disturbance disrupts co-occurrence patterns of terrestrial vertebrates in Mediterranean woodlands
2006
Aim This paper uses null model analysis to explore the pattern of species co-occurrence of terrestrial vertebrate fauna in fire-prone, mixed evergreen oak woodlands. Location The Erico–Quercion ilicis of the Mediterranean belt (50–800 m a.s.l.) in the Madonie mountain range, a regional park in northern Sicily (37°50′ N, 14°05′ E), Italy. Methods The stratified sampling of vertebrates in a secondary succession of recent burned areas (BA, 1–2 years old), intermediate burned areas (INT, 4–10 years old) and ancient burned areas (CNB, > 50 years old), plus forest fragments left within burned areas (FF, 1–2 years old) permitted the comparison of patterns of species co-occurrence using a set of…
Gull-derived trace elements trigger small-scale contamination in a remote Mediterranean nature reserve
2013
The role of a yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) small colony in conveying trace elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, THg, V, Zn) was assessed in a Mediterranean nature reserve (Marinello ponds) at various spatial and temporal scales. Trace element concentrations in guano were high and seasonally variable. In contrast, contamination in the ponds was not influenced by season but showed strong spatial variability among ponds, according to the different guano input. Biogenic enrichment factor B confirmed the role of gulls in the release of trace elements through guano subsidies. In addition, comparing trace element pond concentrations to the US NOAA’s SQGs, As, Cu and Ni showed contamination …
Evaluating anthropogenic impacts on naturally stressed ecosystems: Revisiting river classifications and biomonitoring metrics along salinity gradients
2019
Naturally stressed ecosystems hold a unique fraction of biodiversity. However, they have been largely ignored in biomonitoring and conservation programmes, such as the EU Water Framework Directive, while global change pressures are threatening their singular values. Here we present a framework to classify and evaluate the ecological quality of naturally stressed rivers along a water salinity gradient. We gathered datasets, including aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages and environmental information, for 243 river locations across the western Mediterranean to: a) gauge the role of natural stressors (salinity) in driving aquatic community richness and composition; b) make river classificatio…
Meiofauna as indicator for assessing the impact of fish farming at exposed marine site
2012
This study aimed to detect the impact of organic loads due to biodeposition from a fish farm in an exposed area of the Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea. Sediment chemistry and meiofaunal assemblages were investigated on a seasonal basis at four stations: two from the impacted area and two control stations. The presence of the cages induced a significant accumulation of proteins, lipids and biopolymeric carbon, resulting in a reduction in meiofaunal density at the impacted stations. Changes in community structure were also evident, as meiofauna under the cages were characterized by increased importance of polychaetes and copepods in comparison with a much lower importance of gastrotrichs …
Two Rare Northern Entoloma Species Observed in Sicily under Exceptionally Cold Weather Conditions
2011
The biology and ecology of manyEntolomaspecies is still poorly known as well as their geographical distribution. In Italy, there are no studies on the influence of weather on fungal abundance and richness and our knowledge on the ecology and distribution ofEntolomaspecies needs to be improved. The discovery of twoEntolomaspecies in Sicily (southern Italy), reported in the literature as belonging to the habitat of north European countries, was the basis leading to the assumption that anomalous climatic conditions could stimulate the growth of northern entolomas in the southernmost Mediterranean regions. The results of this study show that the presence of northernEntolomaspecies in Sicily is …
The water mites (Acari: Hydrachnidia) of the standing waters of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily: review and new data
2014
A compilation of our present knowledge of the water mites (Acari: Hydrachnidia) adapted to life in standing waters on the three large islands in the western Mediterranean (Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily) is provided. In addition to published data, this study deals with a rich volume of new material from recent field work, mostly deriving from intermittent ponds and pools, an extremely poorly investigated yet peculiar habitat type in the Mediterranean area. Species richness of water mites reported for the standing waters of the three islands amounts to 91 species. Out of the 47 species for which we present new distributional data, Hydrachna incisa Halbert, 1903, Hydrachna leegei Koenike, 1895,…
Annual variation of parasite communities of deep-sea macrourid fishes from the western Mediterranean Sea and their relationship with fish diet and hi…
2015
16 pages, 8 figures, 8 tables