Search results for "Row"
showing 10 items of 9311 documents
Innovative alternative technologies to extract carotenoids from microalgae and seaweeds
2016
Marine microalgae and seaweeds (microalgae) represent a sustainable source of various bioactive natural carotenoids, including β-carotene, lutein, astaxanthin, zeaxanthin, violaxanthin and fucoxanthin. Recently, the large-scale production of carotenoids from algal sources has gained significant interest with respect to commercial and industrial applications for health, nutrition, and cosmetic applications. Although conventional processing technologies, based on solvent extraction, offer a simple approach to isolating carotenoids, they suffer several, inherent limitations, including low efficiency (extraction yield), selectivity (purity), high solvent consumption, and long treatment times, w…
Rays hamper intrusive growth of vessel elements
2021
Key message In some circumstances vessel elements, both broad and narrow, enlarge only symplastically in tangential direction. Rays play a special role in regulating intrusive enlargement of vessel elements. Abstract The aim of this study was to analyse relations occurring between vessel elements and surrounding cells, i.e. susceptibility to separation of walls of cells occurring in the vicinity of vessel elements, with regard to their type—cells of the axial/radial system. On the basis of separation/lack of separation of cell walls, and thus change in cell contacts/lack of change in cell contacts, we have estimated the contribution of particular types of growth—intrusive and symplastic—in …
Living and Dead Aboveground Biomass in Mediterranean Forests: Evidence of Old-Growth Traits in a Quercus pubescens Willd. s.l. Stand
2017
For a long time, human impact has deeply simplified most of the forest ecosystems of the Mediterranean Basin. Here, forests have seldom had the chance to naturally develop a complex and multilayered structure, to host large and old trees and rich biological communities, approaching old-growth conditions. Also for this reason, limited information is currently available about Mediterranean old-growth forests, particularly with regard to deadwood. The main aim of this work is to help fill this critical knowledge gap. In Sicily (Italy), we identified a Quercus pubescens forest that seemed to show some typical old-growth features. Total living volume (360 m3 ha−1) and basal area (34 m2 ha−1) wer…
Nicodemia madagascariensis(Lam.) R. Parker (Family Scrophulariaceae), a casual alien plant new to Italy
2016
In this note the authors report the first case of naturalization of the Malagasy smoke bush within Italian territory. Along with a description of the abiotic and biotic characteristics of the invaded site, the current demographic and dynamic trends of the detected population by means of growth-ring analysis was also assessed. Moreover, an overview on the history of its introduction in Europe is provided, underlining the key role played by the Mediterranean cities with respect to the acclimatization and spread of alien tropical and subtropical plants. Due to its low frequency under cultivation, the Malagasy smoke bush should not behave as an invader in the future; on the other hand, its abil…
Fish functional traits are affected by hydrodynamics at small spatial scale
2016
The Mediterranean damselfish Chromis chromis is a species with a broad distribution found both in the Mediterranean Sea and Eastern Atlantic as far south as the coast of Angola. We hypothesized that the species may have significant functional morphological plasticity to adapt along a gradient of environmental conditions. It is a non-migratory zooplanktivorous species and spends the daytime searching for food in the middle of the water column. Therefore, local hydrodynamics could be one of the environmental factors affecting traits of C. chromis with repercussions at the population level. We compared the body condition, individual growth and body shapes of damselfish collected under two diff…
Differences in the growth cycle ofRuppia cirrhosa(Petagna) Grande in a Mediterranean shallow system
2014
Ruppia cirrhosa growth cycle was analysed in a southern Mediterranean shallow system throughout 1 year. We examined the temporal variation in R. cirrhosa cover percentage, shoot density, biomass, leaf length, no. flowers m-2 and no. fruits m-2 in two groups of pond characterized by differences in some environmental parameters. Ponds were comparable for salinity and temperature but they differed for other environmental parameters such as water depth, level of suspended organic matter and chlorophyll a (CHL a). Biological parameter values were higher in B ponds, characterized by lower values of water depth, suspended organic matter and CHL a. A seasonal trend for all considered biological par…
Pomegranate Cultivation in Mediterranean Climate: Plant Adaptation and Fruit Quality of ‘Mollar de Elche’ and ‘Wonderful’ Cultivars
2021
Two pomegranate cultivars, Mollar de Elche, native to Spain, and Wonderful, the most widely cultivated pomegranate variety in the world, were studied in a commercial orchard in Sicily, and their phenological behavior was compared. During the development of the fruit, their dimensional growth was monitored, and after harvest, physicochemical and sensory analyses were carried out to highlight the differences between fruit of the two cultivars. Results showed that Mollar de Elche fruit require less time from flowering to fruit maturity, resulting in an earlier harvest, which was due also to a higher relative growth rate of the fruit&rsquo
Spatial variations in Ba/Cashell fingerprints of Glycymeris pilosa along the eastern Adriatic Sea
2020
Abstract The long living Glycymeris pilosa bivalve is an interesting target species for the sclerochronological research in the Mediterranean Sea. In this study, Ba/Cashell and Mg/Cashell variations were studied along the coast of the eastern Adriatic Sea. Specimens were collected alive by SCUBA and skin diving during several occasions in 2014, 2015 and 2016 from five sites including Pag, Pasman Channel, Cetina, Živogosce and Drace. Element-to-Cashell ratios were measured by LA-ICP-MS in line scan mode in three specimens of each site, ranging in age from 7 to 21. In addition, chemical analysis was conducted on three ontogenetically older specimens (68-97 years-old) from Drace. Mg/Cashell an…
Reproductive phenology of submerged macrophytes: A tracker of year‐to‐year environmental variations
2019
AIMS: Phenological shifts are useful trackers of climate change effects on species and communities, but few datasets focus on the climate‐driven phenological responses of aquatic ecosystem vegetation. We aimed to analyse the reproductive seasonality of a submerged macrophyte community, the synchrony among coexisting species, and their responses to several environmental factors. LOCATION: A Mediterranean coastal pond in Valencia, Spain. METHODS: We analysed three years of data on a submerged macrophyte community. Plants were collected biweekly or monthly (57 collection dates) to quantify the intensity of flowering/fruiting per species. The reproductive seasonality of the community was tested…
The critical period of weed control in faba bean and chickpea in Mediterranean areas
2013
Weeds are often the major biological constraint to growing legume crops successfully, and an understanding of the critical period of weed control (CPWC) is important for developing environmentally sustainable weed management practices to prevent unacceptable yield loss. Therefore, we carried out two field experiments to identify the CPWC for two grain legume crops traditionally grown in Mediterranean areas: chickpea and faba bean. The experiments were conducted at two sites both located in the Sicilian inland (Italy). In chickpea, when weeds were left to compete with the crop for the whole cycle, the grain yield reduction was on average about 85% of the weed-free yield, whereas in faba bean…