Search results for "TLE"

A bark beetle infestation predictive model based on satellite data in the frame of decision support system TANABBO

2020

The European spruce bark beetle Ips typographus L. causes significant economic losses in managed coniferous forests in Central and Northern Europe. New infestations either occur in previously undisturbed forest stands (i.e., spot initiation) or depend on proximity to previous years’ infestations (i.e., spot spreading). Early identification of newly infested trees over the forested landscape limits the effective control measures. Accurate forecasting of the spread of bark beetle infestation is crucial to plan efficient sanitation felling of infested trees and prevent further propagation of beetle-induced tree mortality. We created a predictive model of subsequent year spot initiation and spo…

Fire benefits flower beetles in a Mediterranean ecosystem

2018

Despite the abundance of plants that benefit from fire in Mediterranean ecosystems, little is known about the possible presence of fire-favoured insects (other than bark beetles). For two years we sampled invertebrates after two large wildfires in eastern Spain and demonstrate that two flower beetle species, Protaetia morio and P. oblonga (Cetoniidae), show a pyrophilous behaviour. These beetles were much more numerous after the fires than in unburnt plots around the fire perimeter; in addition, these species tended to increase in number with the distance from the fire perimeter and with fire recurrence, especially P. morio. These results were maintained for the two postfire years sampled. …

Parasitic outbreak of the copepod Balaenophilus manatorum in neonate loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from a head-starting program

2017

Abstract Background Diseases associated to external parasitosis are scarcely reported in sea turtles. During the last decades several organism have been documented as a part of normal epibiont community connected to sea turtles. The copepod Balaenophilus manatorum has been cited as a part of epibiont fauna with some concern about its parasitic capacity. This study serves three purposes, i.e. (i) it sheds light on the type of life style that B. manatorum has developed with its hosts, particularly turtles; (ii) it makes a cautionary note of the potential health risks associated with B. manatorum in sea turtles under captivity conditions and in the wild, and (iii) it provides data on effective…

Helminth communities of loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) from Central and Western Mediterranean Sea: the importance of host's ontogeny.

2009

We investigated the factors providing structure to the helminth communities of 182 loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta, collected in 6 localities from Central and Western Mediterranean. Fifteen helminth taxa (10 digeneans, 4 nematodes and 1 acanthocephalan) were identified, of which 12 were specialist to marine turtles; very low numbers of immature individuals of 3 species typical from fish or cetaceans were also found. These observations confirm the hypothesis that phylogenetic factors restrict community composition to helminth species specific to marine turtles. There were significant community dissimilarities between turtles from different localities, the overall pattern being compat…

Sporadic nesting reveals long distance colonisation in the philopatric loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta)

2018

The colonisation of new suitable habitats is crucial for species survival at evolutionary scale under changing environmental conditions. However, colonisation potential may be limited by philopatry that facilitates exploiting successful habitats across generations. We examine the mechanisms of long distance dispersal of the philopatric loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) by analysing 40 sporadic nesting events in the western Mediterranean. The analysis of a fragment of the mitochondrial DNA and 7 microsatellites of 121 samples from 18 of these nesting events revealed that these nests were colonising events associated with juveniles from distant populations feeding in nearby foraging gro…

Assessing geographical variation on whistle acoustic structure of three Mediterranean populations of common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)

2017

Whistles are acoustic signals produced particularly during social interactions. Here, we compare whistles by bottlenose dolphins from three Mediterranean areas (Croatia, Sicily and Sardinia) to investigate the presence of acoustic divergence and to discuss the possible causes of variability. Whistle parameters differ significantly between populations, but PCA highlights that the majority of variability is due to a limited number of frequency parameters. Cluster and DFA show that the Croatian population is acoustically divergent from the western populations of Sicily and Sardinia. This divergence could be consistent with geographical isolation, and a possible genetic differentiation between …

2021

Many phytophagous insects harbor symbiotic bacteria that can be transmitted vertically from parents to offspring, or acquired horizontally from unrelated hosts or the environment. In the latter case, plants are a potential route for symbiont transfer and can thus foster a tripartite interaction between microbe, insect, and plant. Here, we focus on two bacterial symbionts of the darkling beetle Lagria villosa that belong to the genus Burkholderia; the culturable strain B. gladioli Lv-StA and the reduced-genome strain Burkholderia Lv-StB. The strains can be transmitted vertically and confer protection to the beetle’s eggs, but Lv-StA can also proliferate in plants, and both symbiont strains h…

Chasing phthalates in tissues of marine turtles from the Mediterranean sea

2018

Tissues from thirteen specimens of marine turtles, one Dermochelys coriacea and twelve Caretta caretta, found dead along the Sicilian coasts in 2016 were analyzed for the presence of phthalates. Four phthalates (DEP, DBP, BBP, and DEHP) were found at different significant concentrations in liver and gonads, while only DBP was found in muscle tissues and at a fourfold lower concentration than other phthalates in Dermochelys coriacea. No traces of DEP were detected in C. caretta tissues where DOTP was also revealed. The presence of phthalates in fat tissue in specimens of C. caretta showed a major prevalence of the most lipophilic phthalates DEHP and DOTP. The total concentration of all analy…

Transcriptome and proteome analysis of Pinctada margaritifera calcifying mantle and shell: focus on biomineralization

2010

Abstract Background The shell of the pearl-producing bivalve Pinctada margaritifera is composed of an organic cell-free matrix that plays a key role in the dynamic process of biologically-controlled biomineralization. In order to increase genomic resources and identify shell matrix proteins implicated in biomineralization in P. margaritifera, high-throughput Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) pyrosequencing was undertaken on the calcifying mantle, combined with a proteomic analysis of the shell. Results We report the functional analysis of 276 738 sequences, leading to the constitution of an unprecedented catalog of 82 P. margaritifera biomineralization-related mantle protein sequences. Component…

Survey on the presence of non-dioxine-like PCBs (NDL-PCBs) in loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) stranded in south Mediterranean coasts (Sicily, So…

2017

A total of 71 loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) stranded along the coasts of Sicily (Southern Italy) were examined for non-dioxine like polychlorinated biphenyl (NDL-PCB) levels in muscle and adipose tissue by a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) method. The results revealed 6 high-indicator congener (∑6 PCBIND ) levels in 45% of the loggerhead turtles examined, with mean values of 980.39 ± 2508.39 ng/g wet weight in adipose tissue and 102.53 ± 238.58 ng/g wet weight in muscle tissue. The hexachloro and heptachloro PCB congeners were the most abundant in both the sample types. The highest NDL-PCB levels were reached in an adipose tissue sample of a loggerhe…