Search results for "VEST"
showing 10 items of 3496 documents
Selection on fish personality differs between a no-take marine reserve and fished areas
2021
9 pages, 2 tables, 3 figures.-- This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
Atlantic cod recovery from the Allee effect zone : contrasting ecological and evolutionary rescue
2020
The ability of a population to recover from disturbances is fundamental for its persistence. Impaired population recovery might be associated with a demographic Allee effect. Immigration from adjacent populations could accelerate the recovery not only by promoting population growth beyond the Allee effect threshold but also by bringing in advantageous genotypes. We explore the nature and role of ecological and evolutionary rescue in an Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua Gadidae) population fished below its Allee effect threshold. We utilize an eco-evolutionary model and simulate scenarios, where the target population evolves in response to selective fishing and sample immigrants from (a) a source p…
Key Economic Characteristics of Italian Trawl Fisheries and Management Challenges
2017
Two key measures of economic performance are calculated and analyzed for three important Italian trawl fisheries (Northern Thyrrenian Sea, South of Sicily, Northern Adriatic Sea): the Net Economic Returns (NER), which informs on the economic performance and is considered a proxy of resource rent in fisheries and the Return on Fixed Tangible Assets (ROFTA), which is used as an approximation of the Return on Investment (ROI) and is a key financial and performance indicator for a fisherman in order to take a decision to operate in a fishery. The trend of these indicators over the last decade highlights a poor economic performance that is associated with an overall poor condition of the state o…
Record of a 10-year old European Wildcat Felis silvestris silvestris Schreber, 1777 (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) from Mt. Etna, Sicily, Italy
2020
Longevity data for wild felids are lacking in the literature. Here we report a camera trap recapture of a European Wildcat Felis silvestris at Mt. Etna in Sicily, Italy after nine years. This individual was clearly identifiable as its tail ended with a white ring rather than the typical black ring and had a unique shape of the dorsal stripe. At first capture on 26 May 2009, this cat was assessed as an adult, so that the likely minimum age of this individual at the time of recapture on 10 June 2018 must have been be at least 10 years. This finding represents the oldest known European Wildcat in the wild and provides insight into age structure in wildcat populations.
Could male tergal secretions be considered as a nuptial gift in the Madeira cockroach?
2008
International audience; Many male insects provide somatic nuptial gifts that may strongly influence reproductive fitness, ensuring effective copulation or mediating paternal resource benefits in offspring. Although the courtship feeding behaviour on tergal gland secretions has been described in numerous cockroaches, studies on the function of these so-called nuptial gifts are lacking in this group. In this study, we examined, in the Madeira cockroach, Leucophaea maderae, the functional significance of tergal secretions by manipulating their availability on the back of males. We tested whether male tergal secretions function as a form of mating effort, and/or as a form of paternal investment…
Effects of local forest continuity on the diversity of fungi on standing dead pines
2018
Human-induced fragmentation affects forest continuity, i.e. availability of a suitable habitat for the target species over a time period. The dependence of wood-inhabiting fungi on landscape level continuity has been well demonstrated, but the importance of local continuity has remained controversial. In this study, we explored the effects of local forest continuity (microhabitat and stand level) on the diversity of wood-inhabiting fungi on standing dead trunks of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). We studied species richness and community composition of decomposers and Micarea lichens on 70 trunks in 14 forests in central Finland that differed in their state of continuity. We used dendrochr…
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…
Food Quality, Sensory Attributes and Nutraceutical Value of Fresh “Osteen” Mango Fruit Grown under Mediterranean Subtropical Climate Compared to Impo…
2020
Mango is a fruit with a very short shelf-life due to its rapid ripeness after harvest
Testing soil water repellency in a Sicilian area two years after a fire
2019
The water drop penetration time (WDPT) technique was applied in 2018 to check persistence of soil water repellency (SWR) in a Sicilian mountain area affected by a wildfire on June 2016. A total of four sites, that were severely water repellent immediately after burning, were sampled. Depending on the site, wettable soil conditions, less SWR and maintenance of a noticeable SWR were detected two years later. At the site showing a near-constant SWR, WDPTs were particularly high in the top soil layer (0-0.03 m) and they appreciably decreased more in depth. Signs of decreasing SWR in drier soil conditions and in association with coarser soil particles were also detected at this site. High gradie…
Energy harvesting using piezoelectric transducers for suspension systems
2020
Abstract Energy harvesting by using functional materials in suspension systems bear potential to win-back certain (even if low) amounts of vibrational energy, otherwise dissipated via the conventional (passive) dampers. Piezoelectric (PE) ceramics are functional materials that can be used for transforming mechanical energy into electrical and vice versa. In this paper, we study the capabilities and efficiency of energy harvesting (EH) with PE transducers under two different kinds of external excitation: i) Periodic and ii) stochastic. An appropriate nonlinear lumped parameter electromechanical model (LPEM) is brought into the two-port network notation. Laboratory experiments were conducted …