Search results for "Wild"

Characterization and hypericins content in some Hypericum species from Sicily

2014

Different species belonging to the genus Hypericum are distributed into many environments of Sicily, where they represent an important component of wild Sicilian flora (Giardina et al., 2007). Among these, H. perforatum (St John’s Wort) is certainly the most common and famous; its floral parts are largely and traditionally used as a folk herbal remedy for treatment of wounds and burns, and considered an important raw matter for pharmaceutical industry due to their acknowledged antidepressant and sedative properties. Although it is not completely clear yet which compounds are responsible for the biological activity of Hypericum, the European Pharmacopoeia takes as a reference index for evalu…

Habitat area and local habitat conditions outweigh fragmentation effects on insect communities in vineyards

2022

Fragmentation of habitat, for example by intensive agricultural practices, can be detrimental to local biodiversity. However, it often remains unclear whether such biodiversity declines are caused by loss of habitat area or increased fragmentation, and how habitat quality factors into it. In our study system, vegetated vineyards are typically small, and isolated from one another, potentially limiting the distribution and dispersal of organisms. In a full-factorial experiment of a priori selected vegetated vineyard patches of differing size and fragmentation, we aimed to disentangle the effects of habitat area (area of vegetated vineyards), habitat fragmentation (number of vegetated vineyard…

L'Estetica della Natura nel Trascendentalismo americano

La tesi ricostruisce la visione estetica dei padri del Trascendentalismo americano, Ralph Waldo Emerson ed Henry David Thoreau. L'analisi è incentrata sull'esperienza estetica della natura, intesa come via privilegiata di cui l'uomo dispone per la conoscenza di se stesso, attraverso "lo splendido labirinto delle percezioni" e delle forme naturali. La ricerca analizza i tre saggi principali sulla natura di Emerson, redatti in un periodo che va dal 1836 al 1844, e il capolavoro di Thoreau, Walden del 1854, che declina la ricerca del maestro Emerson in modo originale, concentrandosi sulla nozione di selvaggio.

Quando Gilgameš taglia i “cedri”. Gli alberi nell’immaginario mitologico mesopotamico

2021

In the Sumerian and Akkadian mythological literature, the ruler of the city of Uruk, Gilgameš, uproots and/or cuts down trees on several occasions: the ḫalub-tree (mahaleb cherry) linked to the goddess Inanna and the eren (juniper)/erēnu (cedar) trees of the Forest guarded by Ḫuwawa. These trees should be understood as elements of a wider "wilderness", with which they share a powerful and ambiguous ontological otherness, as opposed to the city and the country of Sumer. In order to become useful, this otherness must be conducted in the city and subject to processes of organization. This article illustrates the symbolic implications of the uprooting, cutting down and subsequent transport of t…

Effects of forest fires on flood frequency curves in a Mediterranean catchment

2005

The effect of land-use change on the flood frequency curve (FFC) in a natural catchment is analysed. To achieve this, a simple methodology for the derivation of FFCs in land-use change scenarios is proposed. The adopted methodology, using a stochastic model in Monte Carlo simulation of FFCs, was found to provide a useful framework for detecting changes in flood magnitudes in both pre- and post-fire conditions. In particular, the importance of the antecedent soil moisture condition in the determination of the flood frequency distribution was analysed. The analysis of FFCs for pre- and post-fire conditions shows an increase in the average value of Curve Number and a decrease in the catchment …

Wildflowers: opportunities for urban landscapes

2022

The concept of “sustainability” is also becoming of great interest in the management of ornamental and territorial greenery. The new trends in the design of green spaces are aimed both at enhancing their “natural” aspects and at researching schemes characterized by lower maintenance costs. Spontaneous vegetation represents a characteristic component of the urban environment and is always adequate to the conditions of the site in which it is located. In this context, the role of spontaneous herbaceous plants becomes fundamental and constitutes an effective response to the current demand for the defence, conservation and enhancement of biodiversity. So far, the use of spontaneous vegetation f…

Accumulation and effects of Cd, Pb and Zn in blackbirds (Turdus merula) along a heavy metal pollution gradient.

2009

Data from the study: Strong temporal dynamics of ecosystem services through succession

2021

We used a nation-wide forest dataset from the Swedish National Forest Inventory (NFI) and the Survey of Forest Soils and Vegetation, covering an area of 400,000 km2 of production forests. The inventory uses a regular sampling grid with a randomly selected starting point covering the whole country, with each tract being surveyed once every 5 years. The tracts, which are rectangular in shape and are of different dimensions in different parts of the country, consists of 8 (in the north) to 4 (in the south) circular sample plots. The circular plots have different radii (5-20 meters) to ensure that the variables recorded characterize the ongoing forest dynamics and management. We used only plots…

The AQP2 mutation V71M causesnephrogenic diabetes insipidus in humans but does not impair the function of a bacterial homolog

2015

Graphical abstract

Low-level environmental metal pollution is associated with altered gut microbiota of a wild rodent, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus)

2021

Mining and related industries are a major source of metal pollution. In contrast to the well-studied effects of ex-posure to metals on animal physiology and health, the impacts of environmental metal pollution on the gut mi-crobiota of wild animals are virtually unknown. As the gut microbiota is a key component of host health, it is important to understand whether metal pollution can alter wild animal gut microbiota composition. Using a combination of 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and quantification of metal levels in kidneys, we assessed whether multi-metal exposure (the sum of normalized levels of fifteen metals) was associated with changes in gut microbiota of wild bank voles (Myodes glar…