Search results for "areas"
showing 10 items of 579 documents
CURRENT ROOTSTOCK USE AND ROOTSTOCK NEEDS FOR THE FUTURE: SOUTHERN ITALY, SICILY AND ARID MEDITERRANEAN AREAS
2013
Grapevine rootstocks have been an essential component of grape growing for over 150 years as rootstocks can impart desirable characteristics for grapevine growth. This review examined Italian and Sicilian literature on rootstocks, focusing on key issues including updates on needs for the future. Other related issues include the performance of major selection traits associated with salinity, drought, potassium uptake, vegetative growth, grape and wine quality and the propagation of grafted vines. Research on rootstocks started in Italy, and of course in other European Countries, once phylloxera was imported. In Italy, phylloxera was detected in Agrate (north Italy) in August 1879, but it may…
The use of species in plantations: renaturalisation and reforestation in Sicily
2017
Afforestation and reforestation activities in Sicily have been widespread in the last century, in order to increase the forest cover that was seriously reduced in the former centuries. Notwithstanding this, Sicily is still characterized by only the 12% of the regional surface covered by woods and forest. The reforestation in the last century was carried out using conifers and eucalypts, just in order to ensure a quick protection of slopes and pastureland, coping diffuse erosion events, and those intervention had a remarkable success. Nowadays, the target of enlarging the forest areas in the island is still compulsive, but the use of species, considering the actual knowledge and nature consc…
ForBioEnergy - Forest Bioenergy in the Protected Mediterranean Areas
2019
The ForBioEnergy project, funded within the INTERREG MED Programme 2014-2020, involved a Lead Partner (Regional Department for the Rural and Territorial Development, Sicily Region), 8 project partners from 4 Mediterranean countries (Italy, Spain, Slovenia and Croatia) and 4 Associate Partners from Italy (Ente Parco delle Madonie, AIEL, Enviland, Petralia Sottana) and Croatia. It is an innovative project which bets on the chance to favor the sustainable development of the rural areas through the exploitation of the forest biomass for the production of bioenergy. However, most of the Mediterranean forests are within protected areas, where the current regulatory restrictions and the lack of ma…
Project LIFE11 ENV/IT/0002215 ResilForMed - Resilience of Mediterranean Forests to Climate Change
2017
Forest and pre-forest ecosystems of Sicily are characterized by a high structural simplification and fragility, reduced species diversity, high density, pest and diseases that are expected to worsen according to the ongoing anthropogenic climate change. In this work we present the achievements of the project LIFE ResilForMed (Resilience of Mediterranean Forests to climate change), as Sicilian response on adaptation and mitigation to climate change. ResilForMed project is co-funded by the LIFE Initiative (2007-2014) and started June 1st 2012 with an expected conclusion on June 30th 2017. The project consortium involves: (i) the Department of Rural and Land Development of the Sicilian Region,…
A new approach in the monitoring of the phytosanitary conditions of forests: the case of oak and beech stands in the Sicilian Regional Parks.
2016
The objective of this study was to investigate the health conditions of oak and beech stands in the three Regional Parks of Sicily (Etna, Madonie and Nebrodi). A total of 81 sampling areas were investigated, 54 in oak stands and 27 in beech stands. The phytosanitary conditions of each tree within the respective sampling area was expressed with a synthetic index namely phytosanitary class (PC). Oak stands showed severe symptoms of decline, with 85% of the sampling areas including symptomatic trees. In general, beech stands were in better condition, with the exception of Nebrodi Park, where trees showed severe symptoms of decline. On oak trees, infections of fungal pathogens were also observe…
From the sustainable forest management to the short wood-energy supply chain: the experience of the ForBioEnergy project in the Madonie Natural Park
2019
The ForBioEnergy Project (Interreg MED Programme), implemented as part of a partnership between four countries of the MED Area (Italy, Spain, Croatia and Slovenia), assessed the possibility of producing bioenergy using biomass from the sustainable forest management in the protected areas of the Mediterranean. In Italy, the pilot protected area was the Madonie Natural Regional Park (Sicily). After the establishment of the protected area (in 1989), both for socio-economic reasons and for the regime of the constraints introduced, the silvicultural activities were almost completely abandoned. On the one hand, this has made it possible to reduce the excessive exploitation of forest resources and…
SICILY AS THEORETICAL MODEL TO STUDY THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED PLANTS IN A HOTSPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY
2015
In Europe, especially in Italy, different considerations are necessary when potential GMPs are to be grown. In particular high biodiversity areas such as Sicily should have a more detail plans of potential benefits and risks assuring the conservation of biodiversity and endemic species. Sicily is one of the most relevant biodiversity hotspots in the Mediterranean area, with a vascular flora of 3252 species and 321 endemic taxa. Considering the latest IUCN categories and criteria, 401 taxa (12.4% of Sicilian flora) are under threat (categories “CR”, “EN”, “VU”), and 220 more taxa (6.8%) are “Near Threatened”. Sicily is also known to have a rich butterfly and coleopteran fauna including endem…
L'incremento della sostenibilità ambientale attraverso una corretta gestione dell'irrigazione.
2014
Lo scopo di questo lavoro è quello di mettere a punto, a partire dalle informazioni territoriali quali caratteristichemeteorologiche e pedologiche, uno studio capace di valutare la sostenibilità della gestione irrigua in tre ipotetiche parcelle sperimentali individuate nel territorio del sottobacino Iudeo-Bucari (TP). Sitratta di tre vigneti che rappresentano per caratteristiche morfologiche e gestionali l'intero sottobacino, ovvero una delle aree maggiormente vitate della Sicilia. Il fine è valutare la sostenibilità della gestione irrigua in termini di risparmio energetico, attraverso l'applicazione del modello di bilancio idrico FAO 56. Questo tipo di studio pone le basi per la redazione …
Contributo alla conoscenza degli effetti dell'inquinamneto atmosferico su foglie di Eucalyptus camaldulensis ed E. Globulus (Myrtaceae)
2012
Contribution to the knowledge of air pollution effects on Eucalyptus camaldulensis and E. globulus (Myrtaceae) leaves -.This study deals with the metal storage found in Eucalyptus camaldulensis and E. globulus leaf structures. The cytological and chemical analysis were carried out on samples from the city of Agrigento and its surroundings. The investigation pointed out that the the most evident alterations are phenolic storage and distinctive cellular modification. These features appear related to the greater presence of trace elements within the sites that are more exposed to intense vehicular traffic. Winter samples, moreover, have more evident structural modifications due to a bigger con…
ARE MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (MPAs) EFFECTIVE IN PROTECTING FROM INVASIVE SPECIES? THE CASE STUDY OF CAULERPA CYLINDRACEA SONDER (CAULERPALES, CHLOROPH…
2019
The main purpose of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is biodiversity conservation. The effects that invasive species have on MPAs, and vice versa, are still not completely known, even though their assessment is crucial for MPA management and conservation purposes. In this respect, monitoring plans are essential and the involvement of citizen scientists may be fundamental. Our experience of Caulerpa cylindracea Sonder 1845 monitoring within the Egadi Islands MPA highlighted that the alga is widespread within the MPA, mainly at Favignana Island, also threatening valuable habitats such as vermetid reef and coralligenous formations. Moreover, Favignana is the island of the Aegadian archipelago mos…