Search results for "biodiversity."
showing 10 items of 2292 documents
Predicting valuable forest habitats using an indicator species for biodiversity
2020
Intensive management of boreal forests impairs forest biodiversity and species of old-growth forest. Effective measures to support biodiversity require detection of locations valuable for conservation. We applied species distribution models (SDMs) to a species of mature forest, the northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis, goshawk), that is often associated with hotspots of forest biodiversity. We located optimal sites for the goshawk on a landscape scale, assessed their state under intensified logging operations and identified characteristics of goshawks' nesting sites in boreal forests. Optimal sites for the goshawk covered only 3.4% of the boreal landscape and were mostly located outside pro…
Guide de l'agriculture et de la forêt
2018
International audience
Effects of Caulerpa cylindracea on marine biodiversity
2017
The Mediterranean sea is an important hotspot for alien species. Following habitat loss, Invasive Alien Species (IAS) are considered to be amongst the most serious threats to biodiversity and natural ecosystem functioning. Among the IAS recorded in the Mediterranean sea, Caulerpa cylindracea Sonder, introduced from Australia and New Caledonia, has raised serious concern due to its negative impact on native communities. We provide some observations on the effects of the presence of C. cylindracea on the communities living along the coasts of the Island of Favignana (Egadi Islands, Marine Protected Areas).
Natural acidification changes the timing and rate of succession, alters community structure, and increases homogeneity in marine biofouling communiti…
2017
Ocean acidification may have far-reaching consequences for marine community and ecosystem dynamics, but its full impacts remain poorly understood due to the difficulty of manipulating pCO2 at the ecosystem level to mimic realistic fluctuations that occur on a number of different timescales. It is especially unclear how quickly communities at various stages of development respond to intermediate-scale pCO2 change and, if high pCO2 is relieved mid-succession, whether past acidification effects persist, are reversed by alleviation of pCO2 stress, or are worsened by departures from prior high pCO2 conditions to which organisms had acclimatized. Here, we used reciprocal transplant experiments al…
Dal mare al museo. Il recupero di uno scheletro di stenella striata, Stenella coeruleoalba (Meyen 1833)
2022
In 2021, the Museum of Zoology “P. Doderlein” of the University of Palermo acquired a new specimen, the complete skeleton of Stenella coeruleoalba, a striped dolphin stranded in 2018 in Marinella di Selinunte, Castelvetrano (Sicily, Southern Italy). The project herein described is the result of a collaboration among the Bio-Reconstruction Laboratory of the IAS-CNR of Capo Granitola, the IZS of Palermo, the company Naturaliter and the Museum of Zoology “P. Doderlein”. In Natural History Museums, cetaceans are an excellent tool to facilitate scientific dissemination aimed at the conservation of marine biodiversity. The work herein described is presented as an example of good practices in reco…
Global diversity and geography of soil fungi
2014
Fungi play integral roles in soil nutrient cycling, but the determinants of fungal diversity and biogeographic patterns of key functional groups remain poorly understood. By using pyrosequencing data from hundreds of globally distributed soil samples, we demonstrated fungal diversity that expands upon the taxonomic and molecular diversity recorded so far. Except for ectomycorrhizal symbionts, fungal functional group richness was unrelated to plant diversity and plant-to-fungus richness ratio declined exponentially towards the poles. Climatic factors, followed by edaphic and spatial variables, constituted the best predictors of fungal richness and community composition at the global scale. F…
Personality predicts social dominance in female zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, in a feeding context.
2011
6 pages; International audience; Although personality has been defined as a suite of correlated behaviours, most studies of animal personality actually consider correlations between a few traits. We examined the repeatability and correlational structure of five potential personality traits (activity, neophobia, exploratory tendencies, risk-taking behaviour and obstinacy), in female zebra finches. In addition, we assessed to what extent personality influenced social dominance in a feeding context in this gregarious species. All personality traits were found to be highly repeatable within individuals. In addition, except for obstinacy, all of them were related to each other, thus defining a b…
Biopiracy in India: Seed diversity and the scramble for knowledge.
2018
Abstract Background: Biopiracy has usually been discussed mostly in the context of the life sciences, sometimes in dialogue with legal debates or political implications. This paper provides a humanities perspective on contemporary discussions of biopiracy and biopatenting. Hypothesis It proceeds from the hypothesis that contemporary debates and practices of biopiracy can be understood as harking back to colonial legacies, which systematically disregard “native” knowledge or seek to appropriate it for their own purposes. Results Drawing on the work of Vandana Shiva, the present article seeks to redefine the notion of ownership of knowledge from a cultural studies perspective. Exploring the 2…
Differential Effects of Antibiotic Therapy on the Structure and Function of Human Gut Microbiota
2013
The human intestinal microbiota performs many essential functions for the host. Antimicrobial agents, such as antibiotics (AB), are also known to disturb microbial community equilibrium, thereby having an impact on human physiology. While an increasing number of studies investigate the effects of AB usage on changes in human gut microbiota biodiversity, its functional effects are still poorly understood. We performed a follow-up study to explore the effect of ABs with different modes of action on human gut microbiota composition and function. Four individuals were treated with different antibiotics and samples were taken before, during and after the AB course for all of them. Changes in the…
Global change and human vulnerability to vector-borne diseases
2013
This e-book presents a collection of research and review articles related to the spread, control and basic understanding of vector borne diseases all over the world. It is well known that a multidisciplinary point of view is necessary in order to develop a global vision of this emergent problem. Therefore, in order to promote this holistic approach to the knowledge of vector borne diseases, this e-book contains a total of 19 collaborations of entomologists, epidemiologists, virologists, parasitologists, bacteriologists, zoologists and veterinarians of Europe, Africa, Asia, and America. The title perfectly reflects some of the global factors that are behind the emergence and/or reemergence o…