Search results for "conservation."

Energy and speleogenesis: Key determinants of terrestrial species richness in caves

2017

Abstract The aim of this study was to unravel the relative role played by speleogenesis (i.e., the process in which a cave is formed), landscape‐scale variables, and geophysical factors in the determination of species richness in caves. Biological inventories from 21 caves located in the southeastern Iberian Peninsula along with partial least square (PLS) regression analysis were used to assess the relative importance of the different explanatory variables. The caves were grouped according to the similarity in their species composition; the effect that spatial distance could have on similarity was also studied using correlation between matrices. The energy and speleogenesis of caves account…

Density Decline in a Mediterranean Seahorse Population: Natural Fluctuations or New Emerging Threats?

2021

Illegal wildlife trade is considered one of the most serious threats to biodiversity worldwide, along with habitat loss/degradation and overfishing of wild stocks. Seahorses are considered at high risk as these fish represent an important component of traditional Chinese medicine but are also sold as curios and ornamental fish. On a worldwide level, illegal trade is controlled by numerous laws and regulations, but it seems to continue by assuming more dynamic routes. In the Mediterranean Sea, Hippocampus guttulatus formed one of the largest populations at Mar Piccolo di Taranto in South-Eastern Italy. During the routine monitoring of this population in 2016, a dramatic density decrease was …

The dynamics of Italian competitive positioning in the Mediterranean Bluefin tuna industry

2020

The bluefin tuna or Thunnus thynnus is one of the widely recognised fish species since ancient times. Italy is the most important players in the international arena, however, the introduction of a system of total allowable catches and other measures established by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, has deeply changed the competitive positioning of Italy. The aim of this study is to perform an analysis of the comparative advantage of Italy by using the relative trade advantage index. Findings reveal that Italy has gained a competitive advantage in the Maltese market and has suffered a loss of the historical competitive advantage in the Japanese one. Results …

Improving soil and water conservation and ecosystem services by sustainable soil management practices: From a global to an Italian soil partnership

2020

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) identify the need to restore degraded soils in order to improve productivity and the provision of ecosystem services. The aim is to support food production, store and supply clean water, conserve biodiversity, sequester carbon, and improve soil resilience in a context of climate change. Within this framework, in order to achieve the SDGs and to correct land management in the long-term, soil management is considered mandatory. The reduction of land degradation should be based on various sustainable soil management practices that improve and maintain soil organic matter levels, increase water infiltration, and improve soil water management. This tec…

Droplet digital PCR as a tool for investigating dynamics of cryptic symbionts

2021

Abstract Interactions among symbiotic organisms and their hosts are major drivers of ecological and evolutionary processes. Monitoring the infection patterns among natural populations and identifying factors affecting these interactions are critical for understanding symbiont–host relationships. However, many of these interactions remain understudied since the knowledge about the symbiont species is lacking, which hinders the development of appropriate tools. In this study, we developed a digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) assay based on apicomplexan COX1 gene to detect an undescribed agamococcidian symbiont. We show that the method gives precise and reproducible results and enables detecting cryp…

Les animaux dans les rites funéraires au deuxième Âge du Fer

2004

Aquatic Macrophytes Occurrence in Mediterranean Farm Ponds: Preliminary Investigations in North-Western Sicily (Italy)

2021

Mediterranean wetlands are severely affected by habitat degradation and related loss of biodiversity. In this scenario, the wide number of artificial farm ponds can play a significant role in the biodiversity conservation of aquatic flora. In the present contribution we show the preliminary results of a study on Mediterranean farm ponds of north-western Sicily (Italy), aimed to investigating the environmental factors linked to the occurrence of submerged macrophytes (vascular plants and charophytes). We studied the aquatic flora of 30 ponds and determined the chemical and isotopic composition of their water bodies on a subset of the most representative 10 sites. Results show that (1) farm p…

Adopting sustainable irrigation technologies in Italy: a study on the determinants of inter- and intra-farm diffusion

2023

This paper analyses the drivers for adopting irrigation systems with water conservation and saving technologies (WCSTs) by Italian farmers. The agricultural sector in Italy, like in other Mediterranean countries, suffers from water scarcity and water endowment variability. Water resources play a decisive role in agricultural production and in implementing large-scale WCSTs capable of improving the resilience of the whole agricultural sector. This study uses a microeconomic panel data approach to estimate farmers' decisions in adopting (inter-farm) sustainable irrigation technologies and assesses the intensity of (intra-farm) water-saving practices. Our analysis identifies the main determina…

Return of the Apex Predator : How Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) Re-Establishment Shapes an Ecosystem

2021

Re-establishment of a declined apex predator fish species in a lake ecosystem may have dramatic effects on other fish and plankton community already inhabiting the ecosystem. We studied mechanistically potential impacts of re-establishment of the brown trout (Salmo trutta) in the west-central European Lake Constance focusing on two commercially important fish species: whitefish and Eurasian perch. We compared simulation model outputs from two versions of an allometric trophic network model for Lake Constance, one with and one without the trout as the apex predator. The re-establishment of the declined brown trout reduced the perch population directly by predation and indirectly by increased…

The toughest animals of the Earth versus global warming: Effects of long-term experimental warming on tardigrade community structure of a temperate d…

2021

Abstract Understanding how different taxa respond to global warming is essential for predicting future changes and elaborating strategies to buffer them. Tardigrades are well known for their ability to survive environmental stressors, such as drying and freezing, by undergoing cryptobiosis and rapidly recovering their metabolic function after stressors cease. Determining the extent to which animals that undergo cryptobiosis are affected by environmental warming will help to understand the real magnitude climate change will have on these organisms. Here, we report on the responses of tardigrades within a five‐year‐long, field‐based artificial warming experiment, which consisted of 12 open‐to…