Search results for "conservation"
showing 10 items of 2328 documents
Hybridization and competition between the endangered sea marigold (Calendula maritima, Asteraceae) and a more common congener
2013
Occurrences of hybridization between the rare, endangered Sicilian endemic, Calendula maritima, and other congeners in the wild have been suspected by several authors, but never demonstrated. In San Cusumano (Trapani), one of the only three Sicilian mainland populations, C. maritima occurs in close proximity to the more common congener C. suffruticosa subsp. fulgida, and individuals morphologically intermediate between the two taxa have been observed. In order to determine whether hybridization is occurring at this site, and, if so, begin to assess the impact it could have on C. maritima, two independent tests of hybridity were conducted by studying (1) the pollen morphology and viability a…
Responses of soil decomposer animals to wood-ash fertilisation and burning in a coniferous forest stand
2000
Abstract Responses of soil decomposer animals (enchytraeids and microarthropods) to wood-ash fertilisation (1000 and 5000 kg ha−1) and a fire treatment mimicking prescribed burning were studied in a Scots pine stand in central Finland. The experiment was conducted on 30 × 30 m2 plots, each treatment being replicated four times. Soil animals were sampled throughout the growing season in the third year after the treatments. As a rule, numbers of soil animals increased during the study period. Numbers of the only enchytraeid worm species found at the study site, Cognettia sphagnetorum, were lower in the plots with higher ash level and plots which have been burned. In the plots having these tre…
Relationships between economic profitability and habitat quality of Siberian jay in uneven-aged Norway spruce forest
2012
Abstract In the southern and central parts of Finland, Siberian jay (Perisoreus infaustus) lives in large non-fragmented spruce-dominated forests. Due to the reduction of such forests, Siberian jay has disappeared from the southern parts of Finland. This study analyzed continuous-cover uneven-aged forest management as a way to maintain Siberian jay habitats simultaneously with timber production. Continuous cover management is able to provide the necessary spatial and temporal continuity of forest features important to the viability of Siberian jay populations. The study analyzed the relationship between habitat quality of Siberian jay and profitability of uneven-aged management of Norway sp…
Parental investment asymmetries of a globally endangered scavenger: unravelling the role of gender, weather conditions and stage of the nesting cycle
2019
Capsule: In Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus, both sexes invested similar parental effort throughout the breeding period. However, there was variation in the degree of intensity of parental ...
Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of Jaws (MRONJ) Prevention and Diagnosis: Italian Consensus Update 2020
2020
The Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of Jaws (MRONJ) diagnosis process and its prevention play a role of great and rising importance, not only on the Quality of Life (QoL) of patients, but also on the decision-making process by the majority of dentists and oral surgeons involved in MRONJ prevention (primary and secondary). The present paper reports the update of the conclusions from the Consensus Conference—held at the Symposium of the Italian Society of Oral Pathology and Medicine (SIPMO) (20 October 2018, Ancona, Italy)—after the newest recommendations (2020) on MRONJ were published by two scientific societies (Italian Societies of Maxillofacial Surgery and Oral Pathology and Medicine, SI…
New distributional data on Haemogregarina stepanowi (Apicomplexa) and Placobdella costata (Hirudinea) parasitising the Sicilian pond turtle Emys trin…
2022
The host-parasite system "Emys trinacris - Placobdella costata - Haemogregarina stepanowi"is known for Sicily, but scarce information is available to date about the distribution of the two parasites P. costata and H. stepanowi on the island. Therefore, an extensive sampling effort through visual census and collection and analysis of blood smears of the endemic Sicilian pond turtle E. trinacris was carried out in 46 water bodies scattered throughout mainland Sicily. Our findings revealed that the distribution of both parasites is limited to the Nebrodi area, where the infection of H. stepanowi has shown a high incidence on the local turtle populations. Our data suggest no correlation between…
Fast Green’s Function Method for Ultrafast Electron-Boson Dynamics
2020
The interaction of electrons with quantized phonons and photons underlies the ultrafast dynamics of systems ranging from molecules to solids, and it gives rise to a plethora of physical phenomena experimentally accessible using time-resolved techniques. Green's function methods offer an invaluable interpretation tool since scattering mechanisms of growing complexity can be selectively incorporated in the theory. Currently, however, real-time Green's function simulations are either prohibitively expensive due to the cubic scaling with the propagation time or do neglect the feedback of electrons on the bosons, thus violating energy conservation. We put forward a computationally efficient Gree…
Bryophyte diversity in the gypsum outcrops of Sicily (Italy)
2020
Abstract: A study on the bryophyte diversity of 12 Sicilian gypsum outcrops, falling in 4 Nature Reserves and 5 Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), is presented in order to increase knowledge about this peculiar flora for which conservation efforts need to be addressed. The bryoflora consists of a total of 85 taxa, 8 liverworts and 77 mosses, most of them belonging to the Pottiaceae family and characterized by xero-morphological adaptations. The bio-ecological analysis has emphasized the prevalence of xerophytic and basiphytic species with life form turf and life strategy colonist. Regarding the gypsicolous character, only one species, Tortula revolvens, behaves as a strict gypso- phyte, a…
Farmland abandonment in Europe: Identification of drivers and indicators, and development of a composite indicator of risk
2015
Accounting for more than half of the European Union's (EU) territory, agriculture ensures food production, manages important natural resources and supports socio-economic development of rural areas. Moreover, it is estimated that 50% of all plant and animal species (including some of that are listed in the EU Habitat Directive) depend on agricultural practices. The continuation of appropriate agricultural land management is essential to ensure these primary functions. Avoidance of farmland abandonment is therefore an important rationale for the EU's Common Agricultural Policy which requires improved knowledge of this phenomenon at the European level. This study assesses the risk of farmland…
Eco-efficiency assessment of olive farms in Andalusia
2012
Abstract Olive farming represents an important source of income and employment in the rural areas of Andalusia (Spain), which is the most important olive oil-producing region in the world. Unfortunately, it also exerts significant environmental pressures with regard to soil erosion, use of polluting inputs, excessive water consumption and biodiversity reduction. This paper uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) techniques and pressure distance functions to contribute a farm-level assessment of the eco-efficiency of a sample of 292 Andalusian olive farmers. We distinguish between managerial eco-efficiency and program eco-efficiency, the latter being associated to the different natural conditio…