Search results for "conservation"
showing 10 items of 2328 documents
A multi-input, single-inductor power system for multisource energy harvesting
2013
Today, energy harvesting is drawing a great deal of attention due to modern trends in energy saving and sustainable development purposes. Among renewable energy sources fuel cells and photovoltaic arrays are the most promising for a wide variety of applications, ranging from few mWatts of wireless sensor networks to kWatts for household appliances. Coupling several harvesters and renewable sources is the winning strategy to ensure a proper supply overcoming the uncertainty and limited availability of common harvesters and renewable sources. Multisource energy harvesting is actually an open research topic involving several pressing and often conflicting requirements. System cost, complexity,…
Assessment of the Sabellaria alveolata reefs’ structural features along the Southern coast of Sicily (Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea)
2022
The honeycomb worm Sabellaria alveolata is a gregarious tube-dwelling polychaete that builds remarkable biogenic reefs in marine coastal waters. Sabellaria alveolata reefs are considered valuable marine habitats requiring protection measures for their conservation, as they play a key role in the functioning of coastal ecosystems. Sabellarid reefs are extensively developed along the Atlantic coasts of Europe and reported for the Mediterranean Sea and the Italian coasts, where large reefs have been recorded in several localities. Fragmentary information is available on their health status, Sabellaria reefs thus being listed as “Data Deficient” in the Red List of Marine Habitats. To fill this …
Integrated studies for the enhancement of complex historic monuments
2013
Il contributo propone una lettura integrata di dati storici riversati su rilievo a laser scanning di architetture complesse (casi della Cattedrale e della Torre Pisana nel Palazzo Reale di Palermo) al fine di costituire una banca-dati che possa gestire una grande massa di informazioni da utilizzare per finalità turistico-culturali o per progettare interventi di restauro.
Biotic homogenization of forest bird communities under human influence
2018
Human actions impact biodiversity worldwide. Specialist species are particularly sensitive to environmental degradation whereas generalists may even benefit from habitat changes. As a consequence, specialists are declining while generalists are increasing and, therefore, communities become more similar. This phenomenon is known as biotic homogenization. In boreal forests logging and forest management is the most important factor changing the native habitat. In this thesis I studied if human actions are homogenizing boreal forest bird communities. I further studied if protected areas can maintain their diversity and, thus, prevent homogenization. Through the individual studies, biodiversity …
Effect of 30 years of road traffic abandonment on epiphytic moss diversity
2014
Road traffic emits a cocktail of pollutants that can influence the vegetation and plant diversity in neighboring areas. However, the recovery potential of bryophytes after traffic abandonment is still little explored. In addition, the effects of the main pollutants of road verges, such as metals and salinity, on moss flora need to be investigated. In our study, we compared the moss richness and diversity in two closely related veteran tree allees of high conservation importance. The allees in Gryżów and Lubrza, Poland, were chosen because of their similarity in age, geographical location, type of surrounding areas, and tree species. The only difference was that the trees in Gryżów had not b…
Effect of Land-Use Change on the Changes in Human Lyme Risk in the United States
2022
The spatial extent and incidence of Lyme disease is increasing in the United States, particularly in the Upper Midwest and Northeast. Many previous studies have explored the drivers of its spatial pattern, however, few studies tried to explore the drivers for the changes of Lyme disease. We here compared the spatial patterns of changes of human Lyme cases and incidence in the Northeast and Upper Midwest between 2003–2005 and 2015–2017, and applied two different approaches (i.e., a statistical regularization approach and model averaging) to investigate the climatic and landscape factors affecting the risk change between the two periods. Our results suggested that changes in land-use variable…
Hallazgo de una población de Quickella arenaria (Potiez & Michaud, 1835) (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Succineidae) en Castilla-La Mancha (España)
2017
Troballa d’una població de Quickella arenaria (Potiez & Michaud, 1835) (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Succineidae) a Castella-la Manxa (Espanya) Després de l’estudi d’un gran nombre de surgències a la província de Conca (Espanya) es comunica la troballa, per primera vegada a Castella-la Manxa, del gasteròpode succineid Quickella arenaria, poc conegut a Espanya. A més a més s’assenyalen les amenaces que suporta la població al lloc on viu i se’n proposa la conservació.
The “Sicilian Plant Germplasm Repository” of the University of Palermo: 25 years of activity in biological conservation
2018
The “Sicilian Plant Germplasm Repository” was created in 1993 from the Department of Botanical Sciences of the University of Palermo (SGCR/PA) – today section of Botany and Plant Ecology of the Department “STEBICEF” - with the aim to preserve the genetic diversity of endemic or endangered native plants, species of economical relevance and wild progenitors of plant cultivars. The collections are mostly constituted by seeds, and were recently expanded with tissues and DNA accessions. The specific tasks of SPGR/PA include the short- and long-term ex situ conservation and exchange of seeds, the recovery of the phytogenetic heritage, the reintroduction of threatened or endangered species into th…
Pre- and Postnatal Predator Cues Shape Offspring Anti-predatory Behavior Similarly in the Bank Vole
2021
Prey animals can assess the risks predators present in different ways. For example, direct cues produced by predators can be used, but also signals produced by prey conspecifics that have engaged in non-lethal predator-prey interactions. These non-lethal interactions can thereby affect the physiology, behavior, and survival of prey individuals, and may affect offspring performance through maternal effects. We investigated how timing of exposure to predation-related cues during early development affects offspring behavior after weaning. Females in the laboratory were exposed during pregnancy or lactation to one of three odor treatments: (1) predator odor (PO) originating from their most comm…
Exposure to Chemical Cues from Predator-Exposed Conspecifics Increases Reproduction in a Wild Rodent
2018
Abstract Predation involves more than just predators consuming prey. Indirect effects, such as fear responses caused by predator presence, can have consequences for prey life history. Laboratory experiments have shown that some rodents can recognize fear in conspecifics via alarm pheromones. Individuals exposed to alarm pheromones can exhibit behavioural alterations that are similar to those displayed by predator-exposed individuals. Yet the ecological and evolutionary significance of alarm pheromones in wild mammals remains unclear. We investigated how alarm pheromones affect the behaviour and fitness of wild bank voles (Myodes glareolus) in outdoor enclosures. Specifically, we compared th…