Search results for "desert"
showing 10 items of 149 documents
Book Review of The Poetics and Politics of the Desert by Catrin Gersdorf
2010
Book Review of The Poetics and Politics of the Desert by Catrin Gersdorf
A comprehensive RNA-Seq-based gene expression atlas of the summer squash (Cucurbita pepo) provides insights into fruit morphology and ripening mechan…
2021
[EN] Background Summer squash (Cucurbita pepo: Cucurbitaceae) are a popular horticultural crop for which there is insufficient genomic and transcriptomic information. Gene expression atlases are crucial for the identification of genes expressed in different tissues at various plant developmental stages. Here, we present the first comprehensive gene expression atlas for a summer squash cultivar, including transcripts obtained from seeds, shoots, leaf stem, young and developed leaves, male and female flowers, fruits of seven developmental stages, as well as primary and lateral roots. Results In total, 27,868 genes and 2352 novel transcripts were annotated from these 16 tissues, with over 18,0…
Microanalytical methods for in-situ high-resolution analysis of rock varnish at the micrometer to nanometer scale
2015
Abstract A wide range of analytical techniques were used to investigate rock varnish from different locations (Negev, Israel; Knersvlakte, South Africa; Death Valley and Mojave Desert, California): a 200 nm-femtosecond laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (LA-ICP-MS), an electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA), focused ion beam (FIB) slicing, and scanning transmission X-ray microscopy–near edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (STXM–NEXAFS). This combination enables comprehensive high-spatial-resolution analysis of rock varnish. Femtosecond LA-ICP-MS and EPMA were used for quantitative determination of element concentrations. In-situ measurements were conducte…
Brewer's spent grains as biofuels in combustion-based energy recovery processes: Evaluation of thermo-oxidative decomposition
2022
[EN] The high global generation of wastes and side streams from agri-food production has led to environmental impact and causes nature degradation due to their uncontrolled management. These wastes are profitable materials with significant economic value that could otherwise be exploited as new sources in the feed industry or the production of bioenergy. Among them, brewer¿s spent grain (BSG) is a solid by-product generated in the beerbrewing process that consists of the barley grain husks together with parts of the pericarp and seed coat layer. Although it is rich in fibres and proteins, its main use is currently limited to animal feed or simply deposition to landfills. This study pursues …
PROGETTO LIFE11 ENV IT 215 RESILFORMED - RESILIENZA AL CAMBIAMENTO CLIMATICO NELLE FORESTE MEDITERRANEE
2013
Le condizioni climatiche delle regioni mediterranee, caratterizzate da frequenti annate siccitose, contribuiscono all’indebolimento degli ecosistemi forestali. Come risultato le foreste riducono le loro capacità produttive e sono più soggette a fenomeni di degrado secondario. Inoltre i contesti economico-sociali possono acuire il degrado con la diffusione di uno scorretto uso della risorsa (tagli boschivi, pascolamento) e con la diffusione degli incendi boschivi. L’obiettivo generale del progetto è preservare i sistemi forestali in ambiente mediterraneo dai rischi derivanti dai cambiamenti climatici, tramite processi di naturalizzazione, aumento di biodiversità e migliorata reattività, nei …
Assessing land condition as a first step to achieving land degradation neutrality : A case study of the Republic of Srpska
2018
Abstract Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) is a key voluntary and aspirational target of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15 which urges countries to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. A first and critical important step in the implementation of LDN is assessing the current land condition using not only active restoration of degraded land, but also targeting land degradation drivers behind the land degradation process. In a first step to achieve these goals, countries were provided a global dataset for three sub-indicators of land degra…
Connecting the data landscape of long-term ecological studies: the SPI-Birds data hub
2021
The integration and synthesis of the data in different areas of science is drastically slowed and hindered by a lack of standards and networking programmes. Long-term studies of individually marked animals are not an exception. These studies are especially important as instrumental for understanding evolutionary and eco-logical processes in the wild. Furthermore, their number and global distribution provides a unique opportunity to assess the generality of patterns and to address broad-scale global issues (e.g. climate change).
Bacterial diversity in soils vulnerable to desertification
2019
Introduction Mediterranean soils are experiencing increasingly negative effects of climate change due to drought and extreme weather phenomena that negatively affect agriculture, already suffering social and economic constraints. The soil microbiota is recognized as key player in both diversity and productivity of terrestrial ecosystems and it is mandatory to include its role in sustainable agronomic management. The LIFE Project DESERT-ADAPT - Preparing desertification areas for increased climate change - (http://www.desert-adapt.it/) focuses on agricultural adaptation measures aimed at reverting ongoing desertification trends (while improving the socioeconomic conditions of farmers). In or…
Consumer Demand for Environmental, Social, and Ethical Information in Fishery and Aquaculture Product Labels
2022
[EN] Customers' attention to sustainability labels in fishery and aquaculture products (FAPs) has been increasing in the last decades, and the industry has adapted to this growing interest by adopting fish ecolabels. However, there is a growing interest to widen the sustainability concept to include the social and ethical information of the fishery and aquaculture industry and to go further from the voluntary approach on the labeling of these aspects in FAPs. For this reason, using data from 2021 Eurobarometer and using machine learning techniques, we disentangle the characteristics of the FAP buyers that consider the importance of environmental impact, ethical, and social information appea…
Sensitivity to desertification risk of Sicilian forests
2017
Sicilian forests can be considered at high decay risk because of more and more frequent wildfires and, even more, because of climate change effects, like floods, draught, heat waves, snow and wind storms. They are worrying processes, contributing at making ecosystems weaker and intensifying the potential desertification risk in Sicily, one of the most threatened of Italian regions by this form of soil degradation. The most effective approach to mitigate the effects of the climate change has been developed through the following action: cartographic identification, on a regional and landscape scale, of the forest areas subject to desertification risk.