Search results for "feature"

The role of vineyards in the carbon balance throughout Italy

2015

A common belief is that agricultural fields cannot be net carbon sinks, but perennial tree crops, growing a permanent woody structure with a life cycle of decades could act as carbon sink. Vineyards are good candidates to test this hypothesis, because they are often grown with limited soil cultivation and produce plenty of woody pruning material that can be left on the ground. Three Eddy Covariance sites were established in different vineyards, along a north-south transect, in Italy, to study the role of vine cultivation in the carbon balance of the Italian penisula. The year 2009 was chosen as a reference year for the three sites, in order to compare carbon budget estimates in areas charac…

Use of Biocides for the Control of Fungal Outbreaks in Subterranean Environments: The Case of the Lascaux Cave in France

2012

The Lascaux Cave in France suffered an outbreak of the fungus Fusarium solani in 2001. Biocides were applied for three years to control this outbreak. Four months after the initial biocide application, a new outbreak appeared in the form of black stains that progressively invaded the cave. The black stains on the ceiling and passage banks were so evident by 2007 that they became one of the caves major problems. Therefore, biocides were used again in 2008. The present study investigated the fungal communities associated with the black stains and the effectiveness of the biocides applied, by using cloning, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, and culture-dependent methods. A novel species…

Hot spots, indicator taxa, complementarity and optimal networks of taiga

2000

If hot spots for different taxa coincide, priority-setting surveys in a region could be carried out more cheaply by focusing on indicator taxa. Several previous studies show that hot spots of different taxa rarely coincide. However, in tropical areas indicator taxa may be used in selecting complementary networks to represent biodiversity as a whole. We studied beetles (Coleoptera), Heteroptera, polypores or bracket fungi (Polyporaceae) and vascular plants of old growth boreal taiga forests. Optimal networks for Heteroptera maximized the high overall species richness of beetles and vascular plants, but these networks were least favourable options for polypores. Polypores are an important gro…

Dust inputs and bacteria influence dissolved organic matter in clear alpine lakes.

2011

6 páginas, 4 figuras.

Storage and release of fossil organic carbon related to weathering of sedimentary rocks

2007

International audience; The biogeochemical carbon cycle, which plays an undeniable role in global climate change, is defined both by the size of carbon reservoirs (such as the atmosphere, biomass, soil and bedrock) and the exchange between them of various mineral and organic carbon forms. Among these carbon forms, fossil organic carbon (FOC) (i.e., the ancient organic matter stored in sedimentary rocks) is widely observed in modern environments but is not included in the supergene carbon budget. Using a digitized map of the world and an existing model of CO2 consumption associated with rock weathering, we establish the global distribution of FOC stored in the first meter of sedimentary rock…

Possible impacts of volcanic ash emissions of Mount Etna on the primary productivity in the oligotrophic Mediterranean Sea: Results from nutrient-rel…

2013

Atmospheric deposition of volcanic ash has recently been recognized as an important nutrient source into the surface ocean. Mount Etna (Italy), one of the world's most active volcanoes, is located in the oligotrophic Mediterranean Sea (MedSea). Despite the active volcanism on Mount Etna, the biogeochemical impacts of volcanic ash fallouts on the marine primary productivity (MPP) remain largely unknown. Here we present the results of seawater nutrient release experiments with volcanic ash samples from Mount Etna that have been collected during different eruptive episodes between 2001 and 2007. Our results show that volcanic ash from Mount Etna releases significant amounts of fixed-N (35-855 …

Spatial distribution of N-cycling microbial communities showed complex patterns in constructed wetland sediments.

2013

International audience; Constructed wetlands are used for biological treatment of wastewater from agricultural lands carrying pollutants such as nitrates. Nitrogen removal in wetlands occurs from direct assimilation by plants and through microbial nitrification and denitrification. We investigated the spatial distribution of N-cycling microbial communities and genes involved in nitrification and denitrification in constructed wetland sediments receiving irrigation water. We used quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) to characterize microbial communities. Geostatistical variance analysis was used to relate them with vegetation cover and biogeochemical sediment properties. The spatial distributio…

2016

Rivers carry large amounts of dissolved organic matter (DOM) to the oceans thereby connecting terrestrial and marine element cycles. Photo-degradation in conjunction with microbial turnover is considered a major pathway by which terrigenous DOM is decomposed. To reveal globally relevant patterns behind this process, we performed photo-degradation experiments and year-long bio-assays on DOM from ten of the largest world rivers that collectively account for more than one-third of the fresh water discharge to the global ocean. We furthermore tested the hypothesis that the terrigenous component in deep ocean DOM may be far higher than biomarker studies suggest, because of the selective photoche…

Comparing modified biological monitoring working party score system and several biological indices based on macroinvertebrates for water-quality asse…

2005

Abstract Macroinvertebrate communities from the lower Nysa Klodzka River catchment, southern Poland, were analyzed seasonally, in order to assess changes in their composition and structure, in relation to water quality. Two major groups of sites, differing in both morphological structure and taxonomical composition by cluster analysis, were identified within the catchment area. Wider and deeper sites, located along the Nysa Klodzka River, were associated with the dominance of Chironomidae. Sites assigned along tributaries were characterized by a diversified structure of dominant taxa, including Oligochaeta, Hirudinea, Crustacea, Trichoptera, Ephemeroptera and Diptera. The performance of the…

Array CGH defined interstitial deletion on chromosome 14: a new case

2009

Interstitial deletions of the long arm of chromosome 14 are relatively rare. We report a 8.5-year-old girl with dysmorphic facial features and mental retardation associated with a de novo interstitial deletion of chromosome 14. The comparison between our patient and all published patients is reviewed. The genetic investigations have allowed us to define the critical chromosomal region and to start an accurate follow-up.