Search results for "groecosystems"
showing 10 items of 13 documents
Nitrogen cycling microbial communities: from diversity to interactions and functions
2019
Soil microorganisms form one of the largest biodiversity reservoirs on earth. They also play essential roles in ecosystem functions such as biogeochemical cycling. However, the importance of microbial community diversity and composition for ecosystem functioning is still debated. A sound understanding of the ecological processes governing the assembly of these communities in the environment is also missing. In this talk, I will give examples of how we addressed these knowledge gaps using nitrogen cycling microorganisms as model functional guilds. Nitrogen is the most limiting nutrient for crop production in agriculture. The nitrogen cycle is also one which was pushed by human activities out…
NEW RECORDS OF SPRINGTAILS (COLLEMBOLA) FROM SICILY, ITALY
2022
Along with some studies on soil fauna in various Sicilian sites, both agricultural lands and typical Mediterranean habitats, particular attention was paid to the Collembolan. Specific identification allowed to assess the occurrence in Sicily of 39 species not previously recorded, belonging to 10 families: Hypogastruridae (six species), Brachystomellidae (one species), Neanuridae (five species), Onychiuridae (three species), Tullbergiidae (seven species), Isotomidae (nine species), Entomobryidae (three species), Cyphoderidae (one species), Dicyrtomidae (one species), and Katiannidae (one species). Of these 39 species, 21 are new also for Italy. Furthermore, this is the first record of the ge…
The alien vascular flora of Linosa (Pelagie Islands, Strait of Sicily): update and management proposals
2017
This paper provides an up-to-date overview of the naturalized alien plants of Linosa (Pelagie Archipelago, Sicily), which includes 83 taxa and accounts for 29 % of the total island's flora. Among these plants, 6 are invasive, 49 are naturalized and 28 are casual. With respect to previous available data, our field investigations resulted in the addition of 31 new xenophytes (21 casual and 10 fully naturalized). One of these species is new to the whole European territory (Kleinia anteuphorbia), 6 of them are new to Sicily and 11 are recorded for the first time on circum-Sicilian islets. For each alien plant, we indicate the habitat where the naturalization has been observed by using the codes…
The green granary of the Empire? Insights into olive agroforestry in Sicily (Italy) from the Roman past and the present
2023
Groves with ancient olive trees (Olea europaea L.) could be considered remnants of old agroforestry systems. Anything but static, these agro-ecosystems have undergone drastic transformational processes in Mediterranean countries, where abandonment or intensification have been observed far more than continuity, expansion or renaissance, leading to environmental degradation of rural areas. Starting from this assumption and inspired by historical ecology and historical geography, we consider centuries-old olive trees as living archives of human-nature interactions and are thus proxies of past agroforestry. Our aim is to better understand what has driven dynamics of change and persistence, happ…
Mitigation of N2O emissions in agroecosystems: the role of N2O-reducers
2016
CT3 ; EnjS4 ; Département EA; Mitigation of N2O emissions in agroecosystems: the role of N2O-reducers. 16. International Symposium on Microbial Ecology - ISME16
Historical Landscape Ecology of the Favorita Park in Palermo (Sicily)
2021
Historical Landscape Ecology of the Favorita Park in Palermo
Agroecosystems shape population genetic structure of the greenhouse whitefly in Northern and Southern Europe
2014
International audience; Background: To predict further invasions of pests it is important to understand what factors contribute to the genetic structure of their populations. Cosmopolitan pest species are ideal for studying how different agroecosystems affect population genetic structure within a species at different climatic extremes. We undertook the first population genetic study of the greenhouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum), a cosmopolitan invasive herbivore, and examined the genetic structure of this species in Northern and Southern Europe. In Finland, cold temperatures limit whiteflies to greenhouses and prevent them from overwintering in nature, and in Greece, milder tempera…
The wild taxa utilized as vegetables in Sicily (Italy): a traditional component of the Mediterranean diet
2018
Background: Wild vegetables in the Mediterranean Basin are still often consumed as a part of the diet and, in particular, there is a great tradition regarding their use in Sicily.In this study, an ethnobotanical field investigation was carried out to (a) identify the wild native taxa traditionally gathered and consumed as vegetables in Sicily, comparing the collected ethnobotanical data with those of other countries that have nominated the Mediterranean diet for inclusion in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and (b) highlight new culinary uses of these plants.Methods: Interviews were carried out in 187 towns and villages in Sicily between 2005 an…
L-band vegetation optical depth seasonal metrics for crop yield assessment
2018
Attenuation of surface microwave emission due to the overlying vegetation is proportional to the density of the canopy and to its water content. The vegetation optical depth (VOD) parameter measures this attenuation. VOD could be a valuable source of information on agroecosystems, especially at lower frequencies for which greater portion of the vegetation canopy contributes to the observed brightness temperature. In the past, visible-infrared indices have been used to provide yield estimates based on measuring the photosynthetic activity from the surface canopy layer. These indices are affected by clouds and apply only in the presence of solar illumination. In this study we instead use the …
Transgenerational effects of insecticides - implications for rapid pest evolution in agroecosystems
2018
Although pesticides are a major selective force in driving the evolution of insect pests, the evolutionary processes that give rise to insecticide resistance remain poorly understood. Insecticide resistance has been widely observed to increase with frequent and intense insecticide exposure, but can be lost following the relaxation of insecticide use. One possible but rarely explored explanation is that insecticide resistance may be associated with epigenetic modifications, which influence the patterning of gene expression without changing underlying DNA sequence. Epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation, histone modifications, and small RNAs have been observed to be heritable in art…