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showing 10 items of 16993 documents
An Updated Checklist of the Sicilian Native Edible Plants: Preserving the Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Century-Old Agro-Pastoral Landscapes
2020
The traditional use of native wild food plants (NWFP) may represent a valuable supplementary food source for the present and future generations. In Sicily, the use of wild plants in the human diet dates back to very ancient times and still plays an important role in some rural communities. Moreover, in this regard, the natural and cultural inheritance of this island is wealthy and diversified for several reasons. First, Sicily hosts a rich vascular flora, with 3,000 native and 350 endemic plants. Second, due to its central position in the Mediterranean, the island has acted as a veritable melting pot for the ethnobotanical knowledge of the rural communities of the entire basin. We reviewed …
Hyperparasitoids exploit herbivore-induced plant volatiles during host location to assess host quality and non-host identity
2019
Although consumers often rely on chemical information to optimize their foraging strategies, it is poorly understood how top carnivores above the third trophic level find resources in heterogeneous environments. Hyperparasitoids are a common group of organisms in the fourth trophic level that lay their eggs in or on the body of other parasitoid hosts. Such top carnivores use herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) to find caterpillars containing parasitoid host larvae. Hyperparasitoids forage in complex environments where hosts of different quality may be present alongside non-host parasitoid species, each of which can develop in multiple herbivore species. Because both the identity of th…
Whistle variation in Mediterranean common bottlenose dolphin: The role of geographical, anthropogenic, social, and behavioral factors.
2020
Abstract The studies on the variation of acoustic communication in different species have provided insight that genetics, geographic isolation, and adaptation to ecological and social conditions play important roles in the variability of acoustic signals. The dolphin whistles are communication signals that can vary significantly among and within populations. Although it is known that they are influenced by different environmental and social variables, the factors influencing the variation between populations have received scant attention. In the present study, we investigated the factors associated with the acoustic variability in the whistles of common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatu…
Foraging Bumblebees Selectively Attend to Other Types of Bees Based on Their Reward-Predictive Value.
2020
Using social information can be an efficient strategy for learning in a new environment while reducing the risks associated with trial-and-error learning. Whereas social information from conspecifics has long been assumed to be preferentially attended by animals, heterospecifics can also provide relevant information. Because different species may vary in their informative value, using heterospecific social information indiscriminately can be ineffective and even detrimental. Here, we evaluated how selective use of social information might arise at a proximate level in bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) as a result of experience with demonstrators differing in their visual appearance and in thei…
Genetic structure and molecular variability of grapevine fanleaf virus in sicily
2021
Grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV) is one of the main causes of grapevine fanleaf degeneration disease (GFDD) and is present in almost all areas where grapevine is cultivated. In this work, we ascertained the presence and spread of GFLV in different commercial vineyards in four Sicilian provinces (Italy), and its genetic structure and molecular variability were studied. In detail, a total of 617 grapevine samples of 11 autochthonous grapevine cultivars were collected in 20 commercial vineyards. Preliminary screening by serological (DAS-ELISA) and molecular (RT-PCR) analyses for ArMV (arabis mosaic virus) and GFLV detection were conducted. Results obtained showed the absence of ArMV in all the s…
Plot - A new tool for global vegetation analyses
2019
23Biodiversity Conservation Department, ISPRA – Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Rome, Italy
Tracking management-related water quality alterations by phytoplankton assemblages in a tropical reservoir
2015
Water quality improvement and suppression of cyanobacterial blooms were planned in a eutrophic reservoir in southern China through ecological engineering measures from 2006 to 2011. This consisted in (i) a hydraulic resetting of inflows and outflows to increase the distance between inlet and outlet and the water residence time in the reservoir, and in (ii) the installation of floating frames hosting wetland vegetation to promote an alteration in phytoplankton composition. The environmental changes were therefore followed through the analysis of biotic responses in phytoplankton assemblages. Ecological engineering was effective in reducing phytoplankton total biomass, in re-establishing more…
Epigenetic control of phenotypic plasticity in a filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa
2016
AbstractPhenotypic plasticity is the ability of a genotype to produce different phenotypes under different environmental or developmental conditions. Phenotypic plasticity is an ubiquitous feature of living organisms, and is typically based on variable patterns of gene expression. However, the mechanisms by which gene expression is influenced and regulated during plastic responses are poorly understood in most organisms. While modifications to DNA and histone proteins have been implicated as likely candidates for generating and regulating phenotypic plasticity, specific details of each modification and its mode of operation have remained largely unknown. In this study, we investigated how e…
New Clones and Old Varieties: Quality of Sicilian Hillside Apple Cultivation
2021
Aims: The aim of this study is to evaluate the qualitative characteristics of the new clones according to the Mediterranean hillside growing environment and, at the same time, to highlight the qualitative peculiarities of the old varieties in order to avoid genetic loss. Introduction: Several apple varieties are constantly selected for improved quality traits and introduced for cultivation and marketing in addition to a few traditional and affirmed varieties. On the other side, local genotype and ancient varieties are still valorised due to the request of a niche market. Methods: We have studied the physico-chemical quality and the sensory traits of the fruit obtained in this particular en…
Ardeola, a Scientific Journal of Ornithology: Cooperative Survivorship within the Red Queen Game
2016
Editorial.-- et al.