Search results for "mediterranean"
showing 10 items of 3196 documents
Halfway up the trophic chain: development of parasite communities in the sparid fish Boops boops
2007
SUMMARYWe examined the patterns of composition and structure of parasite communities in the Mediterranean sparid fish Boops boops along a gradient of fish sizes, using a large sample from a single population. We tested the hypothesis that species forming the core of the bogue parasite fauna (i.e. species which have a wide geographical range and are responsible for recognizable community structure) appear early in the fish ontogeny. The sequential community development observed supported the prediction that core species appear in the fish population earlier than rare and stochastic species. There was also a strong correlation between the order of ‘arrival’ of the species and their overall pr…
New insights into the neolithisation process in southwest Europe according to spatial density analysis from calibrated radiocarbon dates
2017
The agricultural way of life spreads throughout Europe via two main routes: the Danube corridor and the Mediterranean basin. Current archaeological literature describes the arrival to the Western Mediterranean as a rapid process which involves both demic and cultural models, and in this regard, the dispersal movement has been investigated using mathematical models, where the key factors are time and space. In this work, we have created a compilation of all available radiocarbon dates for the whole of Iberia, in order to draw a chronological series of maps to illustrate temporal and spatial patterns in the neolithisation process. The maps were prepared by calculating the calibrated 14C date …
Allium kyrenium (Amaryllidaceae), a new species from Northern Cyprus.
2015
Allium kyrenium, a new species of Allium sect. Codonoprasum, is described and illustrated from northern Cyprus. It is a very circumscribed geophyte growing on the calcareous cliffs of the Kyrenia range. This diploid species, with a somatic chromosome number 2n = 16, shows close morphological relationships with A. stamineum, a species complex distributed in the eastern Mediterranean area. Its morphology, karyology, leaf anatomy, ecology, conservation status and taxonomical relationships with the allied species belonging to the A. stamineum group are examined.
A mitochondrial phylogeography of Brachidontes variabilis (Bivalvia: Mytilidae) reveals three cryptic species
2007
This study examined genetic variation across the range of Brachidontes variabilis to produce a molecular phylogeography. Neighbour joining (NJ), minimum evolution (ME) and maximum parsimony (MP) trees based on partial mitochondrial DNA sequences of 16S-rDNA and cytochrome oxidase (COI) genes revealed three monophyletic clades: (1) Brachidontes pharaonis s.l. from the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea; (2) B. variabilis from the Indian Ocean; (3) B. variabilis from the western Pacific Ocean. Although the three clades have never been differentiated by malacologists employing conventional morphological keys, they should be ascribed to the taxonomic rank of species. The nucleotide divergences b…
Evenness, biodiversity, and ecosystem function of intertidal communities along the Italian coasts: Experimental short-term response to ambient and ex…
2023
Biodiversity can promote ecosystem functioning in both terrestrial and marine environments, emphasizing the neces- sity ofbiodiversity conservation in order to preserve critical ecosystem functions and associated services. However, the role of biodiversity in buffering ecosystem functioning under extreme events caused by climate change remains a major scientific issue, especially for intertidal systems experiencing stressors from both terrestrial and marine drivers. We performed a regional-scale field experiment along the Italian coast to investigate the response of unmanipulated intertidal communities (by using a natural biodiversity gradient) to low tide aerial exposure to both ambient an…
La utilización de marfil de cachalote en el Calcolítico de Portugal
2013
Scientific analysis were undertaken within a research project concerning ivory objects from the Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age of the Iberian Peninsula. In several of the analyses of objects from Portuguese Estremadura, especially V-perforated buttons, we could detect for the first time the presence of sperm whale ivory. This highlights the advantage and necessity of scientific analysis of ivory. It also clearly demonstrates that not all ivory used was ivory from African or Asian elephants, but we also did find ivory from the extinct Elephas antiquus, the hippopotamus and in this case sperm-whale. Thus, already in the Chalcolithic the raw material provenience was highly diverse, which in …
Following the Phoenician example: western Mediterranean colonization by <em>Spirobranchus</em> cf. <em>tetraceros</em> (Annel…
2020
A newly established population of the fouling polychaete Spirobranchus cf. tetraceros is reported from the western Mediterranean (Valencia Port). Despite previous intensive surveys, this is the first record for the taxon in the Iberian Peninsula. Molecular analyses revealed that S. cf. tetraceros from Valencia are genetically identical to specimens from Heraklion, Crete, but different from those collected in the Red Sea and S. tetraceros sensu stricto from the type locality in Australia. Mediterranean and Red Sea S. cf. tetraceros form a well-supported monophyletic clade but are clearly distinct from New South Wales specimens of S. tetraceros. Our new molecular evidence supports the hypothe…
Effectiveness of carbon isotopic signature for estimating soil erosion and deposition rates in Sicilian vineyards
2015
Abstract Traditional methods for measurement of soil erosion provide information on erosion rates and mechanisms but fail to determine the spatial distribution of sediment redistribution. Recent studies have used carbon (C) stable isotopes to trace sediment and to monitor soil organic carbon (SOC) redistribution. The difference in δ 13 C values in a slope-transect or in a watershed provides information about the source of suspended organic matter and sediment removal and deposition, but miss enough information to quantify sediment loss. The objective of this research was to develop a method to estimate soil erosion using the natural discrimination of δ 13 C-SOC with soil depth, comparing δ …
Effects of ocean acidification on embryonic respiration and development of a temperate wrasse living along a natural CO2 gradient
2016
Volcanic CO2 seeps provide opportunities to investigate the effects of ocean acidification on organisms in the wild. To understand the influence of increasing CO2 concentrations on the metabolic rate (oxygen consumption) and the development of ocellated wrasse early life stages, we ran two field experiments, collecting embryos from nesting sites with different partial pressures of CO2 [pCO2; ambient (400 µatm) and high (800-1000 µatm)] and reciprocally transplanting embryos from ambient- to high-CO2 sites for 30 h. Ocellated wrasse offspring brooded in different CO2 conditions had similar responses, but after transplanting portions of nests to the high-CO2 site, embryos from parents that sp…
Mediterranean Diet and Physical Activity Decrease the Initiation of Cardiovascular Drug Use in High Cardiovascular Risk Individuals: A Cohort Study
2021
Our aim was to assess whether long-term adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) were associated with a lower initiation of cardiovascular drug use. We studied the association between cumulative average of MedDiet adherence and LTPA and the risk of cardiovascular drug initiation in older adults at high cardiovascular risk (PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea trial participants) non-medicated at baseline: glucose-lowering drugs (n = 4437), antihypertensives (n = 2145), statins (n = 3977), fibrates (n = 6391), antiplatelets (n = 5760), vitamin K antagonists (n = 6877), antianginal drugs (n = 6837), and cardiac glycosides (n = 6954). One-point increas…