Search results for "mediterranean"
showing 10 items of 3196 documents
Impact of Land Cover Change Induced by a Fire Event on the Surface Energy Fluxes Derived from Remote Sensing
2015
Forest fires affect the natural cycle of the vegetation, and the structure and functioning of ecosystems. As a consequence of defoliation and vegetation mortality, surface energy flux patterns can suffer variations. Remote sensing techniques together with surface energy balance modeling offer the opportunity to explore these changes. In this paper we focus on a Mediterranean forest ecosystem. A fire event occurred in 2001 in Almodovar del Pinar (Spain) affecting a pine and shrub area. A two-source energy balance approach was applied to a set of Landsat 5-TM and Landsat 7-EMT+ images to estimate the surface fluxes in the area. Three post-fire periods were analyzed, six, seven, nine, and 11 y…
Rare earth elements distribution in seawater and suspended particulate of the Central Mediterranean Sea
2004
Rare earth element (REE) content in suspended and dissolved phases from the Strait of Sicily (Central Mediterranean Sea) has been measured. Vertical profiles of several dissolved REEs along the water column reflect the 3-D oceanographic features of the studied area and identifies the different water masses present there. Shale-normalized REE distribution patterns and derived parameters calculated for the suspended particulate show different atmospheric dust-surface inputs and their interactions with seawater. Finally, combined information from [La/Yb]N, ratios, REE/La ratios and Eu anomalies measured in the suspended particulate suggest an important contribution of volcanic materials from t…
Sustainable tourism: Measures, evidence and future prospects.
2021
The Chapter aims to provide a critical review of the quantitative approaches so far introduced in literature to measure the sustainable tourism. We focus on both variables and methods employed to obtain synthetic indicators of sustainable tourism and aim to provide some critical insights on potential new challenges caused by the current pandemic. For example, some dimensions of tourism sustainability may become more relevant in future due to the increasing attention by people on health and safety. Finally, a focus on the studies on measurement of sustainable tourism in the Mediterranean area will be provided.
Environmental effects of tourism and its seasonality on Mediterranean islands: the contribution of the Interreg MED BLUEISLANDS project to build up a…
2020
AbstractThe Mediterranean basin is amongst the world’s main tourist destination, and its islands are a major attraction, being sites of historical, cultural and naturalistic importance. This is beneficial for the local economies, but it may also represent a great burden on the coastal environment, where other human pressures are concentrated. The awareness of detrimental side effects of tourism together with the importance to take into account social and economic facets has led to the concept of sustainable tourism, which, however, represents a goal far from being attained. A good opportunity to promote sustainable tourism was provided by the Interreg MED BLUEISLANDS project, whose main aim…
Critical range of soil organic carbon in southern Europe lands under desertification risk.
2021
Soil quality is fundamental for ecosystem long term functionality, productivity and resilience to current climatic changes. Despite its importance, soil is lost and degraded at dramatic rates worldwide. In Europe, the Mediterranean areas are a hotspot for soil erosion and land degradation due to a combination of climatic conditions, soils, geomorphology and anthropic pressure. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is considered a key indicator of soil quality as it relates to other fundamental soil functions supporting crucial ecosystem services. In the present study, the functional relationships among SOC and other important soil properties were investigated in the topsoil of 38 sites under different …
Quantification and viability assays of Toxoplasma gondii in commercial "Serrano" ham samples using magnetic capture real-time qPCR and bioassay techn…
2014
"Serrano" ham is a typical pork product from the Mediterranean area, highly valued for its flavour. To make Serrano ham, pork undergoes a salting and a subsequent fermentation process known as curing. Certain pigs used for meat production are an important source of Toxoplasma gondii infection in humans. We have developed a method for quantifying and assaying the viability of the T. gondii present in commercial Serrano ham samples. A magnetic capture method for the isolation of T. gondii DNA and a qRT-PCR were used to estimate the T. gondii burden in 475 commercial samples of "Serrano" ham in two presentation formats: ham pieces and sliced ham. The infectivity capacity of T. gondii in positi…
Molecules and morphology reveal cryptic variation among digeneans infecting sympatric mullets in the Mediterranean.
2009
SUMMARYWe applied a combined molecular and morphological approach to resolve the taxonomic status of Saccocoelium spp. parasitizing sympatric mullets (Mugilidae) in the Mediterranean. Eight morphotypes of Saccocoelium were distinguished by means of multivariate statistical analyses: 2 of Saccocoelium obesum ex Liza spp.; 4 of S. tensum ex Liza spp.; and 2 (S. cephali and Saccocoelium sp.) ex Mugil cephalus. Sequences of the 28S and ITS2 rRNA gene regions were obtained for a total of 21 isolates of these morphotypes. Combining sequence data analysis with a detailed morphological and multivariate morphometric study of the specimens allowed the demonstration of cryptic diversity thus rejecting…
Molecular inference of a Late Pleistocene diversification shift inNigellas. lat. (Ranunculaceae) resulting from increased speciation in the Aegean ar…
2009
Aim To infer the temporal course and geographical mode of speciation in Mediterranean/Southwest Asian Nigella s. lat. Location Mediterranean Basin, Aegean archipelago. Methods Phylogenies for Nigella L. and Garidella L. (= Nigella s. lat.) were obtained from maximum-likelihood analyses of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. Diversification through time was analysed by log lineages-through-time (LTT) plots and survival analyses. Relative node age estimates were regressed against the degree of sympatry between sister clades to infer the predominant mode of geographical speciation in Nigella s. lat. Results The Late Pleistocene radiation of the Nigella arvensis complex in the Aegean r…
Syntaxonomical survey of Geranio-Cardaminetalia hirsutae: Semi-natural therophytic vegetation of the Mediterranean region
2007
A syntaxonomical scheme, including geographical range and synonymies of all the associations ascribed to Geranio-Cardaminetalia hirsutae, is presented. This order, framed into the class Stellarietea mediae, groups sciaphilo-subnitrophilous annual vegetation of natural and semi-natural habitats, commonly occurring on substrata rich in organic matter, accumulating on stone-walls, shaded rocks and initial soils, often under the canopy of shrubs and trees. Twelve new associations from Sardinia, Sicily, Egean islands and Israel are here described for the first time.
The first record ofDinesus(Trilobita, Dinesidae) in the Cambrian of the Mediterranean region
2011
An important problem facing inter-regional correlation in the Cambrian is the scarcity of shared taxa between different palaeogeographic domains. Currently, species of the Corynexochida are proposed as tools to define the base of Cambrian Series 3. However, few Mediterranean Corynexochida species are known. A specimen of Dinesus truyolsi comb. nov. from the middle Cambrian of Spain represents the first record of this genus in the Acadobaltic province. Erbia and Tingyuania are accepted as junior subjective synonyms of Dinesus, and we now recognize 22 species within this genus. Dinesus has been found previously in lower to middle Cambrian strata of Australia, Russia, Kazakhstan, North America…