Search results for "mediterranean"

The relationship between food availability and growth in Mytilus galloprovincialis in the open sea (southern Mediterranean)

1998

Abstract With the aim of gathering information about the possibility of culturing mussels ( Mytilus galloprovincialis ) in a south Mediterranean oligotrophic area, different lots of mussels were placed in culture at depths of −5 m and −15 m and their growth monitored on a monthly basis. Temperature and salinity were measured in situ and water samples were collected at different depths each month. Total suspended matter (TSM) and its inorganic (ISM) and organic (OSM) fractions were analysed by gravimetry and loss on ignition. Photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll- a and phaeopigments), particulate organic carbon (POC) and nitrogen (PON), particulate carbohydrate (CHO), protein (PRT) and lipid…

Reversing agriculture from intensive to sustainable improves soil quality in a semiarid South Italian soil

2010

Intensive agriculture (IA) is widespread in South Italy, although it requires frequent tillage, large amounts of fertilizers and irrigation water. We have assessed the efficacy of reversing IA to sustainable agriculture (SA) in recovering quality of a typical South Italy soil (Lithic Haploxeralf). This reversion, lasting from 2000 to 2007, replaced 75% of nutrients formerly supplied inorganically by farmyard manuring and reduced the tillage frequency. Several chemical and biochemical properties, functionally related to C and N mineralisation–immobilisation processes and to P and S nutrient cycles, were monitored annually from 2005 to 2007 in the spring. Reversing IA to SA decreased soil bul…

Meiofauna and benthic microbial biomass in a semi-enclosed mediterranean marine system (Stagnone di Marsala, Italy)

2004

Microbial and meiofaunal dynamics and their relationships with the biochemical composition of the sedimentary organic matter were investigated in a semi-enclosed marine system (Marsala lagoon, Western Sicily, Mediterranean Sea). Sediment samples were collected on a monthly basis from March 1996 to February 1997 in four stations located along a N–S transect characterized by different hydrodynamic regimes. Total sedimentary organic matter concentration ranged from 5.681.11 to 156.2812.63 mg g1, while the biopolymeric fraction of organic carbon (BPC, measured as sum of the lipids, carbohydrates and proteins) accounted for only a small fraction (24%) of total organic matter. Total meiofaunal de…

The influence of weathering processes on labile and stable organic matter in Mediterranean volcanic soils

2008

The relationship and mechanisms among weathering processes, cation fluxes, clay mineralogy, organic matter composition and stability were studied in soils developing on basaltic material in southern Italy (Sicily). The soils were transitions between Phaeozems and Vertisols. Intense losses of the elements Na, Ca and Mg were measured indicating that weathering has occurred over a long period of time. The main weathering processes followed the sequence: amphibole, mica, volcanic glass or if ash was the primary source→smectite→interstratified smectite–kaolinite→kaolinite. Kaolinite formation was strongly related to high Al, Mg and Na losses. The good correlation between oxyhydroxides and kaolin…

Cross-over study on effects of Mediterranean diet in two randomly selected population samples

2003

Abstract Two randomly selected population samples in Western Sicily, one rural (n = 40) and one urban (n = 40), were studied to evaluate the impact of dietary intervention on lipid, coagulative and fibrinolytic parameters. The two groups received the diets in a cross-over design with the following sequences: (a) baseline period; (b) 8-week dietary intervention period; (c) 8-week return to the original diet. During (a) and (c) all subjects consumed their usual diet. During the dietary intervention period (b), the rural sample consumed the urban sample's diet, while the urban sample consumed the rural sample's diet (the so-called “Mediterranean diet”). At baseline, after 8 weeks' dietary inte…

Trophic habits of Muscardinus avellanarius (Mammalia Gliridae) as revealed by multiple stable isotope analysis

2007

Multiple stable isotope analysis was used to investigate the diet of the common dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius in a mixed Mediterranean forest. δ13C and δ15N values of dormouse tissues compared to those of the vegetal and animal sources available in the area showed that the isotopic composition of both adult and juvenile M. avellanarius could be explained by a mixture of vegetal and animal organic matter. The isotopic composition of the assimilated nitrogen was mostly explained by the organic matter from flora. Among the vegetal components, flowers of Fagus silvatica, Quercus robur, and the rarer Crataegus oxyacantha, berries of Ilex aquifolium and acorns of Q. robur were found in the ad…

The Black Mediterranean: A View from Sicily

2021

While Italy has recently experienced nationalist drives, Sicily and in particular the City of Palermo, one of the major ports of refuge for countless migrants arriving in Europe from the African shores, has distinguished itself as an experimental site where to rethink and challenge notions of residence, mobility, citizenship and belonging. Through a series of cultural initiatives, Palermo has become a hub for frontline artists, writers, intellectuals, and activists who have gathered to explore the historically and contemporary ways in which black voices have been silenced and black bodies have been ambiguously imagined in Western-dominated global culture. Investigating these questions is fu…

CO2 vents areas show effects of ocean acidification on benthic rocky shores assemblages

2011

Paleoenvironmental and climatic changes during the last 25 ky along a W-E transect across the Mediterranean Sea.

2012

Materiali ceramici di importazione africana dalla catacomba di Villagrazia di Carini. Un aggiornamento sulla circolazione nel territorio della eccles…

2012

Primo volume della Collana "Quaderni Digitali di Archeologia Postclassica". La catacomba di Villagrazia di Carini è uno dei principali monumenti del primo Cristianesimo siciliano, cimitero di una comunità agiata e aperta alle relazioni con l'area mediterranea. Lo studio proposto in questo volume, partendo dai dati relativi ai materiali ceramici restituiti dalla stratigrafia archeologica dei settori indagati dal 2000 al 2012, testimonia i rapporti commerciali intercorsi fra il territorio servito dalla presenza del complesso catacombale, coincidente con quello dell'ecclesia carinensis citata da Gregorio Magno, e l'Africa romana e protobizantina.