Search results for "protected"
showing 10 items of 238 documents
Effects of Long-Term Habitat Protection on Montane Small Mammals: Are Sorex araneus and S. minutus More Sensitive Than Previously Considered?
2022
Protection of natural areas by restricting human activities aims to preserve plant and animal populations and whole communities, ensuring the conservation of biological diversity and enhancement of ecosystem services. Therefore, it is expected that the longer the protection, the stronger the desired effects. We evaluated the responses of small mammals at the population and community levels under protection in the southern Carpathian Mountains. We surveyed small mammals for five years in sites with long- and short-term protection and non-protected. Besides protection status, we included elevation, habitat heterogeneity, and the month of survey as predictors in our models. As response variabl…
Characterization of Intertidal Macrofaunal Communities of Two Sandy Beaches under Different Anthropogenic Pressures
2022
The macrofauna in the intertidal zone of sandy beaches provides the trophic connectivity between land and sea, by linking microbiome, meiofauna, and megafauna, representing a food source for several terrestrial animals, including shorebirds and mammals. However, the macrozoobenthos in urbanised beaches is subjected to intense disturbances, such as breakwater barriers and tourism, which limit or impede the energy transfer from the marine to the terrestrial habitats. Because the information about diversity and abundance of the macrozoobenthos of the intertidal zone on the Mediterranean sandy coasts is scant, the main objective of this study is to increase the knowledge on the macrofauna livin…
Exotic insect pests: The impact of the Red Palm Weevil on natural and cultural heritage in Palermo (Italy)
2013
Abstract The impact of invasive exotic pests is increasingly recognised as a global issue. A global strategy to address the exotic pest problem is beginning to evolve, albeit slowly. The International Plant Protection Convention (FAO) has begun the process of harmonizing standards for pest risk analysis to minimise the spread of exotic pests without adversely impacting global trade. However if the impacts of insect invasive species on human health and on agriculture have attracted worldwide attention, researchers and policymakers address directly the connection between invasive species and damage to natural and cultural heritages. The cost of these losses is generally neglected or underesti…
La gestione delle aree protette
2018
Il sistema siciliano delle aree protette, da un punto di vista quantitativo, sembra vantare una vasta superficie tutelata. La media nazionale del territorio tutelato attraverso l’istituzione e la gestione di aree protette corrisponde all’11%, mentre la Regione siciliana riesce a vantare la tutela di una superficie complessiva di 3.100 kmq, che corrisponde a poco più del 12% del suo intero territorio. Il presente articolo analizza non solo le differenti tipologie di aree protette presenti, ma anche il tipo di gestione cui sono sottoposte fornendo un quadro attuale del sistema regionale. The Sicilian system of protected areas, from a quantitative point of view, has a very large surface area. …
Plant invasion risk inside and outside protected areas: Propagule pressure, abiotic and biotic factors definitively matter
2023
Invasive alien species are among the main global drivers of biodiversity loss posing major challenges to nature conservation and to managers of protected areas. The present study applied a methodological framework that combined invasive Species Distribution Models, based on propagule pressure, abiotic and biotic factors for 14 invasive alien plants of Union concern in Italy, with the local interpretable model-agnostic explanation analysis aiming to map, evaluate and analyse the risk of plant invasions across the country, inside and outside the network of protected areas. Using a hierarchical invasive Species Distribution Model, we explored the combined effect of propagule pressure, abiotic …
Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The case study of the Aegadian Islands MPA (Sicily, Tyrrhenian Sea) and the Dwejra…
2018
The introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS) has been pointed out as a major threat to biodiversity. NIS may become invasive alien species (IAS) and may cause biodiversity loss and ecosystem service changes. In the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and surrounding islands, also including a high number of Marine Protected Area (MPAs), as a consequence of their geographic position and the intense maritime traffic, is a region particularly vulnerable and prone to NIS invasions. Since frontiers do not exist in the sea, biological invasions may severely affect MPAs, whose major aim is biodiversity conservation. Among the Sicilian MPAs, the Aegadian Islands MPA report the highest number of NIS (19). M…
Genetic integrity of European wildcats: Variation across biomes mandates geographically tailored conservation strategies
2022
Hybridisation between domestic and wild taxa can pose severe threats to wildlife conservation, and human-induced hybridisation, often linked to species' introductions and habitat degradation, may promote reproductive opportunities between species for which natural interbreeding would be highly unlikely. Using a biome-specific approach, we examine the effects of a suite of ecological drivers on the European wildcat's genetic integrity, while assessing the role played by protected areas in this process. We used genotype data from 1217 putative European wildcat samples from 13 European countries to assess the effects of landcover, disturbance and legal landscape protection on the European wild…
Bryophyte diversity in some Sicilian protected areas
2017
The results of some investigations carried out in two Sicilian protected areas characterized by chalky reliefs are reported. These are the Serre di Ciminna and Monte Conca reserves. The Oriented Nature Reserve of Serre di Ciminna is located in northwestern Sicily, in the province of Palermo. Established in 1997 to protect the interesting karst phenomena in a vast macro-crystalline gypsum outcrop of the Messinian age, the series of "collapse valleys" and a swallowtail, the reserve falls within the Rocche di Ciminna, Site of Community Importance (SIC) (code ITA 020024). It includes some habitats of Community interest: pseudo-steppes with grasses and annuals of the Thero-Brachypodietea (code 6…
The Project “Caulerpa cylindracea in the Egadi Islands”: citizens and scientists working together to monitor marine alien species
2016
The creation of early-warning systems is crucial for preventing and reducing the risk of invasive species introduction. In this respect, the contribution of citizen-scientists (tourists, students, teachers, divers and fishermen) in providing information and data (validated by taxonomic experts) on the occurrence of marine invasive species that would otherwise be impossible to collect, is crucial in understanding the phenomenon of biological invasions. The Citizen Science Project “Caulerpa cylindracea - Egadi Islands”, launched in 2014 and ended in 2016, aimed at creating a database on the spread dynamics and the levels of threat of the invasive green alga Caulerpa cylindracea within the Ega…
La patrimonialización de la naturaleza. Génesis, transformaciones y estado actual
2014
En este artículo realizamos una aproximación general a la sociogénesis de la conservación moderna y pública de la naturaleza. Para ello distinguimos tres etapas . La primera estar á marca da por la búsqueda del anhelado paraíso perdido: a finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX, el paisaje concentrará valores identitarios, patrióticos y nacionalistas . La segunda se caracteriza por la expansión de las áreas protegidas y la multiplicación de instituciones, agentes y figuras proteccionistas en el contexto de una crisis ambienta l creciente. Y la tercera, desplegada en las dos últimas décadas, viene definida por la entrada de un nuevo modelo de conservación participativa a la vez que se prod…