Helminth Community Structure of the Mediterranean Gull (Ichthyaetus melanocephalus) in Southern Italy

2011 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 364-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Santoro ◽  
S. Mattiucci ◽  
J. M. Kinsella ◽  
F. J. Aznar ◽  
D. Giordano ◽  
...  
2012 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Santoro ◽  
John M. Kinsella ◽  
Giorgio Galiero ◽  
Barbara degli Uberti ◽  
Francisco Javier Aznar

Author(s):  
C.L. Amundson ◽  
N.J. Traub ◽  
A.J. Smith-Herron ◽  
P.L. Flint

HortScience ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 582-588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Innocenzo Muzzalupo ◽  
Francesca Stefanizzi ◽  
Enzo Perri

Olive (Olea europaea L.) is a species of great economic importance in the Mediterranean basin. Italy is very important for the olive industry; in fact, olive's genetic patrimony is very rich and characterized by an abundance of cultivars. At present, the majority of ancient landraces are vegetatively propagated by farm. It is likely that the number of cultivars is underestimated because of inadequate information on minor local cultivars that are widespread in different olive-growing areas. The existence of many cultivars reinforces the need for a reliable identification method. It is important to improve the ex situ plant germplasm collection and fairly to characterize all cultivars for future breeding programs. In the present report, we used 11 loci microsatellites to characterize 211 olive cultivars of an olive collection cultivated in six regions of southern Italy. These regions represent the major area for olive cultivation in Italy and have a strategic geographical location in the Mediterranean basin. The dendrogram obtained, using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean clustering algorithm, depicts the pattern of relationships between the studied cultivars. There is a clear structuring of the variability relative to the geographic origin of olive cultivars. This work, for the very high number of the Italian olive cultivars analyzed, highlights the degree and distribution of genetic diversity of this species for better exploitation of olive resources and for the design of plant breeding programs. Besides, the use of molecular markers, like simple sequence repeats, is imperative to build a database for cultivar analysis, for traceability of processed food, and for appropriate management of olive germplasm collections.


2018 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-179
Author(s):  
Andreas Schloenhardt

In response to the large number of irregular migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to southern Italy, frequently using overcrowded, unseaworthy vessels, and often facilitated by migrant smugglers, on October 9, 2015, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted Resolution 2240. This resolution authorizes member states to intercept, inspect, and seize vessels suspected of being used to smuggle migrants or to traffic persons. Initially limited to one year, these measures were renewed through two further UNSC resolutions on October 6, 2016, and October 5, 2017.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-353
Author(s):  
Maïa Fourt ◽  
Daniel Faget ◽  
Thierry Pérez

In the first half of the nineteenth century, industrialization increased the demand for sponges extracted by the sponge fishermen of the Dodecanese Archipelago in the Aegean Sea. This had widespread repercussions, leading to increasing numbers of sponge fishermen, the geographical expansion of fishing zones and the evolution and diversification of fishing techniques. In this context, foreign sponge traders imposed the hard-hat diving suit, which enabled divers to remain underwater for several hours without surfacing. It was therefore perceived as being more efficient than traditional skin-diving. But this equipment greatly exacerbated the physical risks faced by the divers, with injuries and fatalities increasing markedly. It also required heavy financial investments that compounded the losses of fishermen and their families. With hindsight, these investments were catalysts of the major socio-economic upheaval that followed. As well as provoking mass revolt among the islanders of the Dodecanese, this entailed modifications in crews and community structure as a nascent model of capitalist organization marked the development of the sponge fishery.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Cerase ◽  
Massimo Crescimbene ◽  
Federica La Longa ◽  
Alessandro Amato

Abstract. According to a deep-rooted conviction, the occurrence of a tsunami in the Mediterranean Sea would be very rare. However, in addition to the catastrophic event of Messina and Reggio Calabria (1908) and the saved danger for the tsunami occurred on Cycladic sea in 1956, 44 events are reported in the Mediterranean Sea between 1951 and 2003, and other smaller tsunamis occurred off Morocco, Aegean and Ionian seashores between 2017 and 2018. Such events, that are just a little part of the over 200 historically events reported for the Mediterranean (Maramai, Brizuela & Graziani, 2014) should remind geoscientists, civil protection officers, media and citizens that 1) tsunami hazard in the Mediterranean is not negligible, and 2) tsunamis come in all shapes and colours, and even a small event can result in serious damages and loss of lives and properties. Recently, a project funded by the European Commission (TSUMAPS-NEAM, Basili et al., 2018) has estimated the tsunami hazard due to seismic sources in the NEAM region (one of the four ICG coordinated by the UNESCO IOC) finding that a significant hazard is present in most coasts of the area, particularly in those of Greece and Italy. In such a scenario, where low probability and high uncertainty match with poor knowledge and familiarity with tsunami hazard, risk mitigation strategies and risk communicators should avoid undue assumptions about public’s supposed attitudes and preparedness, as these may results in serious consequences for the exposed population, geoscientists, and civil protection officers. Hence, scientists must carefully shape their messages and rely on well-researched principled practices rather than on good intuitions (Bostrom, & Löfstedt, 2003). For these reasons, the Centro Allerta Tsunami of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (hereinafter CAT-INGV) promoted a survey to investigate tsunami’s risk perception in two pilot regions of Southern Italy, Calabria and Apulia, providing a stratified sample of 1021 interviewees representing about 3.2mln people living in 183 coastal municipalities of two regions subjected (along with Sicily) to relatively high probability to be hit by a tsunami. Results show that people’s perception and understanding of tsunami are affected by media accounts of large tsunamis of 2004 (Sumatra) and 2011 (Tohoku, North East Japan): television emerged as the most relevant source of knowledge for almost 90 % of the sample, and the influence of media also results in the way tsunami risk is characterized. Risk perception appears to be low: for almost half of the sample the occurrence of a tsunami in the Mediterranean sea is considered quite unlikely. Furthermore, the survey’s results show that the word tsunami occupies a different semantic space with respect to the Italian traditional headword maremoto, with differences among sample strata. In other words, the same physical phenomenon would be understood in two different ways by younger, educated people and elders with low education level. Also belonging to different coastal areas appears to have a significant influence on the way tsunami hazard is conceived, having a stronger effect on risk characterization, for instance the interviewees of Tyrrhenian Calabria are more likely to associate tsunami risk to volcanoes with respect to other considered coastlines. The results of this study provide a relevant account of the issues at a stake, also entailing important implication both for risk communication and mitigation policies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wael S. Eltohamy ◽  
Ahmad Alzeny ◽  
Yasmine A. M. Azab

The spatial pattern of zooplankton communities at Damietta coast, southeastern Mediterranean was studied to assess the impact of human activities on the abundance and community structure. Twenty-five stations from five different stressed sites were sampled in June-July 2014. Thirty-four zooplankton taxa were recorded, in addition to the larvae of copepods and meroplankton. Copepoda was the most abundant group among which, Oithona nana, Euterpina acutifrons, and Parvocalanus cirrostratus were the most frequent. The calanoid copepod Pseudodiaptomus trihamatus is a new record for the Mediterranean Sea that may have been introduced via ballast water. Multivariate/Univariate analyses demonstrated that 1) the environmental variables and zooplankton communities represented significant differences among five sites; 2) the spatial variations of community structure were undoubtedly due to land-based effluents; and 3) among all environmental variables, salinity and phytoplankton biomass had the major determining effects on the spatial patterns of zooplankton categories. The results indicates that not only the discharged water makes the Damietta coast at risk, but also the ballast water is not less dangerous. Hence, we emphasize the need for activation of the ballast water management to reduce the risk of future species invasions.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document