Reviewing an eco-biogeographic question at regional scale: the unexpected absence of a ubiquitous mammal species (Microtus savii, Rodentia) in coastal Southern Tuscany (central Italy)

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 715-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corrado Battisti ◽  
Giuseppe Dodaro ◽  
Ermellina Di Bagno ◽  
Giovanni Amori
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 1675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomás ◽  
Pagán ◽  
Navarro ◽  
Cano ◽  
Pastor ◽  
...  

This work describes a new procedure aimed to semi-automatically identify clusters of active persistent scatterers and preliminarily associate them with different potential types of deformational processes over wide areas. This procedure consists of three main modules: (i) ADAfinder, aimed at the detection of Active Deformation Areas (ADA) using Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) data; (ii) LOS2HV, focused on the decomposition of Line Of Sight (LOS) displacements from ascending and descending PSI datasets into vertical and east-west components; iii) ADAclassifier, that semi-automatically categorizes each ADA into potential deformational processes using the outputs derived from (i) and (ii), as well as ancillary external information. The proposed procedure enables infrastructures management authorities to identify, classify, monitor and categorize the most critical deformations measured by PSI techniques in order to provide the capacity for implementing prevention and mitigation actions over wide areas against geological threats. Zeri, Campiglia Marittima–Suvereto and Abbadia San Salvatore (Tuscany, central Italy) are used as case studies for illustrating the developed methodology. Three PSI datasets derived from the Sentinel-1 constellation have been used, jointly with the geological map of Italy (scale 1:50,000), the updated Italian landslide and land subsidence maps (scale 1:25,000), a 25 m grid Digital Elevation Model, and a cadastral vector map (scale 1:5,000). The application to these cases of the proposed workflow demonstrates its capability to quickly process wide areas in very short times and a high compatibility with Geographical Information System (GIS) environments for data visualization and representation. The derived products are of key interest for infrastructures and land management as well as decision-making at a regional scale.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3171
Author(s):  
Alessia Mariacher ◽  
Andrea Santini ◽  
Irene Del Lesto ◽  
Sara Tonon ◽  
Elena Cardini ◽  
...  

The European hedgehog is a synanthropic mammal, widely distributed in Europe. This species usually inhabits the edges of deciduous or mixed woods, but it is also very common in private gardens and public parks. Despite its popularity and frequency of contacts both with humans and with wild and domestic animals, few studies have examined the endoparasitic fauna of the hedgehog in Italy. In the present study, endoparasites of naturally deceased hedgehogs (n = 40) from central Italy (Latium and Tuscany regions) were investigated, along with concurrent gross and histopathological lesions. The most prevalent identified endoparasites were Crenosoma striatum (45%), Capillaria erinacei (42.5%) and Brachylaemus erinacei (22.5%), in accordance with previous reports from hedgehogs in southern Italy. In few subjects, Physaloptera clausa, Acanthocephalans and Cystoisospora rastegaeivae coccidia were also identified. The infection by the lungworm C. striatum was found to be significantly associated (p < 0.01) with bronchial hyperplasia and peribronchiolitis upon histopathological examination. Awareness of the most common parasitic infections in the hedgehog and of their effects on the health of these animals is extremely important, especially in wildlife rescue centers, where European hedgehog represents the most frequently hospitalized mammal species.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiberio C. Monterrubio-Rico ◽  
Juan Felipe Charre Medellín ◽  
Cristina Z. Colín-Soto ◽  
Livia León Paniagua

 RESUMEN Los mamíferos silvestres han sido estudiados en Michoacán desde el siglo XVIII por renombrados zoólogos y naturalistas. Sin embargo, todavía en 1949 se reconocía solo 85 especies, y hasta el año 2005 se proporcionó estimaciones completas basadas en integración de registros disponibles tanto nacionales como de colecciones científicas internacionales, ya que la información disponible para el estado se encontraba dispersa. Como resultado de proyectos recientes con nuevos registros, el objetivo de este análisis es proporcionar una cifra actualizada sobre la riqueza taxonómica de los mamíferos silvestres terrestres en el estado de Michoacán. Existen registros de 161 especies en 9 Ordenes, 25 familias, y 94 géneros que representan el 32% de las especies de México. El Orden con mayor número de especies es Chiroptera con 74 especies que representan el 53% de las especies del Orden en México. A pesar de la ubicación central de Michoacán en el país, y ser un estado muestreado por numerosos investigadores, todavía existe carencia de información para regiones remotas, y en algunos grupos de mamíferos. Por ejemplo, el jaguar, que a pesar de ser el mayor felino del país, se carecía de confirmación para el estado, afortunadamente durante 2010 se localizó una población en el estado. Otro aspecto limitante para la interpretación adecuada de la estimación actual, es la antigüedad de muchos registros, ya que los estudios más completos realizados a escala regional, como en la costa Michoacana son de hace 30 años, y durante ese periodo se ha incrementado la deforestación de selvas tropicales, por lo que desconocemos la situación actual que presentan las poblaciones de mamíferos en el estado. En Michoacán encuentran su límite más norteño en el Pacífico tres especies de amplia distribución en el Neotrópico, Tamandua mexicana,  Potos flavus y Sphiggurus mexicanus, por lo que deben limitarse áreas que protejan sus poblaciones. Palabras clave: Distribución, Mochoacán, mamíferos, especies.ABSTRACT The wild mammals in Michoacan state have been studied since the XVIII century by reknown zoologists and naturalists. However, still in 1949 only 85 mammals species were recognized, and until 2005 a complete estimate based on the integration of national and international data bases records available from Scientific collections, since all available information was scattered. As a result of recent surveys with new records, the aim of this analysis was to provide an updated statistic of the terrestrial wild mammals taxonomic richness in the Michoacan state. Available records correspond to 161 species in 9 Orders, 25 families and 94 genera which represent 32% of the Mexican mammal species. The Order with the major number of species is Chiroptera that includes 74 species thet represent 53% of the Order in Mexico. Despite its central location in the country, and considering that the state has been surveyed by several prestigious academics, there is still a lack of information for remote regions, and for some mammal groups. For example, the jaguar, even though constitute the largest wild felid in the country, no information was available for the state, fortunately during 2010 a population was localized in the state. Another limiting factor for the adequate interpretation of the current estimate is that many records are outdated, since the most complete studies performed at a regional scale, like in the Michoaca coast, are 30 years old, and during that time-frame, tropical forest loss increased dramatically, for instance, the current situation that present the mammal populations in the state are unknown. In Michoacan three species with a broad neotropical distribution present its northernmost limit on the Pacific, Tamandua mexicana, Potos flavus, and Sphiggurus mexicanus and there is the need to establish protected areas oriented to protect their populations. Key words: Distribution, Michoacan, mammals, species.


Solid Earth ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Wenk ◽  
C. Pelties ◽  
H. Igel ◽  
M. Käser

Abstract. We present an application of the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method to regional wave propagation. The method makes use of unstructured tetrahedral meshes, combined with a time integration scheme solving the arbitrary high-order derivative (ADER) Riemann problem. This ADER-DG method is high-order accurate in space and time, beneficial for reliable simulations of high-frequency wavefields over long propagation distances. Due to the ease with which tetrahedral grids can be adapted to complex geometries, undulating topography of the Earth's surface and interior interfaces can be readily implemented in the computational domain. The ADER-DG method is benchmarked for the accurate radiation of elastic waves excited by an explosive and a shear dislocation source. We compare real data measurements with synthetics of the 2009 L'Aquila event (central Italy). We take advantage of the geometrical flexibility of the approach to generate a European model composed of the 3-D EPcrust model, combined with the depth-dependent ak135 velocity model in the upper mantle. The results confirm the applicability of the ADER-DG method for regional scale earthquake simulations, which provides an alternative to existing methodologies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 3135-3156
Author(s):  
Rossella Ferretti ◽  
Annalina Lombardi ◽  
Barbara Tomassetti ◽  
Lorenzo Sangelantoni ◽  
Valentina Colaiuda ◽  
...  

Abstract. The weather forecasts for precipitation have considerably improved in recent years thanks to the increase of computational power. This allows for the use of both a higher spatial resolution and the parameterization schemes specifically developed for representing sub-grid scale physical processes at high resolution. However, precipitation estimation is still affected by errors that can impact the response of hydrological models. To the aim of improving the hydrological forecast and the characterization of related uncertainties, a regional-scale meteorological–hydrological ensemble is presented. The uncertainties in the precipitation forecast and how they propagate in the hydrological model are also investigated. A meteorological–hydrological offline coupled ensemble is built to forecast events in a complex-orography terrain where catchments of different sizes are present. The Best Discharge-based Drainage (BDD; both deterministic and probabilistic) index, is defined with the aim of forecasting hydrological-stress conditions and related uncertainty. In this context, the meteorological–hydrological ensemble forecast is implemented and tested for a severe hydrological event which occurred over Central Italy on 15 November 2017, when a flood hit the Abruzzo region with precipitation reaching 200 mm (24 h)−1 and producing damages with a high impact on social and economic activities. The newly developed meteorological–hydrological ensemble is compared with a high-resolution deterministic forecast and with the observations (rain gauges and radar data) over the same area. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) statistical indicator shows how skilful the ensemble precipitation forecast is with respect to both rain-gauge- and radar-retrieved precipitation. Moreover, both the deterministic and probabilistic configurations of the BDD index are compared with the alert map issued by Civil Protection Department for the event showing a very good agreement. Finally, the meteorological–hydrological ensemble allows for an estimation of both the predictability of the event a few days in advance and the uncertainty of the flood. Although the modelling framework is implemented on the basins of the Abruzzo region, it is portable and applicable to other areas.


Author(s):  
Giovanni Conte ◽  
Pio Di Manna ◽  
Rossella Maria Gafà ◽  
Lucio Martarelli ◽  
Gennaro Maria Monti ◽  
...  

The present research is aimed to contribute to the groundwater resource sustainable management of a carbonate aquifer in a test area of the Lepini Mountains (Central Italy). This aquifer constitutes a major exploited groundwater body of central Apennines. At regional scale, the hydrogeological features of the Lepini hydrostructure are well known. The present study focuses on a portion of the Lepini Mountains where important tapping-works for drinking water supply are in activity (about 1.2 m3/s). New investigations were carried out including: meteo-climatic analysis, spring discharge and hydrometric time series processing, pumping test result interpretation. In addition, a detailed lithostratigraphical and structural survey of a portion of the Lepini hydrostructure at 1:10,000 scale was performed also examining the dense network of discontinuities affecting the carbonate aquifer. Extensional Plio-Pleistocene tectonic activity displaced the carbonate rock sequence under the Pontina Plain, where the carbonate aquifer is confined. The investigation results have allowed the reconstruction of the hydrogeological conceptual model of the studied portion of carbonate massif. Given the scale of the study and the results of the investigation, the carbonate aquifer can be treated as an equivalent porous medium, and the simplified numerical model of the aquifer was constructed with the code MODFLOW-2005. The numerical model, still now under continuous implementation, produced first results on the current withdrawal sustainability, allowing evaluation of possible alternative exploitation scenarios of the carbonate aquifer also considering the probably not significant flow exchanges with the Pontina Plain aquifer.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 2257-2275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Montalti ◽  
Lorenzo Solari ◽  
Silvia Bianchini ◽  
Matteo Del Soldato ◽  
Federico Raspini ◽  
...  

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 757
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Sangelantoni ◽  
Antonio Ricchi ◽  
Rossella Ferretti ◽  
Gianluca Redaelli

The purpose of the present study is to assess the large-scale signal modulation produced by two dynamically downscaled Seasonal Forecasting Systems (SFSs) and investigate if additional predictive skill can be achieved, compared to the driving global-scale Climate Forecast System (CFS). The two downscaled SFSs are evaluated and compared in terms of physical values and anomaly interannual variability. Downscaled SFSs consist of two two-step dynamical downscaled ensembles of NCEP-CFSv2 re-forecasts. In the first step, the CFS field is downscaled from 100 km to 60 km over Southern Europe (D01). The second downscaling, driven by the corresponding D01, is performed at 12 km over Central Italy (D02). Downscaling is performed using two different Regional Climate Models (RCMs): RegCM v.4 and WRF 3.9.1.1. SFS skills are assessed over a period of 21 winter seasons (1982–2002), by means of deterministic and probabilistic approach and with a metric specifically designed to isolate downscaling signal over different percentiles of distribution. Considering the temperature fields and both deterministic and probabilistic metrics, regional-scale SFSs consistently improve the original CFS Seasonal Anomaly Signal (SAS). For the precipitation, the added value of downscaled SFSs is mainly limited to the topography driven refinement of precipitation field, whereas the SAS is mainly “inherited” by the driving CFS. The regional-scale SFSs do not seem to benefit from the second downscaling (D01 to D02) in terms of SAS improvement. Finally, WRF and RegCM show substantial differences in both SAS and climatologically averaged fields, highlighting a different impact of the common SST driving field.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico D'Addario ◽  
Leonardo Disperati ◽  
José Luís Zêzere ◽  
Raquel De Melo ◽  
Sérgio Oliveira

&lt;p&gt;Shallow landslide susceptibility modelling at regional scale may be performed using both a physically based and statistical approach. For the same area, these two approaches can have inconsistent results, mainly because the two methods are conceptually different. Physically based models are based on the infinite slope model and consists on the computation cell by cell of a safety factor comparing between driving and resisting forces. The assumption that landslides occur in slopes that are characterized by predisposing factors similar to those in which landslides have occurred in the past, is the concept behind the statistical models. The aim of this work is to compare the two approach and investigate the differences between the two models. The study area is located in northern Tuscany, central Italy, in which an extensive field survey highlighted that about 60% of landslides involve bedrock. For this reason, we developed a physically based susceptibility analysis taking into account both the surficial layer (slope deposit, SD) and the underlying layer (BR), characterized by weathered and fractured bedrock. This model is compared to the statistically based one, which take into account topographic and geologic predisposing factor as well as bedrock geo-mechanical properties, such Geological Strength Index (GSI), Schmidt hammer rebound values (Rv) and Joint density (Jv). The accuracy of the models is evaluated using a multi-temporal landslide inventory, in which involving bedrock landslides are distinct from slope deposits landslides. Within this general framework results are discussed regarding the model&amp;#8217;s predictive capacity and spatial agreement.&lt;/p&gt;


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