African crocodylians in the Late Neogene of Europe: A revision of Crocodylus bambolii Ristori, 1890

2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimo Delfino ◽  
Lorenzo Rook
Keyword(s):  
Differential Diagnosis ◽  
Late Miocene ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Early Miocene ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Italian Peninsula ◽  
Late Neogene

Genus Crocodylus is considered to have originated in Africa during the Early Miocene but it is only in the Late Miocene that there are evidences of dispersal toward Europe, where tomistomines and the alligatoroid Diplocynodon were widespread since the Paleogene. Revision of the type material of Crocodylus bambolii Ristori, 1890, a Tortonian crocodylian from the renowned Oreopithecus localities in central Italy, excludes it from Diplocynodon. The morphology of the remains, combined with chronology and biogeography, confirms its identity as cf. Crocodylus. The validity of the species Crocodylus bambolii is however not supported by the available morphological characters so that a solid differential diagnosis cannot be realized. It is therefore here proposed to consider Crocodylus bambolii as a nomen dubium. The European Late Miocene distribution of short-snouted crocodylians sees only alligatoroids in western Europe and, curiously, only crocodylids in the Central Mediterranean area. The Tusco-Sardinian and the Apulo-Abruzzi paleobioprovinces, whose lands are nowadays part of the Italian peninsula, are apparently the only European areas inhabited by short-snouted crocodylids, which are at the same time among the last crocodylians of the continent. The isolated teeth from Fiume Santo and Scontrone, two localities of these palebioprovinces, are also not Diplocynodon-like, but further material is needed to identify their owners with confidence.

scholarly journals A key continental archive for the last 2 Ma of climatic history of the central Mediterranean region: A pilot drilling in the Fucino Basin, central Italy

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 13-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Giaccio ◽  
E. Regattieri ◽  
G. Zanchetta ◽  
B. Wagner ◽  
P. Galli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Italy ◽  
Lacustrine Sediments ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Xrf Scanning ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sedimentary Succession ◽  
Geochemical Analyses ◽  
Fucino Basin

Abstract. An 82 m long sedimentary succession was retrieved from the Fucino Basin, the largest intermountain tectonic depression of the central Apennines. The basin hosts a succession of fine-grained lacustrine sediments (ca. 900 m-thick) possibly continuously spanning the last 2 Ma. A preliminary tephrostratigraphy study allows us to ascribe the drilled 82 m long record to the last 180 ka. Multi-proxy geochemical analyses (XRF scanning, total organic/inorganic carbon, nitrogen and sulfur, oxygen isotopes) reveal noticeable variations, which are interpreted as paleohydrological and paleoenvironmental expressions related to classical glacial–interglacial cycles from the marine isotope stage (MIS) 6 to present day. In light of the preliminary results, the Fucino sedimentary succession is likely to provide a long, continuous, sensitive, and independently dated paleoclimatic archive of the central Mediterranean area.

scholarly journals Multiscale regression model to infer historical temperatures in a central Mediterranean sub-regional area

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 2625-2649 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Diodato ◽  
G. Bellocchi ◽  
C. Bertolin ◽  
D. Camuffo
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Temperature Pattern ◽  
Efficiency Coefficient ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Regional Area ◽  
The Right ◽  
Watson Statistic

Abstract. To reconstruct sub-regional European climate over the past centuries, several efforts have been made using historical datasets. However, only scattered information at low spatial and temporal resolution have been produced to date for the Mediterranean area. This paper has exploited, for Southern and Central Italy (Mediterranean Sub-Regional Area), an unprecedented historical dataset as an attempt to model seasonal (winter and summer) air temperatures in pre-instrumental time (back to 1500). Combining information derived from proxy documentary data and large-scale simulation, a statistical methodology in the form of multiscale-temperature regression (MTR)-model was developed to adapt larger-scale estimations to the sub-regional temperature pattern. The modelled response lacks essentially of autocorrelations among the residuals (marginal or any significance in the Durbin-Watson statistic), and agrees well with the independent data from the validation sample (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient >0.60). The advantage of the approach is not merely increased accuracy in estimation. Rather, it relies on the ability to extract (and exploit) the right information to replicate coherent temperature series in historical times.

Transnational Patriotism in the Mediterranean, 1800-1850

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantina Zanou
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Political Space ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Italian Peninsula ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Multicultural Context ◽  
The Common ◽  
Ugo Foscolo ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Republic

Transnational Patriotism in the Mediterranean, 1800–1850: Stammering the Nation investigates the long process of transition from a world of empires to a world of nation-states by narrating the biographies of a group of people who were born within empires but came of age surrounded by the emerging vocabulary of nationalism, much of which they themselves created. It is the story of a generation of intellectuals and political thinkers from the Ionian Islands who experienced the collapse of the Republic of Venice and the dissolution of the common cultural and political space of the Adriatic, and who contributed to the creation of Italian and Greek nationalisms. By uncovering this forgotten intellectual universe, Transnational Patriotism in the Mediterranean retrieves a world characterized by multiple cultural, intellectual, and political affiliations that have since been buried by the conventional narrative of the formation of nation-states. The book rethinks the origins of Italian and Greek nationalisms and states, highlighting the intellectual connection between the Italian peninsula, Greece, and Russia, and re-establishing the lost link between the changing geopolitical contexts of western Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Balkans in the Age of Revolutions. It re-inscribes important intellectuals and political figures, considered ‘national fathers’ of Italy and Greece (such as Ugo Foscolo, Dionysios Solomos, Ioannis Kapodistrias, and Niccolò Tommaseo), into their regional and multicultural context, and shows how nations emerged from an intermingling, rather than a clash, of ideas concerning empire and liberalism, Enlightenment and religion, revolution and conservatism, and East and West.

Brokering Trade in the Central Mediterranean

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey Tazzara
Keyword(s):  
Central Italy ◽  
Competitive Response ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Commercial Development ◽  
International Commerce ◽  
Exchange Networks ◽  
North Central ◽  
Autonomous Region ◽  
Global Commerce ◽  
Quantitative Examination

Chapter 6 offers a quantitative examination of the commercial development of Livorno, showing how it plugged local and regional exchange networks into the currents of global commerce. Livorno was at the epicenter of the reorganization of maritime trade in the Tyrrhenian and throughout the Mediterranean. Despite dense connections between north-central Italy and the free port, however, international commerce did not substantially affect productive relations in the hinterland. North-central Italy remained an autonomous region; rather than a colonial outpost subservient to northern capitalism, Livorno was a large marketplace connecting otherwise distinct economies. The Tuscan city’s success in organizing trade eventually provoked a competitive response by neighboring ports.

scholarly journals Algerian Olive Germplasm and Its Relationships with the Central-Western Mediterranean Varieties Contributes to Clarify Cultivated Olive Diversification

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 678
Author(s):  
Kamel Atrouz ◽  
Ratiba Bousba ◽  
Francesco Paolo Marra ◽  
Annalisa Marchese ◽  
Francesca Luisa Conforti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Genetic Relationships ◽  
Olive Tree ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Western Mediterranean Basin ◽  
New Information ◽  
Mediterranean History ◽  
New Synonymy

Olive tree with its main final product, olive oil, is an important element of Mediterranean history, considered the emblematic fruit of a civilization. Despite its wide diffusion and economic and cultural importance, its evolutionary and phylogenetic history is still difficult to clarify. As part of the Mediterranean basin, Algeria was indicated as a secondary diversification center. However, genetic characterization studies from Maghreb area, are currently underrepresented. In this context, we characterized 119 endemic Algerian accessions by using 12 microsatellite markers with the main goal to evaluate the genetic diversity and population structure. In order to provide new insights about the history of olive diversification events in the Central-Western Mediterranean basin, we included and analyzed a sample of 103 Italian accessions from Sicily and, a set of molecular profiles of cultivars from the Central-Western Mediterranean area. The phylogenetic investigation let us to evaluate genetic relationships among Central-Mediterranean basin olive germplasm, highlight new synonymy cases to support the importance of vegetative propagation in the cultivated olive diffusion and consolidate the hypothesis of more recent admixture events occurrence. This work provided new information about Algerian germplasm biodiversity and contributed to clarify olive diversification process.

scholarly journals An Italian Research Culture Collection of Wood Decay Fungi

Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Elena Girometta ◽  
Annarosa Bernicchia ◽  
Rebecca Michela Baiguera ◽  
Francesco Bracco ◽  
Simone Buratti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Italy ◽  
Wood Decay ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Culture Collection ◽  
White Rot ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Research Culture ◽  
Decay Fungi ◽  
Mn Peroxidase ◽  
The Mediterranean

One of the main aims of the University of Pavia mycology laboratory was to collect wood decay fungal (WDF) strains in order to deepen taxonomic studies, species distribution, officinal properties or to investigate potential applications such as biocomposite material production based on fungi. The Italian Alps, Apennines and wood plains were investigated to collect Basidiomycota basidiomata from living or dead trees. The purpose of this study was to investigate the wood decay strains of the Mediterranean area, selecting sampling sites in North and Central Italy, including forests near the Ligurian and Adriatic seas, or near the Lombardy lakes. The isolation of mycelia in pure culture was performed according to the current methodology and the identity of the strains was confirmed by molecular analyses. The strains are maintained in the Research Culture Collection MicUNIPV of Pavia University (Italy). Among the 500 WDF strains in the collection, the most interesting isolates from the Mediterranean area are: Dichomitus squalens (basidioma collected from Pinus pinea), Hericium erinaceus (medicinal mushroom), Inocutis tamaricis (white-rot agent on Tamarix trees), Perenniporia meridionalis (wood degrader through Mn peroxidase) and P. ochroleuca. In addition, strains of species related to the Mediterranean climate (e.g., Fomitiporia mediterranea and Cellulariella warnieri) were obtained from sites with a continental-temperate climate.

scholarly journals African dust outbreaks over the Mediterranean Basin during 2001–2011: PM<sub>10</sub> concentrations, phenomenology and trends, and its relation with synoptic and mesoscale meteorology

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 28195-28235 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Pey ◽  
X. Querol ◽  
A. Alastuey ◽  
F. Forastiere ◽  
M. Stafoggia
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Moderate Intensity ◽  
Sharp Change ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Mesoscale Meteorology ◽  
Transitional Area ◽  
African Dust ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The occurrence of African dust outbreaks over the whole Mediterranean Basin has been identified on an 11-yr period (2001–2011). In order to evaluate the impact of such mineral dust outbreaks on ambient concentrations of particulate matter, PM10 data from regional and suburban background sites across the Mediterranean area were compiled. After identifying the daily influence of African dust, a methodology for estimating natural dust contributions on daily PM10 concentrations was applied. Our results reveal that African dust outbreaks occur with much higher frequency in southern areas of the Mediterranean, from 30 to 37% of the annual days, whereas they take place less than 20% of the annual days in northern sites. The central Mediterranean emerges as a transitional area, with slightly higher frequency of dust episodes in its lower extreme when compared to equivalent areas in western and eastern sides of the Basin. A decreasing south to north gradient of African dust contribution to PM10 is patent across the Mediterranean. Our study demonstrates that this gradient may be mainly explained by the latitudinal position. A longitudinal increasing trend of African dust contribution to PM10 is also observed from 25° E eastwards, and is due to the annual occurrence of intense dust episodes. Thus, the slightly higher frequency of African dust episodes over the lower part of Central Mediterranean is compensated by its moderately lower intensity. Concerning seasonality patterns and intensity characteristics, a clear summer prevalence is observed in the western part, with low occurrence of severe episodes (daily dust averages over 100 μg m−3 in PM10); no seasonal trend is detected in the central region, with moderate-intensity episodes; and significantly higher contributions are common in autumn-spring in the eastern side, with yearly occurrence of various severe episodes. Overall, African dust emerges as the largest PM10 source in regional background southern areas of the Mediterranean (35–50% of PM10), with seasonal peak contributions to PM10 up to 80% of the total mass. The multi-year study of African dust episodes and their contributions to PM10 concentrations allowed us to identify a consistent decreasing trend in the period 2006/2007 to 2011 in 4 of the 17 studied regions, all of them located in the NW of the Mediterranean. The observed trend is almost parallel to the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) index for the summer period, progressively more negative since 2006 onwards. As a consequence, a sharp change in the atmospheric circulation over the last 5 yr (a similar negative NAO period occurred in the 1950 decade) have affected the number of African dust episodes and their mean contribution to PM10 in the NW part of the Mediterranean. The investigation of summer temperatures at 850 hPa suggest that warm air accomplishing African dust air masses moved anomalously through the central Mediterranean in the 2007–2008 period, whereas it was displaced atypically to the NW African coast and the Canary Islands in the 2009–2011 period.

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