scholarly journals [Transiting species, phenologies and their trends]

2021 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-144
Author(s):  
Paolo Pedrini ◽  
Alessandro Franzoi ◽  
Paula Lorenzo Sanchez ◽  
Fernando Spina ◽  
Simone Tenan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Operating Time ◽  
Sampling Effort ◽  
Detailed Data ◽  
Italian Alps ◽  
Trend Analyses ◽  
Continuous Activity ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Migratory Period ◽  
Different Altitudes

[In order to contribute to the knowledge of the spatio-temporal progression of post-nuptial migration of birds across the Italian Alps, we present in detail the results of the analysis carried out for 69 species (4 non-Passeriformes; 65 Passeriformes) of the 191 ringed within the Progetto Alpi. Data were collected in 40 ringing stations located in different habitats and at different altitudes (mountain passes, slopes and valley floors) and active in the post-breeding migratory period (1 August - 30 November). Among these, those (n=15) with continuous activity (at least one month) and known sampling effort (daily capture effort described as product of net area in square meters by operating time in hours) were selected. Data from the 6 stations that operated continuously over the years (2001-2017) and with standardised capture effort were used for trend analyses. Species covered refer to those with more than 100 birds ringed within the first eight hours after sunrise (excluding local retraps). Species accounts contain detailed data from datasets from all stations participating in the Alps Project (1997-2017)].   [Article in Italian]

scholarly journals VegeT: An Easy Tool to Classify and Facilitate the Management of Seminatural Grasslands and Dynamically Connected Vegetation of the Alps

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 473
Author(s):  
Luca Giupponi ◽  
Valeria Leoni
Keyword(s):  
Information Transfer ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Italian Alps ◽  
Microsoft Excel ◽  
Ecological Analysis ◽  
Mountain Grasslands ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Seminatural Grasslands

Alpine pastures and meadows are agroecosystems of biological, cultural-historical, and economic importance that are undergoing profound imbalances and which are in a rapid decline due to changes in management and/or abandonment. The European Union is making efforts to protect this heritage and resource. However, the dialog among the different professionals in charge of studying and managing these agroecosystems needs to be as easy and comprehensible as possible for grasslands conservation/restoration actions to be successful. This research introduces VegeT, an easy-to-use tool to facilitate information transfer between botanists and practitioners responsible for providing guidelines for the correct management of mountain grasslands. VegeT is a Microsoft Excel® worksheet that allows the classification of seminatural grasslands and dynamically connected vegetation (shrublands and forests) of the Alps employing two ecological indexes: the index of nutrients (N) and the index of mowing tolerance (MV). VegeT was elaborated upon the floristic-ecological analysis of the vegetation of Taleggio Valley (Italian Alps) performed applying multivariate analysis techniques. From the analyses, it emerged that N and MV are the main variables on which to base a classification system of alpine mountain grasslands and dynamically connected vegetation able to facilitate the interpretation of floristic-vegetation data and to return useful information for management decisions.

scholarly journals Quality traits of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) produced in the Italian Alps

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annamaria Giorgi ◽  
Daniela Pentimalli ◽  
Luca Giupponi ◽  
Sara Panseri
Keyword(s):  
International Organization ◽  
Crocus Sativus ◽  
Italian Alps ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Production Processes ◽  
Alpine Area ◽  
The World ◽  
Quality Category ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Crocus Sativus L

AbstractSaffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a perennial herbaceous geophyte in the Iridaceae family. It propagates vegetatively by corm. All saffron production processes are generally conducted by hand: from bulb implantation, harvesting of flowers to stigma separation. Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world because of the intensive hand labour required for production. The increasing interest in Crocus sativus cultivation and production in the Italian Alpine area could increase revenues for the rural farming economy. Twenty eight dried saffron samples were collected from different farmers of the Italian Alpine area (Lombardia, Trentino Alto Adige, Piemonte and Veneto) between November 2015 and March 2016. Each sample was processed to determine their moisture content and amount of picrocrocin, crocins and safranal using the methods established by the International Organization for Standardization for saffron (ISO 3632 1,2:2010-2011). Over 82.1 % of the samples analyzed were ranked in the highest quality category of the ISO 3632. A high quality saffron product can be produced in the Italian Alpine area suggesting that this crop could serve as a sustainable source of economic revenues to diversified farms in the Alps.

Gender Discrimination in Property Rights: Six Centuries of Commons Governance in the Alps

2016 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 559-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Casari ◽  
Maurizio Lisciandra
Keyword(s):  
Property Rights ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Italian Alps ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Economic Shocks ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
The Commons ◽  
The Alps

Starting from the Medieval period, women in the Italian Alps experienced a progressive erosion in property rights over the commons. We collected documents about the evolution of inheritance regulations on collective land issued by hundreds of villages over a period of six centuries (thirteenth-nineteenth). Based on this original dataset, we provide a long-term perspective of decentralized institutional change in which gender-biased inheritance systems emerged as a defensive measure to preserve the wealth of village insiders. This institutional change also had implications for the population growth, marriage strategies, and the protection from economic shocks.

scholarly journals A prehistoric jade axe from Galicia (Northwestern Iberia): Researching its origin

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar Lantes-Suárez ◽  
Carlos Rodríguez-Rellán ◽  
Ramón Fábregas Valcarce ◽  
Arturo De Lombera Hermida ◽  
Aida González Pazos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Geological Samples ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Italian Alps ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
X Ray ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Geological Source ◽  
Northwest Iberia

The Vilapedre axe (Lugo, Northwest Iberia) has been traditionally considered by archaeologists as evidence of prehistoric long-distance contacts along the Atlantic Coast of France and Spain. This artefact - as other “Tumiac type” axes (long polished blades, generally butt-perforated) - would have been produced in Brittany during the Neolithic (5th millennium BCE) using jadeitite as raw material, a green-coloured rock for which there are sources in the western Italian Alps. In this paper, we have traced the possible archaeological origin of this artefact back by examining the personal files of one of its first owners, Santiago de la Iglesia. Furthermore, we have conducted a mineralogical (X-Ray Diffraction, XRD) and an elemental analysis (Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray Detection, SEM-EDX) of both the Vilapedre axe and geological samples from several places at the Alps where prehistoric quarrying of greenstones has been reported. The aims were physicochemically characterizing the axe to provide information about its possible geological source. During our analyses, we have found significant compositional similarities between the Vilapedre axe and one of the geological samples coming from the Alps (Alp06). The results are therefore consistent with the alleged Alpine origin of this artefact. The presence of this axe in Northwest Spain, together with other evidence, such as the presence of objects of Iberian origin in Breton monuments, strongly suggests the existence of contacts between both regions of the Atlantic façade during the Neolithic onwards in which seafaring would undoubtedly have played an important role.

scholarly journals Spatio-temporal variability of climatic parameters across different altitudes of North- Western Himalaya

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-306
Author(s):  
PANKAJ PANWAR ◽  
SHARMISTHA PAL ◽  
NANCY LORIA ◽  
MED RAM VERMA ◽  
N.M. ALAM ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rainfall Variability ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Western Himalaya ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Rainfall Occurrence ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Different Altitudes

Climate change impact varies across different altitudinal ranges and demands local specific management strategies for water resource and farming system management. The present study analyses spacio-temporal climate parameters across different altitudes of Himachal Pradesh a hilly state of India. Analysis shows that annually, minimum temperature has significantly decreased by -0.09°C at altitude I (350 - 400 m) while maximum temperature has significantly increased by 0.05°C at altitudes I and II (1400-1500 m) and decreased significantly by -0.08°C at altitude III (2000- 2100 m). Higher regions Altitude – IV (2900-3000 m) received lowest rainfall (746.1 mm) with 30.2 % variation. Seasonal rainfall variability was higher in post monsoon (102 - 174%) and least in monsoon (21 - 57%). Annual rainfall at altitude I is strongly irregular (PCI 20.1 to 22.3), followed by altitude – IV (PCI 15-25); altitude – II irregular (PCI 15-20) and altitude – III moderate to irregular (PCI 12 -19) rainfall. Seasonal Index values for four altitudes fall between 0.91-0.96 revealed that rainfall is irregular and markedly seasonal with longer drier season. Higher wavelet powers in altitude - I and II after 2005 suggests frequency of extreme rainfall occurrence had increased.

Records of Cholevinae (Coleoptera: Leiodidae) sampled by pitfall traps in the Central Italian Alps

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-42
Author(s):  
LEONARDO LATELLA ◽  
LUCA PEDROTTI ◽  
MAURO GOBBI
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Variables ◽  
National Park ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Species Assemblages ◽  
Pitfall Traps ◽  
Vertebrate Species ◽  
Italian Alps ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Distribution And Ecology

In the framework of a long-term project launched by the Stelvio National Park for monitoring the spatio-temporal patterns in plant, arthropod and vertebrate species assemblages, the results on the sampled cholevid species are reported. The abundance of specimens and the distribution of species has been studied in relation to nine environmental variables. Five species of the tribe Cholevini were sampled during this research: Apocatops nigrita, Catops coracinus, Catops fuliginosu, Catops nigricans and Catops tristis. The most abundant and frequent species were Apocatops nigrita and Catops coracinus. The effect of the environmental variables on the distribution of two of the most abundant species (C. coracinus, A. nigrita) was tested and described. Updated information about the distribution and ecology of the five sampled species were provided. 

scholarly journals The Analysis of Italian Plant Agrobiodiversity Databases Reveals That Hilly and Sub-Mountain Areas Are Hotspots of Herbaceous Landraces

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Luca Giupponi ◽  
Davide Pedrali ◽  
Valeria Leoni ◽  
Alessia Rodari ◽  
Annamaria Giorgi
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Herbaceous Species ◽  
Detailed Data ◽  
Plant Resources ◽  
Mountain Areas ◽  
European Guidelines ◽  
Italian Regions ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Taking Action

Landraces are an agri-food and historical-cultural heritage but are undergoing losses worldwide. Italy is taking action to counteract this problem by following European guidelines. One of the most important measures is the Agrobiodiversity National Register (ANR), but 12 Italian regions currently appear without any landraces and around 80% of the landraces listed are trees, with less detailed data on herbaceous species. The aim of this study is to investigate the situation for Italian herbaceous landraces preserved on farms (in situ) by merging and analyzing data contained in the main databases on plant agrobiodiversity in Italy. Data were georeferenced, organized by botanic families and Italian regions, and analyzed by GIS and R. A total of 1615 herbaceous landraces were found (versus the 416 recorded in the ANR). Poaceae, Fabaceae, and Solanaceae together comprise 70% of all herbaceous landraces and are mostly preserved/grown in areas between 150 and 800 m a.s.l. Some hilly and sub-mountain areas of the Apennines and the Alps are hotspots of herbaceous landraces due to anthropic and environmental factors. The results of this research will be useful to enrich the ANR and trigger actions of characterization, conservation, and promotion of these plant resources.

scholarly journals A new cryptic ground beetle species from the Alps characterised via geometric morphometrics

2013 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 171-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Roggero ◽  
Pier Mauro Giachino ◽  
Claudia Palestrini
Keyword(s):  
Geometric Morphometrics ◽  
Ground Beetle ◽  
European Alps ◽  
Beetle Species ◽  
Median Lobe ◽  
Italian Alps ◽  
The Alps ◽  
The Right ◽  
A New Species ◽  
Shape And Size

The European Alps support several ground beetle Nebria (Nebriola) species, which are morphologically similar. A study conducted on a Nebriola population located between the Eastern Pennine and Western Lepontine Italian Alps revealed the presence of two species, Nebria (Nebriola) cordicollis and N. (Nebriola) gosteliae, and some individuals that possibly represented an unknown taxonomic unit (UTU). Therefore, to further elucidate and characterise the morphological units at the site, we completed a comparative analysis using geometric morphometrics applying the semilandmarks approach. We examined the pronotum, the right elytron, and the median lobe of aedeagus. The quantitative analysis evaluated the overall variation in shape and size of the three structures. Results supported the hypothesised presence of three distinct groups of individuals, with different morphologies for the anatomical traits examined. The pronotum and median lobe of aedeagus exhibited more marked differences among the groups, while the right elytron showed reduced differentiation. These results confirmed that the three groups were separate taxa, and were therefore correctly classified. Based on our findings, we considered the UTU a new species, which is here described as Nebria (Nebriola) casalei sp. nov.

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