A New Idea on How to Take Swine to Feed on Crop Residues in the Field

Inspired by the commercial success of the extensive farming of black pigs (cerdo iberico) in Spain, there is a revived interest in Italy for the old black pig breeds which were once common. In the year 2000 a community of towns on the hills of the province of Foggia (North Apulia) started a project with the purpose of recovering the local black breed (Suino Pugliese) and encourage farmers to raise it in the traditional way. Twelve farms collaborated with the project. The quality of the meat proved to be outstanding, but the extensive form of husbandry initially programmed was never realised because all the pigs were in fact raised in enclosures and fed artificially. This articlesuggests how to complete this last step by using motorised transport for taking the pigs out to feed on the crop residues in the fields

The Vicissitudes of a Coastal Lagoon from the 19th Century to the Present Day

An account is given of the man-made alterations in the ecology of Lesina, a large (5328 ha) shallow lagoon on the south Adriatic coast of Italy, alterations motivated by the necessities of fish production, reclaiming land for agriculture, and eliminating malarial marshland. Up to 1851 the ecosystem was ruled by entirely natural forces. In that year an artificial outlet to the sea was dug in addition to the existing natural one. In 1903 a second artificial sea channel was opened. By the 1950s all the surrounding freshwater marshes (ca 1500 ha) had been drained and a dike built around the perimeter of the basin. Underwater trenches in the lagoon have been dug to facilitate water circulation. Pollution has become evident in the last fifty years. Three years ago a small harbour for sea-going fishing vessels was constructed at the entrance of one of the sea channels

Spatial and temporal variations of nutrients and chlorophyll a in a Mediterranean coastal lagoon: Varano lagoon, Italy

The purpose of this paper is to assess the present status of a Mediterranean lagoon (Varano lagoon, Italy), basing on nutrient and chlorophyll a data. A water sampling in Varano lagoon was performed at 7 fixed stations from February 2004 to July 2005, collecting surface water samples to analyse ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and soluble reactive silica (SRSi), chlorophyll a (chl a) and total suspended solids (TSS). Spatial and temporal distributions of chemical and biological parameters in Varano lagoon were examined to accomplish the goal of this study. Statistical tests were used to investigate the correlations between analysed variables and to characterize, from a spatial and temporal point of view, the lagoon in relation to each variable. Ammonia and nitrate did not showed good correlation (P<0.05). SRP was not correlated with any nutrient (only with Chl a, P<0.05). The seasonal distribution show a random pattern for soluble reactive phosphorus with relatively low mean concentrations (0.16 ± 0.03 µM) and a well-defined seasonal pattern for nitrate, with the highest mean value (34.44 ± 10.18 µM) recorded in the wet season (February 2004) and a high spatial variability. The most homogeneous chl a values were observed in both autumn and winter seasons with averages of about 1-1.5 µg . L-1; in contrast, higher mean values (5.50 µg . L-1 ) were recorded in July 2005. The ratio between the dissolved inorganic nitrogen species and SRP (N/P) in Varano lagoon was constantly high and it varied seasonally from about 300:1 during rainy seasons to 60-90:1 during dry seasons. High values of the N/P ratio in autumn and winter were accompanied by an increase in total N implying an input of nitrogen to the system probably associated with rainfall. The high fluctuation in the various chemical parameters in the lagoon during the rainy season suggested that this is the period of large variability, in which environmental processes as marine waters, freshwaters and wastewaters represent inputs that determine the spatial behaviour of the system

Resistance and resilience of ecosystem descriptors and properties to dystrophic events: a study case in a Mediterranean lagoon

Mediterranean lagoons are naturally exposed, during the dry season, to dystrophic and hypoxic events determining dis-equilibrium conditions along temporal and spatial scales, which are linked to metabolism and life cycle of the biotic components. In summer 2008, Lesina lagoon (SE Italian coastline) was interested by a geographically localized dystrophic crisis which affected up to 8% of the total lagoon surface. Temporal dynamics of principal descriptors of abiotic (water, sediment) and biotic (phytoplankton, benthic macroinvertebrate) compartments have been followed during the 2008 by collecting data inside stressed and control lagoon areas before a dystrophic event and in the six months after the dystrophic event. The aim of the study was to analyse the pathways of ecosystem responses to dystrophic stress, searching for the characteristic scales of ecosystem compartment resistance and resilience. The characteristic time-scale of abiotic and biotic component time responses varied from days, for the selected markers of the water column, to year, for the benthic ones. Short-term biotic and abiotic responses in the water column were strongly coupled while biotic and abiotic responses at the sediment level were remarkably un-coupled. Dynamics and recovery time of water column and benthic components do not match in Lesina following the dystrophic crisis, highlighting an intrinsic individualistic behavior within the lagoon community driving ecosystem processes and ecosystem level responses. Taxonomic and non-taxonomic descriptors of both phytoplankton and benthic macroinvertebrates showed different response patterns as early warning signals and overall resilience. The emphasized differences in the stability components, i.e., resistance and resilience, of water column and sediment abiotic and biotic characteristics as well as of taxonomic and non-taxonomic descriptors has key implication in planning monitoring strategies and programs for transitional waters in the Mediterranean and Black Sea EcoRegions

The last of the red Deer, <em>Cervus elaphus</em> L., 1758, of "Bosco isola", Lesina (Foggia, Southern Italy)

<strong>Abstract</strong>
 In the sand dune (tombolo), named “Bosco Isola”, which separates the lagoon of Lesina (Province of Foggia, Apulia, southern Italy) from the Adriatic Gulf, traditional records confirm the existence since ancient times of a population of red deer, <em>Cervus elaphus</em> L., 1758. These animals originated very likely from one of the hunting preserves of the king of Naples, such as the not distant Torre Guevara. The last deer of “Bosco Isola” was killed around 1930. Acknowledgement of the survival up to such recent times of allochthonous wild game of large dimensions on the tombolo of Lesina also raises serious questions about the origins of the present-day mammalian fauna of the Foresta Umbra and the entire Gargano promontory.
 
 <strong>Riassunto</strong>
 <strong>L’ultimo cervo <em>Cervus elaphus</em> di "Bosco Isola", Lesina (Foggia, Italia
 meridionale).</strong>
 Sulla duna di sabbia (tombolo), denominata "Bosco Isola", che separa la laguna di Lesina (Provincia di Foggia, Puglia, Italia meridionale) dal Mare Adriatico, è nota la trascorsa esistenza di una popolazione di cervo, <em>Cervus elaphus</em> L., 1758. Molto verosimilmente, questi animali vi furono importati da qualcuna delle riserve di caccia del re di Napoli, come ad esempio la non lontana Torre Guevara. L’ultimo dei cervi di “Bosco Isola” fu ucciso intorno al 1930. La consapevolezza della sopravvivenza fino in epoche così recenti di selvaggina alloctona di grandi dimensioni sul tombolo di Lesina pone seri interrogativi anche sull’origine dell’attuale fauna a mammiferi della Foresta Umbra e dell’intero promontorio del Gargano

Modelling effective choral conducting education through an exploration of example teaching and learning in England

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Population structure and spatial distribution of Loripes lacteus (Linnaeus, 1758) in Varano lagoon, SE Italy

In Varano lagoon (Puglia, Italy) the bivalve Loripes lacteus (Linnaeus, 1758) constitutes the most abundant species among the organisms of the benthic macrofauna. This work presents the results of five years (from 2001 at 2006) of observations on the abundance, size/age population structure and spatial distribution of this species within the basin (6500 ha). L. lacteus is one of the most common and frequent bivalve species in Mediterranean lagoons. It typically occurs in reduced sediments where it is able to live at low oxygen concentration due to a particular respiratory pigment haemoglobin. Lucinid bivalves house symbiotic, sulphur-oxydizing chemoautotrophic bacterias in their gills, which contribute substantially to their nutrition. The design was to perform two sampling campaignes on yearly basis during the intermediate seasons (Spring and Autumn), when possible. Each sampling was realized collecting 53 sampling units taken from 53 stations distributed regularly over the lagoon surface. Each sampling unit consisted in all the individuals contained in a solid 15 x 15 x 20 cm of sediment and held on 1 mm mesh. Growth patterns were determined with the Bhattacharya method which uses modal progression analysis from size frequency distribution. The results showed a spatial distribution of L. lacteus which occurred in patches and changed among samples. The population analysis showed two modal classes for each sampling time. L. lacteus is an “r” strategy species with small size, brief life cycle, with great capacity of recovery after environmental crises

Spatial and temporal description of the dystrophic crisis in Lesina lagoon during summer 2008

Lagoons are vulnerable ecosystems often exposed to eutrophication due to anthropogenic activities. They are characterized by high vulnerability to climatic factors and biogeochemical impairment that, in some cases, can lead to dystrophic crisis. Here we analyze the short term temporal pattern of climatic, physical and chemical parameters during a dystrophic crisis occurred in Lesina lagoon in Summer 2008, focusing on the interactive effect of their variations. To this aim, we integrated meteorological data, satellite image analysis and local physical and chemical measurements in order to have a more detailed sight of processes that can give raise to a dystrophic crisis and to describe how the crisis evolves. Results show that an unusual change in main wind direction, sun radiation, and other meteorological parameters with respect to the previous years together with a temporal closing of tidal channel that assure the seawater inflow led to an hydrologic isolation of the western basin of Lesina lagoon occurred in summer 2008. The consequent unbalance in biogeochemical cycles produced a dystrophic crisis and a shift, in this area, from a macrophytes based system toward a phytoplankton based system. Since changes in climatic factors or in hydrologic regimes into the eutrophic lagoon probably already happened previously in different moments without giving rise to dystrophic event, the crisis was likely triggered by the co-occurrence of both factor variations. It is essential to understand the mechanistic linkages in space and time between man-made alterations of hydrologic and nutrient load regimes (that can be managed or controlled) and unpredictable climatic factors in the context of the individual ecosystem for managing transitional water ecosystems incurring in nutrient enrichment

Factors affecting changes in phanerogam distriburion patterns of Orbetello lagoon, Italy

1 - In this study recent changes of the distribution of three phanerogam species (Ruppia cirrhosa, Cymodocea nodosa, and Nanozostera noltii) were studied in the Orbetello lagoon, a meso-eutrophic and human stressed ecosystem. 2 - The aim was: I) to produce SURFER distributions maps, and II) to statistically evaluate significant changes in the spatial distribution taking into account two different factors (basin and year). For these reasons, percentage of coverage (CP) of each species was estimated in 38 sites equally distributed inside the Eastern and Western basins both in summers 2003 and 2009. 3 - The geostatistical maps evidenced changes in phanerogams distribution during the studied period but only variations observed for the N. noltii species at basin level resulted significant on a statistical basis.Significant differences at basin level were also obtained by the multivariate analysis. These results might be explained by the different ecological characteristics existing between Western and Eastern basin