Monitoring of Alarm Reactions of Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) in a Captive Population in Paneveggio Pale di San Martino Natural Park

Simple Summary After several years of inappropriate management, the pasture inside the enclosure for captive red deer in Paneveggio Pale di San Martino regional Park (TN, Italy) lost its nutritional value, due to the expansion of unpalatable tall grasses. Therefore, several measures to restore a suitable pasture composition were needed. The mowing activity represents a disturbance for the captive deer, which negatively affects the animals' well-being. To establish the more appropriate times/days to perform activities inside the enclosure, we observed the alarm reactions and relative intensity of animals exposed to different visual stimuli presented inside and outside the enclosure. Some differences were highlighted between the males and the nursery (females and fawns) groups. Considering the deer biology and the studied location, the best months in which it would be possible to plan activities inside the enclosure are March, April (if the snow is not present) and August. Data elaboration suggests that the best day to perform activities inside the enclosure is Wednesday because the animals showed less sensitivity to disturbances; Tuesday and Thursday may also be considered additional suitable days. The study analyzes red deer responses to disturbances during the day and different exposures to tourists, to establish the more appropriate times to carry out activities inside the Paneveggio deer enclosure. The alarm reactions of red deer were observed after presenting different types of visual stimuli inside and outside the fence, in order to answer some questions: Which stimuli produce the strongest reactions from the animals? Do animals differently react to stimuli presented outside and inside the fence? On which days and times are the animals more sensitive to disturbances? Are there different reactions between the males and females? The results suggest that the red deer adversely react to the disturbance at different degrees of intensity in relation to day, sex, tourist and where the stimuli are presented. It was observed that during the days with the highest tourist presence, the animals were particularly alarmed; discomfort accumulation produced the highest number of alarm reactions on Monday. For these reasons, it would be opportune to manage the pasture on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, scheduled at specific times of day, preferably far from the estimated presence of tourists

Analisi multitemporale dell’uso del suolo della dorsale appenninica marchigiana nel XIX e XX secolo

Questo studio ha permesso di ricostruire, per la prima volta nell’Appennino Umbro-Marchigiano, l’evoluzione temporale dell’uso del suolo lungo un arco di tempo di 150 anni e su una superficie di vasta estensione (circa 8000 ettari). Il dato principale che emerge è la sostanziale discontinuità ecologica di tutti gli ecosistemi naturali e seminaturali, fatte salve alcune importanti patches pascolive e, in misura molto minore, boschive. In totale neanche il 20% del territorio dell’area considerata è rimasto stabile nel corso degli ultimi 150 anni; queste aree rappresentano, dal punto di vista floristico, dei potenziali siti di rifugio per le specie erbacee di prateria e per quelle sciafile di bosco. Si tratta quindi di siti estremamente importanti per la conservazione della biodiversità e serbatoi genetici da cui può ripartire la colonizzazione degli ambienti antropizzati e non più utilizzati come le aree agricole abbandonate. È interessante annotare, ad esempio, come proprio in corrispondenza della più ampia patch forestale stabile (Monte Fiegni) sia presente una delle più importanti stazioni dell’Appennino Umbro-Marchigiano di tasso (Taxus baccata) ed agrifoglio (Ilex aquifolium), all’interno di una faggeta basso-montana. Si evidenzia, inoltre, una tendenza alla semplificazione del mosaico ambientale di queste aree montane. Tale semplificazione risulta bene evidente per gli ecosistemi di prateria (stabili e neoformati) che tendono a conservarsi prioritariamente all’interno delle classi di pendenza minore. Questo fenomeno riassume in se il senso dei mutati input che l’economia contemporanea offre alle attività zootecniche; nel corso dei secoli, infatti, si è passati da forme di economia basate sulla transumanza ovina ad un’attività zootecnica di tipo stanziale e dedita soprattutto all’allevamento bovino. Questa differente tipologia zootecnica richiede habitat diversi e, in particolare per quanto concerne i bovini, sono assolutamente indispensabili praterie di elevata produttività e moderata stasi estiva, condizioni che nell’Appennino si verificano solo in corrispondenza delle aree caratterizzate da morfologie a bassa energia di rilievo e in cui si sono anche conservati suoli profondi. Permanendo queste tendenze socio-economiche, dunque, in futuro tenderanno sostanzialmente a scomparire gli ecosistemi di prateria aperta sostituiti da boschi. Questo, se da un lato rappresenta un aspetto che va nel senso della naturale dinamica degli ecosistemi, dall’altro potrebbe comportare dei problemi per la conservazione della biodiversità floristica e faunistica

Approccio geosinfitosociologico alla definizione della carrying capacity potenziale degli ecosistemi forestali dell’Appennino centrale nei confronti del capriolo (Capreolus capreolus L.)

An intense debate is developed on the opportunity and the possibility to realize a system of representation of the ecosystems as fundamental element for the territorial planning, the sustainable development, the management of the habitats and animal communities. This work is aimed to the definition of the theoretical carrying capacity of the more diffused forest ecosystems in the Province of Macerata by means of the analysis of the edible phytomass from the roe deer in the winter period, corresponding to the vegetative stasis. For the evaluation of such availability, besides the floristic-structural characteristics of the forest ecosystems, it needs to know the length of the vegetative stasis period (related to every ecosystem and correlated to the bioclimatic peculiarities of the territory) as well as of the behavioural aspects in the assumption of food and the anatomical characteristics of alimentary tract of the studied kind. The analysis of the harvested phytomass (inside sample areas related to every forest ecosystem) has shown a notable variability in the quantity of edible phytomass within the considered forest ecosystems, testifying as a notable difference of vocation for the roe deer exists among different ecosystems

Pollination and dispersal trait spectra recover faster than the growth form spectrum during spontaneous succession in sandy old‐fields

Question: Spontaneous succession is the most natural and cost‐effective solution for grassland restoration. However, little is known about the time required for the recovery of grassland functionality, i.e., for the recovery of reproductive and vegetative processes typical of pristine grasslands. Since these processes operate at different scales, we addressed the question: do reproductive and vegetative processes require different recovery times during spontaneous succession? Location: Kiskunság sand region (Central Hungary). Methods: As combinations of plant traits can be used to highlight general patterns in ecological processes, we compared reproductive (pollination‐ and dispersal‐related) and vegetative (growth form) traits between recovered grasslands of different age (<10 years old; 10–20 years old; 20–40 years old) and pristine grasslands. Results: During spontaneous succession, the reproductive trait spectra became similar to those of pristine grasslands earlier than the vegetative ones. In arable land abandoned for 10 years, pollination‐ and dispersal‐related trait spectra did not show significant difference to those of pristine grasslands; anemophily and anemochory were the prevailing strategies. Contrarily, significant differences in the growth form spectrum could be observed even after 40 years of abandonment; in recovered grasslands erect leafy species prevailed, while the fraction of dwarf shrubs and tussock‐forming species was significantly lower than in pristine grasslands. Conclusions: The recovery of the ecological processes of pristine grasslands might require different amounts of time, depending on the spatial scale at which they operate. The reproductive trait spectra recovered earlier than the vegetative one, since reproductive attributes first determine plant species sorting at the regional level towards their respective habitats. The recovery of the vegetative trait spectrum needs more time as vegetative‐based interactions operate on a smaller spatial scale. Thus, vegetative traits might be more effective in the long‐term assessment of restoration success than the reproductive ones

Kinetic investigations of sulfite addition to flavanols

Flavanols are an important class of natural products occurring in almost all plants, fruits and vegetables; they have a great influence on wine ageing potential, astringency, colour stability and biological activities. In wine, flavanols react with sulfur dioxide (SO2), the most widely used preservative in oenology, leading to sulfonated products. Here we report a kinetic investigation, through LC-MS quantitative measurements carried out at different pH (3 and 4) and temperature values (23, 30, 40, 50 and 60∘C), of the reaction products obtained by SO2 addition to both monomeric (epicatechin and catechin) and dimeric flavanols (procyanidin B2 and procyanidin B3). The results proved that: (a) the major sulfonation route that leads quickly and in good yields to monomeric 4-sulfonated derivatives passes through the acid-catalysed depolymerisation of proanthocyanidins; (b) monomeric flavanols lead to the same 4-sulfonated products, although in a considerably slower manner, and also to other sulfonated regioisomers; (c) the kinetic data in our hands, in particular the temperature dependence of the observed rates, suggest the involvement of two completely different reaction mechanisms for the SO2 addition to dimeric and monomeric flavanol substrates; (d) direct sulfonation of epicatechin is slightly faster than that of catechin

Approccio geosinfitosociologico ed etologico alla definizione della carrying capacity degli ecosistemi forestali dell'Appennino centrale nei confronti del capriolo (Capreolus capreolus)

In the last year an intense debate is developed on the opportunity and the possibility to realize a system of representation as fundamental element for the territorial planning, the sustainable development, the management of the habitats and animal communities. This work is aimed to the definition of the theoretical carrying capacity of the more diffused forest ecosystems in the Province of Macerata and pertaining to the high and medium vocation classes by means of the analysis of the edible phytomass from the roe deer in the winter period, corresponding to the vegetative stasis period (related to every ecosystem and correlated to the bioclimatic peculiarities of the territory) as well as of the behavioural aspects in the assumption of food and the anatomical characteristics of alimentary tract of the studied kind. The analysis of the harvested phytomass (inside sample areas related to every forest ecosystem) has shown a notable variability in the quantity of edible phytomass within the considered forest ecosystems, testifying as a notable difference of vocation for the roe deer exists among different ecosystems; an implementation of the data needs for a more fine definition of vocation by means of a statistic elaboration