Where we Come from and where to Go: Six Decades of Botanical Studies in the Mediterranean Wetlands, with Sardinia (Italy)as a Case Study.

Plants are key elements of wetlands due to their evolutionary strategies for coping with life in a water-saturated environment, providing the basis for supporting nearly all wetland biota and habitat structure for other taxonomic groups. Sardinia, the second largest island of the Mediterranean Basin, hosts a great variety of wetlands, of which 16 are included in eight Ramsar sites. The 119 hydro- and hygrophilous vascular plant taxa from Sardinia represent the 42.6% and 37.9% of the number estimated for Italy and Europe, respectively. Moreover, around 30% of Sardinia’s bryological flora, which is made up of 498 taxa, is present in temporary ponds. An overview at regional scale considering algae is not available, to our knowledge, even though several specific studies have contributed to their knowledge. In order to find the most investigated research themes and wetland types, identify knowledge gaps and suggest recommendations for further research, we present a first attempt to outline the work that has been hitherto done on plants in lentic habitats in Sardinia. Three plant groups (algae, bryophytes and vascular plants), and five research themes (conservation, ecology, inventory, palaeobotany and taxonomy) were considered. After a literature review, we retained 202 papers published from 1960 to 2019. We found that studies on vascular plants, as plant group, were disproportion- ately more numerous, and inventories and ecology were the most investigated research themes. Although efforts have recently been made to fill these long-lasting gaps, there is a need for updating the existing information through innovative methods and integrative approaches

Using species distribution models at local scale to guide the search of poorly known species: Review, methodological issues and future directions

Among specific applications of species distribution models (SDMs), the use of SDMs probabilistic maps for guiding field surveys is increasingly applied. This approach is particularly used for poorly known and/or cryptic species in order to better assess their distribution. One of the most interesting aspects of these applications is that predictions could be clearly validated by real data, subsequently obtained in the field. Despite this important difference from other applications, to our knowledge, the efficiency of different algorithms, metrics for model evaluation and algorithm-specific settings have not yet been sufficiently investigated. This research performs a literature survey to investigate which species, study area characteristics, variables, techniques and settings were used or suggested by previous authors. We then applied the most common approaches to guide field surveys for a set of 70 vascular plants in an endemic-rich area of Sardinia (Italy) of approx. 9000 ha, the flora of which was deeply investigated during the last two years. Our main aims were: (1) to use pre-model records for predicting the potential occurrence of plant species with different sample size, detectability and habitat preference, (2) to apply results for guiding searches for new populations of poorly known species, (3) to calculate the model performance according to independent real presence/absence data (testAUC) and (4) to compare different modelling data input and settings on the testAUC basis. By emphasizing the importance of field verification, both the review and the worked example supported the reliability of SDMs for a wide range of species to understand where a species could potentially be present and therefore to optimise resources for the search of new species localities. This study may help understand and summarise the most applied methodological approaches and to highlight future directions for this practical application. Without underrating the importance of most common recommendations, practitioners are encouraged to test the ability of this SDMs’ application with their own data. Indeed, large gaps in biological groups (e.g. insects) and in regions covered by these kind of studies (e.g. many African and Asian territories) were found. Furthermore, eventual biases due to lack of data, experience or staff, have in this experimental case less irreparable consequences than others, such as conservation assessments based on future projections, which cannot be otherwise adjusted by explicit data from ground validation

Overweighting of public information in financial markets: A lesson from the lab

We experimentally study the information aggregation process in a laboratory financial market when a public signal is released. The public disclosure crowds out information demand and reduces price informativeness. The latter effect is primarily caused by the overweighting of public information into prices. We are the first in providing evidence that strategic pricing concerns trigger the overweighting effect and the consequent market overreaction to public disclosures. From an economic policy perspective, we give support that, when deciding their communication strategy, the regulator can mitigate the market overreaction by properly setting the level of information transparency

Carignan Grape Cultivar Salt Tolerance during the Germination Phase across the Mediterranean Basin

Carignan is a black grape cultivar widely planted throughout the western Mediterranean Basin. The grape faces significant viticultural hazards such as soil salinization, which affects about 6% of the world’s total land area. The search for salt tolerance genotypes to be introduced in crossbreeding programs and obtaining new cultivars is a key factor. The seed germination and salt tolerance of Carignan were studied from different coastal vineyards across the Mediterranean Basin, and as well as whether the distance from the sea affected germination and salt tolerance. Carignan seeds, independently of the temperature and distance from the sea, germinated more than 50% under 125 mM NaCl concentrations. Seed recovery was elevated, including the capacity of gemination after high salt exposure (500 mM NaCl). The results on germination behavior related to the distance from the sea showed that all tested vineyards, except for the one farthest from the sea, had similar germination responses. The optimum germination condition to select salt-tolerant accessions is alternating temperatures 25/10 °C and 125 mM NaCl. Thanks to the ability of the Carignan to germinate in a saline substrate and their capacity for recovery, it could be useful to crossbreeding programs, for integrating as rootstock selection or for the improvement of cultivars through sexual reproduction

Single vs. multiple disclosures in an experimental asset market with information acquisition

We conduct laboratory experiments to study whether increasing the number of independent public signals in an economy with endogenous private information is an effective measure to promote the acquisition of information and to enhance price efficiency. We observe that the release of public information crowds out the traders' demand for private information under a single disclosure while favoring private information acquisition under multiple disclosures. The latter measure improves price accuracy in forecasting the asset fundamental value. However, multiple disclosures do not eliminate the adverse effect of market overreaction to public information, becoming a potential source of fragility for the financial system

The effect of time-varying fundamentals in Learning-to-Forecast Experiments

Inspired by macroeconomic scenarios, we aim to experimentally investigate the evolution of short- and long-run expectations under different specifications of the fundamentals. We collect individual predictions for the future prices in a series of Learning to Forecast Experiments with a time-varying fundamental value. In particular, we observe how expectations evolve in markets where the fundamental value follows either a V-shaped or an inverse V-shaped pattern. These conditions are compared with markets characterized by a constant and a slightly linear increasing fundamental value. We assess whether minor but systematic variations in the fundamentals affect individual short- and long-run expectations by considering positive and negative feedback-expectation systems. Even though such variations in the fundamentals turn out not to strongly affect the way subjects form their expectations in positive feedback markets, we observe significant changes in negative feedback markets

Crowding out effect and traders' overreliance on public information in financial markets: a lesson from the lab

In this paper, we study experimentally the information aggregation process in a market as a function of the access to different sources of information, namely an imperfect, public and costless signal into a market where the participants have access to costly and imperfect private information. Our results show that the release of public information provokes a crowding out effect on the traders' information demand while it keeps constant market informativeness, but significantly reduces price informativeness. Traders overrely on public information, which has a significant negative impact on the overall market performance. We detect the emergence of the overrelying phenomenon, despite the absence of an explicit incentive to the subjects to coordinate, demonstrating, therefore, that the adverse effects of releasing public information in a financial market are more relevant than generally assumed, based on the results of previous experiments inspired by simple coordination models. Our results pose new questions when a regulatory institution has to decide the appropriate level of transparency of its communication strategy

Domestic grape germination behaviour: the ‘Chardonnay’ and ‘Syrah’international cultivars’s study case

The domestic grape germination eco-physiology is a little studied aspect since reproduction occurs predominantly agamically, despite the sexual reproduction remains the main form for the selection of new cultivars. In this study, two international cultivars grown all over the world-Chardonnay and Syrah-were chosen as models of the domestic grape for the experiments in the eco-physiology of germination. The experimental design consisted of chemical, mechanical pre-treatments and combination of them as the bird ingestion pre-treatment that simulates the transit through the digestive tract of birds. Furthermore, seeds were submitted to different periods of cold stratification -0, 15, 30, 60 and 90 days -to simulate the winter effect. Seeds were placed to germinate at different incubation temperatures, to find the optimal germination protocol. The results showed that domestic grapes retain the need for cold stratification, and the best germination temperature is represented by the fluctuating temperature that simulates spring conditions. Our results help to understand what the best germination conditions of domestic grapes are and offer a contribution to extend the knowledge on how the process of domestication may have affected the biology of Vitis vinifera L. subsp. vinifera

Notulae to the Italian alien vascular flora: 12

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates published elsewhere are provided as Suppl. material 1

Notulae to the Italian alien vascular flora: 14

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrections are provided as Suppl. materia