The Forest

I am the Forest wild, ancient and sacred. I am the origin of the world in every seed, plant and leaf. Thousands of shades of green dominate my infinite inside, which contaminates every wrinkle in a time that here no longer exists. Only space, in its infinite dimensions, resonates in every color. It is the energy of the Earth That dominates the labyrinth of shapes that live within me, and here, as nowhere else, words, by magic, meet and there are strangers no more

Fluxes of particulate matter, carbonates, organic carbon and nitrogen in the northern Adriatic continental shelf: A synthesis overview

Time series of composition and fluxes of settling particles in the marine environment, obtained by sediment traps, contribute to define the main processes driving the dynamics of particulate matter and of the time/space variability of benthic-pelagic exchanges. With this aim, the composition and seasonal and annual fluxes of settling matter, obtained from different projects and from published papers, at 8 sites of the Northern Adriatic shelf were estimated.  The mean yearly particulate fluxes varied from 2763 to 14,447 g m-2 y-1, from 66 to 236 gC m-2y-1 for organic carbon (OC) flux, from 861 to 7525 g m-2y-1 for carbonates and from 12 to 42 gN m-2y-1 for nitrogen (N). The fluxes were characterized by high seasonal variations with marked increase in autumn or in winter with respect to spring or summer. The sink of particles occurs in relatively short episodes as about 50% of annual particle flux settles in less than 1-2 months in the western coastal area. This seasonality can be related to the riverine discharges, primary production and wind regimes of the basin. Utilizing the N/OC ratio as an index for discriminating the different origin of organic matter (i.e., resuspended/riverine and autochthonous), the primary marine carbon flux was estimated to range from 10 to 28% of the OC fluxes and accounted for 8-40% of the primary production, depending on the site. Then, due to the shallow waters of the basin and to the relevant riverine inputs, the total fluxes near the sea bottom were highly dependent on resuspension and advective transport processes. The important contribution of these last processes as source of organic matter is suggested also by the comparison between fluxes determined by sediment traps with mass accumulation rates (MAR) in sediments, derived from radionuclide measurements. Indeed, the fraction of OC fluxes which is not buried in the sediment is sufficient to support the benthic respiration processes

Il dialogo dei ricercatori con la società civile: dalla Citizen Science ai Cammini LTER

Presentation of Cammini LTER at XXVIII Congresso dell’Associazione Nazionale dei Musei Scientifici. I musei Scientifici nell’anno europeo del patrimonio

Natural or anthropogenic variability? A long-term pattern of the zooplankton communities in an ever-changing transitional ecosystem

The Venice Lagoon is an important site belonging to the Italian Long-Term Ecological Research Network (LTER). Alongside with the increasing trend of water temperature and the relevant morphological changes, in recent years, the resident zooplankton populations have also continued to cope with the colonization by alien species, particularly the strong competitor Mnemiopsis leidyi. In this work, we compared the dynamics of the lagoon zooplankton over a period of 20 years. The physical and biological signals are analyzed and compared to evaluate the hypothesis that a slow shift in the environmental balance of the site, such as temperature increase, sea level rise (hereafter called “marinization”), and competition between species, is contributing to trigger a drift in the internal equilibrium of the resident core zooplankton. Though the copepod community does not seem to have changed its state, some important modifications of structure and assembly mechanisms have already been observed. The extension of the marine influence within the lagoon has compressed the spatial gradients of the habitat and created a greater segregation of the niches available to some typically estuarine taxa and broadened and strengthened the interactions between marine species

Developing a participatory process for soil fertility:A case study in an urban area of Italy

Approaches that are transdisciplinary and participatory can help to address complex socio-ecological issues by integrating multiple disciplinary perspectives while taking into account the different needs and experiences of community members and other stakeholders. Despite this promise, such approaches are rarely applied within the scientific community, as researchers and public actors often lack the training, practice and reference cases required to handle the working relationships and translations of terminology, ideas and values across multiple bodies of knowledge. A case study described in this manuscript depicts a group of researchers, artists and citizens consciously engaged in the construction of a transdisciplinary process as part of a 40-day ‘citizen science’ experiment focussed on assessing soil fertility in the urban area of Milan, Italy. The group drew from recognised scientific approaches, applied agronomic methodologies, artistic practices and technological tools, integrating them into a hybrid process of collective and participatory inquiry. As a quantitative outcome of the experiment, a dataset of bio-chemical parameters was generated, which was enriched by agronomic interpretations but also by artistic and reflective materials. Importantly, the process developed transdisciplinary and participatory skills, as it created a potentially replicable procedure of engagement, analysis and presentation for use in other citizen science settings. This article presents the context, the multiple objectives of the research and the applied approach and its timeline. Described in detail are the process of designing and conducting the experiment by involving an extended research community—including both junior and senior researchers—in progressive steps. Quantitative and qualitative results are provided. The findings are meant to contribute case material and methods to inform the advancement of transdisciplinary research approaches within the scientific community as well as examples of ways to transcend the boundaries of science to include artists and community stakeholders. The aspiration is to inform and inspire concrete application of transdisciplinary and participatory methods in concert to address complex socio-environmental challenges

Bio-Based Products from Mediterranean Seaweeds: Italian Opportunities and Challenges for a Sustainable Blue Economy

Seaweeds are attracting increasing attention as an alternative healthy food and renewable drugs source and as agents of climate change mitigation that provide essential ecosystem services. In this context, seaweeds represent marine resources capable of supporting and pursuing the objectives of the Sustainable Blue Economy and the Bio-Based Circular Economy. In this review, we analyze the state of seaweed bio-based products and research on the Mediterranean Sea from the last 20 years. Results of this analysis show a large number of investigations focusing on antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities compared to on biofuels and bioplastics. Attempts at seaweed farming, although generally very limited, are present in Israel and some North African countries. Lastly, we focus on the Italian situation—including research, companies and legislation on seaweed production—and we discuss gaps, perspectives and challenges for the potential development of a sustainable seaweed industry according to the Sustainable Blue Economy