Phytophagous hoverflies (Diptera Syrphidae) as indicators of changing landscapes

Spatial and temporal differences in landscape patterns are of considerable interest for understanding ecological processes. In this study, we assessed habitat quality by using the Syrph The Net database and data on decreasing species richness over a 25-year period for the two largest phytophagous hoverfly genera (Merodon and Cheilosia). Furthermore, within this time frame, we explored congruence between ecological responses (species richness and Biodiversity Maintenance Function for these two genera) and landscape structural changes through correlation analysis. Our results indicate that landscapes have experienced changes in aggregation, isolation/connectivity and landscape diversity, with these parameters being significantly correlated with Cheilosia species richness loss and habitat quality. We conclude that the genus Cheilosia is a good bioindicator that can highlight not only the current quality of an area but also temporal changes in landscape patterns.Peer reviewe

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE HISTORIC IMAGE OF AN URBAN GARDEN AS A TOOL FOR PRESERVATION AND ENHANCEMENT

In the last century towns and green areas in urban context have substantially changed at landscape and architectonic level. Several gardens have today an historic value, but in many cases their current arrangement is highly different from the original one. With the aim of preserving and enhancing such gardens, it results particularly useful to define analytic tools for the knowledge of the original features of those places and for a comparison to the current ones, with particular consideration of plant and morphological features. The goal of the study is the definition of an operative method of analysis suitable to reconstruct the historic image of urban green areas with particular reference to the plant arrangement, the architectonic composition and the morphology. The method defined was applied to a study case represented by an urban garden in Imola (Italy), designed and built at the end of the 19th century and deeply changed so far. The historic image of the area was reconstructed, based on documental data obtained through the analysis of the original project documents and their digitalization by CAD, and was compared to the current state, analyzed by means of a three-dimensional digital topographic survey. The results allowed outlining the transformations undergone to the area, and in particular to identify the original elements most significant at plant, composition and morphological level. The performed analyses represent a tool adoptable to support design choices for the preservation and enhancement of urban historic gardens

, 2018. Phytophagous hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) as indicators of changing landscapes.

Spatial and temporal differences in landscape patterns are of considerable interest for understanding ecological processes. In this study, we assessed habitat quality by using the Syrph The Net database and data on decreasing species richness over a 25-year period for the two largest phytophagous hoverfly genera (Merodon and Cheilosia). Furthermore, within this time frame, we explored congruence between ecological responses (species richness and Biodiversity Maintenance Function for these two genera) and landscape structural changes through correlation analysis. Our results indicate that landscapes have experienced changes in aggregation, isolation/connectivity and landscape diversity, with these parameters being significantly correlated with Cheilosia species richness loss and habitat quality. We conclude that the genus Cheilosia is a good bioindicator that can highlight not only the current quality of an area but also temporal changes in landscape patterns

The Antifragile Potential of Line Tourism: Towards a Multimethodological Evaluation Model for Italian Inner Areas Cultural Heritage

More than 60% of Italy is occupied by inner areas in continuous depopulation. It is a continuous abandonment which has led to the constant aging of towns and to devastating effects on the hydrogeological system but also to the risk of loss of local identities. In this heritage at risk, we can be able to find one of the cornerstones of a territorial rebirth. Slow tourism can be the appropriate action for a place-based strategy that is able to adequately enhance this widespread heritage. It is no coincidence that the theme of the recovery of public assets along slow tourism lines is increasingly relevant in the inner areas. In this sense, our research question focuses to imagine an antifragile tourism model that, starting from potential unused resources of territorial capital, can act to minimize fragility and maximize attractiveness. To do that, we suggest the use of an hybrid methodological approach based on the combined use of Geographic Information Systems and Multicriteria Analysis, in order to support the decision process to identify disused buildings suitable for adaptive reuse. What is challenging is to find out balanced reuse strategies, able to bring benefits both to the most attractive sites as well as to the most fragile ones according to the line perspective. In this paper, we present the first steps of an integrated model for the valorization of disused buildings, enhancing the regenerative capacity of slow tourism

The high-yielding lambrusco (Vitis vinifera l.) grapevine district can benefit from precision viticulture

The best Lambrusco wines are often obtained by blending a representative of the Lambrusco family (i.e., Lambrusco Salamino) with a smaller fraction of Ancellotta, a teinturier variety possessing an extraordinary quality of accumulating color. Because of the economic importance of the Lambrusco business and the rising interest in precision viticulture, a two-year trial was carried out in seven vineyard plots growing both the named varieties. A RapidEye satellite image taken on 9 Aug 2018 led to vigor maps based on unfiltered normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). In both years, ground truthing was performed on the test vines chosen within each vigor area for soil features, vegetative growth, yield, grape, and final wine composition. For data pooled over sites and years, Ancellotta showed a very clear response to NDVI-based vigor mapping, as low vigor areas always achieved improved ripening in terms of higher total soluble solids (+1.24 Brix), color and phenols (+0.36 mg/kg and +0.44 mg/kg, respectively), and lower malate (-1.79 g/L) versus high vigor. Such a behavior was shown even in those cases where NDVI of different vigor levels and pruning weight were not closely correlated and, most notably, low vigor matched with a slightly higher yield as compared to high vigor plots. Overall, the high-yielding Lambrusco Salamino was less responsive in terms of vine performance and grape composition versus intravineyard variability. This study highlights that in Ancellotta, adjusting the vine balance toward ostensible lower vigor (i.e., pruning weight ≤1 kg/m) would result in a superior choice in terms of improved ripening and wine profiles would not be detrimentally affected by the yield level which, in fact, increased in some cases

Development of insulin resistance in mice lacking PGC-1α in adipose tissues

Reduced peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) expression and mitochondrial dysfunction in adipose tissue have been associated with obesity and insulin resistance. Whether this association is causally involved in the development of insulin resistance or is only a consequence of this condition has not been clearly determined. Here we studied the effects of adipose-specific deficiency of PGC-1α on systemic glucose homeostasis. Loss of PGC-1α in white fat resulted in reduced expression of the thermogenic and mitochondrial genes in mice housed at ambient temperature, whereas gene expression patterns in brown fat were not altered. When challenged with a high-fat diet, insulin resistance was observed in the mutant mice, characterized by reduced suppression of hepatic glucose output. Resistance to insulin was also associated with an increase in circulating lipids, along with a decrease in the expression of genes regulating lipid metabolism and fatty acid uptake in adipose tissues. Taken together, these data demonstrate a critical role for adipose PGC-1α in the regulation of glucose homeostasis and a potentially causal involvement in the development of insulin resistance

Relationship between intra-parcel variability and carbon allocation and sequestration in a mature Barbera (Vitis vinifera L.) vineyard ecosystem

In this three year study (2018–2020) we wanted to assess the degree of spatial variability of a small sized (1.2 ha) mature cv. Barbera vineyard managed as alternate permanent native grass and tillage and how such variability interacts, at either single vine and whole vineyard level, with net primary productivity (NPP) and net carbon balance (NCB). Pre-trial an NDVI based vigor map was derived from a satellite image taken at 5 m spatial resolution, and levels of high vigor (HV) and low vigor (LV) were located. Each year ground truthing was performed on test vines chosen within each vigor zone for assessment of vegetative growth, yield components and main compositional parameters at harvest. Samples of each above ground vine organ (leaves, shoot clipping, canes, clusters) and clippings derived from grass mowing were dried in an oven to allow dry biomass assessment. Soil respiration (SR) was also measured at fixed positions each year a few times during the season using a portable gas exchange system and assuring representativeness of either tilled and grassed areas. Vine vigor given as pruning weight vine−1 was 33% higher in HV plots; yet, most of the measured parameters revealed a significant vigor x year interaction which, however, showed a spreading nature meaning that HV vines consistently had higher yield components and malic acid concentration in juice as well as lower total soluble solids (TSS), pH, total anthocyanins and phenols than LV and such differences just varied in magnitude depending on the season. Within a common range of 2.5 to 5.5 kg m −1 of yield, LV achieved superior quality likely due to reduced vegetative competition, better cluster microclimate and much more constrained berry size. On a per vine basis, NCB confirmed a C sink function with 1.06 kgC vine−1 yr−1, whereas the LV reached only 0.594kgC vine−1 yr−1. These values almost halved at 0.522 and 0.312 kgC vine−1 yr−1 for HV and LV, respectively, when C stored in clusters was subtracted. However, upgrading the NCB to the whole vineyard ecosystem, therefore including the SR contribution, turned the balance into a source mode (i.e. net C release) amounting at 455 and 512 gC m −2 yr−1 for HV and LV, respectively. Under the specific trial conditions, SR demonstrated to be an overwhelming factor at directing the vineyard NCB into a source mode; the high vigor is indeed more conducive to better C performance as vine and grass biomass is increased. However, it should be taken into account that there is a superior limit beyond which such parameters cannot go if optimal grape maturity parameters need to be assured

Effects of intra-vineyard variability and soil heterogeneity on vine performance, dry matter and nutrient partitioning

Three vigor zones, identified in a Barbera vineyard by remote sensing at full canopy, were carefully ground-truthed to determine, over 2 years, the relative weight of soil factors in affecting within-field variability, and to investigate vigor zone influence on dry matter (DM) and nutrient partitioning into different vine organs. Regardless of season, high vigor (HV) achieved stronger vine capacity as total vegetative growth and yield while resulting in markedly less ripened fruits than low vigor (LV) vines. PCA analysis carried out on ten different soil and vine variables clearly separated the three vigor levels and the correlation matrix highlighted that the factors mostly contributing to HV were soil depth, soil K and P concentration, total available water, clay fraction and Nleaf concentration. Conversely, sand fraction was the main marker for LV. When annual DM retrieved in clusters, canes, leaves, and shoot clippings was calculated for each vigor level and expressed as content (i.e. kg/ha) there was a general decreasing trend moving from HV to LV. However, when DM partitioned to each organ was given on a relative basis (i.e. percentage over total) results were similar across vigor levels. Similarly, when nutrients were given as content (e.g. kg or g/ha) out of 120 within-vigor combinations (12 nutrients, 2 seasons, 5 organs), 65 showed a significant difference between HV and LV. Conversely, with data expressed on a concentration basis (i.e. % DM) the number of significant differences between the vigor level means fell to 15. The study strengthens the causal link between soil properties and intra-vineyard spatial variability and clarifies that patterns of dry matter and nutrient partitioning to different vine organs are mildly affected by vine vigor when referred on a relative basis