Combining the conservation of biodiversity with the provision of ecosystem services in urban green infrastructure planning. Critical features arising from a case study in the metropolitan area of Rome

A large number of green infrastructure (GI) projects have recently been proposed, planned and implemented in European cities following the adoption of the GI strategy by the EU Commission in 2013. Although this policy tool is closely related to biodiversity conservation targets, some doubts have arisen as regards the ability of current urban GI to provide beneficial effects not only for human societies but also for the ecological systems that host them. The aim of this work is to review the features that should be considered critical when searching for solutions that simultaneously support biodiversity and guarantee the provision of ecosystem services (ES) in urban areas. Starting from a case study in the metropolitan area of Rome, we highlight the role of urban trees and forests as proxies for overall biodiversity and as main ecosystem service providers. We look beyond the individual functional features of plant species and vegetation communities to promote the biogeographic representativity, ecological coherence and landscape connectivity of new or restored GI elements

Artivism: a new educative language for transformative social action

This study describes the concepts, historical precedents, language and fundamental experiences of artivism. It shows the research activities from two main universities (Complutense de Madrid in Spain and Nottingham Trent in UK) as well as other cultural institutions (Élan Interculturel from France and Artemiszio from Hungary), which have explored the educational potential of artivism as a new way of achieving social engagement using innovation and artistic creation. The paper defines precisely artivism as a new language which appears outside the museums and art academies, moving towards urban and social spaces. Artivism is a hybrid form of art and activism which has a semantic mechanism to use art as a means towards change and social transformation. The analysis collects some central experiences of the artivist phenomenon and applies semantic analysis, archiving artivist experiences, and using urban walks and situational research, analyses the educational and formative potential of artivists and their ability to break the classroom walls, and to remove the traditional roles of creator and receptor, student and professor, through workshop experiences. Finally, it reflects upon the usefulness of artivism as a new social language and an educational tool that breaks the traditional roles of social communication. Este estudio describe los conceptos, antecedentes, lenguaje y experiencias fundamentales del artivismo, a partir de las actividades de estudio en la Universidad de Nottingham Trent y en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, con la colaboración de otras entidades culturales como la francesa Élan Interculturel (Francia) y Artemiszio (Hungría), explorando la capacidad educativa de nuevas formas de compromiso social mediante la innovación y creación artística. El artículo acota y define el artivismo como un nuevo lenguaje que surge del desborde de la creación artística académica y museística, hacia los espacios y lugares sociales. El artivismo, hibridación del arte y del activismo, tiene un mecanismo semántico en el que se utiliza el arte como vía para comunicar una energía hacia el cambio y la transformación. El análisis recoge algunas de las principales experiencias en artivismo mediante diversas técnicas –estudio de ejemplos de artivismo mediante análisis semántico, realización de archivo de fenómenos artivistas siguiendo metodologías de paseos urbanos e investigación situacional, y estudio de la capacidad didáctica y formativa de los artivistas y sus trabajos por su facilidad para romper los muros de las aulas e invertir los roles de creador y espectador, alumno y profesor, mediante experiencias en talleres– para de esta manera reflexionar finalmente sobre la utilidad del artivismo como nuevo lenguaje social y como herramienta educativa, capaz de romper los roles tradicionales de la comunicación social

An unknown hotspot of plant diversity in the heart of the Central Apennine. Flora and vegetation outline of Mt. Pozzoni-St. Rufo valley (Cittareale, Rieti)

Surprisingly enough, Italy still has some botanically unexplored areas; among these there are some territories between Lazio, Umbria and Abruzzo not included in any protected area. The study area, ranging for 340 ha, includes the mountainous area of Mt. Pozzoni-Mt. Prato-St. Rufo valley, which forms the upper part of the river Velino basin, located in the territory of the municipality of Cittareale (Rieti, Lazio), at an elevation from 1150 to 1903 m a.s.l. The substrate is mainly made of marly limestone of the MesoCenozoic Umbria-Marche sedimentary succession. The climate is Temperate and comprises vegetation belts from the montane to sub-alpine. Land cover is dominated by pastures and deciduous forests, with only a few hay meadows. 794 entities have been detected: 16% are considered rare or very rare for the regional territory with several floristic novelties for the regional flora, 6% of the total was found to be endemic to Italy and only eight taxa were aliens. Four taxa are new for the regional flora of Lazio: Arum cylindraceum, Alopecurus pratensis subsp. pratensis, Hieracium bupleuroides and Trinia glauca subsp. glauca. Forest vegetation is represented by beech forests, while dry grasslands are the most widespread vegetation type. The greatest phytocoenotic diversity was found within the secondary pastures. Particularly interesting is the plant community with Iris marsica, which suggests that limestone mountain ledges can represent a primary habitat for this endemic species of the Central Apennine. The presence of several habitats listed in the EU Habitat Directive indicates how the lack of detailed territorial knowledge can lead to the non-designation of conservation sites in areas of high naturalistic value. These findings showed that botanical explorations in territories which are still not known could contribute significantly to the identification of areas of high interest in conserving plant diversity

Nitrate leaching losses and the fate of 15N fertilizer in perennial intermediate wheatgrass and annual wheat — A field study

Perennial grains, such as the intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium) (IWG), may reduce negative environmental effects compared to annual grain crops. Their permanent, and generally larger, root systems are likely to retain nitrogen (N) better, decreasing harmful losses of N and improving fertilizer N use efficiency, but there have been no comprehensive N fertilizer recovery studies in IWG to date. We measured fertilizer N recovery with stable isotope tracers in crop biomass and soil, soil N mineralization and nitrification, and nitrate leaching in IWG and annual wheat in a replicated block field experiment. Nitrate leaching was drastically reduced in IWG (0.1 and 3.1 kg N ha−1 yr−1) in its third and fourth year since establishment, compared with 5.6 kg N ha−1 yr−1 in annual wheat and 41.0 kg N ha−1 yr−1 in fallow respectively. There were no differences in net N mineralization or nitrification between IWG and annual wheat, though there was generally more inorganic N in the soil profile of annual wheat. More 15N fertilizer was recovered in the straw and all depths of the roots and soils in IWG than annual wheat. However, annual wheat recovered much more 15N fertilizer in the seeds compared to IWG, which had lower grain yields. 15N-labeled fertilizer contributed little

Difficult Biliary Stones: A Comprehensive Review of New and Old Lithotripsy Techniques

Biliary stones represent the most common indication for therapeutic endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. Many cases are successfully managed with biliary sphincterotomy and stone extraction with balloon or basket catheters. However, more complex conditions secondary to the specific features of stones, the biliary tract, or patient's needs could make the stone extraction with the standard techniques difficult. Traditionally, mechanical lithotripsy with baskets has been reported as a safe and effective technique to achieve stone clearance. More recently, the increasing use of endoscopic papillary large balloon dilation and the diffusion of single-operator cholangioscopy with laser or electrohydraulic lithotripsy have brought new, safe, and effective therapeutic possibilities to the management of such challenging cases. We here summarize the available evidence about the endoscopic management of difficult common bile duct stones and discuss current indications of different lithotripsy techniques

Photosynthetic capacity, canopy size and rooting depth mediate response to heat and water stress of annual and perennial grain crops

Perennial grain crops are promoted as an alternative to annual staple crops to reduce negative environmental effects of agriculture and support a variety of ecosystem services. While perennial grains have undergone extensive testing, their vulnerability to projected future warmer and drier growing conditions remains unclear. To fill this gap, we compared leaf temperature and gas exchange rates of annual wheat and different perennial wheat ideotypes using a multi-layer process-based eco-hydrological model. The model combines leaf-level gas exchange, optimality principles regulating stomatal conductance, energy balance, radiative and momentum transfer inside the canopy, as well as soil water balance. Wheat ideotypes are parameterized based on an extensive review of field data. When compared with annual wheat, perennial wheat ideotypes with high leaf area index had between 12% and 39% higher canopy transpiration and net CO2 assimilation, depending on their photosynthetic capacity and water status. Differences in leaf temperature and instantaneous water use efficiency between annual wheat and the perennial ideotypes were moderate (-0.5 to +0.4 & DEG;C and -6 to +2%, respectively). Low soil water availability did not alter the ranking of ideotypes in terms of canopy temperature and gas exchanges. During a prolonged dry down, cumulated water use was higher and canopy temperature lower in perennial than annual ideotypes, thanks to the deeper roots, whereas cumulated net CO2 fixation depended on the specific traits and air temperature. Leaf-specific and whole plant characteristics interacted with hydro-meteorological conditions in defining the perennial's vulnerability envelopes to potential heat and water stress. These findings underline the importance of plant characteristics, and particularly leaf area and rooting depth, in defining the suitability of perennial grain crops under future climates

Dry Grasslands Database of Central Italy

We stored original and published phytosociological relevés of semi-natural dry grasslands sampled in different mountain ranges in central Italy (Apennines and anti-Apennines ranges). A total of 762 relevés were stored in a TURBOVEG database. The data spans from 1982 to present. The database has a geographical special focus on the Tyrrhenian district of central Italy and it has been designed to order improve the synecological and syntaxonomical knowledge of dry grasslands. The surveyed grasslands are pastures, characterized by different substrata (calcareous, marly-calcareous, arenaceous substrata) and macroclimatic types (Mediterranean, Submediterranean and Temperate). In physiognomic terms the majority of relevés are dominated by Bromus erectus, while a few are characterized by the dominance of Brachypodium rupestre. In syntaxonomical terms the relevés represent communities that belong to Festuco-Brometea syntaxa. A reference check-list of taxa was set up mostly following Conti et al. (2005), including several largely adopted synonymous to facilitate the correct input of relevé data. The ecological database is linked to the vascular species list, following Ellenberg indicator values modified for the Italian flora and including life forms or chorotypes. The database contains useful information to test several ecological hypotheses and to perform wide-scale vegetation classification. Furthermore it facilitates the use of vegetation-plot data for biodiversity and habitat monitoring and for land use/cover changes evaluation. This report describes the available content in the Dry Grasslands Database of Central Italy (GIVD ID EU-IT-004)

Contrasting Physiological and Environmental Controls of Evapotranspiration over Kernza Perennial Crop, Annual Crops, and C4 and Mixed C3/C4 Grasslands

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Perennial grain crops have been suggested as a more sustainable alternative to annual crops. Yet their water use and how they are impacted by environmental conditions have been seldom compared to those of annual crops and grasslands. Here, we identify the dominant mechanisms driving evapotranspiration (ET), and how they change with environmental conditions in a perennial Kernza crop (US-KLS), an annual crop field (US-ARM), a C4 grassland (US-KON), and a mixed C3/C4 grassland (US-KFS) in the Central US. More specifically, we have utilized the omega (Ω) decoupling factor, which reflects the dominant mechanisms responsible for the evapotranspiration (ET) of the canopy. Our results showed that the US-ARM site was the most coupled with the lowest decoupling values. We also observed differences in coupling mechanism variables, showing more sensitivity to the water fluctuation variables as opposed to the radiative flux variables. All of the sites showed their lowest Ω value in 2012, the year of the severe drought in the Central US. The 2012 results further indicate the dependence on the water fluctuation variables. This was especially true with the perennial Kernza crop, which displayed much higher soil moisture values. In this regard, we believe that the ability of perennial Kernza to resist water stress and retain higher soil moisture values is both a result of its deeper roots, in addition to its higher Ω value. Through the analysis of both the site comparison and the comparison of the differences in years, we conclude that the perennial Kernza crop (US-KLS) is more similar in its microclimate effects to the C4 (US-KON) and mixed C3/C4 (US-KFS) grassland sites as opposed to its annual counterpart (US-ARM). This has implications for the role of perennial agriculture for addressing agricultural resilience under changing climate conditions

Integral Equation Methods for Electrostatics, Acoustics, and Electromagnetics in Smoothly Varying, Anisotropic Media

[EN] We present a collection of well-conditioned integral equation methods for the solution of electrostatic, acoustic, or electromagnetic scattering problems involving anisotropic, inhomogeneous media. In the electromagnetic case, our approach involves a minor modification of a classical formulation. In the electrostatic or acoustic setting, we introduce a new vector partial differential equation, from which the desired solution is easily obtained. It is the vector equation for which we derive a well-conditioned integral equation. In addition to providing a unified framework for these solvers, we illustrate their performance using iterative solution methods coupled with the FFT-based technique of [F. Vico, L. Greengard, M. Ferrando, J. Comput. Phys., 323 (2016), pp. 191-203] to discretize and apply the relevant integral operators.The work of the authors was partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under project TEC2016-78028-C3-3-P and the U.S. Department of Energy under grant DE-FG02-86ER53223.Imbert-Gérard, L.; Vico Bondía, F.; Greengard, L.; Ferrando Bataller, M. (2019). Integral Equation Methods for Electrostatics, Acoustics, and Electromagnetics in Smoothly Varying, Anisotropic Media. SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis. 57(3):1020-1035. https://doi.org/10.1137/18M1187039S1020103557