Assessment of floristic diversity, functional composition and management strategy of North Adriatic pastoral landscape (Croatia)

European semi-natural calcareous grasslands are species-rich ecosystems, considered as priority habitats by the European Union (92/43/EEC Directive) and judged worthy of conservation. They are in strong decline in extension and are threatened by abandonment throughout Europe. It is known that grasslands management (grazing, mowing) acts as driving force in plant community diversity, which in turn is an important conservation aim of European environmental policies. The area of current pastoral landscape (about 1000 ha) of the North Adriatic (Æiæarija, Croatia) was studied in order: 1/ to understand which factors drive floristic differentiation – environmental features and/or grassland management conditions, 2/ to identify indicator species sets linked to those factors and 3/ to appraise the effects of management type on the coenological and functional composition of indicator species. 73 phytosociological relevés were carried out; for each of them field data (altitude, aspect, slope and land form), productivity measurements and information on grassland management were collected. Redundancy analysis (RDA) identified a productivity-related soil moisture gradient as the environmental driving force of grassland floristic differentiation. Indicator species analysis (ISA) detected the indicator species sets related to environmental features and management type. The results indicate that undergrazing and the lack of periodic mowing are responsible for the higher total variance of floristic data set explained by environmental parameters rather than by management (use/not use). For the same reasons, the variations that emerged from comparison of the functional characteristics of the indicator species of grazing and of mowing (avoidance strategy, life form, and storage organs) proved more important than those observed in comparing used and abandoned grasslands. The management system adopted (grazing or mowing) appears in turn to be conditioned by the soil moisture/productivity gradient

Short communication: Effects of summer rainfall variations on sheep body state and farming sustainability in sub-Mediterranean pastoral systems

In sub-Mediterranean climate the grassland aboveground phytomass production peaks in late spring and drops in summer, when the decrease of the pasture feed value may lead to the worsening of the animal welfare. Our goal was to define the summer rainfall values leading to a decrease of semi-extensive farming system sustainability in sub-Mediterranean regions. Summer rainfall variations reflect in the aboveground phytomass production and on the sheep body state. Differences of body condition score (BCS) among years were significant in late summer, which is the mating period for sheep. In the driest year the BCS of end August drops down to 2.1, largely below the value considered sufficient to ensure the animal breeding/milking performances (2.5). Reduction of summer rainfall greater than 15–20% compared to the normal average value (thus less than expected by the scenario of climate change) might be detrimental for semi-extensive rearing sustainability in sub-Mediterranean climate

Identification of Relevant Conformational Epitopes on the HER2 Oncoprotein by Using Large Fragment Phage Display (LFPD)

We developed a new phage-display based approach, the Large Fragment Phage Display (LFPD), that can be used for mapping conformational epitopes on target molecules of immunological interest. LFPD uses a simplified and more effective phage-display approach in which only a limited set of larger fragments (about 100 aa in length) are expressed on the phage surface. Using the human HER2 oncoprotein as a target, we identified novel B-cell conformational epitopes. The same homologous epitopes were also detected in rat HER2 and all corresponded to the epitopes predicted by computational analysis (PEPITO software), showing that LFPD gives reproducible and accurate results. Interestingly, these newly identified HER2 epitopes seem to be crucial for an effective immune response against HER2-overexpressing breast cancers and might help discriminating between metastatic breast cancer and early breast cancer patients. Overall, the results obtained in this study demonstrated the utility of LFPD and its potential application to the detection of conformational epitopes on many other molecules of interest, as well as, the development of new and potentially more effective B-cell conformational epitopes based vaccines

Plant–environment interactions through a functional traits perspective: a review of Italian studies

Italy is among the European countries with the greatest plant diversity due to both a great environmental heterogeneity and a long history of man–environment interactions. Trait-based approaches to ecological studies have developed greatly over recent decades worldwide, although several issues concerning the relationships between plant functional traits and the environment still lack sufficient empirical evaluation. To draw insights on the association between plant functional traits and direct and indirect human and natural pressures on the environmental drivers, this article summarizes the existing knowledge on this topic by reviewing the results of studies performed in Italy adopting a functional trait approach on vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens. Although we recorded trait measurements for 1418 taxa, our review highlighted some major gaps in plant traits knowledge: Mediterranean ecosystems are poorly represented; traits related to belowground organs are still overlooked; traits measurements for bryophytes and lichens are lacking. Finally, intraspecific variation has been little studied at community level so far. We conclude by highlighting the need for approaches evaluating trait–environment relationship at large spatial and temporal scales and the need of a more effective contribution to online databases to tie more firmly Italian researchers to international scientific networks on plant traits