Phytoplankton temporal dynamics in the coastal waters of the north-eastern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea) from 2010 to 2017

Phytoplankton community structure was analysed from 2010 to 2017 at C1-LTER, the coastal Long-Term Ecological Research station located in the Gulf of Trieste, which is the northernmost part of the Mediterranean Sea. Phytoplankton abundance and relevant oceanographic parameters were measured monthly in order to describe the seasonal cycle and interannual variability of the main phytoplankton taxa (diatoms, dinoflagellates, coccolithophores and flagellates) and to analyse their relationship with environmental conditions. Overall, phytoplankton abundances showed a marked seasonal cycle characterised by a bloom in spring, with the peak in May. During the summer, phytoplankton abundances gradually decreased until September, then slightly increased again in October and reached their minima in winter. In general, the phytoplankton community was dominated by flagellates (generally <10 µm) and diatoms co-occurring in the spring bloom. In this period, diatoms were also represented by nano-sized species, gradually replaced by larger species in summer and autumn. Phytoplankton assemblages differed significantly between seasons (Pseudo-F = 9.59; p < 0.01) and temperature and salinity were the best predictor variables explaining the distribution of the multivariate data cloud. At the interannual scale, a strong decrease of the late-winter bloom was observed in recent years with the spring bloom being the main phytoplankton increase of the year

Phytoplankton community and physical-chemical data measured in the Gulf of Trieste (northern Adriatic Sea) over the period March 2006–February 2007

Biological, hydrological and chemical data were acquired at monthly intervals from March 2006 to February 2007, at the Long-Term Ecological Research site C1 in the Gulf of Trieste, in the northernmost part of the Adriatic Sea. The biological dataset comprises total chl a and phaeopigment concentrations, and the distinction of the total phytoplankton biomass into three photoautotrophic community fractions, i.e. cyanobacteria, nano- and microphytoplankton, collected at discrete depths. Hydrological data encompass the thermohaline properties of the water column (temperature and salinity profiles from CTD casts). Chemical data consist of silicate and phosphate concentrations obtained from discrete seawater samples collected with Niskin bottles at four depths (0.5–5–10–15 m). Data presented here are related to the paper “Structural and functional response of phytoplankton to reduced river inputs and anomalous physical-chemical conditions in the Gulf of Trieste (northern Adriatic Sea) by Cibic et al. (2018) [1]

Dental proteomic analyses and Raman spectroscopy for the estimation of the biological sex and age of human remains from the Greek cemetery of San Giorgio Extra, Reggio Calabria (Italy) /

Sex and age estimation is one of the most fundamental steps in mortuary studies and bioarchaeology. It is essential for a deeper understanding of ancient societies, and has wide applications in gender archaeology. The aim of this paper is to create a new and reliable protocol for unambiguous sex estimation of the deceased, comparing proteomic analyses, archaeological evidence, and anthropological data from a Greek cemetery located in Reggio Calabria (or the ancient Rhegion), as well as a first approach to estimate the age of the deceased by Raman spectroscopy in archaeology. Excavations carried out in the San Giorgio Extra district, headed by the Superintendence for the Archaeological Heritage of Calabria during the years 2004 and 2007, led to the discovery of the most significant Hellenistic cemetery in the city. Specifically, archaeological campaigns brought to light thirty Greek inhumation burials and their related funerary objects. Through proteomic analyses, we monitored a total of eight characteristic peptides for the amelogenin isoform variants AMELX and AMELY from the dental enamel of twelve selected adult individuals. The presence or absence of the AMELY variant (exclusively present in male subjects, being encoded by the Y gene) allowed us to estimate the sex of the analyzed individuals with high accuracy. Raman spectroscopy was also applied to study the enamel and dentin crystallinity to determine other environmental and biological parameters. At the same time, archaeological studies based on artifacts discovered inside the graves and double-blind bio-anthropological sex estimation of the twelve subjects were performed in order to compare these evaluations with data from the proteomic analyses. Comparison between these different approaches produced totally congruent results for the majority of individuals. In addition, the proteomic analysis allowed us to estimate the sex of four poorly preserved subjects for whom sex estimation was somewhat doubtful, as well as that of one undetermined individual. Finally, proteomic results were produced here with a faster protocol than those found in the literature and are potentially scalable to much lower sample amounts

EGLACOM cruise on the southern Svalbard margin: preliminary results from sedimentary cores

18nonenoneCABURLOTTO A; LUCCHI R.; MELIS R.; FINOCCHIARO F.; MACRÌ P.; SAGNOTTI L.; VILLA G.; PERSICO D.; GIORGETTI G.; DE VITTOR C.; DEL NEGRO P.; CACHO I.; BARCENA M. A.; CABRINI M.; FORNASARO D.; PUSCEDDU A.; CAMERLENGHI A.; REBESCO M.Caburlotto, A; Lucchi, R.; Melis, Romana; Finocchiaro, Furio; Macrì, P.; Sagnotti, L.; Villa, G.; Persico, D.; Giorgetti, G.; DE VITTOR, C.; DEL NEGRO, P.; Cacho, I.; Barcena, M. A.; Cabrini, M.; Fornasaro, D.; Pusceddu, A.; Camerlenghi, Angelo; Rebesco, M