A Preliminary inventory of alien and cryptogenic species in Monastir Bay, Tunisia: spatial distribution, introduction trends and pathways

The Mediterranean Sea is a marine biodiversity hotspot under threat. One of the major impacts on its biological resources and services comes from the invasiveness of non-indigenous species (NIS). Nevertheless, NIS monitoring programs in the south basin of the Mediterranean Sea are in an early implementation stage. This study aims to describe NIS and cryptogenic species distribution in Monastir Bay (Tunisia) and to identify risk areas for the introduction and spread of invasive species, providing a baseline for future monitoring programs. To this end, a series of Rapid Assessment Surveys were carried out to identify NIS and cryptogenic species in one marina, five fishing ports, two aquaculture farms and the Special Conservation Area of the Kuriat islands. 24 species were found, of which 11 constitute new records for Monastir Bay, which represent a 33.3% of the total NIS reported in this Bay. Assemblages differed between substrata types, being NIS more abundant in artificial than in natural substrata. Regarding locations, Cap Monastir Marina was the most invaded site, the most transited by vessels and the only one visited by international sailing. Hence, this marina constitutes the main risk area to be monitored, although the fishing ports and fishing farms in the semi-enclosed coastal lagoon of Monastir Bay can also be considered as risk areas. Nevertheless, more research effort is needed in Monastir Bay in order to update the records of NIS and cryptogenic species and increase insight on the ecological evolution of these species and their related impacts on natural communities and marine resources

Revalorization of Tunisian wild Amaranthaceae halophytes: Nutritional composition variation at two different phenotypes stages

Wild halophytes are traditionally consumed in Tunisia as gourmet vegetables due to their salty taste and organoleptic proprieties. However, their nutritional composition is not deeply studied. The aim of this study was to characterize three Tunisian wild halophytic species (Arthrocnemum indicum (Willd.) Moq, Halocnemum strobilaceum (Pall.) M. Bieb., and Suaeda fruticosa Forssk) at two different phenotypic stages according to the seasonal variation. Amaranthaceae, is one of the well spread halophytes family shrubs in the world, mainly in Mediterranean countries. The studied wild halophytes are an interesting source of nutrients and could be considered as healthy foods with high levels of dietary fibers (7.63–10.14 g/100 g fw), protein (2.45–4.14 g/100 g fw), n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in green phenotypic stage (29.87 %–40.5 %) and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids in red-violet phenotypic stage (25.4 %–75.26 %), with particular relevance to linolenic acid content (20.7 %–75.22 %). These halophytes are also a good source of minerals, particularly sodium, calcium, potassium and magnesium, as well as vitamins C and E, with a major abundance of α-tocopherol.The authors are grateful to the ALIMNOVA Research group (UCM GR105/18) for financial support, as well as to Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and FEDER under Programmer PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2019). C. Pereira contract through the celebration of program-contract foreseen in No. 4, 5 and 6 of article 23º of Decree-Law No. 57/2016, of 29th August, amended by Law No. 57/2017, of 19th July.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An exploration of agro-food chain distributive, procedural and interactional fairness in food products

Fairness and ethical values in agro-food chain lay at the center of the current debate on agro-food chain sustainability. The food labels may contain elements focused on agro-food chain management fairness practices. The objective of the present study is to explore what types of fairness agro-food companies value in the food products they commercialize, and if the characteristics of agro-food companies have a relationship with the type of fairness valued. The research study collected 226 commercialized food products containing information on the agro-food chain fairness practices companies adopted to produce the food products. Data elaboration included a cluster analysis to identify groups of fair products, and a multinomial logistic regression to explore the relationship between the identified clusters and fairness types, organic, nutritional and functional claims, and price. Results support that fairness-oriented products provide information on different types of fairness that is distributive, procedural, and interactional. Some products provide economic information on the distribution of price between upstream and downstream actors. Other products focus on procedural and interactional fairness practices, such as dignity, respect and transparent relationship in agro-food chain; technologies used in the production and distribution of the product; and ethical certifications that companies hold. Fairness-oriented information differ depending both on the type of chain actor commercializing the product, and on the type of brand, that is whether commercial brand or private label. The main conclusion is that companies convey fairness-related information to consumers differently according to company’s role in the agro-food chain. Yet, there is need to exploit further the potential role of fairness practices in defining effective business strategies to contribute to higher equity and sustainability in the agro-food system

Immature mulberry fruits richness of promising constituents in contrast with mature ones: A comparative study among three Tunisian species

Mulberry is one of the most consumed fruit for its special taste, and its nutritional and medicinal properties. The present study aims to track for the first time the chemical changes occurring in three Tunisian Mulberry species: Morus alba L., Morus nigra L. and Morus rubra L. fruits according to four classified maturity stages. Nutritional composition showed that mulberries content varied from species to the other and from a stage to another. Protein increases during maturation while Ash decrease with surprisingly the highest amounts in Morus rubra L. Fatty acid composition proved richness of polyunsaturated fatty acids, with a light decrease from immature stages to mature ones. Mulberries volatile components showed a heterogeneous composition such as mineral composition with a decrease during maturation of calcium, iron, magnesium and manganese amounts). Also, polyphenols and flavonoids content became lower, reducing antioxidant potential with maturation while anthocyanins content became higher. Results proved that mulberry powdered fruits, specially Morus rubra L. have high nutritional potential and suggest immature stages valorization for human beings

The Marine Seagrass Halophila stipulacea as a Source of Bioactive Metabolites against Obesity and Biofouling

Marine organisms, including seagrasses, are important sources of biologically active molecules for the treatment of human diseases. In this study, organic extracts of the marine seagrass Halophila stipulacea obtained by different polarities from leaves (L) and stems (S) (hexane [HL, HS], ethyl acetate [EL, ES], and methanol [ML, MS]) were tested for different bioactivities. The screening comprehended the cytotoxicity activity against cancer cell lines grown as a monolayer culture or as multicellular spheroids (cancer), glucose uptake in cells (diabetes), reduction of lipid content in fatty acid-overloaded liver cells (steatosis), and lipid-reducing activity in zebrafish larvae (obesity), as well as the antifouling activity against marine bacteria (microfouling) and mussel larval settlement (macrofouling). HL, EL, HS, and ES extracts showed statistically significant cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines. The extracts did not have any significant effect on glucose uptake and on the reduction of lipids in liver cells. The EL and ML extracts reduced neutral lipid contents on the larvae of zebrafish with EC50 values of 2.2 µg/mL for EL and 1.2 µg/mL for ML. For the antifouling activity, the HS and ML extracts showed a significant inhibitory effect (p < 0.05) against the settlement of Mytilus galloprovincialis plantigrade larvae. The metabolite profiling using HR-LC-MS/MS and GNPS (The Global Natural Product Social Molecular Networking) analyses identified a variety of known primary and secondary metabolites in the extracts, along with some unreported molecules. Various compounds were detected with known activities on cancer (polyphenols: Luteolin, apeginin, matairesinol), on metabolic diseases (polyphenols: cirsimarin, spiraeoside, 2,4-dihydroxyheptadec-16-ynyl acetate; amino acids: N-acetyl-L-tyrosine), or on antifouling (fatty acids: 13-decosenamide; cinnamic acids: 3-hydroxy-4-methoxycinnamic acid, alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic), which could be, in part, responsible for the observed bioactivities. In summary, this study revealed that Halophila stipulacea is a rich source of metabolites with promising activities against obesity and biofouling and suggests that this seagrass could be useful for drug discovery in the future