Toxic mineral elements in Mytilus galloprovincialis from Sicilian coasts (Southern Italy)

We assessed the relationship between V, Cr, Mn, Hg, As, Cd, Sn, Sb and Pb concentrations in Mytilus galloprovincialis samples from the coasts of Sicily and the expression of metallothioneins. Toxic mineral elements assessment was carried out by A.A. Spectrometry and ICP-MS. The metallothioneins expression was performed by q-PCR method. Low metals' levels were found in the mussel samples examined, in comparison with what was reported in literature. The highest mean values of toxic mineral elements were found in Gela (Cr 0.178 ± 0.03 mg/Kg, Mn 4.325 ± 0.012 mg/Kg, As 3.706 ± 0.009 mg/Kg, Sn 0.148 ± 0.014 mg/Kg, Sb 0.009 ± 0.004 mg/Kg e Pb 0.364 ± 0.01 mg/Kg). Significant levels of Hg were found in samples from Catania (0.014 ± 0.005 mg/Kg). Only vanadium and lead concentrations showed significant differences between sampling areas (p < 0.05). Molecular analysis verified a basal expression of Mt1 and the absence of over-expression of Mt2, confirming the low mineral's concentrations found in the samples examined

Celery (Apium graveolens L.) Performances as Subjected to Different Sources of Protein Hydrolysates

The vegetable production sector is currently fronting several issues mainly connected to the increasing demand of high quality food produced in accordance with sustainable horticultural technologies. The application of biostimulants, particularly protein hydrolysates (PHs), might be favorable to optimize water and mineral uptake and plant utilization and to increase both production performance and quality feature of vegetable crops. The present study was carried out on celery plants grown in a tunnel to appraise the influence of two PHs, a plant-derived PH (P-PH), obtained from soy extract and an animal PH (A-PH), derived from hydrolyzed animal epithelium (waste from bovine tanneries) on yield, yield components (head height, root collar diameter, and number of stalks), mineral composition, nutritional and functional features, as well as the economic profitability of PHs applications. Fresh weight in A-PH and P-PH treated plants was 8.3% and 38.2% higher, respectively than in untreated control plants. However, no significant difference was found between A-PH treated plants and control plants in terms of fresh weight. Head height significantly increased by 5.5% and 16.3% in A-PH and P-PH treated plants, respectively compared with untreated control (p ≤ 0.05). N content was inferior in PHs treated plants than in untreated control. Conversely, K and Mg content was higher in A-PH and P-PH treated plants as compared to the untreated ones. Furthermore, A-PH and P-PH improved ascorbic acid content by 8.2% and 8.7%, respectively compared with the non-treated control (p ≤ 0.001). Our results confirmed, also, that PHs application is an eco-friendly technique to improve total phenolic content in celery plants. In support of this, our findings revealed that animal or plants PH applications increased total phenolics by 36.9% and 20.8%, respectively compared with untreated plants (p ≤ 0.001)

ForBioEnergy - Forest Bioenergy in the Protected Mediterranean Areas

ForBioEnergy project, funded in 2016 within the INTERREG MED Programme 2014 – 2020, involves a Lead Partner (Regional Department for the Rural and Territorial Development, Sicily Region), 8 project partners from 4 Mediterranean countries (Italy, Spain, Slovenia and Croatia) and 4 Associate Partners from Italy (Ente Parco delle Madonie, AIEL) and Croatia. The other Italian partners are Enviland s.r.l. and the municipality of Petralia Sottana. ForBioEnergy is an innovative project which bets on the chance to favour the sustainable development of the rural areas through the exploitation of the forest biomass for the production of bioenergy. In Mediterranean contexts, however, most of the forests are within protected areas, where the current regulatory restrictions as well as the lack of appropriate management plans impede and slow down the possibility to exploit woody biomass. The main objective of the project is fostering the bio-energy production in the protected areas, providing trans-national solutions for reducing barriers that currently hinder the development of the biomass sector, and planning models in order to exploit the full potential of woody biomass, whereas preserving the forest biodiversity. To achieve these goals the project include: (i) an Action Plan for shaping new regulatory framework and permit route aimed at removing the administrative, technical and socio-economic barriers that hinder the use of biomass; (ii) a multi-level planning process; (iii) a set of sustainability requirements and quality standards of forest biomass. During the project activities, the most significant gaps and the best practices will be identified through a trans-national process where key actors and stakeholders who deal with bioenergy and biodiversity issues are involved. Common challenges will be addressed through a participatory and shared process involving institutions, as well as social and productive organization at regional and local level. This objective will be pursued through the establishment of a permanent technical panel in each involved country with the aim of encouraging the exchange of knowledge and information between private and public key actors that operate in the bioenergy field. The project provides a three-level approach to the planning process for the use of forest biomass: 1) sub-regional, useful for the connections with the large scale energy planning; 2) local, useful for the development of best practices for sustainable forest management; 3) operating, useful for planning and management of forest-wood-energy supply chain. The results achieved by the project up to now are: 1) Methodologies and tools for drawing up Forest Biomass Plans aimed at the bioenergy production in the protected areas. A Decision Support Systems (DSS) has been elaborated and tested in order to guide the competent public authorities in the choice of the best solutions to increase the sustainable production of biomass in accordance with the sustainability objectives established for protected areas. GIS applications have been used for implementing the planning activities and for identifying the “Biomass Districts”; 2) Methodology for evaluating threats and benefits deriving from biomass harvesting and extraction. For this purpose, a set of specific indicators has been defined to evaluate the positive and negative impacts that the forestry interventions could have on the biotic, abiotic, and socio-economic components, in the short, medium and long period. Other activities in progress are: (i) drafting of a Action Plan to support the Public Authorities in the mitigation of the administrative and technical barriers that slow down the biomass use in the protected areas; (ii) drafting of a forest management plan at biomass district scale; (iii) definition of criteria for planning sustainable forest-wood-energy supply chains for the production of forest biomass in the protected areas; (iv) definition of a traceability system and quality standards for woody biomass in order to ensure the respect of the sustainability criteria necessary for the development of the biomass chain in the protected areas. The transferring activities, as well as the communicative ones, will contribute to spread the know-how and the results gained during the project implementation not only at a local level but also at a regional and national level, in order to favoring high levels of replicability all over the MED Programme cooperation area

Innovative In Situ and Ex Situ Conservation Strategies of the Madonie Fir Abies nebrodensis

Abies nebrodensis (Lojac.) Mattei is an endemic species of the north-west of Sicily located in an 84 ha area in the Madonie Regional park. The current population is limited to 30 relic adult trees and a fluctuating number of juveniles of natural regeneration. The species is defined as “Critically Endangered” in the Italian list of threatened plants and is classified as CR-D in the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This article reports the key action undertaken by the LIFE4FIR project aimed at preserving A. nebrodensis, and the results obtained so far in three years of activity. OpenArrays SNPs genotyping revealed a high rate of inbreeding in the natural population and that the adult trees are genetically related. Controlled cross-pollination was consequently performed to increase the genetic variability of the progeny. Outbred offspring are currently being grown in the nursery. Reforestation has been planned by using 4000 selected outbred seedlings in 10 areas within Madonie Park to create re-diffusion cores. Support and protection of the relic population have been implemented through regular phytosanitary surveys, as well as new fencing and video surveillance systems against grazing and wild herbivores. A seedbank and cryobank for the long-term germplasm conservation have been established

IDPlanT: the Italian database of plant translocation

IDPlanT is the Italian Database of Plant Translocation, an initiative of the Nature Conservation Working Group of the Italian Botanical Society. IDPlanT currently includes 185 plant translocations.The establishment of a national database on plant translocation is a key step forward in data sharing and techniques improvement in this field of plant conservatio