First Record of Leptocybe invasa and Ophelimus maskelli Eucalyptus Gall Wasps in Tunisia

Two Australian gall wasps were detected for the first time in Tunisia on the foliage of Eucalyptus camaldulensis trees. Leptocybe invasa was detected in 2004, while Ophelimus maskelli in 2006. L. invasa makes galls on petioles, leaf midribs and young branches whereas O. maskelli induces galls on limbs. Vigilance is recommended when seedlings are carried to plantation

Melitta schmiedeknechti (Hymenoptera Apoidea, Melittidae), a new species for the fauna of Italy

Melitta schmiedeknechti Friese 1899 is reported for the first time in Italy. The species was collected in two different localities, mainland Sicily and Lampedusa, expanding its known range. Localities and flora visited are reported and, in addition, barcoding of two specimens was carried out

Recent developments on precision beekeeping: A systematic literature review

The aim of this systematic review was to point out the current state of precision beekeeping and to draw implications for future studies. Precision beekeeping is defined as an apiary management strategy based on monitoring individual bee colonies to minimize resource consumption and maximize bee productivity. This subject that has met with a growing interest from researchers in recent years because of its environmental implications. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) was selected to conduct this review. The literature search was carried out in the Scopus database for articles published between 2015 and 2023, being a very recent issue. After two rounds screening and examination, 201 studies were considered to be analysed. They were classified based on the internal parameters of the hive, in turn divided by weight, internal temperature, relative humidity, flight activity, sounds and vibrations, gases, and external parameters, in turn divided by wind speed, rainfall and ambient temperature. The study also considered possible undesirable effects of the use of sensors on bees, economic aspects and applications of Geographic Information System technologies in beekeeping. Based on the review and analysis, some conclusions and further directions were put forward

The effects of primordial non-Gaussianity on the cosmological reionization

We investigate the effects of non-Gaussianity in the primordial density field on the reionization history. We rely on a semi-analytic method to describe the processes acting on the intergalactic medium (IGM), relating the distribution of the ionizing sources to that of dark matter haloes. Extending previous work in the literature, we consider models in which the primordial non-Gaussianity is measured by the dimensionless non-linearity parameter f_NL, using the constraints recently obtained from cosmic microwave background data. We predict the ionized fraction and the optical depth at different cosmological epochs assuming two different kinds of non-Gaussianity, characterized by a scale-independent and a scale-dependent f_NL and comparing the results to those for the standard Gaussian scenario. We find that a positive f_NL enhances the formation of high-mass haloes at early epochs, when reionization begins, and, as a consequence, the IGM ionized fraction can grow by a factor up to 5 with respect to the corresponding Gaussian model. The increase of the filling factor has a small impact on the reionization optical depth and is of order ~ 10 per cent if a scale-dependent non-Gaussianity is assumed. Our predictions for non-Gaussian models are in agreement with the latest WMAP results within the error bars, but a higher precision is required to constrain the scale dependence of non-Gaussianity.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, minor changes to match the version accepted for publication by MNRA

Does Learning Through Movement Improve Academic Performance in Primary Schoolchildren? A Systematic Review

Physically active children have greater motor competence and a faster maturation compared with their sedentary peers. Recent research also suggests that physical activity during childhood may also promote cognitive development and therefore improve academic performance. The aim of this study was to understand if physically active academic lessons may improve academic achievement in primary schoolchildren. A systematic review following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines was conducted. The search was performed on the following database: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), and PsycINFO (APA). Studies evaluating schoolchildren aged between 3 and 11 years taking part in educational contexts that include physical activity and natural environments evaluating physical fitness and/or educational outcomes were included. A total of 54 studies (for a total sample of 29,460 schoolchildren) were considered eligible and included in the qualitative synthesis. The Effective Public Health Practice Project risk-of-bias assessment revealed a moderate quality of the included studies with only two considered weeks. Despite differences in the retrieved protocols, physically active academic lessons improve the total time engaged in physical activity, motor skills, and/or academic performance. The results of this review suggest that learning through movement is an effective, low-cost, and enjoyable strategy for elementary schoolchildren

Importance of meteorological variables for aeroplankton dispersal in an urban environment

Passive wind dispersal is one of the major mechanisms through which organisms disperse and colonize new areas. The detailed comprehension of which factors affect this process may help to preserve its efficiency for years to come. This is especially important in the current context of climate change, which may seriously alter weather regimes that drive dispersal, and is crucial in urban contexts, where biodiversity is dramatically threatened by pollution and fragmentation of natural patches. Despite its interest, the analysis of factors affecting aeroplankton dispersal in urban environments is rare in literature. We sampled aeroplankton community uninterruptedly every 4 hours from 17th May to 19th September 2011 in the urban garden of Parco d'Orléans, within the campus of the University of Palermo (Sicily). Sampling was performed using a Johnson-Taylor suction trap with automatized sample storing. Weather variables were recorded at a local meteorological station. Overall, 11,739 insects were caught during the present study, about 60% of these belonged to the order Hymenoptera, with particular presence of families Agaonidae and Formicidae. The suction trap also captured specimens of very small size, and in some cases, species caught were new records for Italy. Composition and abundance of aeroplankton community was influenced by alternation day/night, as well as by daily fluctuations of climatic variables, for example fluctuating temperature . The diversity of samples was also studied and resulted higher when wind blew from the nearby green area. Our findings confirm that passive transport of arthropods strictly depends on weather conditions, and that the presence of natural areas within the urban environment significantly contribute to raise aeroplankton diversity, eventually fuelling overall biodiversity at a local scale. We discuss how climate change may affect future dispersal of these organisms

Primordial non-Gaussianities in the intergalactic medium

We present results from the first high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations of non-Gaussian cosmological models. We focus on the statistical properties of the transmitted Lyman-\u3b1 flux in the high-redshift intergalactic medium. Imprints of non-Gaussianity are present and are larger at high redshifts. Differences larger than 20 per cent at z > 3 in the flux probability distribution function for high-transmissivity regions (voids) are expected for values of the non-linearity parameter fNL = +/-100 when compared to a standard \u39b cold dark matter cosmology with fNL = 0. We also investigate the one-dimensional flux bispectrum: at the largest scales (corresponding to tens of Mpc), we expect deviations in the flux bispectrum up to 20 per cent at z ~ 4 (for fNL = +/-100), significantly larger than deviations of ~3 per cent in the flux power spectrum. We briefly discuss possible systematic errors that can contaminate the signal. Although challenging, a detection of non-Gaussianities in the interesting regime of scales and redshifts probed by the Lyman-\u3b1 forest could be possible with future data sets

The Halo Bispectrum in N-body Simulations with non-Gaussian Initial Conditions

We present measurements of the bispectrum of dark matter halos in numerical simulations with non-Gaussian initial conditions of the local type. We show, in the first place, that the overall effect of primordial non-Gaussianity on the halo bispectrum is larger than on the halo power spectrum when all measurable configurations are taken into account. We then compare our measurements with a tree-level perturbative prediction finding good agreement at large scale when the constant Gaussian bias parameter, both linear and quadratic, and their constant non-Gaussian corrections are fitted for. The best-fit values of the Gaussian bias factors and their non-Gaussian, scale-independent corrections are in qualitative agreement with the peak-background split expectations. In particular, we show that the effect of non-Gaussian initial conditions on squeezed configurations is fairly large (up to 30% for f_NL=100 at redshift z=0.5) and results from contributions of similar amplitude induced by the initial matter bispectrum, scale-dependent bias corrections as well as from nonlinear matter bispectrum corrections. We show, in addition, that effects at second order in f_NL are irrelevant for the range of values allowed by CMB and galaxy power spectrum measurements, at least on the scales probed by our simulations. Finally, we present a Fisher matrix analysis to assess the possibility of constraining primordial non-Gaussianity with future measurements of the galaxy bispectrum. We find that a survey with a volume of about 10 cubic Gpc at mean redshift z ~ 1 could provide an error on f_NL of the order of a few. This shows the relevance of a joint analysis of galaxy power spectrum and bispectrum in future redshift surveys.Comment: 37 pages, 15 figure

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Cosmological Parameters from the 2008 Power Spectra

We present cosmological parameters derived from the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation observed at 148 GHz and 218 GHz over 296 deg^2 with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) during its 2008 season. ACT measures fluctuations at scales 500<l<10000. We fit a model for the lensed CMB, Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ), and foreground contribution to the 148 GHz and 218 GHz power spectra, including thermal and kinetic SZ, Poisson power from radio and infrared point sources, and clustered power from infrared point sources. The power from thermal and kinetic SZ at 148 GHz is estimated to be B_3000 = 6.8+-2.9 uK^2, where B_l=l(l+1)C_l/2pi. We estimate primary cosmological parameters from the 148 GHz spectrum, marginalizing over SZ and source power. The LCDM cosmological model is a good fit to the data, and LCDM parameters estimated from ACT+WMAP are consistent with the 7-year WMAP limits, with scale invariant n_s = 1 excluded at 99.7% CL (3sigma). A model with no CMB lensing is disfavored at 2.8sigma. By measuring the third to seventh acoustic peaks, and probing the Silk damping regime, the ACT data improve limits on cosmological parameters that affect the small-scale CMB power. The ACT data combined with WMAP give a 6sigma detection of primordial helium, with Y_P = 0.313+-0.044, and a 4sigma detection of relativistic species, assumed to be neutrinos, with Neff = 5.3+-1.3 (4.6+-0.8 with BAO+H0 data). From the CMB alone the running of the spectral index is constrained to be dn/dlnk = -0.034 +- 0.018, the limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio is r<0.25 (95% CL), and the possible contribution of Nambu cosmic strings to the power spectrum is constrained to string tension Gmu<1.6 \times 10^-7 (95% CL).Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures. Submitted to ApJ. This paper is a companion to Hajian et al. (2010) and Das et al. (2010