Más allá de la percepción: Hacia una ecología histórica del paisaje rural en Italia

The European Landscape Convention (ELC) uses various definitions in which the cultural and historical contents of the landscapes are reduced to their «representation» or «visual per- ception». The «perceptive» approach to the landscape obscures, in a false «natural» dimension, the living environmental features of the landscape itself. This is the case with rural landscapes which are, on the contrary, nowadays considered part of a wider European rural heritage. Specific environmental (ecological) and cultural (historical) factors have been identified, based on a «historical approach», to manage such a heritage. These factors are the historical-environmental processes that over time have shaped a variety of agrarian, pastoral and forestry landscapes, landscapes that we would like to be preserved. Current historical ecology approach enriches Emilio Sereni’s legacy on the economic side of agrarian landscape with novel tools for identi- fying single landscapes, their historical stratification and for management projects. This paper intends to illustrate few examples concerning studies already carried out and still in progress in Liguria (NW Italy). In such researches of local history, geography, archaeology and ecology have interacted, studying landscapes at the scale of the single site. In the process, an environ- mental archaeology approach has been tested, based on the methods of the historical ecology and devoted to the reconstruction of the «individual» history of agro-sylvi-pastoral landscapes, of their environmental resources and management practices.La  Convention  Européenne  du  Paysage  (CEP)  utilise  diverses  définitions provenant d’études dans lequel le contenu culturel et historique des paysages est réduit à des «représen- tations» ou «perceptions visuels». Ce type d’approche - en simplifiant «perceptive» - nuances, ou plus souvent masque sous un faux «naturel», la dimension, environnementale matérielle et les éléments géographiques vivants du paysage lui-même, qui sont bien détenteurs de contenu historique, même si cette dimension historique de l’environnement n’est pas toujours facilement reconnaissable en Italie par le planificateur. C’est le cas des paysages ruraux, qui peuvent se situer aujourd’hui dans le cadre plus large du patrimoine rural européen. Cela devait pas être sans conséquence pour la gestion des paysages qui sont identifiables par le biais d’une «appro- che historique»,uniformisé, a leurs facteurs écologiques et culturels. A leur tour cet approche dégage les processus historique-environnementaux qui, dans le cours du temps ont façonné la variété de paysages agricoles, forestiers et pastoraux, qui nous tient à pérenniser. A partir de la  leçon d’ Emilio Sereni (1961) concernant les processus économiques-historiques comme facteurs de transformation du paysage agraire de l’Italie, de nos jours, l’ approche de «écologie historique» ajoute de nouveaux outils pour l’identification de paysages «individuels», de leur stratification historique et la formulation de projets de gestion. Notre contribution a pour objec- tif de présenter quelques exemples concernant les études réalisées et en cours en Ligurie (NW Italie), où les recherches d’histoire locale, de géographie, l’archéologie et l’écologie ont mis au point des analyses du paysage à l’échelle du site. Une approche qui fonde une archéologie des ressources environnementales, consacrée à la reconstruction de l’histoire «individuelle» (ou bien topographique) des paysages agro-sylvo-pastoraux, de leurs ressources environnementales et des pratiques de gestion, a été testé.El Convenio Europeo del Paisaje (CEP) utiliza diferentes definiciones de las que derivan estudios en los que el contenido cultural e histórico de los paisajes se reducen a su «representa- ciones» o «percepciones» visuales. Este enfoque «perceptivo» del paisaje oscurece, o incluso con frecuencia enmascara bajo una falsa apariencia «natural», los elementos vivos medioambientales y materiales del propio paisaje. éste es el caso de los paisajes rurales que se consideran, por el contrario, actualmente, producto de una amplia herencia rural europea. Ciertos factores específicos, medioambientales (ecológicos) y culturales (históricos), han sido identificados a partir de una «aproximación histórica» que controla en cada caso esta herencia histórica. Estos factores son los procesos histórico-ambientales que en cada época han configurado una variedad de paisajes agrarios, ganaderos y forestales; paisajes que queremos conservar. El actual enfoque ecológico- histórico enriquece el legado de Emilio Sereni (1961) (sobre los aspectos económicos del paisaje agrario) con nuevos instrumentos para identificar cada paisaje, su estratificación histórica y los proyectos de ordenación adecuados. Este artículo intenta ilustrar todo esto a partir de unos pocos ejemplos, relativos a estudios realizados y en curso en Liguria (Noroeste de Italia). En cada una de las instituciones presentadas que estudian paisajes en escala del lugar correspondiente, vemos cómo interactúan a escala local historia, geografía, arqueología y ecología. En este proceso se pone a prueba una arqueología medioambiental, basada en los métodos de la ecología histórica y enfocada a la reconstrucción de la historia «individual» de los paisajes agro-silvo-ganaderos, de sus recursos ambientales y sus prácticas de gestión

Drivers of change in the realised climatic niche of terrestrial mammals

The breadth of a species’ climatic niche is an important ecological trait that allows adaptation to climate change, but human activities often reduce realised niche breadth by impacting species distributions. Some life-history traits, such as dispersal ability and reproductive speed, allow species to cope with both human impact and climate change. But how do these traits interact with human pressure to determine niche change? Here we investigate the patterns and drivers of change in the realised climatic niche of 258 terrestrial mammal species. Our goal is to disentangle the impacts of human land use, climate change and life history. We quantified the past and present climatic niches of each species by considering past climatic conditions (Mid Holocene) within their pre-human impact distributions, and current climatic conditions within the current distributions. Depending on the difference between past and current niche, we defined four categories of change: ‘shrink’, ‘shift’, ‘stable’ and ‘expand’. We found over half of the species in our sample have undergone niche shrink, while only one in six retained a stable niche. Climate change and distribution change were the strongest correlates of species niche change, followed by biogeography, anthropogenic land use and life-history traits. Factors that increased the probability of niche shrink included: overall climatic instability, reduction in distribution range, historical land use, large body mass and long weaning age. Species with these characteristics might require interventions that facilitate natural dispersal or assisted colonisation to survive rapidly changing climates

The role of relative abundance and identity in the effectiveness of generalist predators as biocontrol agents of Pieris rapae L. (Lepidoptera: Pieridae)

The importance of generalist arthropod predator assemblages in suppressing pests has recently received more attention. However, few studies have investigated the impacts of assemblage structure on pest mortality. This study assessed the influence of relative abundance and taxonomic identity among an assemblage of generalist predators in collards, (Brassica oleracea var. acephala), on the mortality of Pieris rapae. In field surveys and laboratory assays, I determined that Coleomegilla maculata was the numerically dominant while Coccinella septempunctata and Podisus maculiventris were numerically subdominant predators of P. rapae larvae. Experimental mesocosms were used to determine whether numerically dominant predators alone, regardless of taxonomic identity, imposed greater P. rapae larval mortality than when in an assemblage. As numerically dominant species, only C. septempunctata imposed greater P. rapae larval mortality alone than when in an assemblage. This research highlights the importance of considering both relative abundance and identity in studies involving predator assemblages and biocontrol

Satellite Image Processing for the Coarse-Scale Investigation of Sandy Coastal Areas

In recent years, satellite imagery has shown its potential to support the sustainable management of land, water, and natural resources. In particular, it can provide key information about the properties and behavior of sandy beaches and the surrounding vegetation, improving the ecomorphological understanding and modeling of coastal dynamics. Although satellite image processing usually demands high memory and computational resources, free online platforms such as Google Earth Engine (GEE) have recently enabled their users to leverage cloud-based tools and handle big satellite data. In this technical note, we describe an algorithm to classify the coastal land cover and retrieve relevant information from Sentinel-2 and Landsat image collections at specific times or in a multitemporal way: the extent of the beach and vegetation strips, the statistics of the grass cover, and the position of the shoreline and the vegetation–sand interface. Furthermore, we validate the algorithm through both quantitative and qualitative methods, demonstrating the goodness of the derived classification (accuracy of approximately 90%) and showing some examples about the use of the algorithm’s output to study coastal physical and ecological dynamics. Finally, we discuss the algorithm’s limitations and potentialities in light of its scaling for global analyses

Identificación de la cadena de valor y desarrollo del manual de procesos para la empresa P&M Services Cía. Ltda.

En el primer capítulo de la investigación se muestran los antecedentes de la empresa desde su comienzo en el mercado de Seguridad y Salud Ocupacional. Además se realiza un estudio del sector de seguridad industrial y las leyes y normativas que rigen a la razón social de la empresa. En el capítulo segundo se realiza una definición de la cadena de valor según Porter y según el modelo SAN. Posteriormente se realiza el mapeo propiamente de la empresa según el modelo SAN. En el capítulo tercero se realiza definiciones básicas de procedimientos, se identifica los mismos con sus entradas y salidas, con sus objetivos y alcances. Además se realiza la diagramación de todos los procesos antes identificados, cada uno con su descriptor y ficha correspondiente. En el siguiente capítulo se identifica la forma de difundir y socializar el manual de procesos. Incluye el plan y hoja de ruta. Se realizó un levantamiento de indicadores de cada proceso para que sea posible medir todas las variables necesarias y de esta forma plantear planes de mejora aplicables y realizables a un corto plazo. Finalmente, se desarrollan las conclusiones y recomendaciones dirigidas a un mejor funcionamiento de las diferentes actividades de la empresa. En las conclusiones se detallan los hallazgos que se obtuvieron después de la aplicación de los indicadores y en las recomendaciones se puntualizan todos los planes de mejora que se proponen para mitigar los problemas encontrados

COMBINE: a coalesced mammal database of intrinsic and extrinsic traits

The use of species’ traits in macroecological analyses has gained popularity in the last decade, becoming an important tool to understand global biodiversity patterns. Currently, trait data can be found across a wide variety of data sets included in websites, articles, and books, each one with its own taxonomic classification, set of traits and data management methodology. Mammals, in particular, are among the most studied taxa, with large sources of trait information readily available. To facilitate the use of these data, we did an extensive review of published mammal trait data sources between 1999 and May 2020 and produced COMBINE: a COalesced Mammal dataBase of INtrinsic and Extrinsic traits. Our aim was to create a taxonomically integrated database of mammal traits that maximized trait number and coverage without compromising data quality. COMBINE contains information on 54 traits for 6,234 extant and recently extinct mammal species, including information on morphology, reproduction, diet, biogeography, life‐habit, phenology, behavior, home range and density. Additionally, we calculated other relevant traits such as habitat and altitudinal breadths for all species and dispersal for terrestrial non‐volant species. All data are compatible with the taxonomies of the IUCN Red List v. 2020‐2 and PHYLACINE v. 1.2. Missing data were adequately flagged and imputed for non‐biogeographical traits with 20% or more data available. We obtained full data sets for 21 traits such as female maturity, litter size, maximum longevity, trophic level, and dispersal, providing imputation performance statistics for all. This data set will be especially useful for those interested in including species’ traits in large‐scale ecological and conservation analyses. There are no copyright or proprietary restrictions; we request citation of this publication and all relevant underlying data sources (found in Data S1: trait_data_sources.csv), upon using these data

Performance of Leuconostoc citreum FDR241 during wheat flour sourdough type I propagation and transcriptional analysis of exopolysaccharides biosynthesis genes

This study focused on the performance of the dextran producer Leuconostoc citreum as starter culture during 30 days of wheat flour type I sourdough propagation (back-slopping). As confirmed by RAPD-PCR analysis, the strain dominated throughout the propagation procedure, consisting of daily fermentations at 20 °C. The sourdoughs were characterized by consistent lactic acid bacteria cell density and acidification parameters, reaching pH values of 4.0 and mild titratable acidity. Carbohydrates consumption remained consistent during the propagation procedure, leading to formation of mannitol and almost equimolar amount of lactic and acetic acid. The addition of sucrose enabled the formation of dextran, inducing an increase in viscosity of the sourdough of 2–2.6 fold, as well as oligosaccharides. The transcriptional analysis based on glucosyltransferases genes (GH70) showed the existence in L. citreum FDR241 of at least five different dextransucrases. Among these, only one gene, previously identified as forming only α-(1–6) glycosidic bonds, was significantly upregulated in sourdough fermentation conditions, and the main responsible of dextran formation. A successful application of a starter culture during long sourdough back-slopping procedure will depend on the strain robustness and fermentation conditions. Transcriptional regulation of EPS-synthetizing genes might contribute to increase the efficiency of industrial processes.Peer reviewe