Il Museo di Storia Naturale dell'Università di Firenze – Le collezioni botaniche

The Natural History Museum of the University of Florence, founded in 1775 by Grand-Duke Pietro Leopold, is the oldest scientific museum in Europe. With this second volume on the Botanical Collection, Florence University Press continues its series dedicated to the six Sections of the Museum. The first part of the volume recounts the birth of botanical sciences in Florence and the history of the museum collections from sixteenth century to today. Then follows the second part which describes the historical and modern Herbaria, for each of which the main events that went to their formation, the importance of the plants they contain and biographical information on those who built the collections are described. The third section expounds the other collections in the Botanical Section of the Museum, among which of particular interest are the wax models of plants and fruits, manufactured by the old Grand-ducal Ceroplastics Laboratory, the wood collection, plaster of Paris mushrooms and the eighteenth century still life paintings of fruits and vegetables by Bartolomeo Bimbi. Finally, the last part illustrates the importance that herbaria play today in modern scientific research, drawing attention to the fact that they are an archive that holds taxonomical, chorological and ecological information in function of the plants they contain, as well as historical-biographical information on the scholars who, through their efforts, built up the collections

Análise das feições de dissecação do relevo na folha topográfica de São Pedro do Sul - RS

The investigation purpose was to observe, to localize, to analyse and to catalogue the different kinds of relieve, with its area and spacial distribution, based on the relieve dissection indexes of the São Pedro do Sul-RS topographic map, using the metodology first formulated by RADAMBRASIL PROJECT (1986) and after adapted by ROSS (1992 and 1996), to the relieve dissection study. The metodology was adapted to the survey scale (1:50000) and was shawed as efficient to these types of studies. It basically consider the interfluvial dimension and the fluvial channels carving degree. The study area is located on two distincts parts: the Central Depression of the Rio Grande do Sul and the edge Rio Grande do Sul Central Depression and the Brazilian Meridional Tableland edge. The first part has mainly areas with a plane os smooth wavy and the second part with strong slope and rugged. The areas observed with less dissection degree are situated mainly at the Central Depression part, whereas the sectors that shows a bitter dissection degree are located at the tableland edge. The results obtained shows that the area has predominantly medium to weak dissection indexes.A pesquisa teve como objetivo observar, localizar, analisar e mapear as diferentes categorias de relevo, sua área e distribuição espacial, em função dos índices de dissecação do relevo na folha topográfica de São Pedro do Sul – RS, utilizando-se a metodologia formulada inicialmente pelo Projeto RADAMBRASIL (1986) e posteriormente adaptada por ROSS (1992 e 1996), para o estudo da dissecação do relevo. A metodologia foi adaptada para a escala de levantamento (1:50.000) e mostrou-se eficiente para os estudos dessa natureza. Leva em considerações basicamente a dimensão interfluvial e o grau de entalhamento dos canais fluviais. A área em estudo apresenta-se sobre duas porções distintas: a Depressão Central do Rio Grande do Sul e o Rebordo do Planalto Meridional Brasil, predominando na primeira, áreas com relevo plano e suave ondulado e na segunda áreas com declives forte ondulados e escarpados. As áreas observadas com menor grau de dissecação encontram-se predominantemente na área da Depressão Central, enquanto os setores que apresentam um maior grau de dissecação estão na região do Rebordo do Planalto. Os resultados obtidos mostram que a área apresenta-se predominantemente com índices de dissecação fraca e média

Modelado do Relevo do Setor Sudoeste do Município de São Pedro do Sul - RS

The forms or the groups of relief participate, in different scales, ofthe general composition of the relief. The erosivos lawsuits or deposicionais ofthe climatic existent conditions, are permanently modeling to topography ofthe land. Meantime, to the they be observed in short space of time, displaystatic appearance transmitting to false idea of that are component independent.Therefore, performance erosiva evolved to gênese responsible or dissectionof the relief. In that sense him objective went classify him relief of the areasudoeste do county of São Pedro do Sul in agreement with him modeled. For somuch went adapted to methodology proposal for ROSS (1994 and 1996)for himmodeled, and him employment of aerofotogramas in the analysis vertical of theprofile and form das slopes. Him offspring displayed that to area presentspredominance of the modeled of dissection (weak and average). In that senseto steepness and to density of the drainage (size interfluvial and him degree ofentalhamento) are associated to the degree of dissection of the relief. Forms ofdissection very strong and modeled of aplanamento not were detected.Meantime him modeled of accumulation is present of the long vázeas of riversToropi and Ibicuí-mirim, characterizing marks of paleodreangem and, locally,morphologies of movements of mass and bolsões areno-argilosos.As formas ou os conjuntos de formas de relevo participam, em diferentesescalas, da composição geral do relevo. Os processos erosivos oudeposicionais resultantes das condições climáticas existentes, estão permanentementemodelando a topografia do terreno. Entretanto, ao serem observadosnum curto espaço de tempo, mostram aparência estática transmitindo afalsa idéia de que são componentes independentes. Portanto, da atuação erosivaevolui a gênese responsável pela dissecação do relevo. Nesse sentido o objetivofoi classificar o relevo da área sudoeste do município de São Pedro do Sulde acordo com o modelado. Para tanto foi adaptada a metodologia propostapor ROSS (1994) e ROSS (1996) para o modelado, e o emprego de aerofotogramasverticais na análise do perfil e forma das vertentes. O resultado mostrou que aárea apresenta predominância do modelado de dissecação (fraca e média).Nesse sentido a declividade e a densidade da drenagem (dimensão interfluviale o grau de entalhamento) estão associadas ao grau de dissecação do relevo.Formas de dissecação muito forte e modelados de aplanamento não foramdetectados. O modelado de acumulação está presente ao longo das várzeasdos rios Toropi e Ibicuí-mirim caracterizando marcas de paleodrenagem e, lo30Ciência e Natura, UFSM, 27(1): 29 - 44, 2005calmente, morfologias de movimentos de massa e bolsões areno-argilosos

Le Piante endemiche della Sardegna

Questa linea di ricerca, portata avanti in collaborazione tra botanici di Firenze e Sassari da circa 12 anni, ha prodotto le prime pubblicazioni nel 1977. Scopo della ricerca è quello di approfondire le conoscenze sulle piante endemiche della Sardegna pubblicando il risultato delle indagini in maniera uniforme sotto forma di scheda. Lo schema di trattazione comprende tutti gli aspetti di un'entità, come andrebbero proposti per una flora critica: sinonimia, descrizione, identificazione del typus, etimologia, iconografie, numero cromosomico, tipo biologico, fenologia, areale, materiale d'erbario esaminato, ecologia, note e bibliografia. Ogni entità, inoltre, è sempre stata corredata da un'iconografia e da una cartina di distribuzione in Sardegna costruita per punti solo da exsiccata revisionati

Unmanned aerial vehicle to estimate nitrogen status of turfgrasses

Spectral reflectance data originating from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) imagery is a valuable tool to monitor plant nutrition, reduce nitrogen (N) application to real needs, thus producing both economic and environmental benefits. The objectives of the trial were i) to compare the spectral reflectance of 3 turfgrasses acquired via UAV and by a ground-based instrument; ii) to test the sensitivity of the 2 data acquisition sources in detecting induced variation in N levels. N application gradients from 0 to 250 kg ha-1 were created on 3 different turfgrass species: Cynodon dactylon x transvaalensis (Cdxt) Patriot, Zoysia matrella (Zm) Zeon and Paspalum vaginatum (Pv) Salam. Proximity and remote-sensed reflectance measurements were acquired using a GreenSeeker handheld crop sensor and a UAV with onboard a multispectral sensor, to determine Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Proximity-sensed NDVI is highly correlated with data acquired from UAV with r values ranging from 0.83 (Zm) to 0.97 (Cdxt). Relating NDVI-UAV with clippings N, the highest r is for Cdxt (0.95). The most reactive species to N fertilization is Cdxt with a clippings N% ranging from 1.2% to 4.1%. UAV imagery can adequately assess the N status of turfgrasses and its spatial variability within a species, so for large areas, such as golf courses, sod farms or race courses, UAV acquired data can optimize turf management. For relatively small green areas, a hand-held crop sensor can be a less expensive and more practical option

ATP released by intestinal bacteria limits the generation of protective IgA against enteropathogens

T cell dependent secretory IgA (SIgA) generated in the Peyer’s patches (PPs) of the small intestine shapes a broadly diverse microbiota that is crucial for host physiology. The mutualistic co-evolution of host and microbes led to the relative tolerance of host’s immune system towards commensal microorganisms. The ATP-gated ionotropic P2X7 receptor limits T follicular helper (Tfh) cells expansion and germinal center (GC) reaction in the PPs. Here we show that transient depletion of intestinal ATP can dramatically improve high-affinity IgA response against both live and inactivated oral vaccines. Ectopic expression of Shigella flexneri periplasmic ATP-diphosphohydrolase (apyrase) abolishes ATP release by bacteria and improves the specific IgA response against live oral vaccines. Antibody responses primed in the absence of intestinal extracellular ATP (eATP) also provide superior protection from enteropathogenic infection. Thus, modulation of eATP in the small intestine can affect highaffinity IgA response against gut colonizing bacteria