Olive quick decline and Xylella fastidiosa in Southern Italy: the state of the art

The identification in 2013 of an outbreak of Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) in olive groves in the Salento peninsula (southern Italy) resulted in a plant health emergency of unprecedented proportions for the EU. Infected olive trees show extensive desiccation of the canopy and severe quick decline symptoms. In the outbreak area, the bacterium was found to be efficiently spread by the meadow spittlebug Philaenus spumarius, abundant on the olive canopies during the dry season. The initial demarcated foci rapidly expanded over the past 4 years, establishing a new demarcation line distant 80 km from the first reported outbreak; while few species were found infected in 2013 the currently known susceptible hosts reached the number of ca. 30 different plant species. Phytosanitary measures to combat the spread and mitigate the impact of the bacterial infections, included restrictions for the new plantations, for the movement of propagating materials and removal of infected trees. The severe damage suffered by the infected olive trees combined with the imposed phytosanitary restrictions determined severe economic and social impacts in the local community, raising major concerns against the application of the containment measures and determining the failure to implement timely, effective and coordinated preventive measures. Due to the novelty of the Xylella‐associated disease in olives and in general the fact that Xf is conquering new geographical area, like the EU territories, the EU Commission mobilized dedicated resources to build EU research actions to fulfil research gaps for this emerging pathogen threatening the entire EU territory. Between 2015 and 2016, two relevant research projects in the framework of the H2020 programs have been funded: the project "Pest Organisms Threatening Europe" (POnTE) and the project "Xylella Fastidiosa Active Containment Through a multidisciplinary‐Oriented Research Strategy" (XF‐ACTORS) the latter targeting exclusively Xf. From the intense research activity developed in the past three years some major results have been already achieved, providing data on the genetic and biological properties of the population of the bacterium, the range of hosts, the identification and biology of the vector, the identification of olive cultivars with promising traits of resistance

Assessing population collapse of Drupella spp. (Mollusca: Gastropoda) 2 years after a coral bleaching event in the Republic of Maldives

AbstractCorallivory causes considerable damage to coral reefs and can exacerbate other disturbances. Among coral predators, Drupella spp. are considered as delayer of coral recovery in the Republic of Maldives, although little information is available on their ecology. Thus, we aimed to assess their population structure, feeding behaviour and spatial distribution around 2 years after a coral bleaching event in 2016. Biological and environmental data were collected using belt and line intercept transects in six shallow reefs in Maldives. The snails occurred in aggregations with a maximum of 62 individuals and exhibited a preference for branching corals. Yet, the gastropods showed a high plasticity in adapting feeding preferences to prey availability. Drupella spp. were homogenously distributed in the study area with an average of 9.04 ± 19.72 ind/200 m2. However, their occurrence was significantly different at the reef scale with the highest densities found in locations with higher coral cover. The impact of Drupella spp. appeared to be minimal with the population suffering from the loss of coral cover. We suggest that monitoring programs collect temporal- and spatial-scale data on non-outbreaking populations or non-aggregating populations to understand the dynamics of predation related to the co-occurrence of anthropogenic and natural impacts

Tomato spotted wilt virus associated with lettuce dieback in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon

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L’“iconizzazione” del Sud. Fotogiornalismo e cinema documentario

Come ogni territorio, il Mezzogiorno è una trama che custodisce un senso sacro e sublime: la fotografia, il documentario e il cinema d’autore hanno spesso provato raccontarne luoghi e figure attraverso le pratiche del realismo. Che si assuma una prospettiva ontologica, stilistica o semiotica, è noto che la relazione tra immagine e realtà storica, sociale e naturale cambia con il cambiare dello sguardo indagatore. Lo studio del rapporto tra la prospettiva di indagine e l’oggetto di analisi mette in campo due questioni nodali: da un lato occorre fare ordine nella molteplicità di produzioni (interne al territorio ed esterne) che hanno provato a restituire, tra fenomenologia e trasfigurazione, una immagine autentica del Sud Italia; dall’altro lato è inevitabile fare i conti con la responsabilità che tali produzioni hanno avuto nella definizione identitaria delle culture e dei popoli meridionali. Fotografie e prodotti audiovisivi, attraverso uno slittamento dalla funzione di intrattenimento a quella di conoscenza, sono i principali fattori di una ri-costruzione identitaria, il cui processo pare aver preso strade diverse, benché tutte accomunate da un unico risultato: aver ridotto la dimensione arcaico-rurale di quei luoghi a icona. In questa sede, prendendo in esame alcune fonti documentali, e affrontando la questione iconografica da una prospettiva estetico-antropologica, si vuole proporre una prima mappatura e analisi dei reportage fotografici e dei materiali audiovisivi che hanno contribuito alla definizione delle diverse immagini del Sud Italia e dei suoi abitanti, portando in evidenza le ragioni estetiche e culturali che hanno spinto, nel secondo dopoguerra, illustri fotografi e cineasti a indagare visivamente quei territori, ben prima della diffusione delle tecnologie e in anticipo sulle politiche dell’accoglienza e della valorizzazione che hanno reso il meridione location privilegiata per set audiovisivi, anche grazie alla nascita delle Film Commission

Coding-Complete Genome Sequence of a Black Queen Cell Virus Isolate from Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) in Italy

In this study, we documented the complete coding genome sequence of a Black queen cell virus (BQCV) isolate from honey bees in Italy. This genome sequence illustrates a high similarity with other BQCV isolates reported worldwide and could provide insights into BQCV genome phylogeny and divergence

Xylella fastidiosa in Olive in Apulia: Where We Stand

A dramatic outbreak of Xylella fastidiosa decimating olive was discovered in 2013 in Apulia, Southern Italy. This pathogen is a quarantine bacterium in the European Union (EU) and created unprecedented turmoil for the local economy and posed critical challenges for its management. With the new emerging threat to susceptible crops in the EU, efforts were devoted to gain basic knowledge on the pathogen biology, host, and environmental interactions (e.g., bacterial strain(s) and pathogenicity, hosts, vector(s), and fundamental drivers of its epidemics) in order to find means to control or mitigate the impacts of the infections. Field surveys, greenhouse tests, and laboratory analyses proved that a single bacterial introduction occurred in the area, with a single genotype, belonging to the subspecies pauca, associated with the epidemic. Infections caused by isolates of this genotype turned to be extremely aggressive on the local olive cultivars, causing a new disease termed olive quick decline syndrome. Due to the initial extension of the foci and the rapid spread of the infections, eradication measures (i.e., pathogen elimination from the area) were soon replaced by containment measures including intense border surveys of the contaminated area, removal of infected trees, and mandatory vector control. However, implementation of containment measures encountered serious difficulties, including public reluctance to accept control measures, poor stakeholder cooperation, misinformation from some media outlets, and lack of robust responses by some governmental authorities. This scenario delayed and limited containment efforts and allowed the bacterium to continue its rapid dissemination over more areas in the region, as shown by the continuous expansion of the official borders of the infected area. At the research level, the European Commission and regional authorities are now supporting several programs aimed to find effective methods to mitigate and contain the impact of X. fastidiosa on olives, the predominant host affected in this epidemic. Preliminary evidence of the presence of resistance in some olive cultivars represents a promising approach currently under investigation for long-term management strategies. The present review describes the current status of the epidemic and major research achievements since 2013

Introduction: non-theatrical film festivals

The idea for this publication stemmed from the Reframing Film Festivals conference that the curators of this special issue were organised in Venice in February 2020, which was conceived to foster research engagement with the histories of film festivals and their relationship with film historiography and canons. During this two-day event, among the contributions dedicated to the micro-histories of a variety of festivals based in Central and Eastern Europe, South America and South-East Asia, several artists, curators, archivists and historians from France, Austria, Italy, Chile and Spain presented research focused on non-theatrical cultures and related festivals. This strand of research ranged 10 from historical analysis of international competitions for amateur filmmakers to theorisations of the festivals dedicated to analog video art and time-based art, from the study of the historical developments of national non-fiction festivals to the mapping of ethnographic film festival circuits. Hence, in this special issue dedicated to non-theatrical film festivals, readers will find a combination of voices representing film cultures that have been developing outside of movie theatres and away from the logic of theatrical distribution, as the title implies

Principali patogeni e difesa

Olive as other woody perennial crops can be affected by several systemic pathogens, including bacteria, fungi and several vector-borne viruses. The most important olive diseases, caused by different pathogens, are described in this text. Pathogen biology, diagnostic technique and control strategies are reported for each disease. The main and widespread bacterial disease, caused by Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. savastanoi, is the olive knot. As concerns the most important and widespread fungal diseases, in this text are described the olive leaf spot, Verticillum wilt, cercosporiosis, anthracnose, fruit rot, parasitic brusca, root rot, sooty mold and wood rot. Infections caused by viruses are generally symptomless and do not result in diseased plants. Although, viruses do not cause detrimental disease on olive varieties, the infected olive trees represent a reservoir of virus inoculum for other crops, where these viruses are known to cause severe disease. Detection of these viruses represent an important critical step in the sanitary improvement of this crop. Recently, molecularbased assays have been effectively implemented to detect at least 8 of the 15 viruses known to infect this crop. Sanitation program using in vitro culture of shoot tip and thermotherapy have been recently described to recover virus-free plantlets.Realizzato nell'ambito del progetto "Ricerca ed Innovazione per l'Olivicoltura Meridionale", finanziato dal MiPAAFMiPAAF - Ministero delle politiche agricole alimentari e forestal