Chemical abundances of fast-rotating massive stars. I. Description of the methods and individual results

Aims: Recent observations have challenged our understanding of rotational mixing in massive stars by revealing a population of fast-rotating objects with apparently normal surface nitrogen abundances. However, several questions have arisen because of a number of issues, which have rendered a reinvestigation necessary; these issues include the presence of numerous upper limits for the nitrogen abundance, unknown multiplicity status, and a mix of stars with different physical properties, such as their mass and evolutionary state, which are known to control the amount of rotational mixing. Methods: We have carefully selected a large sample of bright, fast-rotating early-type stars of our Galaxy (40 objects with spectral types between B0.5 and O4). Their high-quality, high-resolution optical spectra were then analysed with the stellar atmosphere modelling codes DETAIL/SURFACE or CMFGEN, depending on the temperature of the target. Several internal and external checks were performed to validate our methods; notably, we compared our results with literature data for some well-known objects, studied the effect of gravity darkening, or confronted the results provided by the two codes for stars amenable to both analyses. Furthermore, we studied the radial velocities of the stars to assess their binarity. Results: This first part of our study presents our methods and provides the derived stellar parameters, He, CNO abundances, and the multiplicity status of every star of the sample. It is the first time that He and CNO abundances of such a large number of Galactic massive fast rotators are determined in a homogeneous way.Comment: accepted for publication by A&

D4.1. Technologies and tools for corpus creation, normalization and annotation

The objectives of the Corpus Acquisition and Annotation (CAA) subsystem are the acquisition and processing of monolingual and bilingual language resources (LRs) required in the PANACEA context. Therefore, the CAA subsystem includes: i) a Corpus Acquisition Component (CAC) for extracting monolingual and bilingual data from the web, ii) a component for cleanup and normalization (CNC) of these data and iii) a text processing component (TPC) which consists of NLP tools including modules for sentence splitting, POS tagging, lemmatization, parsing and named entity recognition

Scientific Opinion on the pest categorisation of Strawberry vein banding virus

The Panel on Plant Health performed a pest categorisation of Strawberry vein banding virus (SVBV) for the European Union (EU) territory. SVBV is a well-defined virus species of the genus Caulimovirus for which the entire genome sequence is known and molecular detection assays are available. SVBV is transmitted by vegetative multiplication of infected hosts and through the activity of aphid vectors, the most efficient being Chaetosiphon spp. The virus is reported from all continents and is present in three EU Member States: the Czech Republic, Italy and Slovakia. The host range of SVBV is restricted to cultivated and wild strawberries. It is listed in Annex IAI of Directive 2000/29/EC. SVBV is not expected to be affected by ecoclimatic conditions wherever its hosts are present and has the potential to establish in large parts of the EU territory, and to subsequently spread through the action of its Chaetosiphon fragaefolii vector, which is present in many Member States. SVBV does not cause severe symptoms, and modern cultivars are mostly symptomless if infected with SVBV alone. SVBV can, however, contribute to more severe symptoms when it occurs in mixed infections with other strawberry viruses. Despite this, SVBV is considered a minor problem in strawberry production as a consequence of modern practices including the systematic use of certified planting materials and the use of short crop cycles, which have greatly reduced the impact of strawberry viruses. Overall, SVBV does not have the potential to be a quarantine pest as, given current agricultural practices, it does not fulfil the pest categorisation criteria defined in the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No 11 of having a severe impact. However, SVBV has the potential to be a regulated non-quarantine pest because it fulfils all pest categorisation criteria defined in the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No 21

Scientific Opinion on the pest categorisation of Eotetranychus lewisi

The Panel on Plant Health performed a pest categorisation of the Lewis spider mite, Eotetranychus lewisi, for the European Union (EU). The Lewis spider mite is a well-defined and distinguishable pest species that has been reported from a wide range of hosts, including cultivated species. Its distribution in the EU territory is restricted to (i) Madeira in Portugal; and to (ii) Poland where few occurrences were reported in glasshouses only. The pest is listed in Annex IIAI of Council Directive 2000/29/EC. A potential pathway of introduction and spread is plants traded from outside Europe and between Member States. The Lewis spider mite has the potential to establish in most part of the EU territory based on climate similarities with the distribution area outside the EU and the widespread availability of hosts present both in open fields and in protected cultivations. With regards to the potential consequences, one study is providing quantitative data on impact showing that the pest can reduce yield and affect quality of peaches and poinsettias, and only few studies describe the general impact of the pest on cultivated hosts. Although chemical treatments are reported to be effective in controlling the Lewis spider mite, it is mentioned as a growing concern for peaches, strawberries, raspberries and vines in the Americas. Overall, Eotetranychus lewisi meets the pest categorisation criteria defined in the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No 11 for a quarantine pest and in No 21 for a regulated non-quarantine pest

Scientific Opinion on the pest categorisation of Plenodomus tracheiphilus (Petri) Gruyter, Aveskamp & Verkley [syn. Phoma tracheiphila (Petri) L.A. Kantschaveli & Gikashvili]

The European Commission requested the EFSA Panel on Plant Health to perform a pest categorisation of Phoma tracheiphila, the fungal pathogen responsible for “mal secco” disease of citrus. This pathogen is listed in Annex IIAII of Directive 2000/29/EC. Recently, the pathogen has been reclassified as Plenodomus tracheiphilus (Petri) Gruyter, Aveskamp & Verkley, based on molecular phylogenetic analysis. Plenodomus tracheiphilus is a single taxonomic entity, and sensitive and specific methods are available for its differentiation from other related Plenodomus species. The main host is lemon (Citrus limon L.), but the pathogen has also been reported on other species of the genera Citrus, Fortunella, Poncirus and Severinia and on their hybrids. Host plants are widely grown in the southern EU Member States (MSs) and climatic conditions are conducive to disease development in both orchards and nurseries. The pathogen is present in part of the risk assessment area, being mainly reported on lemon grown in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and France, where it has a serious impact on the citrus industry. There are no obvious ecological/climatic factors limiting the potential establishment and spread of the pathogen in the, so far, non-infested citrus-producing EU MSs (i.e. Spain, Portugal, Malta and Croatia). Short-distance spread of the pathogen occurs via water splash and wind-driven rain, whereas movement of infected host plants for planting, particularly asymptomatic plants, is considered to be responsible for the introduction of the pathogen into new areas. Cultural practices and copper-based fungicide sprays may reduce inoculum sources and prevent new infections but they cannot eliminate the pathogen. P. tracheiphilus fulfils all of the pest categorisation criteria for having the potential to be a quarantine pest and a regulated non-quarantine pest, as those are defined in the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No 11 and 21, respectively

Scientific Opinion on the pest categorisation of Beet leaf curl virus

The Panel on Plant Health performed a pest categorisation of Beet leaf curl virus (BLCV) for the European Union (EU) territory. BLCV mainly infects Beta spp., as well as Spinacia spp., Tetragonia tetragonioides and the common weeds Atriplex spp. and Chenopodium spp. This putative Rhabdovirus is not a recognised virus species; it is only defined by particle morphology and by its circular propagative transmission by the lace bug Piesma quadratum. No efficient diagnostic assay is available for BLCV, which was reported in only Germany and Turkey. With a few exceptions, there is no record of BLCV after 1983. BLCV is listed in Annex IIAII of Directive 2000/29/EC. The virus itself is not expected to be affected by ecoclimatic conditions and its P. quadratum vector is widely distributed in the EU; thus, BLCV has the potential to establish and spread over large areas of the EU and cause significant damage in sugarbeet. However, it appears to have caused sporadic outbreaks in only some years, possibly associated with high vector populations. It does not appear to have had any significant impact in recent years, and it may now no longer be significantly present in agricultural production systems. This situation is possibly a consequence of current intensive sugarbeet crop management practices and of the ensuing reduction in vector populations. Owing to the very limited literature available on BLCV, a full pest risk assessment is highly unlikely to provide clearer insight into the risks associated with this virus than the present pest categorisation

Scientific Opinion on the pest categorisation of Paysandisia archon (Burmeister)

The Panel on Plant Health performed a pest categorisation of Paysandisia archon for the European Union territory. P. archon is a well-defined pest species attacking many palm species. It is currently present in several southern European Member States (Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia and Spain). Malta and Portugal are considered to be very important areas for further spread of the pest. The pest is listed in Annex IIAII of Council Directive 2000/29/EC and special requirements for host plants with respect to P. archon are formulated in Annexes IVAI and IVAII of Council Directive 2000/29/EC. This moth is a strong flier, but its main pathway of spread is via ornamental palms traded from outside the European Union and between Member States. Wherever its hosts are present outdoors in southern Europe, P. archon has the potential to establish. Although P. archon can complete its development in protected cultivation and in private/public indoor plant collections, there is no evidence of establishment. The damage produced by the larvae can cause the death of the plant with consequences for cultivated and native palm trees, and therefore on ecosystem services and biodiversity. At the moment no fully effective chemical or biological control methods are available against spread and impact of P. archon, while the use of glues on the stipe of the palm can be effective but affects the ornamental value of the plant. P. archon meets all pest categorisation criteria for both quarantine pests and regulated non-quarantine pests

Scientific Opinion on the pest categorisation of Ditylenchus destructor Thorne

The Panel on Plant Health performed a pest categorisation of Ditylenchus destructor, the potato rot nematode. D. destructor is listed in Annex II, Part A, Section II of Council Directive 2000/29/EC as a harmful organism known to occur in the Union and relevant for the entire Union. D. destructor is a distinct taxonomic entity that can be identified in a straightforward way, and which is present in the majority of EU member states, although sporadically (but data from systematic surveys are lacking). Many hosts of D. destructor are present in the RA area and the climatic conditions in the whole risk assessment area are favourable for the completion of the pest life cycle. D. destructor can cause significant damage to the below-ground parts (roots, tubers, bulbs) of host crops such as potato and several ornamental plants. However, during recent decades only minor damage has been reported (except in some Eastern European countries). Plants for planting are a pathway for introduction and spread of D. destructor, which may cause severe impacts on the intended use of the plants for planting

Scientific Opinion on the pest categorisation of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner)

The Panel on Plant Health undertook a pest categorisation of Helicoverpa armigera for the European Union territory. The taxonomy of H. armigera and related species worldwide is complex but, in Europe, only H. armigera is present. Although it has been recorded in all Member States, it persists throughout the year only in the southernmost parts of Europe where winters are not too cold. From these areas and from North Africa, long-distance northward migrations of up to 1 000 km can occur. In most of Europe, only transient populations are found outdoors. Nevertheless, damage to outdoor crops has been recorded as far north as the Netherlands. H. armigera also damages crops produced under protected conditions, with outbreaks related to the import of plants for planting. It is highly polyphagous, with over 180 host species recorded from more than 45 families, and it is particularly hard to detect and difficult to control because the larvae bore into reproductive structures with few visible external symptoms. Damage is especially severe in hot summers. Insecticide resistance is common and a wide range of insecticides may be applied. It is listed in Annex IIAII, and special requirements for H. armigera are formulated in Annexes IVAI and IVAII of Council Directive 2000/29/EC to regulate the movement of plants for planting of Solanaceae and three ornamental genera

Scientific Opinion on the pest categorisation of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus and related viruses causing tomato yellow leaf curl disease in Europe

The Panel on Plant Health performed for the European Union (EU) territory a pest categorisation of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) and three related viruses, Tomato yellow leaf curl Sardinia virus (TYLCSV), Tomato yellow leaf curl Axarquia virus (TYLCAxV) and Tomato yellow leaf curl Malaga virus (TYLCMaV), which collectively cause the tomato yellow leaf curl disease (TYLCD) in Europe. The viruses are well-defined species of the genus Begomovirus, are exclusively transmitted by members of the Bemisia tabaci species complex and have tomato, as well as a few other crops or weeds, as their hosts. TYLCV is listed on tomato plants for planting, other than seeds, in Annex IIAII of Directive 2000/29/EC. While establishment and local spread rely on the Bemisia vector, the viruses can also be disseminated over long distances by movement of infected plants for planting or by consignments of non-host plants carrying viruliferous whiteflies. Establishment outdoors and spread are limited to regions with ecoclimatic conditions suitable for the establishment of vector populations in the open. Outbreaks can nevertheless occur in other regions under protected cultivation conditions. Because of the very high potential impact of TYLCD, tomato production in affected regions requires intensive crop management efforts to reduce impact. TYLCV appears to be present in almost all EU regions with suitable ecoclimatic conditions for its establishment in open fields, while the other three viruses do not appear to have reached their full establishment potential. All four viruses are absent from other regions of the EU but have the potential to cause temporary outbreaks there