The Mediterranean Island Wetlands (MedIsWet) inventory: strengths and shortfalls of the currently available floristic data

MedIsWet (Conservation of the island wetlands of the Mediterranean Basin) is a MAVA funded project which aims at investigating all seasonal or permanent island wetlands both natural and artificial, with a minimum extent of 0.1 hectares. More than 16,000 wetlands from almost all the Mediterranean, including islands from France, Italy, Malta, Croatia, Cyprus, Tunisia, Turkey, Greece and Spain were mapped. Over 2,500 of them were inventoried in the field and more than 500 scientific contributions catalogued. In total, more than 35,000 plant occurrences were uploaded, in a standardised and comparable way, on the national open-source web portals. These can be related to the recorded threats, uses and other spatially retrievable information. Here, we show strengths and shortfalls of the already available information about the floristic records. Although further improvements are needed, we discuss how these data can be used for research and policy actions and to develop conservation projects

The future for Mediterranean wetlands: 50 key issues and 50 important conservation research questions

Wetlands are critically important for biodiversity and human wellbeing, but face a range of challenges. This is especially true in the Mediterranean region, where wetlands support endemic and threatened species and remain integral to human societies, but have been severely degraded in recent decades. Here, in order to raise awareness of future challenges and opportunities for Mediterranean wetlands, and to inform proactive research and management, we identified (a) 50 key issues that might affect Mediterranean wetlands between 2020 and 2050, and (b) 50 important research questions that, if answered, would have the greatest impact on the conservation of Mediterranean wetlands between 2020 and 2050. We gathered ideas through an online survey and review of recent literature. A diverse assessment panel prioritised ideas through an iterative, anonymised, Delphi-like process of scoring, voting and discussion. The prioritised issues included some that are already well known but likely to have a large impact on Mediterranean wetlands in the next 30 years (e.g. the accumulation of dams and reservoirs, plastic pollution and weak governance), and some that are currently overlooked in the context of Mediterranean wetlands (e.g. increasing desalination capacity and development of antimicrobial resistance). Questions largely focused on how best to carry out conservation interventions, or understanding the impacts of threats to inform conservation decision-making. This analysis will support research, policy and practice related to environmental conservation and sustainable development in the Mediterranean, and provides a model for similar analyses elsewhere in the world

Contributions of the 8-Methoxy Group of Gatifloxacin to Resistance Selectivity, Target Preference, and Antibacterial Activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae

Gatifloxacin (8-methoxy, 7-piperazinyl-3′-methyl) at the MIC selected mutant strains that possessed gyrA mutations at a low frequency (3.7 × 10(−9)) from wild-type strain Streptococcus pneumoniae IID553. AM-1147 (8-methoxy, 7-piperazinyl-3′-H) at the MIC or higher concentrations selected no mutant strains. On the other hand, the respective 8-H counterparts of these two compounds, AM-1121 (8-H, 7-piperazinyl-3′-methyl) and ciprofloxacin (8-H, 7-piperazinyl-3′-H), at one and two times the MIC selected mutant strains that possessed parC mutations at a high frequency (>2.4 × 10(−6)). The MIC of AM-1147 increased for the gyrA mutant strains but not for the parC mutant strains compared with that for the wild-type strain. These results suggest that fluoroquinolones that harbor 8-methoxy groups select mutant strains less frequently and prefer DNA gyrase, as distinct from their 8-H counterparts. The in vitro activities of gatifloxacin and AM-1147 are twofold higher against the wild-type strain, eight- and twofold higher against the first-step parC and gyrA mutant strains, respectively, and two- to eightfold higher against the second-step gyrA and parC double mutant strains than those of their 8-H counterparts. These results indicate that the 8-methoxy group contributes to enhancement of antibacterial activity against target-altered mutant strains as well as the wild-type strain. It is hypothesized that the 8-methoxy group of gatifloxacin increases the level of target inhibition, especially against DNA gyrase, so that it is nearly the same as that for topoisomerase IV inhibition in the bacterial cell, leading to potent antibacterial activity and a low level of resistance selectivity

Biodiversité terrestre des îlots de Gargalu et Garganellu (Réserve naturelle de Scandula)

This report presents the actions of the naturalist missions on the islets of Gargalu and Garganellu (Scandula Nature Reserve) coordinated by the PIM Initiative between May 2022 and October 2023, in collaboration with the natural Park of Corsica. The goal is to set up protocols for monitoringterrestrial biodiversity on various biological compartments: avifauna by terrestrial and bioacoustic monitoring, vascular flora and vegetation, arthropods and reptiles. These inventories aim to establish an initial biological state of the islands of Gargalu and Garganellu, to identify species potentially impacted by an eradication of black rats. The conclusions of the rat extermination feasibility study presented in this note conducted to a partial control of the rat population on Gargalu and the eradication from Garganellu (1.4 ha). Long-term monitoring will enable to assess the long-term effectiveness of the operation

Biodiversité terrestre des îlots de Gargalu et Garganellu (Réserve naturelle de Scandula)

This report presents the actions of the naturalist missions on the islets of Gargalu and Garganellu (Scandula Nature Reserve) coordinated by the PIM Initiative between May 2022 and October 2023, in collaboration with the natural Park of Corsica. The goal is to set up protocols for monitoringterrestrial biodiversity on various biological compartments: avifauna by terrestrial and bioacoustic monitoring, vascular flora and vegetation, arthropods and reptiles. These inventories aim to establish an initial biological state of the islands of Gargalu and Garganellu, to identify species potentially impacted by an eradication of black rats. The conclusions of the rat extermination feasibility study presented in this note conducted to a partial control of the rat population on Gargalu and the eradication from Garganellu (1.4 ha). Long-term monitoring will enable to assess the long-term effectiveness of the operation