Biodiversitätsmonitoring im Südtiroler Kräuteranbau = Biodiversity surveys in medicinal and aromatic plant fields in South Tyrol

Medicinal and aromatic plants in mountain regions such as South Tyrol are cultivated on small-scale farms, which are characterized by a high diversity of cultivated crop species grown on a relatively small area. This small-scale cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants suggests that MAP fields are of high ecological value. However, research on this topic is generally lacking. In this study flower-visiting arthropods were recorded with pan traps in three herb fields during three survey events conducted in 2021. Our results indicate that medicinal and aromatic plant fields are valuable habitats for several taxa. In total 12.570 individuals were collected. Wild bees were particularly species-rich, accounting for 10 % of the regional wild bee species pool. Next to beneficial arthropods, potential pests, such as aphids were also highly abundant. However, natural enemies possibly counteracting pests were also numerous. Overall, we conclude that medicinal and aromatic plant cultivation may act as resource-rich oases for several arthropod groups, thereby promoting biodiversity also on a broader scale.Der Anbau von Arznei- und Gewürzpflanzen zeichnet sich in der Regel durch vielfältige Anbaukulturen auf relativ kleinen Flächen aus. Dies gilt insbesondere für Südtirol, wo diese Kulturen hauptsächlich von kleinen Betrieben im Berggebiet angebaut werden. Dieser kleinflächige Anbau von Arznei- und Gewürzpflanzen lässt vermuten, dass die Betriebe einen hohen ökologischen Wert haben. Es gibt wenige Studien zur Erfassung der Biodiversität im Anbau von Arznei- und Gewürzpflanzen. Daher wurden in dieser Arbeit Kräuteranbau-Betriebe als Lebensraum für blütenbesuchende Arthropoden untersucht. An drei Untersuchungsstandorten wurden im Jahr 2021 jeweils an drei Terminen Farbschalen zur Sammlung von Arthropoden verwendet. Kräuteranbau-Betriebe stellten sich als ein wertvoller Lebensraum für verschiedene Arthropoden heraus. Insgesamt wurden 12.570 Individuen mit den Farbschalen gesammelt. Insbesondere Wildbienen waren mit 10 % des regionalen Artenpools sehr artenreich. Auch potenzielle Schädlinge, wie zum Beispiel Blattläuse, waren sehr häufig anzutreffen, wobei natürliche Feinde, wie zum Beispiel Parasitoide, ebenfalls zahlreich vertreten waren. Insgesamt können Kräuteranbaubetriebe als strukturreiche Oasen für Arthropoden fungieren und sich somit auf einer breiteren Skala positiv auf die Biodiversität auswirken

Reducing the False Positive Rate Using Bayesian Inference in Autonomous Driving Perception

Object recognition is a crucial step in perception systems for autonomous and intelligent vehicles, as evidenced by the numerous research works in the topic. In this paper, object recognition is explored by using multisensory and multimodality approaches, with the intention of reducing the false positive rate (FPR). The reduction of the FPR becomes increasingly important in perception systems since the misclassification of an object can potentially cause accidents. In particular, this work presents a strategy through Bayesian inference to reduce the FPR considering the likelihood function as a cumulative distribution function from Gaussian kernel density estimations, and the prior probabilities as cumulative functions of normalized histograms. The validation of the proposed methodology is performed on the KITTI dataset using deep networks (DenseNet, NasNet, and EfficientNet), and recent 3D point cloud networks (PointNet, and PintNet++), by considering three object-categories (cars, cyclists, pedestrians) and the RGB and LiDAR sensor modalities.Comment: This paper has been submitted to the journal Pattern Recognition Letter

Features, risk factors and clinical outcome of {"}very late{"} recurrences after surgery for localized renal carcinoma: A retrospective evaluation of a cohort with a minimum of 10 years of follow up

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Review on imidacloprid diffusion route and a case study: from apple orchard to the honey bee colony matrices

Honey bees play a pivotal role in natural and rural ecosystems by providing human and animal food sources through pollination services. However, in cultivated areas, they can be exposed to the chemicals utilized for crop protection. Neonicotinoid insecticides can adversely affect honey bee colonies impairing their survival, immunity and biological activities at lethal and sublethal doses. For this reason, neonicotinoids, together with other stress factors, like pathogens (e.g. viruses and Varroa mites), climate change and food shortage, are considered one of the causes of worldwide colony losses. Nevertheless, the natural way of entry and diffusion of these pesticides in field colonies is not completely clear. Here, we wanted to fill this gap by studying the diffusion route of imidacloprid and its metabolites by analysing different matrices collected from honey bee colonies used for pollination of apple orchards, in the framework of applied Integrated Pest Management strategies. Pollen, honey bees, honey, royal jelly, bee wax and bee bread were sampled from 6 honey bee colonies placed in two different apple orchards before blooming, exposed to chemicals application and removed from the site after that. Samples were analysed using a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) in order to detect imidacloprid, olefin imidacloprid and 5-hydroxy imidacloprid. The results demonstrate that the primary way of entrance of imidacloprid was the pollen transported by foragers, while the main accumulation matrices were bee bread, honey and wax. These findings allow us to hypothesize that the accumulation of this insecticide, especially in bee bread, the main larval food, could potentially impact negatively on honey bee wellbeing at the adult stage. Moreover, our data could implement the honey bee colony simulato