Contribution to the knowledge of the family Otoplanidae Hallez, 1892 (Rhabditophora, Proseriata) in the Mediterranean

A growing awareness is rising that present perception of marine biodiversity is inadequate, and based upon unrepresentative data. The inadequacy of knowledge on taxonomy and distribution of marine organisms is particularly acute for interstitial meiofauna, especially for "soft bodied" taxa, which necessitate of observations on both living and fixed specimens. Among these groups, information on Platyhelminthes, a species-rich, ubiquitous and diverse taxon, is at present far from adequate, and is entirely absent for entire biogeographical regions. In this scenario, my research aimed to gather data in the composition and distribution of a family of Platyhelminthes Proseriata, the Otoplanidae Hallez, 1892, in biogeographically significant sectors along the coasts of Mediterranean. The most striking results of a series of sampling campaigns is the great number of new Otoplanidae species found. In this work fifteen new species, belonging to the genus Parotoplana Meixner, 1938 are formally described: P. pythagorae Delogu & Curini-Galletti, 2007; P. spathifera Delogu & Curini-Galletti, 2007; P. terpsichore Delogu & Curini-Galletti, 2007; P. jondelii Delogu & Curini-Galletti, 2007; P. cucullata Delogu et al., 2008; P. fretigaditani Delogu et al., 2008; P. varispinosa Delogu et al., 2008; P. mastigophora Delogu et al., 2008; P. geminispina sp. n., P. crassispina sp. n., P. carthagoensis sp. n., P. ichnusae sp. n., P. pulchrispina sp. n., P. obtusispina sp. n. and P. axii sp. n

AGN feedback from Jet-ISM/IGM interactions

We study the propagation of relativistic jets originating from AGNs within the Interstellar/Intergalactic Medium of their host galaxies, and use it to build a model for the suppression of stellar formation within the expanding cocoon.Comment: 2 pages, 3 figures. Poster presented at IAU Symp. no. 245 ("Formation and Evolution of Galaxy Bulges"), Oxford, July 16-20, 200

Forty-four years of land use changes in a Sardinian cork oak agro-silvopastoral system: a qualitative analysis

The island of Sardinia is the biggest producer of natural cork in Italy. In this study, cork oak cover change is investigated in a typical agro-silvopastoral system where the main activities are cereal fodder and wheat cultivation, sheep rearing and cork exploitation. The research method is based on the comparison of two land use maps produced by photo-interpretation of digitised aerial photographs taken in 1954 and 1998, combined with interviews with local farmers, field surveys, and data collected from literature, administrative documentation and decadal censuses (at council level). The results show that the cork oak woodland surface decreased (-29%). It was substituted by other forest, ploughed land, and mixed grassland and shrubland. Apart from the transformation of the cork oak woodland to other forest, other changes have happened probably because of an increase in agricultural and pastoral activities as described by the documental material available for the same area