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Le strategie versoliberistiche di Sergio Corazzini Studio del versoliberismo corazziniano in relazione all’orizzonte d’attesa metrico primo novecentesco
Get PDFThe PhD Thesis examines all work in Corazzini Sergio's free verse. Actually it is the first work which studies the whole free verse production of the Italian poet. The main originality is the methodology used for the analysis: the free verse is examined using an analytic system which are mix metric tools and reception theory. In this way the auctor overcomes the critic problems about free verse literature: actually there is not an unanimous definition of free verse.
The work connects technical aspects with those sociological and literary, creating a perfect synergy between two methods: the theory of reception on the one hand, the analysis textual metric on the other.
This method allows an objective identification of metric indexes through which to conduct the analysis. This system works about prosodic rules, metric canon laws, horizon of expectation and influences the relationships among poets, various prosodic theories and their relations with the metric system. Also it takes care about all historical, sociological, literary and technical aspects connecting with Corazzini’s free verse.
For this reason the thesis firstly debates the fundamentals of a metric-formal examination. It centers on the concept and the contest of the free verse. Also it examines the Corazzini’s status in that time and his relationships with contemporary poets and with the tradition.
This thesis recreates the literary contest of the free verse and the debate about it in the nineteenth and twentieth century. At the same time it can show the connection with this debate and Corazzini’s free verse. All free verse poems of Corazzini are studied in detail: each poem is observed through four different metric analysis system. The continuous dialogue between technical data and historical, literary and biographical arguments joins the text with the context of poetic schools and literary trends.
The thesis contains four appendices showing the metric data of every composition. Also it contains graphs showing the evolution of the occurrence of free verse. The bibliography offers a section of the index of primary sources for the reconstruction of the literary context between 1876-1916
Development of scientifically base management towards a sustainable fishery of the common sea urchin, Paracentrotus Lividus, in Sardinia
Get PDFIn recent years sea urchins have become a premium commodity in the world where both males and females of the species are harvested for their gonads, generally referred to as “roe” in the fishery and catering market. Fishing for sea urchins can be a very profitable business during the first 5 to 10 years operations on a new fishing ground. However, after that short period of time, wild populations decline due to the high efficiency and selectivity of the employed fishing techniques. In several countries fisheries declined considerably since their peaks and stocks are now likely to be over-exploited.
Paracentrotus lividus is the main echinoid consumed in Mediterranean and Atlantic Europe. France is the world’s second largest consumer of sea urchin. In Italy, sea urchin fisheries occur in the South and the Islands.
Recent studies suggest that the risk of collapse of the sea urchins stocks in Sardinia could be imminent, unless the fishery agencies take on immediate strategies for the species conservation.
Considering such preconditions, the general aim of my PhD project have been to develop possible alternative strategies to improve the sustainability of current management practices for sea urchin fishery in Sardinia. In detail, the goal is to encourage a science-based management in order to avoid the collapse of this resource. This overarching objective has been achieved through: a) investigation the pre- and post-effects caused by fishing harvesting on spatial patterns, abundance fluctuations and total mortality rate; b) improvement of the knowledge of the effect of habitat on the ecology behaviour of the species; c) introduction of aquaculture as operational tool to improve wild stocks numbers via restocking and to provide viable alternatives to commercial fishery.
The development and application of a geostatistical approach for determining the spatial distribution and resilience of P. lividus population were studied in a fishing ground of western Sardinia (Western Mediterranean). The framework proposed, combining field data collection, experimental modelling and mapping, was adequate for biomass estimation and assessment of sea urchin resource.
The effect of different habitats was investigated on spine and gonad colouring and the gonad index in the purple sea urchin, Paracentrotus lividus. Colorimetric analyses of spines and gonads were conducted by a digital colorimeter using CIELAB colour spaces, which defines the colour in terms of 3 coordinate values: lightness (L*), redness (a*) and yellowness (b*). The results suggested that that habitat does affect spine colour but not gonad colour. Spine colour seems to be site dependent while the gonad index depends solely on the habitat.
A land-based rearing system for sea urchins was set up in Sardinia to produce juveniles of P. lividus for restocking purposes and develop and test protocols on echiniculture. The results coming from the hatchery are promising, we obtained over 8,000 post-larvae for each of the 150 l tanks , that means at least 250,000 post-larvae will be cultured per year.
In conclusion, my suggestion to guaranty the sustainability of the fishery in the future should be: 1) start a collaboratively consultative process between fishermen, researchers and policymakers to review and provide advice regarding the current management issues in order to propose a new management plan for the fishery; 2)develop a fishery-independent stock assessment in Sardinian seas; 3) develop a plan for the fishery-dependent monitoring in order to reduce/avoid the poaching and to provide appropriate data for assessment strategy; 4) testing the effectiveness of restocking by cultured juveniles in overfished areas; 5) increasing the profitability of sea urchin roe production by echiniculture, aimed to reducing harvesting pressure on wild stocks
Documenti inediti sui rapporti tra Pisa e la Sardegna nel Fondo Comune, Divisione A, dell'Archivio di Stato di Pisa
Get PDFThis work focuses on the relations between Sardinia and Pisa between 1297
and 1345 as a result of the systematic examination of the collection “Comune,
Divisione A” housed in the Pisa State Archive, which led to the identification
of 345 significant documents for the purpose of this research. It was thus
possible to retrace the history of Sardinia using new data starting exactly from
1297, when Boniface VIII, in compliance with the Treaty of Anagni signed on
June 24th 1295, established the Regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae, in order to solve
the political and diplomatic crisis between the Crown of Aragon and the Duchy
of Anjou after the War of the Vespers to gain control over Sicily.
As the threat of the Aragonese conquest became greater, the Pisans
strengthened the defensive system of the city of Cagliari by building towers
and walls around it.
During the 26 years between the Pope's investiture and the beginning of the
military campaign to conquer Sardinia, James II engaged in intense diplomatic
activities aimed at isolating Pisa in the international scene, finding a crucial
ally in Hugh II Giudice (Judge) of Arborea to carry out the conquest of the
island, which started in 1323 with the siege of Villa di Chiesa followed by the
one of Castel di Castro.
In 1326 the final peace treaty was signed between James II, King of Aragon,
and Pisa at the end of the military operations carried out in Sardinia,
unfavourable to the Pisan side. The Sardinian dominions, which Pisa had
conquered with difficulty and strenuously defended, were lost forever
Progetto e costruzione eco-responsabile. Processi, Strategie e Strumenti verso la Valutazione Ambientale in Architettura
Get PDFHow the building sector, one of the main
culprits of environmental damaging impacts, can actively
contribute on a local scale to reach the european purpose
of energy efficiency in an eco-responsible way?
This research:
- analyses instruments, indicators and procedures for
the environmental sustainability evaluation available in
literature;
- according to Agenda 21’s local goals in terms of
sustainability and recovery of the existing material and
immaterial heritage, identifies the implementing subjects
and the operating instruments to promote ecoresponsible
actions of intervention on building heritage there where
there is still no local legislation to which to make reference,
like in Sardinia;
- tests and verifies environmental sustainability evaluation
systems at urban and building scale by applying specific
rating systems and procedures based on the Life Cycle
Assessment approach using real case-studies, of which it
presents methods and results.
In light of the topical issues discussed, the research’s
solutions intend to propose an hypothetical path towards
the environmental assessment in architecture that could
grow from a local to a wider scale
A Better Life. Practical guidance to help fight child malnutrition
Get PDFThe aim of this publication is to offer a simple and practical guide on the main - but simple - daily habits that may contribute to fight child malnutrition
Il procedimento amministrativo digitale: la semplificazione al servizio dell’amministrazione e del cittadino
Get PDFThis work focuses on a subject that has been of constant interest and continuing centrality
in the political agendas of different national legal systems: the procedural simplification
that can be ascribable to the species of interventions that belong to the broader genus of
the change of public administration’.
Since the ‘70s, the transformation of public administration, among other different
possibilities, chose the ambiguous and winding path of simplification. It has been taken
as a guiding principle for the entire legal system and as a prevailing logic for the process
of redesigning and restructuring the administrative organization and action.
Administrative simplification was a ‘fashionable’ topic in the ‘90s, and since then a
‘central block’ and ‘driving force’ of both EU and national public policies, thus becoming
a technical and cultural process for reforming administration. Its aim is ‘to give it a more
suitable shape that is tailored to the needs of society’ for which its services are indeed
intended.
The procedural simplification is a topic of overnational interest that in several
jurisdictions has been gradually occupying larger and larger spaces in the definition of
public policies, according to the shared view that the simplification of the regulatory and
administrative system is a fundamental condition for of socio-economic growth.
Thanks to the awareness of the notion of ‘administrative risk’, or rather, the sensitive
‘mutual dependence’ between political-administrative and economic system, as Borruso
noted in the preface to the European Commission Communication Europe 2020. A
strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, the administrative simplification
measures and, in particular, administrative procedures, have been dominating for a long
time the political, legal, economic and social debates.
Moreover, they are intended to occupy significant spaces in the near future, inasmuch as
they are directed to keep within a threshold of ‘tolerance’ the inevitable organizational
and functional complexity of an administration built on the principles of institutional
pluralism, subsidiarity, competence and specialization, indispensability journalistic
intervention, not to say of binding formalism.
By establishing itself as a legal and social requirement to guarantee an administrative
action that would be ‘simpler, more effective, more efficient and more economical’ for
citizens, and by changing its status from mere collective aspiration to legal claim, the
simplification of administrative procedures is an multi-faceted and poly-dimensional
objective that the national legislature has pursued through different strategic actions,
among which, the computerization process has been taking a central role.
Not surprisingly, the development of digital administration has been considered by many
as the most effective tool to simplify administrative action and respond to the issue of
procedural complication. It has been sees as a process of ‘review of the administrative
structures and their organizational links, [...] redefinition of tasks and optimization of the
capacity for work in the offices, thus achieving a reduction of the steps and the time
required for the performance of administrative acting, which is what the simplification of
procedures consists of. A theme which, in the first instance, concerns the balance
between interests and principles.
Inevitable corollary to administrative impartiality, organizational structure and the
distribution of skills, the procedural complexity, which is questioned for the number of
its steps and intra-procedures activities, for the time taken to achieve them and the red
tape that affects citizens, it is a challenge to be answered, in general, through the use of
computerization and communication tools.
It is a challenge to be carried out with the accurate use of computerization and
communication technologies. First of all, as its digitization is able to give an adequate
response to the need to combine functional demands and requirements of simplification
and rebalance the relationship between the end-protection guarantee of the interest and
the duty of non-compression ‘effectiveness, efficiency and economy of action that is
traditionally made explicit while making the decision.
From this remark, the added value that the process of computerization has shown in the
policies of simplification can be understood precisely by evaluating in a negative way,
how, the simplification of the administrative proceedings ‘cannot be prosecuted by
dequotando (non so cosa vuol dire) and debunking the rules of procedure whose
positivization has represented a civilized procedural achievement. The extra value of the
process of computerization among the techniques of procedural simplification – we have
already said – is ‘integration’ between the principles of effectiveness, efficiency and
economy, of certainty of timing, transparency of administrative action; the ability to
overcome the limits that are connected to this principle and process of public
administration reform, summarized in the principle of ‘contradictory’, participation,
impartiality, and the necessary complete investigation; in the introduction of better modes
of interaction, enabling faster and more effective relationships with participants and a
greater guarantee of legal claims. In short, it consists of the ability to re-balance, at the
procedural level, the relationship between the needs of the function and the requirements
of guarantee of the action, often ‘unbalanced ‘ in favor of one or the other.
The ‘revolutionary’ aspect that we identify in the electronic administrative procedure is
actually the result of a process that first passes through the definition of new information
systems.
The object of technological revolution is indeed information.
The revolutionary aspect of computerization administration is the dynamic management
of information and the possible reality of interconnected information systems that are
integrated and shared, which does not mean less safe.
And the verbal synthesis of a technological simplified action is the digital administrative
proceedings .
The digital simplification of the administrative procedure is the product of different
methods of collection, use, access, transmission and communication of information, all
technology-based. And administrative digital procedure is nothing but a decision-making
process that takes advantage of the tools that technology puts at governments and citizens
disposal. ‘Neutral’ tools that the legislature adopts for political purposes aiming at
simplification and exercise of the rights. Tools that, precisely because they are neutral,
will act in terms of reducing procedural complexity according to the quantum assumed
while legislative determining, on the one hand, and enforcement by public authorities on
the other.
From this perspective we must look at the tools that legislators, Italian as well as
Spanish, have outlined in order to give the electronically processed work the same
effectiveness as the one carried out traditionally and in order to fulfill the obligation of
information management procedures: from the discipline of electronic documents and the
electronic signature, to the discipline of registering incoming and outgoing
communications through an automated system; from the rules of the communications of
documents between public administrations through the use of electronic mail to the rules
for the direct acquisition of data and documents in the digital archives of public
administrations; and again, to the provisions of a computer file, taken in the path as the
‘centerpiece of the new mode of conducting administrative proceedings’.
From this remark, the same computer file, created by national legislature as ‘informative
base’ needed for a contextual work and shared between different subjects, ‘fulfilled’ with
the expectations of simplification of the action and relationships, of the ‘right to be
known’ of action both on the domestic side as on the external side, suggests, of course, a
‘new’ management process, but it remains only in the domain of attempt to reform if not
accompanied by concrete implementation by individual administrations. It is their duty to
start the processes of re-organization in order to manage the ‘new’ procedure based on
shared information and transparent activities; on direct and immediate relationships; on a
different value of time and space; on a simpler, more effective, efficient and economical,
and at the same time, more able to guarantee rights and interests. The practical and proper
application of these tools remains responsibility of each administration, asked to face the
real challenge of procedural innovation.
The following research is based on this fundamental interpretation and its methodological
approach is developed, at first, starting from the acknowledgement of the legal category
of the administrative procedure, the reconstruction of the lines of development and legal
aspects that make of this administrative point as both action and organization, the place
and the best opportunity to study the topic.
Secondly, the working hypothesis is outlined. Starting from the construction of the
simplification of the administrative procedure as recognition of a ‘right’ balance between
complexity and simplicity of the action, the work continues by electing computerization
as a ‘form’ of simplification that is able to envisage a possible solution for the problem of
quality decision-making, resulting from the balance between the quantum and guarantees
of effectiveness and efficiency of the action.
In a third passage, we deal with the administrative digital proceedings, with particular
attention to the developments which, from different management information
mechanisms can derived in terms of modes of action that can develop horizontally,
network-like or shared among stakeholders of the exercise of power.
Finally, on the same lines, the work is enriched by the experience of the Spanish
structure, in order to strengthen the thoughts on digital simplification of the procedure
from a comparative perspective, which is always essential for the development of the
research.
From this point of view, the analysis of different time frequency of the stages of
computerization in the two systems is an important key. The comparative analysis,
despite showing an initial protagonism of the Italian legislator who, with the adoption of
Digital Administration Code, anticipated a correct vision of modernization and initiated
the ‘transformation’ of digital government, displays, in a second stage, a slowdown in the
process, whereas it has a reverse path in the Spanish system, which, after assimilating the
Italian model, proved able to proceed to the state of implementation with a more
sustained dynamism and in shorter time.
In the Spanish system what played an important role was the ‘codification’ of the
awareness of the need for a transition phase, in which the digital system coexisted side by
side with the paper-based system rather than automatically superseding it. This phase
based on flexibitly proved to be effective for the change in the administrative system.
First as a system of relations of public and private entities.
Precisely this relational paradigm, in the analysis that is proposed here, has been the core
of the thesis. This paradigm is both a thread of the investigation and the space where all
the different approaches and issues related to procedural matters converge.
The democratic nature of the administrative action, the implementation of the principles
of impartiality and the participation in the Administrative Procedure Law, the
introduction and the vindication of private sector criteria of efficiency, effectiveness and
economy of the public actions are the background to the conclusion that the procedural
simplification is primarily ‘simplification of the interaction’. All these elements also
frame the structural and functional reorganization that the digitization process requires,
and, at the same time, develops, in an eminently relational perspective; of a ‘new’ way of
building and developing inner relationships within the administration, between different
administrations and between them and the citizens
La nuova dimensione degli acquisti. Riflessioni sull'innovazione della Pubblica Amministrazione
Get PDFThis thesis intends to be a critical reflection on the digitization of the acquisition procedures of goods and services, which European policies are aimed to facilitate in order to foster economic revival on both the national and the Community level.
Many different reasons make us wonder if it isn't appropriate to introduce a digitized public tender procedure in national and Community legislation.
The Community’s economic and cultural policies have influenced national legislation by steering them towards the creation of an organic and unified set of rules for public tender.
Specifically, economic goals such as the realization of a Single Market based on the principle of competition, can be considered essential with regard to acquisition of goods and services. As a matter of fact, the EU policies are intended to identify public tender as a strategic means for market revival and renewed competitiveness between enterprises, so to have a positive effect on the current economic crisis.
Given the amount of financial resources connected to the Public Procurement Code, it is the economic crisis itself that calls for rationalization of public expenditure on acquisitions, which has been an ever more consolidated policy in the past few years, also by national government.
This essay will focus on the growing importance of the Community, in particular on its economic policy and its influence over national regulations. The pursuit of the primary objective of European policies - the realization of a Single Market - is the decisive factor in the shift in function of contemporary public tendering from an exclusively national economic matter into a strategic means for the competitiveness of enterprises in the Single Market.
This new function and its subsequent use in the public procurement in a broader framework are major factors in undermining the Italian traditional acquisition procedures which identifies the local authority as the fundamental body for the procurement procedures.
The change from local to global perspective made it necessary to reflect on the convenience of an evolution in the acquisition dynamics developed in the late 2000s. In fact, faced with the same economic problems and urged on by the EU, the Italian government has established a centralized digital purchasing system, the Consip model of
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the electronic market, which has been able to provide an immediate response to the issue of expenditure rationalization by streamlining and simplifying procedures.
Through the development of the information society, the European Union points at building a renewed relationship between institutions and citizens, based on the exchange of data in a new perspective of collaboration and simplification of procedures.
The need to coordinate the technological tools with traditional institutions of administrative law implies the need to modernize the previous administrative structure both in terms of technological means and in terms of computer literacy for the operators. To this effect the Italian government has established appropriate institutions such as the AIPA, DigitPa and, most recently, the Agency for digital Italy.
The mere creation of a digitized administration in which digital technologies are not only a support tool, but also a way to coordinate and redefine the administration itself, requires the analysis of its underlying principles and of some institutions of the administrative digitization procedure.
Though the CONSIP system and the electronic market are generally considered to be acquisition procedures, they can't be traced back to the classical notion of administrative procedure. For this reason the analysis of the principles on which the digital administration is based has led us to reflect on their possible application to the procedure of public tender.
Given the specific nature of the purchasing process it would be superfluous to create a new set of rules specifically for public tendering, as it can be covered by the current regulation of the digital administration. So even if at first glance there don't seem to exist specific guidelines for the digitization of the acquisition procedures, these can be deducted from the existing regulations of the industry and the Digital Administration Code (DAC).
Furthermore, the development of a completely digitized procedure would allow us to better respond to economic needs in the current time of crisis.
Technological tools not only save time and money, they can also open the market to more competitors, ultimately resulting in national and global economic revival. This revival will also result from a reduction of the type corruption that is typical of public tender, because the use of a digital procedure will render the expenditure of public money more transparent and easier to control
Le novità di Basilea III e le implicazioni per le banche italiane
Get PDFBasel III rules have been under a review process in the last years and the recent international crises has further slowed down the implementation of the new banking regulation.
In this paper, we first present the reasons that have brought to the Basel III framework – development of the previous Basel I and Basel II Accords – and the possible operational and strategic consequences for the banks. The new rules derive from critical issues arisen within the previous regulation, namely:
Most of the banks that faced losses during the crises, or that received State aid, had an equity ratio highly above the minimum Basel II threshold. It follows that not only a minimum capital ratio matters, but also its quality does.
Many international banking groups that were in line with the minimum capital ratio requirements usually exhibited a high leverage ratio.
The need to comply to the capital adequacy requirements could potentially be able to intensify both positive and negative phases of the economic cycle (procyclicality).
A large number of big banks, that usually relied upon interbank liquidity, have been able to face the crises only thanks to the long term refinancing operations put in place by the Central Banks.
During the last financial crises, various systemically important banks have been saved by national Governments in order to avoid bankruptcies and systemic crises (too big to fail).
Given this, the main changes introduced by the Basel Committee to face the above mentioned weaknesses are:
Quantitative and qualitative redefinition of the regulatory capital.
Introduction of the capital buffers in order to shrink the procyclicality issue.
Supervision concerning the national implementation of the new rules and the related implications, also pertaining the local banks.
Constant check concerning the amplitude of the improved conditions in terms of lending supply, as a consequence of the tougher regulation.
Tools to control for the size of the risks in case of global crises.
The second part of this paper (chapter 3) empirically analyses the implications, to Italian banks, of the new rules with a main focus to the basic regulatory capital requirement
Town centre management: developing new strategies based on the e-technology challenge
Get PDFOver time, the Town Centre has always had an important role in the development of local
economies (McAteer and Stephens, 2011), experiencing periods of growth and decline that
influenced its physiognomy. The Town Centre’s decline was caused by several different factors,
such as the decentralization of retail activities away from, and on the edge of, the Town Centre
(Schiller, 1986; 1988), and the development of new forms of selling over the Internet (Bhatti, 2007;
Ickler, et al., 2011). All in all, this has led to a crisis for Town Centre’s retailers, prejudicing their
development and enhancement (Alzubaidi et al., 1997; Thomas and Bromley, 2003).
In order to contrast the pauperization of the Town Centre and to improve its growth, during
the last decades in several European Cities was created the Town Centre Management (TCM)
schemes, to find practical responses to the emerging complexities of urban revitalisation (Coca-
Stefaniak et al., 2009). Taking into consideration this scenario, the aim of this work is to further the
understanding of the role-played by TCM’s over time in revitalizing the commercial activities in the
Town Centre. Studying TCM programs and activities carried out in different European cities will
work towards that better understanding of their effectiveness. By investigating the TCM programs
in some Swedish and Italian cities, this study aims at identifying the core elements in the TCM
strategies related to improving and developing the Town Centre.
This thesis is organized in three autonomous papers, where each of them constitutes a
specification of one general topic. The first paper aims to analyse the existing literature to highlight
scholars’ point of view and, to verify whether the retail activity maintains the central role in the
perspective of the Town Centre revitalization, or if the attention has shifted to other activities. One
question of this analysis is: What are the research lines that emerge as attracting interest for future
development regarding the Town Centre revitalization? This paper built the review of the literature
(Roley and Slack, 2004) by using a retrieval procedure based on the combination of several
keywords in order to identify the journals where the considered topic assumes relevance.
The purpose of the second paper is to understand the way in which the TCM, through the
adoption of practical strategies, tackles problems related to the decentralization of retail activities
away from the Town Centre. More precisely, the research questions are: what are the answers that
Cities gave to the development of Town Centre problems? In the European context what kind of
organizations has been created to pursue the goal to revitalize the Town Centre? Does an accord
exist between scholars to the most effective initiatives that Cities have to adopt? To answer these
questions a qualitative method based on multiple case study methodology was adopted (Eisenhardt,
1989; 1991; Yin, 1994; 2009). The multiple, case study permitted to make a comparison between
different realities, providing a stronger base to clarify the several multifaceted aspects of the same phenomenon.
From the analysis of the literature and empirical cases, studied in the first two papers, it
emerged that the use of Internet and ways to sell through it (Bhatti, 2007; Ickler et al., 2009; Curty,
and Zhang, 2011) are rarely adopted as tools able to revitalize the Town Centre. Inasmuch, the third
paper aims to highlight what kind of e-technologies - after a specific analysis of each of ecommerce,
s-commerce and m-commerce - are more suitable than others to help Town Centres
retail activities to regain their past glory.
The research questions are: What are the reasons for the development of new forms of
selling? What are the new forms of sale over the Internet developed in the last decades? And, in
what way is it possible to connect old and new forms of selling in order to improve the retail
attractiveness of Town Centres? To find a way by which it is possible to connect old and new forms
of selling that could improve the retail experience in Town Centres, a model has been proposed.
The implications of this thesis are both theoretical, since it contributes to a better
understanding of the relationship between TCM and the renaissance of the retailing activities (in
order to support the urban revitalization), and practical, as it emphasizes the role of the internet and
new forms of selling over it that could be integrated within traditional forms of selling within fixed
location stores in the Town Centre
Germination niche of Sardinian endemic species in mountain riparian deciduous forests
Get PDFThe Supramontes region and Gennargentu massif are two of the most interesting territories of Central Eastern Northern Sardinia. Riparian vegetation among
mountainous waterways of these territories are mainly constituted by Alnus glutinosa with other associated taxa such as Taxus baccata, Ilex aquifolium and Rhamnus
persicifolia. Rare and threatened Sardinian endemic species such as Ribes multiflorum subsp. sandalioticum, Aquilegia barbaricina, Rhamnus persicifolia and Paeonia corsica
grow under and close to the canopy of such riparian woods.
Temperature is considered one of the major environmental factor governing seed germination in moist soil and, also is responsible for changes in dormancy states of
seeds. Seed dormancy prevents germination in a specified period of time, under any combination of environmental factors that otherwise favour germination and it is
mediated, at least in part, by the plant hormones abscisic acid and gibberellins. Dormancy can be broken by some environmental stimuli, such as a cold and/or warm
stratification and gibberellic acid (GA) treatment. As dormancy is present throughout the higher plants in all major climatic regions, adaptation has resulted in divergent
responses to the environment. Through this adaptation, germination is timed to avoid
unfavourable weather for subsequent plant establishment and reproductive growth. In non-dormant seeds, the germination response to accumulated temperature could be
modelled by a thermal time (θ) approach; in this model, seeds accumulate units of thermal time (°Cd) to germinate for a percentile g of the population. When seeds are
subjected to temperatures (T) above a base temperature for germination (Tb), germination rate increases linearly with temperature to an optimum temperature (To),
above which germination rate starts to decrease. In the sub-optimal range (To – Tb), germination occurs in the time tg, when the thermal time accumulated has reached the
critical value (θg) for a percentile g of the population, and can be described as θg = (T –Tb)tg.
In this work, the class of dormancy and thermal requirements for seed dormancy release and germination were investigate and/or confirmed for R. persicifolia, A.
barbaricina, P. corsica and R. multiflorum subsp. sandalioticum; a thermal-time model, based on a soil heat sum approach, was developed in order to characterize its Thermal niche for germination and predict its seed germination phenology in the field.R. persicifolia showed physiological dormancy (PD), while the other three
species highlighted morphophysiological dormancy (MPD); in particular, epicotyls MPD was found in P. corsica and confirmed in R. multiflorum subsp. sandalioticum.
Thermal thresholds (Tb and θ50) requirements of seed germination were identified for all these species; in addition, the thermal thresholds for embryo growth was detected for A. barbaricina. The soil heat sum model developed in this work may have applicability to
predictions of in situ regeneration of other species growing on Mediterranean mountain waterways. This work could confirmed that the studied species, belonging to different families placed in different phylogenetic clades, could have experienced a convergent evolution on their seed morphology and type of seed dormancy, as a response to similar environmental and climatic conditions due by the same habitat and ecosystem