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Management of sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.), a major forest species in Europe
Full text linkSessile oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.) is widely distributed across most of Europe particularly the hills and lower mountain ranges, so is considered “the oak of the mountains”. This species grows on a wide variety of soils and at altitudes ranging from sea level to 2200 m, especially in Atlantic and sub-Mediterranean climates, and it is sensitive to low winter temperatures, early and late frosts, as well as high summer temperatures. Sessile oak forms both pure and mixed stands especially with broadleaves such as European beech, European hornbeam, small-leaved lime and Acer spp. These form the understorey of sessile oak stands, promoting the natural shedding of lower branches of the oak and protecting the trunk against epicormic branches. Sessile oak is a long-lived, light-demanding and wind-firm species, owing to its taproot and heart-shaped root system. Its timber, one of the most valuable in Europe, is important for furniture-making (both solid wood and veneer), construction, barrels, railway sleepers, and is also used as fuelwood. It is one of the few major tree species in Europe that is regenerated by seed (naturally or artificially) and by stump shoots in high forest, coppice-with-standards and coppice forests. Sessile oak forests are treated in both regular and irregular systems involving silvicultural techniques such as uniform shelterwood, group shelterwood, irregular shelterwood, irregular high forest, coppice-with-standards and simple coppice. Young naturally regenerated stands are managed by weeding, release cutting and cleaning-respacing, keeping the stands quite dense for good natural pruning. Plantations are based on (1) 2–4-year old bare-root or container-grown seedlings produced in nurseries using seeds from genetic resources, seed stands and seed orchards. The density of sessile oak plantations (mostly in rows, but also in clusters) is usually between 4000 and 6000 plants ha−1. Sessile oak silviculture of mature stands includes crown thinning, focusing on final crop trees (usually a maximum of 100 individuals ha−1) and targeting the production of large-diameter and high quality trees at long rotation ages (mostly over 120 years, sometimes 250–300 years). In different parts of Europe, conversion of simple coppices and coppice-with-standards to high forests is continuing. Even though management of sessile oak forests is very intensive and expensive, requiring active human intervention, the importance of this species in future European forests will increase in the context of climate change due to its high resistance to disturbance, superior drought tolerance and heat stress resistanc
Food neophobia mediates the variety but not the quality of food choices among adolescents
Full text linkEating habits become embedded during adolescence, a developmental stage where individuals increasingly assume responsibility for their dietary choices. Understanding the factors influencing these choices is essential for preventing unhealthy lifestyle patterns in adulthood. Food Neophobia (FN), a trait linked to limited dietary variety and quality as well as specific food preferences, is particularly important to investigate in adolescents. In this study, 200 adolescents (aged 14–17; 35 % girls and 65 % boys) participated in a Food Choice Task designed to evaluate their autonomous food choices across two dimensions: the willingness to select novel or unfamiliar products (reflecting dietary variety) and the inclination to choose healthy options (reflecting dietary quality). Foods depicted in images were categorised as familiar or unfamiliar based on a pilot study and as healthy or unhealthy based on whether they were inspired by the Mediterranean Diet (MD). Findings revealed that adolescents with higher levels of FN were less likely to choose unfamiliar foods. However, no significant differences were observed in the selection frequency between healthy and unhealthy foods based on FN scores. This may be due to the high familiarity and low arousal ratings associated with the foods in these categories, which could mask the effects of FN as no food reached a “warning threshold” that would induce rejection. To promote healthier eating habits among neophobic adolescents, it is recommended to provide simple, familiar food options that evoke minimal arousal, thereby supporting better dietary choice
Towards a global understanding of tree mortality
Full text linkRates of tree mortality are increasing globally, with implications for forests and climate. Yet, how and why these trends vary globally remain unknown. Developing a comprehensive assessment of global tree mortality will require systematically integrating data from ground-based long-term forest monitoring with large-scale remote sensing. We surveyed the metadata from 466 865 forest monitoring plots across 89 countries and five continents using questionnaires and discuss the potential to use these to estimate tree mortality trends globally. Our survey shows that the area monitored has increased steadily since 1960, but we also identify many regions with limited ground-based information on tree mortality. The integration of existing ground-based forest inventories with remote sensing and modelling can potentially fill those gaps, but this requires development of technical solutions and agreements that enable seamless flows of information from the field to global assessments of tree mortality. A truly global monitoring effort should promote fair and equitable collaborations, transferring funding to and empowering scientists from less wealthy regions. Increasing interest in forests as a natural climate solution, the advancement of new technologies and world-wide connectivity means that now a global monitoring system of tree mortality is not just urgently needed but also possibl
Natura Magistra: cosa ci stanno insegnando l’apicoltura naturale e le colonie selvagge di ape mellifera
No full textLatest applications of the LC-CO-IRMS for food and dietary supplements authentication
Full text linkThe LC-co-IRMS represents an innovative technique based on the oxidation in acid conditions of all the carbon-based compounds of a sample mixture, previously separated from each other through an appropriate analytical column. Since its introduction in the market in 2004, the LC-co-IRMS has been used to analyse various matrices [1]. Nevertheless, the potential of this techniques is still far from being fully exploited. In this work, we presented some of the latest LC-co-IRMS applications that our group developed for traceability purposes. In a recent study, the LC-co-IRMS was applied to check for the fraudulent addition of exogenous sugars to Italian authentic wine must. A database of about 100 samples from 16 different Italian regions was considered to set reference values for the carbon isotopic ratio (δ13C) of glucose and fructose in this matrix [2]. Besides sugars, organic acids have also been considered. The addition of biosynthetic citric acid obtained though the fermentation of cheap starting materials like cane sugar by the fungus Aspergillus Niger was detected in matrices such as tomato sauce, lemon and orange juice. Finally, dietary supplements and drugs have also been studied. Levodopa is an amino acid prescribed for Parkinson disease. Natural levodopa can be extracted from plants like the Mucuna pruriens, but cheaper analogues can be chemically synthesised or biochemically obtained from the fermentation of sugars by various fungi [3]. The LC-co-IRMS led to the characterisation of the different levodopa sources, pointing out the possibility to detect fraudulent additions of the biochemical active principle to products declared as natura
Diet item details: reporting checklist for feeding studies measuring the dietary metabolome (DID-METAB Checklist): Explanation and elaboration report on the development of the checklist by the DID-METAB Delphi Working Group
Full text linkMetabolomics is a post-genomic, systems-based discipline offering valuable applications in nutrition research, including the use of objective biomarkers to characterise dietary intake and metabolic responses more accurately. A scoping review identified the need for reporting guidance on dietary information in the form of a checklist to ensure reproducibility of human feeding studies that are measuring the diet-related metabolome. Here, we aimed to gain consensus on a core outcome set (COS) pertaining to diet-related item details (DID) and recommendations for reporting DIDs to inform development of a reporting checklist. The goal of this checklist is to guide researchers on the minimum level of content and detail required for reporting dietary information in human feeding studies measuring the metabolome. A two-stage online Delphi process encompassing five survey rounds with international experts in clinical trial design, feeding study intervention implementation, metabolomics, and/or human biospecimen analyses was conducted. A COS encompassing twenty-nine core DIDs and accompanying recommendations was developed across 5 domains: Dietary Intervention - Modelling (8 DIDs), Dietary Intervention - Implementation (3 DIDs), Dietary Assessment (9 DIDs), Adherence and Compliance Monitoring (4 DIDs), and Bias (5 DIDs). The reporting guideline (DID-METAB Checklist) was generated and accepted by the international expert working group in the final survey round. All experts agreed that relevant journals should include the checklist as a suggested reporting tool for relevant studies and/or used alongside existing reporting tools. This report provides examples, explanations and elaboration for each recommendation including examples from published literature and references. The DID-METAB Checklist will be a key tool to advance the standardised reporting for feeding studies assessing the metabolome. Implementation of this tool will enable the ability to better interpret data and ensure global utility of results for furthering the advancement of metabolomics in nutrition research and future precision and personalised nutrition strategie
The role of protein-phenolic interactions in the formation of red wine colloidal particles
Full text linkColloids play a crucial role in red wine quality and stability, yet their composition and formation mechanisms remain poorly understood. Recent studies from the D-Wines (Diversity of the Italian Wines) project aimed to elucidate the structure, composition, and formation mechanisms of red wine colloids by analysing monovarietal wines from 10 Italian red grape varieties. Colloid-forming molecules, specifically proteins, polysaccharides, and tannins, were examined in over 100 wines, showing a wide diversity across the samples. Electrophoretic analysis demonstrated that all proteins in the wines exist as high molecular weight aggregates, likely including tannins. Moreover, the wines could be categorised into two groups based on the electrophoretic mobility of the protein aggregates, which appeared to be related to the quantity of protein-reactive tannins in each variety. Asymmetrical Flow-Field Flow Fractionation (AF4) with online multidetection was used to isolate and characterise red wine colloids in their native state, revealing diverse colloidal populations across wines. This diversity was attributed to the varying proportions of proteins, polysaccharides, and phenolics present in the colloidal particles. These latter were coloured, indicating the presence of red pigments in the colloids. A correlation analysis of the compositional data of the wines and their colloidal particles indicated that the association of proteins with polymeric pigments should be important for red wine colour. Overall, the findings led to the proposal of an updated model for colloidal particles in red wines, suggesting that the process for their formation occurs through the assembly of protein-tannin sub-aggregates, followed by their interaction with polysaccharides. The compactness of these colloidal particles has been linked to the wine’s protein content, with colloidal particles containing higher protein levels being less compact. These findings suggest that proteins likely play a role in determining the structure and properties of red wine colloidal particles. Moreover, this study provides an updated framework for understanding how compositional differences among grape varieties, particularly the content of protein-reactive tannins, shape colloidal structures, ultimately impacting key wine quality parameters such as colloidal stability and colou
Disentangling shared and unique variation in multiplatform hazelnut volatilomics using JIVE
Full text linkIn food science, volatile metabolites play a crucial role in determining sensory quality, acceptability and traceability. Fully characterizing the volatilome often requires combining multiple analytical techniques. However, reliably integrating the outcomes of these independent analyses to identify shared and unique information remains a significant challenge. In this paper, we illustrate how the multivariate Joint and Individual Variation Explained (JIVE) approach could be used to face this problem on a multiplatform VOC dataset obtained characterizing the volatilome of hazelnut pastes with GC-MS, PTR-ToF-MS and GC-IMS. While standardized data processing strategies were applied for GC-MS and PTR-ToF-MS, an automated pipeline was developed for GC-IMS to extract untargeted peak tables. The samples, representing three geographical origins, were collected during roasting to capture a wide range of intensities, offering a challenging case study for the proposed approach. The results showed that JIVE effectively separated the variability of each dataset into joint and individual components. A high-level comparison of the three analytical methods, based on variation decomposition and variable distribution, confirmed their complementarity. Additionally, identifying latent variables facilitated the visualization of analytical patterns - both shared and platform-specific - and the selection of related key variable trends, supporting the chemical interpretation of the results. This unsupervised data exploration strategy, based on JIVE, provides clearer interpretation of both shared and technique-specific insights. It supports an objective evaluation of the potential of a multiplatform analysis while offering guidance for selecting the most suitable analytical method in studies constrained to a single techniqu