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Il mercato istituzionale dei crediti di carbonio per il settore forestale nazionale nella prospettiva post-2012
No full textDottorato di ricerca in Scienze e tecnologie per la gestione forestale e ambientaleNell’ambito della politica dei cambiamenti climatici il Protocollo di Kyoto (PK) riconosce un ruolo fondamentale alla funzione di fissazione della CO2 (sink) svolta dalle foreste che può essere utilizzata, da parte dei Paesi aderenti, per compensare parte delle loro emissioni. La funzione sink, considerata un’esternalità produttiva, e quindi non riconosciuta dal mercato, con l’attivazione dell’International Emission Trading del PK, è divenuta un servizio quantificandone il relativo valore. I mercati regionali del carbonio attivati a livello mondiale, come ad esempio quello europeo, tuttavia, non ammettono la partecipazione del settore forestale; unica eccezione è rappresentata dal mercato neozelandese.
Il Governo Italiano ha attribuito alla funzione sink un valore economico, in termini di crediti spendibili per il rispetto degli obblighi internazionali, tuttavia, la mancata attivazione di un mercato nazionale del carbonio istituzionale e l’assenza di strumenti redistributivi, fa sì che tutti questi crediti siano di proprietà del Governo, a tutto vantaggio dei settori emissivi e senza alcun riconoscimento alle aziende forestali. Ciò, pur superando il fallimento del mercato, genera una sua distorsione poiché i benefici della funzione sink ricadranno su soggetti economici diversi da quelli che li hanno generati.
L’obiettivo della presente tesi è di analizzare le problematiche connesse all’attivazione di un mercato nazionale dei crediti di carbonio (MNCC) quale strumento idoneo a correggere la distorsione di mercato; a tal fine sono stati individuati i principi fondanti e i requisiti che esso deve soddisfare. Il lavoro analizza l’ingente quadro istituzionale sviluppatosi in seno al PK, ed entra nel dettaglio della natura del bene scambiato, dei potenziali partecipanti al mercato, degli strumenti, delle implicazioni e delle prospettive.
L’attivazione del MNCC è possibile ed auspicabile, tuttavia, numerose criticità devono essere affrontate e superate, tra cui gli oneri di partecipazione per le imprese che rischiano di superare i benefici.Within the international climate change policy framework the Kyoto Protocol (KP) recognizes the fundamental role of forests’ carbon sink function that can be used by member Countries to offset part of their emissions. The carbon sink function, considered as a production externality, therefore not recognized by the market, has become a service through the activation of the KP International Emission Trading which allowed to quantify its value.
Nevertheless carbon Regional markets activated worldwide, such as the European market, do not include the participation of the forestry sector, with the only exception of the New Zealand carbon market.
The Italian Government has given an economic value to the carbon sink function, in terms of credits valid for the fulfilment of international obligations, however the absence of an institutional carbon market and the absence of redistributive instruments makes these credits as owned by the Government, to the benefit of emissive sectors without any recognition to forestry firm. This situation, though overcoming the market failure, generates a market distortion, since the benefits of the carbon sink function fall on economic subjects rather than on those subjects that generated them.
The objective of this thesis is to examine the issues related to the activation of an institutional national market for carbon credits (NMCC) as mechanism to correct the market distortion; for this purpose the main principles and requirements that the market must meet have been identified. The work analyzes the large institutional framework developed within the KP, and goes into details on the nature of the traded goods, potential market participants, instruments, implications and prospectives.
The activation of a NMCC is possible and desirable, however, several critical issues must be faced and overcome, including the costs of participation for enterprises that might exceed the benefits
Proteomica e metabolomica: nuove piattaforme tecnologiche per applicazioni in campo biologico
No full textDottorato di ricerca in Genetica e biologia cellulareThe word „omics‟, is derived from the Greek suffix, „ome‟ (meaning all, every). In the mid 1990‟s, rapid evolution and growing knowledge concerning genomes led to a quick development of the full range of „omics‟ approaches (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics). This PhD thesis focuses on the application of new “omics” sciences to characterized samples of biomedical interest such as pharmaceutical products. The first section is focused on the characterization of important pharmaceutical products used by hemophiliac patients, trough proteomics approaches. The first objective of this study was to compare the heterogeneity and the high purity of three rFVIII commercially available rFVIII concentrates before and after thrombin digestion. The second object was to extend the same study to plasma derived factor VIII . The second part of my PhD project was designed mainly to the development and optimization of a new HPLC-MS method for metabolomics. In the last part of my research I used this analytical approach to investigate metabolites in blastocoels fluid that is a routine waste product prior to pre-implantation blastocyst vitrification. The aim of this study was directed to identify a correlation between quali-quantitative profiles of small molecules of metabolic interest and the outcome of embryo transfer through a simple HPLC-MS assay. The last part of my research was dedicated to studing metabolism in red blood cell during storage. Proteome and metabolomic approaches, are widely used for studies complex biological systems and can be used for applications in biological areas.La parola omica deriva dal suffisso greco “ome” che significa: tutto, intero, completo. In particolar modo per quanto riguarda l’area biologica lo scopo delle scienze omiche è quello di avere una visione globale per comprendere la vita e la sua organizzazione. L’evoluzione rapida e la crescita di conoscenza riguardante il genoma hanno portato ad una rapida crescita nello sviluppo di nuove scienze (genomica, trascrittomica, proteomica, metabolomica) La mia tesi di dottorato riguarda le applicazioni delle nuove scienze omiche per caratterizzare campioni di interesse biomedico come ad esempio prodotti farmaceutici. Il primo obiettivo dello studio è stato quello di comparare e caratterizzare fattore VIII ricombinante prodotto da tre ditte farmaceutiche differenti. Questi prodotti attaualmente utilizzati per curare l’emofilia sono stati studiati prima e dopo attivazione attraverso il taglio effettuato dalla trombina. Il secondo obiettivo della mia tesi è stato quello di estendere lo studio proteomico non solo ai fattori VIII ricombinanti ma anche a quelli plasmaderivati. La seconda parte del mio progetto è stata dedicata allo sviluppo e all’ottimizzazione di un nuovo metodo basato sull’utilizzo di HPLC e spettrometro di massa per lo studio della metabolomica. Nell’ultima parte della mia tesi ho utilizzato questo tipo di approcio per studiare la variazione metabolica all’interno del fluido del blastocele. Lo scopo di questo lavoro è stato quello di individuare marker metabolici che possano definire la qualità delle blastocisti da impiantare durante il processo della FIVET. Infine ho utilizzato questo metodo per mettere in evidenza la variazione metabolica nei globuli rossi durante la loro conservazione in sacca
A comparison of macroinvertebrate and diatom responses to anthropogenic stress in small sized volcanic siliceous streams of Central Italy (Mediterranean Ecoregion)
No full text
Assessing the attributes of scattered trees outside the forest by a multi-phase sampling strategy
No full textL'articolo è disponibile sul sito dell'editore http://forestry.oxfordjournals.org/A sampling strategy to be used with multi - phase forest inventories is proposed for assessing scattered trees outside the
forest on large territories. The fi rst phase is carried out by means of a systematic search over the area to be inventoried.
The area is partitioned into regular polygons of the same size and points are randomly located, one per polygon.
Subsequently, in the second phase, the land cover class of the fi rst-phase points is determined by very high - resolution
remotely sensed imagery and a sample of points are selected from each land cover stratum. Then, the number of trees
outside the forest lying within plots at the sampled points is recorded on the imagery. Finally, in the third phase, a
subsample is selected from the second-phase samples of each stratum and the biophysical attributes of trees within plots
are measured in the fi eld. Approximately unbiased estimators of abundance and of totals and averages of biophysical
attributes are achieved in the second and third phase , respectively, together with the estimators of the corresponding
variances. A simulation study is performed in order to assess the accuracy of the strategy under random and aggregated
distributions of trees. The sampling errors achieved in the second phase using sampling fractions of ~ 0.3 per cent of
trees vary from 6 to 13 per cent , whereas the errors achieved in the third phase using sampling fractions of ~ 0.15 per
cent vary from 15 to 31 per cent . The results obtained from three case studies carried out in Italy confi rm the accuracy
levels achieved in the simulation
Aspetti genetico-molecolari e tecnologici del trasferimento al frumento di geni del Dasypyrum villosum
No full textMany breeding programs rely on gene transfer from the wild and cultivated secondary gene-pool (GP-2) for trait enhancement, but so far no reports on transfer of bread-making quality-related genes from the wild GP-2 of wheat have been released. In this paper, we used small- and large-scale tests to analyze wheat introgression lines (ILs) derived
from Triticum aestivum cv “Chinese Spring” (CS) Dasypyrum villosum (L.) Candargy (Dv)
hybridization. We aimed at ascertaining the efficacy of prolamin subunits encoded by Dv
genes for the improvement of wheat end-use grain quality Biochemical and genetic evidences from backcrossing those lines to CS, and the qualitative results obtained from the lines grown for two years at two localities demonstrated that the ascertained positive effects of the Dv genes on wheat-flour end-use quality correlate weakly with the size of the introgressed Dv chromatin that contained those genes or the protein content of the flour. Dv chromatin
including genes at the Glu-V1 locus, coding for high molecular weight glutenins in Dv, significantly improves wheat bread-making quality, and chromatin from the short arm of 6V chromosome improves also protein and micronutrient (Fe and Zn) content
Two-stage sector sampling for estimating small woodlot attributes
No full textL'articolo è disponibile sul sito dell'editore www.nrcresearchpress.comA two-stage sampling strategy is proposed to assess small woodlots outside the forests scattered on extensive ter-
ritories. The first stage is performed to select a sample of small woodlots using fixed-size sampling schemes, and the second
stage is performed to sample trees within woodlots selected at first stage. Usually, fixed- or variable-area plots are adopted
to sample trees. However, the use of plot sampling in small patches such as woodlots is likely to induce a relevant amount
of bias owing to edge effects. In this framework, sector sampling proves to be particularly effective. The present paper in-
vestigates the statistical properties of two-stage sampling strategies for estimating forest attributes of woodlot populations
when sector sampling is adopted at the second stage. A two-stage estimator of population totals is derived together with a
conservative estimator of its sampling variance. By means of a simulation study, the performance of the proposed estimator
is checked and compared with that achieved using traditional plot sampling with edge corrections. Simulation results prove
the adequacy of sector sampling and provide some guidelines for the effective planning of the strategy. In some countries,
the proposed strategy can be performed with few modifications within the framework of large-scale forest inventories
Messa a punto di un metodo di allevamento in continuo su piccola scala per la mosca delle olive Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) e studio su composti organici volatili (VOCs) emessi da Olea europaea L. come potenziali allelochimici
No full textDottorato di ricerca in Protezione delle pianteThe olive fruit flies Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), as most of the Tephritidae species (“true fruit flies”), is a pest of great economic importance. It’s among the most serious pests of Olea europaea L. in the Mediterranean Basin and in olive growing regions worldwide.
Longstanding control programmes as well as current research efforts emphasize the development of long-term management practices, focusing on classical biological control for sustainable management. As part of a classical biological control programme, several attempts have been done in the past in order to rear olive fly ex-situ. Undue efforts are often directed toward producing the largest possible number of flies at the least possible cost, but the flies produced on artificial diets or on factitious hosts may not be effective in carrying out the mission for which they were intended. In the case of B. oleae, genetic changes seem to occur when olive flies are reared on artificial diet causing adverse effect on their performances and fitness if compared to wild individuals. For this reason, researchers are now oriented to obtain laboratory colonies maintaining them on their natural host: developing rearing protocols for olive fruit fly on its natural host would allow bioecological and behavioural studies and successful field-releases of olive fruit fly biological control agents.
The present study establishes fundamental guidelines for a small-scale and cost-effective rearing of B. oleae, for the first time successfully culturing year-round the olive fruit fly on its natural host basing upon the continual availability of fresh olive fruits, suitable to oviposit.
In line with IPM and biological management purposes, ending the use of non-selective long-lasting poisons and beginning the use of insects attractants, not just pheromones, could potentially become a powerful management tool, interfering with plant and insects at vulnerable steps. At this regard, the second purpose of the present study was the characterization of the broadest possible range of volatile compounds and to investigate the possible changing trends of biological volatile emissions during development stages. The return of feral olive fly populations to the olive groves after the first abundant summer rains it must certainly be due to volatile compounds emitted by the plants and active on the olive fly. These results involve that host-plant odours play the fundamental ecological role of olfactory attractants and oviposition stimulants interacting with B. oleae.
Olea europaea L., the common olive, is considered to be a low emitting species: its terpenoids emissions are generally found to be zero or close to zero. A number of authors have already attempted the identification of volatile components deriving from various parts of the olive plant or dissolved in the oil, by means of distillations, solvent extractions or head-space samples from plant detached portions, mainly focusing on the compounds bioactivity against pathogens and entomo-pathogens. At this regard there is a confuse variety of roles attributed to the plant compounds.
During the last few decades, much has been done in order to understand chemical communications in insect-insect interactions and about the insect responses to specific volatiles compounds. Research emphasis is now directed towards insect-plants interactions: it needs to properly investigate and recognize the volatiles released by living plants first of all, testing bioactive aspects of such compounds and correlating insect responses in the second place.
The present study reports on the original results of VOCs detection from whole, living olive trees (Olea europaea L.). For the first time, an early comparison of the volatile organic compounds emitted from plants in different phenological stages (vegetative and fruiting stage) was performed.
The method developed appears to be functional for a true detection of biogenic compounds from whole olive trees, monitoring the changing trend of volatile profile characteristics during time and obtaining the corresponding volatile profile characteristic for the different phases. For the first time, an early comparison of the volatile organic compounds emitted from plants in different phenological stages (vegetative and fruiting stage) was performed.
Despite the usual low emission rates of the specie, the variations of VOCs emission between different phenological stages of Olea europaea L. were clearly displayed and a broad range of emitted volatile compounds were successfully characterized.
The information accumulated forms overall an excellent base of knowledge for studying plant-insect interactions and are likely to improve the current strategies against the olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae Rossi, for the first time enabling its continuous lab-rearing on the natural host and better clarifying natural occurrence and the ecological role of host allelochemicals, i.e. attractants of the pest