1,720,984 research outputs found
Can macroplastics affect riparian vegetation blooming and pollination? First observations from a temperate South-European river
No full textSince plastics are a global growing concern that persists in nature, they threaten ecosystem conservation and human health. Particularly, pollination is one of the most important ecological services being pivotal to the ecosystem’s long-term functioning and human welfare. However, pollination is threatened by pesticides, urbanisation, habitat loss, and contaminants. As interactions between plastics and biota or ecosystem service remain neglected, the major challenge would be to research it. Our achievement was a first attempt to assess the effects of macroplastics on riparian vegetation and the ecosystem service of pollination. Here, (i) while investigating macroplastics entrapped by riparian vegetation, (ii) we propose the new field observation of the flower’s coverage by macroplastics. Then, (iii) we indirectly assessed the possible interaction between macroplastic litter and the ecosystem service of pollination. Finally, (iv) we performed a meta-analysis search to understand better how many studies were carried out on this topic. To achieve our aim, surveys of riverine macroplastic litter entrapped in riparian vegetation were carried out in the urban tract of the Aniene River. To assess if pollination was possibly reduced by macroplastics covering flowers, we observed the visitation of pollinators on flowers. Overall, we observed that flowers of riparian vegetation were covered by macroplastics, preventing them from being pollinated by insects, and pollination success (i.e., successful pollination) was potentially reduced to 81.4% by a factor of 18.6%. Our research highlights that macroplastics on vegetation indicate a new stress to plant reproduction, reducing blooming (i.e., flowering or flower production) and pollination. These recent observations urge new studies to evaluate how macroplastic litter accumulates and might affect ecosystem services in long-term research. Our findings could be of particular concern as pollination in agricultural crops and riverine habitats is central to human welfare as an ecosystem service. Considering that most global food crops depend on pollination by insects, crops and fruits (e.g., coffee, cocoa, apples) would not be present without the essential ecosystem service of pollination. Our findings highlight for the first time a new threat (i.e., macroplastic litter) to the blooming with possible implications for the pollination process
River functionality influences the distribution of the dipper Cinclus cinclus (Linnaeus, 1758)
No full textThe dipper ( Cinclus cinclus) ) is a species strongly linked to the riparian ecosystem, known to feed on aquatic macroinvertebrates, which are sensitive to water pollution. For this, dippers have been proposed as useful bioindicators of water quality. While the distribution and ecology of the dipper are well known in Northern European rivers, few studies focus on this in Central Italy, lacking data for dipper conservation. Here, we aimed to (i) assess the dipper occurrence related to water quality using biotic indices based on diatom and macro- invertebrate communities, and (ii) evaluate the river ecosystem's overall state, through the River Functionality Index and land-use analysis in buffer areas. Overall, water quality alone does not explain the dipper occurrence, as the species was not found in many potentially suitable sites with good or high-water quality. Moreover, the diversity of the diatom and macroinvertebrate communities was not a sufficient constraint either. Conversely, the dipper occurrence significantly correlated with the River Functionality Index, which integrates several riparian ecosystem factors, indicating that well-preserved ecosystems with high functionality levels are important for dipper occurrence. Land use analyses in the areas surrounding the presence sites have shown, although not significantly, a fair level of naturalness, potentially favouring the riparian zone maintenance. As the dipper was considered in decline and threatened in Central Italy, further research on its auto-ecology and conservation threats is urgently needed. Finally, given the link between the species and the riparian ecosystem, a charismatic species such as the dipper could be used as an umbrella species in protection and conservation projects for the benefit of the entire riparian belt, which represents a buffer area of fundamental importance between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, although often resulted severely reduced and fragmented
Oligoelements in artificial enteral nutrition (EN)
No full textThe effect of prolonged (1 to 12 months) EN with commercially available products of the status of some oligoelements (zinc, copper, selenium) was studied for 27 patients with neoplastic and other pathologies; the influence of the original illness and nutritional conditions as determines through clinical, anthropometric and bio-humoral parameters were accounted for. The oligoelements content was also determined for commercially available nutritional mixes. After the EN treatment no changes were observed in nutritional conditions or the status of macroelements and copper. Zinc content was slightly below normal, while selenium and Se-dependent glutathione peroxidase showed an important progressive reduction in plasma and red blood cells. In conclusion the total EN through commercially available mixes, generally containing only traces of Se, succeeds in maintaining the initial nutritional conditions also in non-terminal neoplastic patients; however, the ensuing selenium deficiency must be corrected
Hydromorphological discontinuities deeply modify the benthic multi‐species assemblage diversity in a Mediterranean running river
No full textThe aim of the study was to investigate the modifications of the macroinvertebrate multi-species assemblage in relation to hydromorphological discontinues, since macroinvertebrates are traditionally exploited in water quality assessment activities. Three sampling sites characterized by different hydrological characteristics were selected in five stations along the River Aniene in Central Italy. We evaluated the macroinvertebrate structure, traits, biotic and diversity indices in relation to the erosive power. Among macroinvertebrate taxa, Elminthidae and Chironomidae families showed a particular occurrence pattern associated with the site at the base of vertical drop, characterized by the stronger hydrodynamic. However, the water quality status was high, not showing differences between the three sites. Our finding has a novelty value as similar studies on the investigation of the hydromorphological discontinuities on macroinvertebrate structure and ecological traits are very scarce in the literature
General macro-litter as a proxy for fishing lines, hooks and nets entrapping beach-nesting birds: Implications for clean-ups
No full textFishing lines, hooks and nets represent a sub-category of macro-litter potentially entrapping plover birds nesting on sandy beaches. Here, during a winter period, the accumulation pattern of both general beach litter and fishing lines, hooks and nets was analysed on four central Italy beaches. Despite the active monthly litter removal by clean-ups, there was not a decrease in its density during the winter period, due to the continuous accumulation by frequent winter storms. However, the entrapping litter was very low (<2.5 % of the general litter) and appeared directly correlated to the general litter density. Following a DPSIR approach, the general litter can act as an indirect pressure indicator (proxy) of the amount of entrapping litter. Therefore, an increase in general macro-litter should alarm those involved in the conservation of entanglement-sensitive bird species, such as plovers, suggesting that they should implement high-frequency clean-up activities aimed at removing it
Dune plants as a sink for beach litter: The species-specific role and edge effect on litter entrapment by plants
No full textAnthropogenic litter accumulates along coasts worldwide. In addition to the flowing litter load, wind, sea currents, geomorphology and vegetation determine the distribution of litter trapped on the sandy coasts. Although some studies highlighted the role of dune plants in trapping marine litter, little is known about their efficiency as sinks and about the small-scale spatial distribution of litter across the dune area. Here, we explore these gaps by analysing six plant species widespread in Mediterranean coastal habitats, namely Echinophora spinosa, Limbarda crithmoides, Anthemis maritima, Pancratium maritimum, Thinopyrum junceum, and Salsola kali. The present study analyses for the first time the capture of litter by dune vegetation at a multi-species level, considering their morphological structure. Data on plastic accumulation on dune plants were compared with unvegetated control plots located at embryo-dune and foredune belts. We found that dunal plants mainly entrapped macrolitter (> 0.5 cm). Particularly, E. spinosa, L. crithmoides, A. maritima and P. maritimum mostly accumulated litter in the embryo dune while T. junceum and S. kali entrapped more in the foredune area. Moreover, beach litter was mainly blocked at the edge of the plant patches rather than in the core, highlighting the 'Plant-edge litter effect'. As A. maritima and S. kali entrapped respectively more litter in embryo and foredune habitats, these species could be used to monitor and recollect litter. In this light, our findings provide further insight into the role of dune plants in the beach litter dynamics, suppling useful information for beach clean-up actions
Dunal plants intercepting macrolitter: Implications for beach clean-ups
No full textCoastal vegetation intercepts macroplastics and, consequently, it may represent a reservoir of anthropogenic litter and organic wrack. We aimed at investigating (i) the abundance variation of macrolitter from the beach to foredune and backdune (three cross-shore plots over 20 long-shore sectors) and (ii) the role of the halo-psammophilous plants and Phragmites australis reedbed in intercepting the macrolitter, respectively, in the foredunes and backdunes. The vegetation in the foredunes (mainly halo-psammophilous species) acted as a first interception belt for macrolitter, while the bigger litter reached the backdunes. Our results might be of great concern with implications for beach clean-ups – which must also be mainly focused in foredunes and backdunes, however warning operators in advance that they could damage the vegetation by trampling on
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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