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Eastern Mediterranean Area (eastern + mediterranean_area)
Selected AbstractsEl Niño,southern oscillation events and associated European winter precipitation anomaliesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2005D. Pozo-Vázquez Abstract The winter precipitation anomalies in the European area have been analysed over the period 1900,98 based on the El Niño,Southern oscillation (ENSO) state. A set of winter and autumn ENSO events is first selected using the Sea-Surface temperature (SST) data of the Niño 3 region, with the constraint that the ENSO event is well developed during the winter and autumn of study, and that it is an extreme event. Cold and warm ENSO events and periods that can be regarded as normal are selected. For the selected winter ENSO events and for the winter following the selected autumn ENSO events, composites of European winter precipitation anomalies have been obtained and compared with each other. A study of the consistency among events of the relationship between ENSO and precipitation anomalies was also carried out. The analysis of the winter precipitation anomalies based on the selected winter ENSO events shows the existence, for the European area and during La Niña events, of a statistically significant precipitation anomaly pattern with positive precipitation anomalies north of the British Isles and in the Scandinavian area and negative anomalies in southern Europe, resembling the precipitation pattern associated with the positive phase of the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO). Particularly, for the southwestern area of the Iberian Peninsula, the negative anomaly reaches 20% of the winter average precipitation. The consistency analysis shows that this precipitation pattern is not the result of a few major events, but rather that it is stable and qualitatively similar to that found during the positive phase of the NAO. A non-linear response to ENSO is found in the eastern Mediterranean area: negative precipitation anomalies are found, having similar amplitude anomalies, both during El Niño and La Niña events. The analysis of the precipitation anomalies for the winter following the selected autumn ENSO events shows very similar results to those found for the previous analysis, thus suggesting the existence of a potential source of seasonal forecasting of European precipitation. An analysis of the sensitivity of the precipitation anomalies to the strength of the ENSO events shows that, when the strength of the ENSO increases, the magnitude of the rainfall anomalies does not change, but the area influenced and the coherence between events do increase slightly. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Non-random distribution of ring recoveries from trans-Saharan migrants indicates species-specific stopover areasJOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2005Thord Fransson Many long-distance migrant birds regularly have to pass ecological barriers, like the Saharan desert, where fuelling is very difficult, and large fuel loads have to be stored in advance. In this paper, we have investigated how seven species of birds are distributed in autumn close to the Saharan desert in the eastern Mediterranean area by using ring recoveries from northern Europe. The result clearly shows that the species included are not randomly distributed at this point, about 3,000 km from the breeding area. Birds from rather large breeding areas were shown to converge in confined areas, which in several cases completely differ between species. This means that birds of the same species have to follow different migratory directions depending on the location of their starting point. The observed pattern support earlier findings indicating that birds, in combination with a clock-and-compass orientation procedure, must use some external cues in order to find confined species-specific areas. The possibility for birds to use information from the Earth's magnetic field as an external cue in this area is discussed. [source] Gagea tisoniana, a new species of Gagea Salisb. sect.BOTANICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 3 2007Gagea (Liliaceae) from central Italy Gagea tisoniana Peruzzi et al.sp. nov. is described and its taxonomic relationship is discussed. The new species, which appears to be endemic to central Italy, is close to G. pratensis (Pers.) Dumort., G. pusilla (F. W. Schmidt) Sweet, and other mainly poorly known [i.e. G. succedanea Griseb. et Schenk, G. transversalis Stev., and G. paczoskii (Zapal.) Grossh.] or as yet undescribed taxa from eastern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean area. The recognition of the new taxon G. tisoniana is claimed on the basis of anatomical, karyological, ecological, and phytogeographical data. Maps of the Italian distribution of G. pratensis (2n = 60), G. pusilla (2n = 24), and G. tisoniana (2n = 24) are presented, together with an analytical identification key. Finally, G. pratensis is recorded here for the first time in Tuscany (Monte Cetona). © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 155, 337,347. [source] Phylogeographic relationships within the Mediterranean turbot inferred by mitochondrial DNA haplotype variationJOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2004N. Suzuki The Mediterranean turbot Psetta maxima consists of two main genetically distinct lineages (western Mediterranean and ,eastern secluded Mediterranean' basins) as investigated by mitochondrial DNA analysis. Within the latter lineage, most haplotypes from the Sea of Azov were endemic and more than half of them derived from a single ancestral haplotype shared among all the eastern Mediterranean areas. There was no relation between morphotype variation in bony tubercles and mitochondrial genealogy. [source] | |||||||||||||