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Western Mediterranean Area (western + mediterranean_area)
Selected AbstractsThe Mediterranean intercalibration exercise on soft-bottom benthic invertebrates with special emphasis on the Italian situationMARINE ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Anna Occhipinti Ambrogi Abstract The intercalibration exercise is an important step in the building process of the surface water ecological quality assessment, which is required by the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Its aim is to apply the water quality classification in a uniform manner to all the Member States belonging to the same eco-region. Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia and Spain participated in the soft-bottom benthic invertebrate subgroup for the Mediterranean coastal region. The methodologies proposed by Member States were applied and tested; the results were compared and harmonized to establish agreed and comparable boundaries for the benthic invertebrate ecological status classes. The national methods used in the intercalibration process were: for Cyprus and Greece, the Bentix Index; for Slovenia, a combination of AZTI Marine Biotic Index (AMBI), richness and diversity with the use of factor and discriminant analysis (Multimetric AMBI); for Spain, a new index, named MEDOCC, which is an adaptation of the AMBI index to the Western Mediterranean area. Italy and France tested different methods, none of which have been officially adopted. Final class boundary values for the different official classification systems were obtained and compared. Besides describing methods and results obtained by the different countries, the Italian situation is examined in more detail. All the above methods have been applied to Italian data, but the results were not conclusive. Major causes for concern are related to insufficient sites and data, to the lack of real non-impacted reference sites, and to the difficulties in validating the ecological status classification in sites not showing a pollution gradient. [source] Do changes in climate patterns in wintering areas affect the timing of the spring arrival of trans-Saharan migrant birds?GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2005Oscar Gordo Abstract The life cycles of plants and animals are changing around the world in line with the predictions originated from hypotheses concerning the impact of global warming and climate change on biological systems. Commonly, the search for ecological mechanisms behind the observed changes in bird phenology has focused on the analysis of climatic patterns from the species breeding grounds. However, the ecology of bird migration suggests that the spring arrival of long-distance migrants (such as trans-Saharan birds) is more likely to be influenced by climate conditions in wintering areas given their direct impact on the onset of migration and its progression. We tested this hypothesis by analysing the first arrival dates (FADs) of six trans-Saharan migrants (cuckoo Cuculus canorus, swift Apus apus, hoopoe Upupa epops, swallow Hirundo rustica, house martin Delichon urbica and nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos), in a western Mediterranean area since from 1952 to 2003. By means of multiple regression analyses, FADs were analysed in relation to the monthly temperature and precipitation patterns of five African climatic regions south of the Sahara where species are thought to overwinter and from the European site from where FADs were collected. We obtained significant models for five species explaining 9,41% of the variation in FADs. The interpretation of the models suggests that: (1) The climate in wintering quarters, especially the precipitation, has a stronger influence on FADs than that in the species' potential European breeding grounds. (2) The accumulative effects of climate patterns prior to migration onset may be of considerable importance since those climate variables that served to summarize climate patterns 12 months prior to the onset of migration were selected by final models. (3) Temperature and precipitation in African regions are likely to affect departure decision in the species studied through their indirect effects on food availability and the build-up of reserves for migration. Our results concerning the factors that affect the arrival times of trans-Saharan migrants indicate that the effects of climate change are more complex than previously suggested, and that these effects might have an interacting impact on species ecology, for example by reversing ecological pressures during species' life cycles. [source] Invasibility of a coastal strip in NE Spain by alien plantsJOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE, Issue 4 2002Eduardo Sobrino Castroviejo et al. (1986,1999); Tutin et al. (1968,1980) Abstract. The alien plant species and the ecological factors that facilitate their invasion to a coastal strip in the Baix Camp region (Tarragona, NE Spain) were studied. A detailed inventory of the area showed that 20% of the plant species, most of them from the American Continent, were aliens, many of which were strongly invasive. At the habitat level, the relationships between the invasive behaviour and a number of autecological, ecological and habitat variables were analysed by means of logistic analyses. In the best model five variables were related to alien plant invasions: climatic affinity, disturbance of the invaded habitat, route of introduction, soil moisture during summer, and life form. To elucidate the environmental factors that could be responsible for alien plant invasions at a regional scale, the number of alien taxa and the environmental features at 13 localities of the western Mediterranean area were analysed. The warm lowlands, subjected to low annual rainfall and high population density, exhibited the greatest reception capacity for alien plants. It is concluded that various specific environmental features , high mean temperatures, the abundance of riparian systems, the existence of biotopes with favourable water balance which harbour a great richness of alien species and the high human pressure to which the enclave is subjected, combined with the ecological requirements of the alien species and certain species attributes (biotype) can interact at different scales and have caused the over-representation of alien plants. [source] THE PETROGRAPHY AND CHEMISTRY OF THIN-WALLED WARE FROM AN HELLENISTIC, ROMAN SITE AT SEGESTA (SICILY),ARCHAEOMETRY, Issue 3 2003G. Montana Samples of Roman thin-walled ware from Segesta (northwestern Sicily), dating back to the early Imperial period, were studied by optical microscopy (OM) and Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA). Up to now, this class of Roman fine tableware has only occasionally been evaluated archaeometrically. Nevertheless, numerous production centres are believed to have been simultaneously active in the western Mediterranean area. Petrographic and chemical data seem to be in agreement with the archaeological hypothesis of local manufacture in Segesta for most of the analysed samples, through a comparison with kiln wasters and local raw materials. The effectiveness of thin-section petrography for determining the provenance of such a tiny tempered class of pottery and the integrated use of two different grouping procedures (petrography and chemistry) were also tested. [source] | ||||||||||