Six Amaranthus species (A. cruentus, A. hybridus, A. hypochondriacus, A. muricatus, A. tuberculatus, and A. viridis) were collected in Italy (wild habitats) from crops and roadsides. Amaranth seed ...oil was extracted to obtain fractions rich in squalene. Squalene, free fatty acid, tocopherol, and sterol composition and content were investigated in detail. An analysis of variance and principal components was performed. The oil content in the seed ranged from 5.17% (A. muricatus) to 12.20% (A. tuberculatus). The quantity of squalene in the oil varied from 3.43% (A. muricatus) to 6.09% (A. hypochondriacus). The primary sterols were beta-sitosterol, brassicasterol, campesterol, and stigmasterol. The main tocopherols in all the samples were alfa-tocopherol, beta-tocopherol, and delta-tocopherol. Our results exhibited that the smallest seeds (A. tuberculatus) have the highest percentages of oil and squalene, whereas the largest seeds size (A. muricatus) show the lowest percentages. There is also evidence that the samples growing at lower altitudes show the highest concentration of fatty acids. According to our results, the six wild Amaranthus species exhibited similar characteristics to commercial species. This study confirms that the site of the collection has an impact on the oil and squalene content of the Amaranthus species.
In 1766, the agricultural scientist Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti described for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the wild and cultivated plant species that could be used, in times of famine, to increase the ...quantity of flour or vegetable mass in bread making. These wild plants can be defined as wild edible plants (WEPs) or "alimurgic species", a concept usually traced back to Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti himself. The 342 plant names mentioned in the text are in the Tuscan vernacular, so a research work was done on bibliographic sources from the 1800s in order to match them with their current nomenclature. This process led to an "alimurgic flora" repertoire based on the writing of Targioni Tozzetti; and a comparison with our AlimurgITA database of 1103 wild edible plants used in Italy. It is particularly interesting that in his short treatise, Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti identified eight toxic plants (corresponding to 14 species), indicating how to eliminate the poisonous substances from their useful roots. We treat them in detail, examining their current and past use, their geographical distribution in Italy, and their eventual toxicity. We obtained 343 matches, of which 198 were reliable (certain matches) and 145 possessed some degree of uncertainty (due to generic or collective vernacular names). Among the 198 certain identifications, 140 species are present in the AlimurgITA database (92 mentioned for Tuscany) and 58 are not; for bread-making there are only documentary traces of 53 species for Italy and 7 for Tuscany. Moreover, among the total 198 species, 84 showed some degree of hazard. Researching edible toxic spontaneous species allows: (1) investigation, from an unusual perspective, of a historical period in which the poor conditions of some social strata led to finding unusual solutions to food provision; (2) idea generation to re-enable potentially useful WEPs whose use has been lost. Making a virtue of necessity!
Molecular diversity analysis of deciduous pubescent oaks was conducted for populations from Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia. The aims of this study were twofold. First, to provide data on the genetic ...diversity of pubescent oaks from an understudied area which currently exhibits one of the highest concentrations of pubescent oak species in Europe. Second, to verify if these groups of oaks are genetically distinct and if their identification is in accordance with the current taxonomic classification. Molecular analyses of leaf material of 480 trees from seventeen populations belonging to putatively different pubescent oak species (
Quercus amplifolia
,
Q. congesta
,
Q. dalechampii
,
Q. ichnusae
,
Q. leptobalanos
,
Q. virgiliana
) were performed. Twelve gene-based Expressed Sequence Tag-Simple Sequence Repeat markers were selected, and genetic diversity and differentiation were calculated. The results showed relatively high values of allelic richness, heterozygosity and number of private alleles for the populations investigated. A weak but positive correlation between geographical and genetic distance was detected. Genetic assignment (STRUCTURE) and principle coordinate analyses exhibited a weak separation into two genetic groups which, however, did not correspond to the taxonomic, chorological and ecological features of the populations investigated. Sardinian populations formed one group which was separated from the Calabrian and Sicilian populations. In light of the results obtained, the taxonomic classification for the pubescent white oaks currently reported in the major Italian floras and checklists for the study area was not confirmed by molecular analyses.
This study deals with the analysis of seedling fitness in three
Quercus cerris
wood stands, namely Selva di Castiglione (SC), Bosco della Ficora (BF) and Bosco di San Leo (BSL), developed in ...different lithological and physiographic conditions and subjected to different forestry practices. A phytosociological study was carried out for analysing the coenological features of the forest stands and to classify these latter from a syntaxonomic point of view. The Pignatti-Ellenberg index (PEi) was calculated on the matrix composed of the phytosociological relevés in order to highlight possible ecological differences or gradients among stands. The phenotypic parameters considered were the stem and root length and the leaf area, whereas the plant functional traits (PFTs) were specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf thickness (Lth) and chlorophyll content (CHL). The results showed that seedlings coming from different sampling sites exhibited similar values in all the phenotypic parameters. Instead, statistically significant differences were observed in the PFTs. The results suggested that the different adaptation strategies implemented by the seedlings are to be related to the physical environment of the sampling sites and to the different forest structures. The Selva di Castiglione forest stand (SC) exhibited better growth conditions for seedlings testified by higher values of SLA and CHL and lower values of LDMC and Lth. These were interpreted as greater investment in carbon production aimed at rapid development and renewal of the seedling rather than carbon storage aimed at ensuring leaf longevity.
The Euganean Hills are a well-known refugee site for thermophilous woody flora in northern Italy. Among the species recorded here, there is
Quercus dalechampii.
The Euganean Hills are the only ...northern Italy site where the occurrence of this oak species is considered. The aim of this paper was to verify the presence of
Q. dalechampii
in the study area and to select possible diagnostic morphological traits that are usable to distinguish it from
Q. petraea
and
Q. pubescens
. Forest stands dominated by
Q. petraea, Q. pubescens,
and the presumed
Q. dalechampii
were sampled using the phytosociological approach to highlight their ecological features. Leaf and fruit material from 104 oak individuals was analysed from a macro-morphological and micro-morphological point of view. Leaf shape was also analysed using the geometric morphometric approach. All multivariate analysis procedures applied on the matrices of leaf and fruit traits highlighted two main clusters of morphological diversity. One was restricted to
Q. pubescens
individuals, and the other one was a mix of
Q. petraea
and presumed
Q. dalechampii
individuals. According to the twig and leaf trichome traits, all presumed
Q. dalechampii
individuals were classified as belonging to the
Q. petraea
collective group. Morphological differences between
Q. petraea
and presumed
Q. dalechampii
were considered not significant. In conclusion, the occurrence of a third oak species, in addition to
Q. petraea
and
Q. pubescens,
was not confirmed for the study area by the results of this paper.
Graphic abstract
A phylogeographic study on the chloroplast DNA of natural white oak forests (Quercus subgen. Quercus, sect. Quercus) was carried out to identify possible haplotype-structured distribution within the ...Italian Peninsula, Sicily, and Sardinia. Sixty white oak populations belonging to Q. frainetto, Q. robur and the collective groups Q. petraea and Q. pubescens were considered and analyzed by combining five Chloroplast Simple Sequence Repeat (cpSSR) markers. A total of 28 haplotypes were detected. Central and southern Italy displayed the highest variability (14 and 10 haplotypes, respectively), followed by northern Italy (7), Sardinia (7), and Sicily (5). A complex geographical structure of the haplotype distribution emerged, highlighting (i) a high number of low-frequency haplotypes; (ii) the marked isolation of Sardinia; (iii) the occurrence of haplotypes widely distributed throughout the Italian Peninsula; (iv) the idiosyncrasy of Sicily, which exhibits exclusive haplotypes, and haplotypes shared with Sardinia and the rest of the Italian Peninsula. The haplotype distribution was also found to be partially related to the taxonomic identity of the specimens, with the following features emerging: a geographic separation between the central Italy and southern Italy Q. frainetto populations, an unexpected discontinuity between the Calabrian and Sicilian Q. petraea subsp. austrotyrrhenica populations, and the absence of the most common haplotype among the Q. pubescens populations of central and southern Italy.
Despite the large number of data published in Italy on WEPs, there is no database providing a complete knowledge framework. Hence the need to design a database of the Italian alimurgic flora: ...AlimurgITA. Only strictly alimurgic taxa were chosen, excluding casual alien and cultivated ones. The collected data come from an archive of 358 texts (books and scientific articles) from 1918 to date, chosen with appropriate criteria. For each taxon, the part of the plant used, the method of use, the chorotype, the biological form and the regional distribution in Italy were considered. The 1103 taxa of edible flora already entered in the database equal 13.09% of Italian flora. The most widespread family is that of the Asteraceae (20.22%); the most widely used taxa are
and
. The not homogeneous regional distribution of WEPs (maximum in the south and minimum in the north) has been interpreted. Texts published reached its peak during the 2001-2010 decade. A database for Italian WEPs is important to have a synthesis and to represent the richness and complexity of this knowledge, also in light of its potential for cultural enhancement, as well as its applications for the agri-food system.
Organized transhumant pastoralism has contributed to shaping the cultural landscape of many countries. It has affected areas designated for grazing, temporary and permanent shelters, and towns. ...Through the analysis of historical maps and recent information, in a temporal range from 1652 to 2014, this study focused on changes in land cover and conservation status of one of the main Italian transhumance paths, namely the Tratturo Castel di Sangro-Lucera. Although there are some areas where this drove road is still recognizable, it is mostly identifiable only through a few tangible signs. The methodological approach, which we present in this study, allowed us to compare historical and recent cartographies as well as archive documentation. The resulting virtual reinstatement is proposed as an efficient method for the conservation and management of material cultural heritage and can be applied in other countries with transhumance drove roads (e.g., France, Portugal).
The conservation of semi-natural habitats represents a primary challenge for European nature conservation due to their great species diversity and their vulnerability to ongoing massive land-use ...changes. As these changes rapidly transform and phase out semi-natural habitats, conservation measures should be prompt and specifically focused on a sound assessment of the degree of conservation. Here we develop a methodological strategy for the assessment of the degree of conservation of semi-natural grasslands based on well-defined criteria rather than on expert opinion. Through mixed effect models, we tested ten potential indicators, encompassing proxies of species composition, habitat structure, and landscape patterns, against a measure of compositional change from habitat favourable condition, i.e., an inverse proxy of conservation status. This measure derives from the re-visitation of 132 sampling units historically sampled between 1966 and 1992 along the Apennines. The compositional change was quantified as the dissimilarity between historical habitat species pools and the composition of current communities. The compositional change was significantly related to the number of habitat diagnostic species and the relative cover of woody species with opposite sign (positive and negative, respectively). We classified and combined the classes of these two indicators in each sampling unit to assess the habitat degree of conservation at the plot and at the Natura 2000 site level. At the plot level, our assessment was in good agreement with the occurrence of species of conservation concern. On the other hand, at the site level, our assessment was not always harmonic with the habitat conservation assessment officially reported for the site investigated.
Species identification within the species complex of Q. pubescens is a well-known taxonomic challenge among European botanists. Some of the specific pubescent oak binomials currently accepted in ...various European floras and checklists were originally described in Sicily and southern Calabria. As a consequence, several species belonging to the pubescent oaks group (Q. pubescens, Q. amplifolia, Q. congesta, Q. dalechampii, Q. leptobalana and Q. virgiliana) are reported in the taxonomic and phytosociological literature. To verify whether it was possible to associate a diverse set of morphological characters with each of these different taxa, thirteen natural populations of pubescent oak from Sicily and southern Calabria were sampled. A total of 391 trees, 3,887 leaves and 1,047 fruits were collected. Overall, 28 morphological characters of oak leaves and fruits were statistically analysed using univariate and multivariate procedures. The results showed that neither the groups of morphological diversity identified by cluster analysis, nor those obtained by our expert identification through the use of analytical keys, matched with the current taxonomical frameworks as proposed by the most recent floras and checklists. Nearly all of the morphological characters considered displayed a more or less continuous trend of variation, both within and among populations. In the light of these findings it seems unlikely that more than one biological species of pubescent oak occurs in Sicily and southern Calabria.
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