LiDAR technology is finding uses in the forest sector, not only for surveys in producing forests but also as a tool to gain a deeper understanding of the importance of the three-dimensional component ...of forest environments. Developments of platforms and sensors in the last decades have highlighted the capacity of this technology to catch relevant details, even at finer scales. This drives its usage towards more ecological topics and applications for forest management. In recent years, nature protection policies have been focusing on deadwood as a key element for the health of forest ecosystems and wide-scale assessments are necessary for the planning process on a landscape scale. Initial studies showed promising results in the identification of bigger deadwood components (e.g., snags, logs, stumps), employing data not specifically collected for the purpose. Nevertheless, many efforts should still be made to transfer the available methodologies to an operational level. Newly available platforms (e.g., Mobile Laser Scanner) and sensors (e.g., Multispectral Laser Scanner) might provide new opportunities for this field of study in the near future.
•Deadwood helps in creating favorable regeneration microsites, mitigating soil surface temperature and reducing drought stress for the juvenile stage.•Deadwood contributes efficiently to protecting ...seedlings from browsing.•Deadwood protection effect can be isotropic or anisotropic depending on the season.
Mountain forest dynamics and ecosystems services are critically influenced by disturbances, in particular storm events. After extensive disturbance, the large amount of deadwood lying on ground and the necessity for restoring the forest cover with natural regeneration are two critical issues to be dealt with. Salvage logging is the most common post-disturbance management strategy, but it does not consider the strategic role of coarse woody debris (CWD) in favoring regeneration establishment and survival. The aim of this study is to analyze how CWDcontributes to creating favorable microsites for regeneration, increasing seedling establishment probability, after a large windthrow in the eastern Italian Alps. We focused on two different facilitative mechanisms provided by CWD, microsite amelioration and seedling protection, by planting a set of seedlings in the surroundings of deadwood elements. The former mechanism was analyzed by measuring temperature and SWC (Soil Water Content) locally, while for the latter we recorded evidence of browsing at the end of the season. For each trial, we established control sites in empty areas nearby with no CWD presence in order to infer its contribution. The results show that north-facing microsites on south-exposed slopes offer significantly lower temperature and fewer water stress for saplings, in comparison to south-facing microsites. More in general, saplings on deadwood-mitigated microsites are less exposed to desiccation, which mitigates the transplanting shock and facilitates the establishment. Moreover, the presence of lying deadwood increases roughness and, as a consequence, the cost for browsers to reach the seedlings. Using a coefficient expressing this increment, we underline the significant protective effect of CWD against deer browsing. The results of our study highlight the importance of deadwood in providing favorable regeneration microsites, enhancing the probability of sapling establishment and survival, protecting them from deer browsing.
•Wind damage can heavily impact montane forests.•Models can be used to produce wind vulnerability maps for montane forests.•New parametrisations can be validated and added to existing models.•Mapping ...vulnerability to wind damage can help forest managers and practitioners.
The risk of wind damage to European forests is expected to increase due to the changed climate. Research efforts in forestry have been focussing on the development of analytical and modelling tools to aid with the evaluation and the prediction of forests' vulnerability to wind damage, and ultimately to inform forest management decisions aimed at promoting wind-resistance in forest stands. Recent catastrophic wind damage to European forests has shown that wind damage risk applies also to montane forests. These are of particular importance for the various ecosystem services they provide, including protection from gravitational hazards and defence against soil erosion. At present, the available forest wind risk models have been tested and used mainly on production or planted forests in different countries, but never in the complexity of mountainous terrains. The aim of this study is to introduce a methodology for the validation of a new parametrisation of the ForestGALES wind risk model, specifically designed for the alpine scenario. To do so, we used parameters from pulling tests in the field, and laboratory mechanical tests. We also developed a workflow that, starting from data obtained by LiDAR, aims at producing wind damage vulnerability maps. After validating this new parameterisation, we investigated the variations in wind vulnerability for a case study in the Italian Alps by introducing the Difference of Vulnerability (DoV) raster. Among our results, the DoV proves to be an innovative tool whose future use can increase understanding of the factors predisposing a forest stand to wind instability.
Influenza is a vaccine-preventable disease. Due to the evolving nature of influenza viruses, the composition of vaccines has to be updated annually. Most of the current influenza vaccines are still ...produced in embryonated chicken eggs, a well-established process with some limitations.
This review focuses on the recombinant DNA technology using baculovirus expression vector system a modern method of manufacturing licensed influenza vaccines. The speed, scalability, biosafety and flexibility of the process, together with the reliability of the hemagglutinin in the vaccine, represent a significant advance toward new platforms for vaccine production.
The scenario of vaccine production in the next years seems to be particularly interesting, involving a transition from the current egg-based production to new technologies, such as the cell culture platform, the RNA technology, the plant-based system, and the DNA vaccine. This latter offers great advantages over egg- and cell-based influenza vaccine production. The universal vaccine remains the goal of researchers and ideally would avoid the need for annual reformulation and re-administration of seasonal vaccines. The lesson learned from the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of having different technologies available and able to promptly respond to a great demand of vaccines worldwide.
The micro‐neutralization assay is a fundamental test in virology, immunology, vaccine assessment, and epidemiology studies. Since the SARS‐CoV‐2 outbreak at the end of December 2019 in China, it has ...become extremely important to have well‐established and validated diagnostic and serological assays for this new emerging virus. Here, we present a micro‐neutralization assay with the use of SARS‐CoV‐2 wild type virus with two different methods of read‐out. We evaluated the performance of this assay using human serum samples taken from an Italian seroepidemiological study being performed at the University of Siena, along with the human monoclonal antibody CR3022 and some iper‐immune animal serum samples against Influenza and Adenovirus strains. The same panel of human samples have been previously tested in enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as a pre‐screening. Positive, borderline, and negative ELISA samples were evaluated in neutralization assay using two different methods of read‐out: subjective (by means of an inverted optical microscope) and objective (by means of a spectrophotometer). Our findings suggest that at least 50% of positive ELISA samples are positive in neutralization as well, and that method is able to quantify different antibody concentrations in a specific manner. Taken together, our results confirm that the colorimetric cytopathic effect‐based microneutralization assay could be used as a valid clinical test method for epidemiological and vaccine studies.
Highlights
High sensitivity of the Micro‐Neutralization assay for anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 neutralizing antibodies detection in serum samples.
CPE‐based (Subjective) and Colorimetric‐based (Objective) Micro‐Neutralization read out are comparable in terms of results provided.
50% of S1 ELISA positive serum samples present neutralizing antibodies against wild type SARS‐CoV‐2 virus.
Artificial pulling tests are the most practical method of assessing the maximum resistance of trees to lateral forces (e.g., from the wind), particularly in relation to their anchoring capacity in ...the ground. The traditional method is to pull the tree monotonically until failure. However, there are still many uncertainties regarding the possibility of mimicking wind gusts in such a tree pulling test. More specifically, it is supposed that a succession of wind gusts during a windstorm may cause fatigue to the root system, leading to a propagation of damage at the root-soil interface which will eventually lead to the collapse of the tree. This work aims to provide initial insights into the biomechanical response of shallow-rooted Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) growing in mineral soils by repeatedly pulling to failure six trees with increasing load magnitude. The mechanical behaviour of the tested trees was first analysed using a classical equilibrium approach by calculating peak applied loads, stem base rotation, equivalent stiffness trend over subsequent cycles and residual rotations. Then, the biomechanics of the trees were analysed using an energetic approach, focusing on the energy absorbed and dissipated during either the single load cycle or the complete cyclic test, by applying consolidated procedures used in the field of mechanical engineering.
Results show how small but measurable residual rotations were measured after each load repetition, indicating permanent damage even in seemingly undamaged trees. Additionally, loads producing base rotations about 0.3–0.4 times those corresponding to the peak resistance dissipate less than 1 % of the maximum dissipated energy calculated at the same peak point. Additionally, this peak energy is found to be strongly correlated to both the peak moment and a typical stem volume predictor such as diameter at breast height squared times height.
All these outcomes are intended to provide a starting point for the development of a different characterisation of tree resistance as an alternative to the current methodologies, especially when it is important to consider the effects of repeated loading on trees.
•A succession of pulling tests aimed to mimic the effect of repeated loads on trees.•Post-peak pulls were performed to evaluate the residual resistance of trees.•Mechanical and energetic equilibrium approaches were compared.•Energy dissipation of the root-plate system could be estimated.•The energetic approach is useful to detect the elastic limit and fatigue of the root system.
Dogs are known to be susceptible to influenza A viruses, although information on influenza D virus (IDV) is limited. We investigated the seroprevalence of IDV in 426 dogs in the Apulia region of ...Italy during 2016 and 2023. A total of 14 samples were positive for IDV antibodies, suggesting exposure to IDV in dogs.
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