The article aims to discuss the presence of mafias in Italian mountain regions and, especially, in Valle d’Aosta. From a theoretical and historical point of view, there are no incompatibilities ...between the Alpine areas and the mafias. Actually, the mafias offer an image of themselves that links them to the primordial and wild nature. Therefore, it is not surprising to discover how, in the second half of the 20th century, mafia organizations started to emerge in Valle d’Aosta, in connection with the needs and ambitions of local politics, with the exploitation of migratory flows and with the opportunities provided by the presence of the Casino of Saint Vincent. It was precisely the investigations into the Casino, which led to the attack on the Magistrate of Aosta Giovanni Selis on 15 December 1982. An unresolved case until today.
Proglacial lakes are distinctive features of deglaciated landscapes and often act as sediment sinks, collecting solid material from subglacial erosion or washout of deglaciated areas. The solid ...transport flow, strongly linked to the glaciers and periglacial landforms, may rise due to the rapid changes driven by climate warming, causing deep transformations in the basin hydrology, and even the appearance or disappearance of lakes at a decadal timescale.
The goal of this study was to present a geophysical–geotechnical approach that integrates several techniques, to quantify the sediment distribution in a proglacial lake. A geophysical survey is performed with ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) installed on a boat, whereas a time‐domain reflectometer (TDR) measures the electrical conductivity and permittivity of the lakebed sediments. Unperturbed samples are collected and analyzed to measure the main geotechnical properties of the sediment: grain‐size distribution, plastic limit, and liquid limit. Such properties support the interpretation of the GPR data and the detection of spatial variations of the sediment facies.
To validate the proposed methodology, field tests were carried out at Lake Seracchi, the largest lake of the Rutor glacier, Italian Alps. It formed around 1880 because of the recent glacier shrinkage, as chronicled by valuable historical documents. Its greyish waters carry a significant amount of suspended sediment recognized as glacial flour, which gradually accumulates on the bottom of the lake.
The obtained bathymetry and sediment thickness maps of Lake Seracchi show the strength of the approach: from only a few manual samples, it is possible to extrapolate the geotechnical properties of interest, such as friction angle or hydraulic conductivity, to wider areas, surveyed by the geophysical techniques. This is achieved by investigating the spatial distribution of key geophysical properties linked to the geotechnical properties of interest.
Subglacial erosion produces glacial flour by crushing and abrasion processes. It flows downwards into proglacial lakes, filling them over time. The goal of this study was to present a geophysical–geotechnical approach that integrates several techniques, to assess the sediment distribution in a proglacial lake. The strength of the methodology is to examine a few manual samples and extrapolate the geotechnical properties of interest, such as friction angle or hydraulic conductivity, to wider areas, surveyed by the geophysical techniques.
Changes in land use and land cover as well as feedback on the climate deeply affect the landscape worldwide. This phenomenon has also enlarged the human-wildlife interface and amplified the risk of ...potential new zoonoses. The expansion of the human settlement is supposed to affect the spread and distribution of wildlife diseases such as canine distemper virus (CDV), by shaping the distribution, density, and movements of wildlife. Nevertheless, there is very little evidence in the scientific literature on how remote sensing and GIS tools may help the veterinary sector to better monitor the spread of CDV in wildlife and to enforce ecological studies and new management policies in the near future. Thus, we perform a study in Northwestern Italy (Aosta Valley Autonomous Region), focusing on the relative epidemic waves of CDV that cause a virulent disease infecting different animal species with high host mortality. CDV has been detected in several mammalian from Canidae, Mustelidae, Procyonidae, Ursidae, and Viverridae families. In this study, the prevalence is determined at 60% in red fox (
,
= 296), 14% in wolf (
,
= 157), 47% in badger (
,
= 103), and 51% in beech marten (
,
= 51). The detection of CDV is performed by means of real-time PCR. All the analyses are done using the TaqMan approach, targeting the chromosomal gene for phosphoprotein, gene P, that is involved in the transcription and replication of the virus. By adopting Earth Observation Data, we notice that CDV trends are strongly related to an altitude gradient and NDVI entropy changes through the years. A tentative model is developed concerning the ground data collected in the Aosta Valley region. According to our preliminary study, entropy computed from remote-sensing data can represent a valuable tool to monitor CDV spread as a proxy data predictor of the intensity of fragmentation of a given landscape and therefore also to monitor CDV. In conclusion, the evaluation from space of the landscape variations regarding the wildlife ecological corridors due to anthropic or natural disturbances may assist veterinarians and wildlife ecologists to enforce management health policies in a One Health perspective by pointing out the time and spatial conditions of interaction between wildlife. Surveillance and disease control actions are supposed to be carried out to strengthen the usage of geospatial analysis tools and techniques. These tools and techniques can deeply assist in better understanding and monitoring diseases affecting wildlife thanks to an integrated management approach.
Soil moisture is widely recognized as a state variable governing the mass and energy balance between the land surface and the atmosphere. For that, its knowledge is of upmost importance for many ...applications including flood and landslide prediction. In alpine catchments, soil moisture estimation is a very difficult task, because of complex topography, high vegetation density, and presence of snow and outcrops. In this study, the possibility to estimate soil moisture for these areas by using modeled and satellite data is investigated. Specifically, an updated version of a soil water balance model, which takes the snowmelt process into account, is employed. Moreover, satellite-derived soil moisture observations obtained by the Advanced SCATterometer (ASCAT) sensor onboard the MetOp satellite are tested by considering two products: the Surface Soil Moisture (SSM) and the Soil Water Index (SWI). The latter is obtained through the application of an exponential filter and it is aimed to reduce the differences in the layer depth of in situ measurements (10 cm) and satellite data (∼2-3 cm). Quality-checked in situ soil moisture measurements collected at four continuous monitoring sites in Valle d"Aosta (North Italy) are used to test the accuracy of modeled and satellite estimates. Notwithstanding the above issues, results indicated the potential not only of modeling approaches but also, unexpectedly, of satellite data to retrieve soil moisture in high elevation regions (>1000 m a.s.l.). Indeed, by estimating correctly the snowmelt contribution, the agreement between modeled and observed data is quite good, with correlation coefficient values, r, in the range 0.795-0.940. In addition, the ASCAT-derived SWI product provides satisfactorily results with r = 0.635-0.869. Based on these findings, in situ, modeled, and satellite soil moisture data will be used for improving flood and landslide risk prediction at the Valle d'Aosta Functional center to improve the Civil Protection Alert System.
Soil types of Aosta Valley (NW-Italy) D'Amico, M. E.; Pintaldi, E.; Sapino, E. ...
Journal of maps,
12/2020, Letnik:
16, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The first soil map of the whole Aosta Valley Region was produced at the 1:100,000 scale. We used 691 soil profiles, attributed to 16 Cartographic (soil) Units, spatialized using a Maximum Likelihood ...Estimation model available in ArcGIS software. Six maps were used as base layers, representing the most important soil-forming factors: parent material, vegetation/land use, mean annual precipitation, elevation, absolute aspect and slope angle. The Maximum Likelihood Estimation was followed by an expert-based check that led to a re-assignment of some wrongly attributed cartographic polygons. The validation process revealed that the User's and Producer's Accuracies were rather high (between 47.5% and 84.4% for common soil types). A particularly high pedodiversity, associated to strong geological, vegetational and climatic gradients was observed.
The EU Water Framework Directive requires Member States to assess the quantitative and qualitative status of groundwater bodies and to achieve a good status by 2027. The present study was developed ...in order to assess the groundwater quantitative status in the Aosta Plain (NW Italy), following the methodology proposed through a guideline defined by the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), with the aim of supporting local authorities in their periodic assessment of water bodies status. In the study area, during the period 2000-2017, groundwater levels were measured in 213 wells and piezometers. Performing the four tests required by the abovementioned guideline, the quantitative status was assessed on the basis of multi-year groundwater level variations, water balance and the interconnections of groundwater with surface water bodies and groundwaterdependent ecosystems. A good status was assessed for the study area, although some critical aspects emerged from the application of the guideline methodology: the data collected by the monitoring network are not sufficiently robust in terms of sample size, spatial distribution, temporal interval and frequency to fulfill the requirements of the guideline methodology. Therefore, some recommendations to improve the data quality and better address the future assessment of groundwater quantitative status were given.
This paper provides the fourth edition of the checklist of birds recorded in northwestern Italy (the Piedmont and Aosta Valley regions) and covers more than 300 years of ornithological data, ...including subspecies. This work updates the previous works published in 1981, 2003, and 2009, with the revision of the AERC codes and the addition of special annotations for several species. We also provide some new settings to make the bird checklist a more useful tool for all users, particularly scholars and professionals interested in biodiversity assessment and conservation reports. To this end, (a) new coding concerning population estimates and trends, as well as risk categories (Red List), is introduced; (b) bird lists are structured for analysis at two temporal levels: the General Checklist (GCL), covering the period from 1685 to 2022, and the Operational Checklist (OCL), covering the decade 2010–2019, providing periods of reference for comparison and analysis; and (c) an electronic spreadsheet is provided as part of the online Supplementary Materials to allow for further data analysis by readers, if necessary. The list presently contains 408 species and 444 taxonomic units, which consist of both subspecies and monotypic species. Each of them has been allocated to one of the AERC categories A, B, C, or D, while category E has been excluded. Since the publication of the previous list (2009), 19 species have been added. The avifauna currently breeding in the Piedmont and Aosta Valley regions comprises 197 species, with an additional 9 species that were once breeders but are now considered regionally extinct.
Rockfalls are widespread events in mountain areas worldwide. The management of this process can be done using different approaches. In this paper, we want to analyze the procedure that can be adopted ...to manage a rockfall event considering the safety of infrastructure and settlements. Focusing on an Alpine region highly affected by rockfalls like the Aosta Valley Region (north-western Italy), we implemented a dedicated procedure for the road network emergency management. This procedure can be activated immediately after a rockfall, and it aims to identify the effect of the collapse, define the danger zone, plan the recovery project and propose temporary solutions for correct residual risk management until the end of the remedial works. In natural hazards, the lack of codified methods can create critical conditions and increase the responsibility of the single operators, who have to effectively manage a critical situation in a limited amount of time without a well-defined procedure. For this reason, the proposed method aims to be a first example of how a correct codification can be used for more sustainable management of this widespread phenomenon.
While there is a rich collection of maize germplasm from Italy, it lacks genetic resources from the Aosta Valley, an isolated mountain region where landraces have been preserved in the absence of ...modern germplasm introductions. These local materials, which are still cultivated mainly at household level, can have high importance from a genetic and historical point of view. In the present study, five landraces named, after the collecting sites, Arnad, Arnad-Crest, Châtillon, Entrebin and Perloz, were sampled in Aosta Valley and subjected to historic, morphologic and genetic characterization. This study provided evidence for the landraces' long presence in Aosta Valley, a significant genetic variability and differentiation among the investigated landraces. Globally, 67 different alleles were detected ranging from 4 for markers
and
to 10 for
, with a mean of 6.7 alleles per locus. Observed heterozygosity levels were comprised from 0.16 to 0.51 and are generalkly lower than expected heterozigosity supporting fixation at some loci. STRUCTURE analysis revealed clear separation between accessions revealing the presence of four ancestral populations. This may be explained by the long reproductive isolation experienced by these materials. Finally, morphological observations confirm the high diversity between landraces revealing that they generally have flint kernels, variable color from yellow to dark red (Châtillon) while Perloz showed kernels with an apical beak. The present work confirms the importance of mountain areas in conserving biodiversity and increases the rich Italian maize germplasm with materials well adapted to marginal areas. Such new genetic variability may be used to breed new materials for more resilient agriculture.
Aim
A survey on indigenous malolactic bacteria populations isolated from wines produced in 13 different wineries of Aosta Valley, the highest vine‐growing area in Europe, was carried out in order to ...characterize the dominant strains in spontaneous malolactic fermentation (MLF) and to reveal the appearance of psychrotrophic ones.
Methods and Results
Fifty‐four isolates were identify by ITS rDNA region analysis and partial sequencing of 16S rDNA gene: 80% were ascribed to Oenococcus oeni while the remaining 20% were attributed to Pediococcus damnosus species. The genetic diversity of 43 O. oeni isolates was investigated through PFGE analysis after ApaI and SfiI restriction: 28 different pulso‐types were discriminated at a level of similarity of 90%. In general, the MLF was led by more than one strain simultaneously. No connection between genotype and grape variety or vine‐training system or geographical site of isolation was observed. The histidine decarboxylase gene was not found in any isolate. Pediococci proved to be more resistant than oenococci to lysozyme. Three O. oeni strains (2A1, 6A2 and 11A4) were able to develop at 10°C in Petit Rouge wine.
Conclusions
Psychrotrophy is a phenotypic trait present in O. oeni species and it may be possible to select strains for the management of MLF in cold climate territories where this biologic transformation is very difficult to control.
Significance and Impact of the Study
The natural emergence of strains able to perform the MLF at 10°C in wine is a new finding, interesting because it confirms the ecological ability of O. oeni species to adapt itself to environmental conditions by strain phenotype variations. It can be also a starting point for more sustainable oenological practices, since it would be alternative to the conditioning systems of the tanks or of the wineries where they are costly in terms of investment and energy consumption.
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