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1. Machine learning and XAI approaches highlight the strong connection between $$O_3$$ O 3 and $$NO_2$$ N O 2 pollutants and Alzheimer’s disease

Author: Alessandro Fania, Alfonso Monaco, Nicola Amoroso, Loredana Bellantuono, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Najada Firza, Antonio Lacalamita, Ester Pantaleo, Sabina Tangaro, Alena Velichevskaya, and Roberto Bellotti
Subjects: Alzheimer, Machine learning, Explainable artificial intelligence, Pollution, Standardized mortality ratio (SMR), One health, Medicine, Science
Abstract: Abstract Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia with millions of affected patients worldwide. Currently, there is still no cure and AD is often diagnosed long time after onset because there is no clear diagnosis. Thus, it is essential to study the physiology and pathogenesis of AD, investigating the risk factors that could be strongly connected to the disease onset. Despite AD, like other complex diseases, is the result of the combination of several factors, there is emerging agreement that environmental pollution should play a pivotal role in the causes of disease. In this work, we implemented an Artificial Intelligence model to predict AD mortality, expressed as Standardized Mortality Ratio, at Italian provincial level over 5 years. We employed a set of publicly available variables concerning pollution, health, society and economy to feed a Random Forest algorithm. Using methods based on eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) we found that air pollution (mainly $$O_3$$ O 3 and $$NO_2$$ N O 2 ) contribute the most to AD mortality prediction. These results could help to shed light on the etiology of Alzheimer’s disease and to confirm the urgent need to further investigate the relationship between the environment and the disease.
Published: 2024
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2. Grassland vertical height heterogeneity predicts flower and bee diversity: an UAV photogrammetric approach

Author: Michele Torresani, Duccio Rocchini, Giada Ceola, Jan Peter Reinier de Vries, Hannes Feilhauer, Vítězslav Moudrý, Harm Bartholomeus, Michela Perrone, Matteo Anderle, Hannes Andres Gamper, Ludovico Chieffallo, Enrico Guatelli, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, and David Kleijn
Subjects: Medicine, Science
Abstract: Abstract The ecosystem services offered by pollinators are vital for supporting agriculture and ecosystem functioning, with bees standing out as especially valuable contributors among these insects. Threats such as habitat fragmentation, intensive agriculture, and climate change are contributing to the decline of natural bee populations. Remote sensing could be a useful tool to identify sites of high diversity before investing into more expensive field survey. In this study, the ability of Unoccupied Aerial Vehicles (UAV) images to estimate biodiversity at a local scale has been assessed while testing the concept of the Height Variation Hypothesis (HVH). This hypothesis states that the higher the vegetation height heterogeneity (HH) measured by remote sensing information, the higher the vegetation vertical complexity and the associated species diversity. In this study, the concept has been further developed to understand if vegetation HH can also be considered a proxy for bee diversity and abundance. We tested this approach in 30 grasslands in the South of the Netherlands, where an intensive field data campaign (collection of flower and bee diversity and abundance) was carried out in 2021, along with a UAV campaign (collection of true color-RGB-images at high spatial resolution). Canopy Height Models (CHM) of the grasslands were derived using the photogrammetry technique “Structure from Motion” (SfM) with horizontal resolution (spatial) of 10 cm, 25 cm, and 50 cm. The accuracy of the CHM derived from UAV photogrammetry was assessed by comparing them through linear regression against local CHM LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data derived from an Airborne Laser Scanner campaign completed in 2020/2021, yielding an $$R^2$$ R 2 of 0.71. Subsequently, the HH assessed on the CHMs at the three spatial resolutions, using four different heterogeneity indices (Rao’s Q, Coefficient of Variation, Berger–Parker index, and Simpson’s D index), was correlated with the ground-based flower and bee diversity and bee abundance data. The Rao’s Q index was the most effective heterogeneity index, reaching high correlations with the ground-based data (0.44 for flower diversity, 0.47 for bee diversity, and 0.34 for bee abundance). Interestingly, the correlations were not significantly influenced by the spatial resolution of the CHM derived from UAV photogrammetry. Our results suggest that vegetation height heterogeneity can be used as a proxy for large-scale, standardized, and cost-effective inference of flower diversity and habitat quality for bees.
Published: 2024
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3. A Dementia mortality rates dataset in Italy (2012–2019)

Author: Alessandro Fania, Alfonso Monaco, Nicola Amoroso, Loredana Bellantuono, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Najada Firza, Antonio Lacalamita, Ester Pantaleo, Sabina Tangaro, Alena Velichevskaya, and Roberto Bellotti
Subjects: Science
Abstract: Abstract Dementia is on the rise in the world population and has been defined by the World Health Organization as a global public health priority. In Italy, according to demographic projections, in 2051 there will be 280 elderly people for every 100 young people, with an increase in all age-related chronic diseases, including dementia. Currently the total number of patients with dementia is estimated to be over 1 million (mainly with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD)). In-depth studies of the etiology and physiology of dementia are complicated due to the complexity of these diseases and their long duration. In this work we present a dataset on mortality rates (in the form of Standardized Mortality Ratios, SMR) for AD e PD in Italy at provincial level over a period of 8 years (2012–2019). Access to long-term, spatially detailed and ready-to-use data could favor both health monitoring and the research of new treatments and new drugs as well as innovative methodologies for early diagnosis of dementia.
Published: 2023
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4. A ten-year (2009–2018) database of cancer mortality rates in Italy

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Arianna Di Paola, Alfonso Monaco, Alena Velichevskaya, Nicola Amoroso, and Roberto Bellotti
Subjects: Science
Abstract: Measurement(s) Standardized Mortality Ratio Technology Type(s) Public database
Published: 2022
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5. A novel approach for surveying flowers as a proxy for bee pollinators using drone images

Author: Michele Torresani, David Kleijn, Jan Peter Reinier de Vries, Harm Bartholomeus, Ludovico Chieffallo, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Vítězslav Moudrý, Daniele Da Re, Enrico Tomelleri, and Duccio Rocchini
Subjects: Bees, Biodiversity, Flowering plants, Machine learning, Monitoring, Spatial resolution, Ecology, QH540-549.5
Abstract: The abundance and diversity of plants and insects are important indicators of biodiversity, overall ecosystem health and agricultural production. Bees in particular are interesting indicators as they provide a key ecosystem service in many agricultural crops. Worldwide, habitat loss and fragmentation, agricultural intensification and climate change are important drivers of plant and bee decline. Monitoring of plants and bees is a crucial first step to safeguard their diversity and the services they provide but traditional in situ methods are time consuming and expensive. Remote sensing and Earth observation have the advantages that they can cover large areas and provides repeated, spatially continuous and standardized information. However, to date it has proven challenging to use these methods to assess small-scaled species-level biodiversity components with this approach. Here we surveyed bees and flowering plants using conventional field methods in 30 grasslands along a land-use intensity gradient in the Southeast of the Netherlands. We took RGB (true colored Red-Green–Blue) images using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) from the same fields and tested whether remote sensing can provide accurate assessments of flower cover and diversity and, by association, bee abundance and diversity. We explored the performance of different machine learning methods: Random Forest (RF), Neural Networks (NNET) and Support-Vector Machine (SVM). To evaluate the effect of the spatial resolution on the accuracy of the estimates, we tested all approaches using images at the original spatial resolution (∼ 0.5 cm) and re-sampled at 1 cm, 2 cm and 5 cm. We generally found significant relationships between UAV RGB derived estimates of flower cover and in situ estimates of flower cover and bee abundance and diversity. The highest resolution images generally resulted in the strongest relationships, with RF and NNET methods producing considerably better results than SVM methods (flower cover RF R2 = 0.8, NNET R2 = 0.79; bee abundance RF R2 = 0.65, NNET R2 = 0.54, bee species richness RF R2 = 0.62, NNET R2 = 0.52; bee species diversity RF R2 = 0.54, NNET R2 = 0.46). Our results suggest that methods based on the coupling of UAV imagery and machine learning methods can be developed into valuable tools for large-scale, standardized and cost-effective monitoring of flower cover and therefore of an important aspect of habitat quality for bees.
Published: 2023
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6. Effects of Climate and Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition on Early to Mid-Term Stage Litter Decomposition Across Biomes

Author: TaeOh Kwon, Hideaki Shibata, Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas, Inger K. Schmidt, Klaus S. Larsen, Claus Beier, Björn Berg, Kris Verheyen, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Frank Hagedorn, Nico Eisenhauer, Ika Djukic, TeaComposition Network, Inger Kappel Schmidt, Klaus Steenberg Larsen, Jean Francois Lamarque, Adriano Caliman, Alain Paquette, Alba Gutiérrez-Girón, Alessandro Petraglia, Algirdas Augustaitis, Amélie Saillard, Ana Carolina Ruiz-Fernández, Ana I. Sousa, Ana I. Lillebø, Anderson da Rocha Gripp, Andrea Lamprecht, Andreas Bohner, André-Jean Francez, Andrey Malyshev, Andrijana Andrić, Angela Stanisci, Anita Zolles, Anna Avila, Anna-Maria Virkkala, Anne Probst, Annie Ouin, Anzar A. Khuroo, Arne Verstraeten, Artur Stefanski, Aurora Gaxiola, Bart Muys, Beatriz Gozalo, Bernd Ahrends, Bo Yang, Brigitta Erschbamer, Carmen Eugenia Rodríguez Ortíz, Casper T. Christiansen, Céline Meredieu, Cendrine Mony, Charles Nock, Chiao-Ping Wang, Christel Baum, Christian Rixen, Christine Delire, Christophe Piscart, Christopher Andrews, Corinna Rebmann, Cristina Branquinho, Dick Jan, Dirk Wundram, Dušanka Vujanović, E. Carol Adair, Eduardo Ordóñez-Regil, Edward R. Crawford, Elena F. Tropina, Elisabeth Hornung, Elli Groner, Eric Lucot, Esperança Gacia, Esther Lévesque, Evanilde Benedito, Evgeny A. Davydov, Fábio Padilha Bolzan, Fernando T. Maestre, Florence Maunoury-Danger, Florian Kitz, Florian Hofhansl, Flurin Sutter, Francisco de Almeida Lobo, Franco Leadro Souza, Franz Zehetner, Fulgence Kouamé Koffi, Georg Wohlfahrt, Giacomo Certini, Gisele Daiane Pinha, Grizelle González, Guylaine Canut, Harald Pauli, Héctor A. Bahamonde, Heike Feldhaar, Heinke Jäger, Helena Cristina Serrano, Hélène Verheyden, Helge Bruelheide, Henning Meesenburg, Hermann Jungkunst, Hervé Jactel, Hiroko Kurokawa, Ian Yesilonis, Inara Melece, Inge van Halder, Inmaculada García Quirós, István Fekete, Ivika Ostonen, Jana Borovská, Javier Roales, Jawad Hasan Shoqeir, Jean-Christophe Lata, Jean-Luc Probst, Jeyanny Vijayanathan, Jiri Dolezal, Joan-Albert Sanchez-Cabeza, Joël Merlet, John Loehr, Jonathan von Oppen, Jörg Löffler, José Luis Benito Alonso, José-Gilberto Cardoso-Mohedano, Josep Peñuelas, Joseph C. Morina, Juan Darío Quinde, Juan J. Jiménez, Juha M. Alatalo, Julia Seeber, Julia Kemppinen, Jutta Stadler, Kaie Kriiska, Karel Van den Meersche, Karibu Fukuzawa, Katalin Szlavecz, Katalin Juhos, Katarína Gerhátová, Kate Lajtha, Katie Jennings, Katja Tielbörger, Kazuhiko Hoshizaki, Ken Green, Klaus Steinbauer, Laryssa Pazianoto, Laura Dienstbach, Laura Yahdjian, Laura J. Williams, Laurel Brigham, Lee Hanna, Liesbeth van den Brink, Lindsey Rustad, Lourdes Morillas, Luciana Silva Carneiro, Luciano Di Martino, Luis Villar, Luísa Alícida Fernandes Tavares, Madison Morley, Manuela Winkler, Marc Lebouvier, Marcello Tomaselli, Marcus Schaub, Maria Glushkova, Maria Guadalupe Almazan Torres, Marie-Anne de Graaff, Marie-Noëlle Pons, Marijn Bauters, Marina Mazón, Mark Frenzel, Markus Wagner, Markus Didion, Maroof Hamid, Marta Lopes, Martha Apple, Martin Weih, Matej Mojses, Matteo Gualmini, Matthew Vadeboncoeur, Michael Bierbaumer, Michael Danger, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Michal Růžek, Michel Isabellon, Michele Di Musciano, Michele Carbognani, Miglena Zhiyanski, Mihai Puşcaş, Milan Barna, Mioko Ataka, Miska Luoto, Mohammed H. Alsafaran, Nadia Barsoum, Naoko Tokuchi, Nathalie Korboulewsky, Nicolas Lecomte, Nina Filippova, Norbert Hölzel, Olga Ferlian, Oscar Romero, Osvaldo Pinto-Jr, Pablo Peri, Pavel Dan Turtureanu, Peter Haase, Peter Macreadie, Peter B. Reich, Petr Petřík, Philippe Choler, Pierre Marmonier, Quentin Ponette, Rafael Dettogni Guariento, Rafaella Canessa, Ralf Kiese, Rebecca Hewitt, Robert Weigel, Róbert Kanka, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Rodrigo Lemes Martins, Romà Ogaya, Romain Georges, Rosario G. Gavilán, Sally Wittlinger, Sara Puijalon, Satoshi Suzuki, Schädler Martin, Schmidt Anja, Sébastien Gogo, Silvio Schueler, Simon Drollinger, Simone Mereu, Sonja Wipf, Stacey Trevathan-Tackett, Stefan Stoll, Stefan Löfgren, Stefan Trogisch, Steffen Seitz, Stephan Glatzel, Susanna Venn, Sylvie Dousset, Taiki Mori, Takanori Sato, Takuo Hishi, Tatsuro Nakaji, Theurillat Jean-Paul, Thierry Camboulive, Thomas Spiegelberger, Thomas Scholten, Thomas J. Mozdzer, Till Kleinebecker, Tomáš Rusňák, Tshililo Ramaswiela, Tsutom Hiura, Tsutomu Enoki, Tudor-Mihai Ursu, Umberto Morra di Cella, Ute Hamer, Valentin Klaus, Valter Di Cecco, Vanessa Rego, Veronika Fontana, Veronika Piscová, Vincent Bretagnolle, Vincent Maire, Vinicius Farjalla, Vittoz Pascal, Wenjun Zhou, Wentao Luo, William Parker, Yasuhiro Utsumi, Yuji Kominami, Zsolt Kotroczó, and Zsolt Tóth
Subjects: tea bag, Green tea, Rooibos tea, litter decomposition, carbon turnover, nitrogen deposition, Forestry, SD1-669.5, Environmental sciences, GE1-350
Abstract: Litter decomposition is a key process for carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems and is mainly controlled by environmental conditions, substrate quantity and quality as well as microbial community abundance and composition. In particular, the effects of climate and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition on litter decomposition and its temporal dynamics are of significant importance, since their effects might change over the course of the decomposition process. Within the TeaComposition initiative, we incubated Green and Rooibos teas at 524 sites across nine biomes. We assessed how macroclimate and atmospheric inorganic N deposition under current and predicted scenarios (RCP 2.6, RCP 8.5) might affect litter mass loss measured after 3 and 12 months. Our study shows that the early to mid-term mass loss at the global scale was affected predominantly by litter quality (explaining 73% and 62% of the total variance after 3 and 12 months, respectively) followed by climate and N deposition. The effects of climate were not litter-specific and became increasingly significant as decomposition progressed, with MAP explaining 2% and MAT 4% of the variation after 12 months of incubation. The effect of N deposition was litter-specific, and significant only for 12-month decomposition of Rooibos tea at the global scale. However, in the temperate biome where atmospheric N deposition rates are relatively high, the 12-month mass loss of Green and Rooibos teas decreased significantly with increasing N deposition, explaining 9.5% and 1.1% of the variance, respectively. The expected changes in macroclimate and N deposition at the global scale by the end of this century are estimated to increase the 12-month mass loss of easily decomposable litter by 1.1–3.5% and of the more stable substrates by 3.8–10.6%, relative to current mass loss. In contrast, expected changes in atmospheric N deposition will decrease the mid-term mass loss of high-quality litter by 1.4–2.2% and that of low-quality litter by 0.9–1.5% in the temperate biome. Our results suggest that projected increases in N deposition may have the capacity to dampen the climate-driven increases in litter decomposition depending on the biome and decomposition stage of substrate.
Published: 2021
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7. Aboveground forest biomass varies across continents, ecological zones and successional stages: refined IPCC default values for tropical and subtropical forests

Author: Danaë M A Rozendaal, Daniela Requena Suarez, Veronique De Sy, Valerio Avitabile, Sarah Carter, C Y Adou Yao, Esteban Alvarez-Davila, Kristina Anderson-Teixeira, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Luzmila Arroyo, Benjamin Barca, Timothy R Baker, Luca Birigazzi, Frans Bongers, Anne Branthomme, Roel J W Brienen, João M B Carreiras, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Susan C Cook-Patton, Mathieu Decuyper, Ben DeVries, Andres B Espejo, Ted R Feldpausch, Julian Fox, Javier G P Gamarra, Bronson W Griscom, Nancy Harris, Bruno Hérault, Eurídice N Honorio Coronado, Inge Jonckheere, Eric Konan, Sara M Leavitt, Simon L Lewis, Jeremy A Lindsell, Justin Kassi N’Dja, Anny Estelle N’Guessan, Beatriz Marimon, Edward T A Mitchard, Abel Monteagudo, Alexandra Morel, Anssi Pekkarinen, Oliver L Phillips, Lourens Poorter, Lan Qie, Ervan Rutishauser, Casey M Ryan, Maurizio Santoro, Dos Santos Silayo, Plinio Sist, J W Ferry Slik, Bonaventure Sonké, Martin J P Sullivan, Gaia Vaglio Laurin, Emilio Vilanova, Maria M H Wang, Eliakimu Zahabu, and Martin Herold
Subjects: tropical and subtropical forests, aboveground biomass, IPCC, secondary and old-growth forests, forest plots, monitoring, Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering, TD1-1066, Environmental sciences, GE1-350, Science, Physics, QC1-999
Abstract: For monitoring and reporting forest carbon stocks and fluxes, many countries in the tropics and subtropics rely on default values of forest aboveground biomass (AGB) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventories. Default IPCC forest AGB values originated from 2006, and are relatively crude estimates of average values per continent and ecological zone. The 2006 default values were based on limited plot data available at the time, methods for their derivation were not fully clear, and no distinction between successional stages was made. As part of the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for GHG Inventories, we updated the default AGB values for tropical and subtropical forests based on AGB data from >25 000 plots in natural forests and a global AGB map where no plot data were available. We calculated refined AGB default values per continent, ecological zone, and successional stage, and provided a measure of uncertainty. AGB in tropical and subtropical forests varies by an order of magnitude across continents, ecological zones, and successional stage. Our refined default values generally reflect the climatic gradients in the tropics, with more AGB in wetter areas. AGB is generally higher in old-growth than in secondary forests, and higher in older secondary (regrowth >20 years old and degraded/logged forests) than in young secondary forests (⩽20 years old). While refined default values for tropical old-growth forest are largely similar to the previous 2006 default values, the new default values are 4.0–7.7-fold lower for young secondary forests. Thus, the refined values will strongly alter estimated carbon stocks and fluxes, and emphasize the critical importance of old-growth forest conservation. We provide a reproducible approach to facilitate future refinements and encourage targeted efforts to establish permanent plots in areas with data gaps.
Published: 2022
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8. A novel Multilevel Biodiversity Index (MBI) for combined field and satellite imagery surveys

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti and Claudia Notarnicola
Subjects: Ecology, QH540-549.5
Abstract: In an epoch of fast and dramatic changes in ecosystems, a complete survey of biodiversity and an analysis of its spatial patterns from the field shall be associated with satellite imagery, which can provide a synoptic observation in space and time of the territory. This work presents the preliminary results of a new approach to monitor the biodiversity of a well-defined area, which takes into account species diversity and the landscape characteristics in terms of ecosystems diversity (land cover classes). We developed a Multilevel Biodiversity Index (MBI) and we tested it in a study site of 400 km2, belonging to the Central Mediterranean Ecoregion and consisting of forested areas, scrublands and steppes (Murge). With the aim to reach a global land cover classification system and a standardisation of the biodiversity surveys, the MBI can be easily adapted to study areas of different ecoregions on Earth. This index could certainly be useful for future studies and to address environmental policies in order to protect vulnerable ecosystems and assign a conservation priority rank that takes into account the presence of diversity both in terms of species and ecosystems. Keywords: Biodiversity, Monitoring, Multilevel biodiversity index, Satellite analyses, Mediterranean ecoregion, Field and RS monitoring
Published: 2018
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9. The spatial association between environmental pollution and long-term cancer mortality in Italy

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Arianna Di Paola, Alfonso Monaco, Alena Velichevskaya, Nicola Amoroso, Roberto Bellotti, Cazzolla Gatti R., Di Paola A., Monaco A., Velichevskaya A., Amoroso N., and Bellotti R.
Subjects: Air Pollutants, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Exposure, Environment, Pollution, Motor Vehicles, Italy, Artificial Intelligence, Air Pollution, Neoplasms, Machine learning, Humans, Environmental Chemistry, Mortality, Environmental Pollution, Waste Management and Disposal, Cancer
Abstract: Tumours are nowadays the second world-leading cause of death after cardiovascular diseases. During the last decades of cancer research, lifestyle and random/genetic factors have been blamed for cancer mortality, with obesity, seden-tary habits, alcoholism, and smoking contributing as supposed major causes. However, there is an emerging consensus that environmental pollution should be considered one of the main triggers. Unfortunately, all this preliminary scien-tific evidence has not always been followed by governments and institutions, which still fail to pursue research on can-cer's environmental connections. In this unprecedented national-scale detailed study, we analyzed the links between cancer mortality, socio-economic factors, and sources of environmental pollution in Italy, both at wider regional and finer provincial scales, with an artificial intelligence approach. Overall, we found that cancer mortality does not have a random or spatial distribution and exceeds the national average mainly when environmental pollution is also higher, despite healthier lifestyle habits. Our machine learning analysis of 35 environmental sources of pollution showed that air quality ranks first for importance concerning the average cancer mortality rate, followed by sites to be reclaimed, urban areas, and motor vehicle density. Moreover, other environmental sources of pollution proved to be relevant for the mortality of some specific cancer types. Given these alarming results, we call for a rearrangement of the priority of cancer research and care that sees the reduction and prevention of environmental contamination as a priority action to put in place in the tough struggle against cancer.
Published: 2023

10. Taranto’s Long Shadow? Cancer Mortality Is Higher for People Living Closer to One of the Most Polluted City of Italy

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Alena Velichevskaya, Cazzolla Gatti R., and Velichevskaya A.
Subjects: Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, смертность от рака, Geography, Planning and Development, Air pollution, Building and Construction, Cancer mortality, загрязнение воздуха, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, cancer mortality, air pollution, long-distance dispersal, Taranto, industry, Италия, Long-distance dispersal, Таранто, город, Industry
Abstract: A national-scale study in Italy showed an incidence of cancer higher in the territories indicated as highly polluted compared to the regional average. One of them, the city of Taranto in Apulia (Italy), which is considered one of the most polluted cities in Europe, has numerous industrial activities that impact population health. We studied the epidemiological effects of a high level of pollution produced by the industrial area of Taranto in increasing the mortality rate for some specific cancer types in the city and towns of the two provinces located downwind. We analysed 10-year mortality rates for 15 major types of tumours reported among the residents of Taranto, of eight surrounding towns, randomly placed within an imaginary cone in the main wind direction from the vertex of the industrial zone of Taranto, and of the two related provinces (Bari and Taranto’s metropolitan areas). Our results confirm our hypothesis that the mortality rate for some specific types of cancer is higher than the norm in the municipality of Taranto. We also found strong evidence that, for 12 out of 15 tumour types, mortality decreases with the distance of the other towns from Taranto’s industrial site. However, we have reasons to believe that other local causes may be implicated in the excess of mortality in some specific municipalities besides the potential dispersal of pollutants from the industrial area of Taranto. The proximity to Taranto cannot, in fact, explain all the anomalies detected in some populations. It is likely that other site-specific sources of heavy pollution are playing a role in worsening the death toll of these towns and this must be taken into serious consideration by environmental policymakers and local authorities.
Published: 2022

11. The number of tree species on Earth

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Peter B. Reich, Javier G. P. Gamarra, Tom Crowther, Cang Hui, Albert Morera, Jean-Francois Bastin, Sergio de-Miguel, Gert-Jan Nabuurs, Jens-Christian Svenning, Josep M. Serra-Diaz, Cory Merow, Brian Enquist, Maria Kamenetsky, Junho Lee, Jun Zhu, Jinyun Fang, Douglass F. Jacobs, Bryan Pijanowski, Arindam Banerjee, Robert A. Giaquinto, Giorgio Alberti, Angelica Maria Almeyda Zambrano, Esteban Alvarez-Davila, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Valerio Avitabile, Gerardo A. Aymard, Radomir Balazy, Chris Baraloto, Jorcely G. Barroso, Meredith L. Bastian, Philippe Birnbaum, Robert Bitariho, Jan Bogaert, Frans Bongers, Olivier Bouriaud, Pedro H. S. Brancalion, Francis Q. Brearley, Eben North Broadbent, Filippo Bussotti, Wendeson Castro da Silva, Ricardo Gomes César, Goran Češljar, Víctor Chama Moscoso, Han Y. H. Chen, Emil Cienciala, Connie J. Clark, David A. Coomes, Selvadurai Dayanandan, Mathieu Decuyper, Laura E. Dee, Jhon Del Aguila Pasquel, Géraldine Derroire, Marie Noel Kamdem Djuikouo, Tran Van Do, Jiri Dolezal, Ilija Đ. Đorđević, Julien Engel, Tom M. Fayle, Ted R. Feldpausch, Jonas K. Fridman, David J. Harris, Andreas Hemp, Geerten Hengeveld, Bruno Herault, Martin Herold, Thomas Ibanez, Andrzej M. Jagodzinski, Bogdan Jaroszewicz, Kathryn J. Jeffery, Vivian Kvist Johannsen, Tommaso Jucker, Ahto Kangur, Victor N. Karminov, Kuswata Kartawinata, Deborah K. Kennard, Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas, Gunnar Keppel, Mohammed Latif Khan, Pramod Kumar Khare, Timothy J. Kileen, Hyun Seok Kim, Henn Korjus, Amit Kumar, Ashwani Kumar, Diana Laarmann, Nicolas Labrière, Mait Lang, Simon L. Lewis, Natalia Lukina, Brian S. Maitner, Yadvinder Malhi, Andrew R. Marshall, Olga V. Martynenko, Abel L. Monteagudo Mendoza, Petr V. Ontikov, Edgar Ortiz-Malavasi, Nadir C. Pallqui Camacho, Alain Paquette, Minjee Park, Narayanaswamy Parthasarathy, Pablo Luis Peri, Pascal Petronelli, Sebastian Pfautsch, Oliver L. Phillips, Nicolas Picard, Daniel Piotto, Lourens Poorter, John R. Poulsen, Hans Pretzsch, Hirma Ramírez-Angulo, Zorayda Restrepo Correa, Mirco Rodeghiero, Rocío Del Pilar Rojas Gonzáles, Samir G. Rolim, Francesco Rovero, Ervan Rutishauser, Purabi Saikia, Christian Salas-Eljatib, Dmitry Schepaschenko, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Vladimír Šebeň, Marcos Silveira, Ferry Slik, Bonaventure Sonké, Alexandre F. Souza, Krzysztof Jan Stereńczak, Miroslav Svoboda, Hermann Taedoumg, Nadja Tchebakova, John Terborgh, Elena Tikhonova, Armando Torres-Lezama, Fons van der Plas, Rodolfo Vásquez, Helder Viana, Alexander C. Vibrans, Emilio Vilanova, Vincent A. Vos, Hua-Feng Wang, Bertil Westerlund, Lee J. T. White, Susan K. Wiser, Tomasz Zawiła-Niedźwiecki, Lise Zemagho, Zhi-Xin Zhu, Irié C. Zo-Bi, Jingjing Liang, Cazzolla Gatti, Roberto, Reich, Peter B, Gamarra, Javier GP, Crowther, Tom, Keppel, Gunnar, Liang, Jingjing, Cazzolla Gatti R., Reich P.B., Gamarra J.G.P., Crowther T., Hui C., Morera A., Bastin J.-F., de-Miguel S., Nabuurs G.-J., Svenning J.-C., Serra-Diaz J.M., Merow C., Enquist B., Kamenetsky M., Lee J., Zhu J., Fang J., Jacobs D.F., Pijanowski B., Banerjee A., Giaquinto R.A., Alberti G., Almeyda Zambrano A.M., Alvarez-Davila E., Araujo-Murakami A., Avitabile V., Aymard G.A., Balazy R., Baraloto C., Barroso J.G., Bastian M.L., Birnbaum P., Bitariho R., Bogaert J., Bongers F., Bouriaud O., Brancalion P.H.S., Brearley F.Q., Broadbent E.N., Bussotti F., Castro da Silva W., Cesar R.G., Cesljar G., Chama Moscoso V., Chen H.Y.H., Cienciala E., Clark C.J., Coomes D.A., Dayanandan S., Decuyper M., Dee L.E., Del Aguila Pasquel J., Derroire G., Djuikouo M.N.K., Van Do T., Dolezal J., Dordevic I.D., Engel J., Fayle T.M., Feldpausch T.R., Fridman J.K., Harris D.J., Hemp A., Hengeveld G., Herault B., Herold M., Ibanez T., Jagodzinski A.M., Jaroszewicz B., Jeffery K.J., Johannsen V.K., Jucker T., Kangur A., Karminov V.N., Kartawinata K., Kennard D.K., Kepfer-Rojas S., Keppel G., Khan M.L., Khare P.K., Kileen T.J., Kim H.S., Korjus H., Kumar A., Laarmann D., Labriere N., Lang M., Lewis S.L., Lukina N., Maitner B.S., Malhi Y., Marshall A.R., Martynenko O.V., Monteagudo Mendoza A.L., Ontikov P.V., Ortiz-Malavasi E., Pallqui Camacho N.C., Paquette A., Park M., Parthasarathy N., Peri P.L., Petronelli P., Pfautsch S., Phillips O.L., Picard N., Piotto D., Poorter L., Poulsen J.R., Pretzsch H., Ramirez-Angulo H., Restrepo Correa Z., Rodeghiero M., Rojas Gonzales R.D.P., Rolim S.G., Rovero F., Rutishauser E., Saikia P., Salas-Eljatib C., Schepaschenko D., Scherer-Lorenzen M., Seben V., Silveira M., Slik F., Sonke B., Souza A.F., Sterenczak K.J., Svoboda M., Taedoumg H., Tchebakova N., Terborgh J., Tikhonova E., Torres-Lezama A., van der Plas F., Vasquez R., Viana H., Vibrans A.C., Vilanova E., Vos V.A., Wang H.-F., Westerlund B., White L.J.T., Wiser S.K., Zawila-Niedzwiecki T., Zemagho L., Zhu Z.-X., Zo-Bi I.C., Liang J., Purdue University [West Lafayette], University of Wisconsin-Madison, FAO Forestry, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [Rome, Italie] (FAO), SILVA (SILVA), AgroParisTech-Université de Lorraine (UL)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations (UMR AMAP), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud])-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université de Montpellier (UM), Département Systèmes Biologiques (Cirad-BIOS), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [Nouvelle-Calédonie]), Cazzolla Gatti, Roberto [0000-0001-5130-8492], Reich, Peter B [0000-0003-4424-662X], Hui, Cang [0000-0002-3660-8160], Morera, Albert [0000-0002-6777-169X], de-Miguel, Sergio [0000-0002-9738-0657], Svenning, Jens-Christian [0000-0002-3415-0862], Serra-Diaz, Josep M [0000-0003-1988-1154], Alberti, Giorgio [0000-0003-2422-3009], Bongers, Frans [0000-0002-8431-6189], Bouriaud, Olivier [0000-0002-8046-466X], Brancalion, Pedro HS [0000-0001-8245-4062], César, Ricardo Gomes [0000-0002-3392-8089], Chen, Han YH [0000-0001-9477-5541], Cienciala, Emil [0000-0002-1254-4254], Coomes, David [0000-0002-8261-2582], Djuikouo, Marie Noel Kamdem [0000-0003-0064-5151], Van Do, Tran [0000-0001-9059-5842], Feldpausch, Ted R [0000-0002-6631-7962], Jaroszewicz, Bogdan [0000-0002-2042-8245], Jeffery, Kathryn J [0000-0002-2632-0008], Kennard, Deborah K [0000-0003-4842-8260], Kim, Hyun Seok [0000-0002-3440-6071], Labrière, Nicolas [0000-0002-8037-2001], Maitner, Brian S [0000-0002-2118-9880], Malhi, Yadvinder [0000-0002-3503-4783], Peri, Pablo Luis [0000-0002-5398-4408], Phillips, Oliver L [0000-0002-8993-6168], Poorter, Lourens [0000-0003-1391-4875], Poulsen, John R [0000-0002-1532-9808], Salas-Eljatib, Christian [0000-0002-8468-0829], Schepaschenko, Dmitry [0000-0002-7814-4990], Silveira, Marcos [0000-0003-0485-7872], Slik, Ferry [0000-0003-3988-7019], Sonké, Bonaventure [0000-0002-4310-3603], Terborgh, John [0000-0003-1853-8311], Wiser, Susan K [0000-0002-8938-8181], Liang, Jingjing [0000-0001-9439-9320], Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository, and Coomes, David A [0000-0002-8261-2582]
Subjects: Cambios Antropogénicos, Richness, SAMPLE, Earth, Planet, Rarity, Bos- en Landschapsecologie, DIVERSITY, Forests, [SDV.BID.SPT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Systematics, Phylogenetics and taxonomy, Trees, forest, Bioma, Laboratory of Geo-information Science and Remote Sensing, Biome, espèce (taxon), HETEROGENEITY, Forest and Landscape Ecology, Forest Biodiversity, hyperdominance, Riqueza de Especies, Ecosystem Services, biodiversity, forests, hyperdominance, rarity, richness, biodiversity, Multidisciplinary, Hyperdominance, Overall Scale, F70 - Taxonomie végétale et phytogéographie, Biodiversity, [SDV.BV.BOT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Vegetal Biology/Botanics, Écologie des populations, PE&RC, COVERAGE, Boscos i silvicultura, Biometris, Forest Ecosystems, ABUNDANCE, Anthropogenic Changes, Vegetatie, Bos- en Landschapsecologie, Biodiversité, леса, Conservation of Natural Resources, F40 - Écologie végétale, Servicios de los Ecosistemas, Vulnerability, ECOLOGIA DE POPULAÇÕES, Arbre, ECOLOGY, Biodiversidad, forests, rarity, richness, Ecosistemas Forestales, [SDV.EE.ECO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology, environment/Ecosystems, COMPLETENESS, Árboles, Settore BIO/07 - ECOLOGIA, Richness Species, Bosecologie en Bosbeheer, Laboratorium voor Geo-informatiekunde en Remote Sensing, K70 - Dégâts causés aux forêts et leur protection, Biodiversidad Forestal, Escala Global, Vegetatie, деревья, Vegetation, Forest Ecology and Forest Management, biodiversité forestière, биоразнообразие, PATTERNS, Vegetation, Forest and Landscape Ecology, [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology, Vulnerabilidad
Abstract: One of the most fundamental questions in ecology is how many species inhabit the Earth. However, due to massive logistical and financial challenges and taxonomic difficulties connected to the species concept definition, the global numbers of species, including those of important and well-studied life forms such as trees, still remain largely unknown. Here, based on global ground-sourced data, we estimate the total tree species richness at global, continental, and biome levels. Our results indicate that there are ∼73,000 tree species globally, among which ∼9,000 tree species are yet to be discovered. Roughly 40% of undiscovered tree species are in South America. Moreover, almost one-third of all tree species to be discovered may be rare, with very low populations and limited spatial distribution (likely in remote tropical lowlands and mountains). These findings highlight the vulnerability of global forest biodiversity to anthropogenic changes in land use and climate, which disproportionately threaten rare species and thus, global tree richness., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119 (6), ISSN:0027-8424, ISSN:1091-6490
Published: 2022

12. Do not blame bats and pangolins! Global consequences for wildlife conservation after the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Author: Manfredo Alejandro Turcios-Casco, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Turcios-Casco M.A., and Cazzolla Gatti R.
Subjects: 0106 biological sciences, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), media_common.quotation_subject, Wildlife, Biodiversity, Biodiversity conservation, 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, Blame, Pandemic, Bats, Pangolins, Environmental planning, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Wildlife conservation, media_common, Ecology, 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology, Bat, COVID-19, Geography, Commentary, Chinese traditional medicine
Abstract: This pandemic situation requests a correct understanding of our impacts on wildlife conservation, which would also provide benefits for our species. In this commentary we revised and discussed some of the repercussions that SARS-CoV-2 pandemic may have to wildlife. We propose four actions that should be taken into account to protect and conserve wildlife in this pandemic era: wildlife "wet" markets must close; human interference with wildlife must be reduced; bats and pangolins must be conserved and not blamed; and Chinese traditional medicine must be more controlled.
Published: 2020

13. New evidence of a fish–bird interspecific feeding association between the European seabass and the European shag in the Mediterranean Sea

Author: Francesco Tiralongo, Pero Ugarković, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Cazzolla Gatti R., Ugarkovic P., and Tiralongo F.
Subjects: 0106 biological sciences, European shag, biology, 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology, Foraging, Predation, Interspecific competition, Aquatic Science, Citizen science, biology.organism_classification, 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, Gulosus aristoteli, Fishery, Mediterranean sea, Geography, Mutualism, Mediterranean Sea, Ecosystem, Dicentrarchus labrax, Herding, Bay, Gulosus aristotelis, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Abstract: Although they have received little attention, interspecific feeding associations are a particular predation behavior in which two or more different species temporary feed simultaneously on the same food sources to obtain greater success in predation. These collaborations can be either mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasitic. One of the best-known examples is the seabird–cetacean associations. Prey herding is the foraging tactic most used in these associations and consists of swimming around and under prey balls to trap them in the water column. Here we reported some new evidence of a fish–bird interspecific feeding association between the European seabass, Dicentrarchus labrax (Linnaeus, 1758) and the European shag, Gulosus aristotelis (Linnaeus, 1761). We analyzed this association through the photograph and video documentation provided by “citizen scientists” in the Mediterranean Sea. We collected reliable proofs of this behavior, at least, in three instances from observations made by recreational fishermen in the Kvarner bay (Croatia, North Adriatic Sea). From the photographs and videos made available, we attempted to reconstruct a predation strategy adopted by these associated species to better understand the advantage this provides during hunting. Although it is not yet clear whether this association is an opportunistic behavior of the European seabass or a mutualistic strategy used by both species to improve their catching success, this feeding association seems to increase the chances to defeat prey defense strategies. Notably, some behavioral imitation of hunting strategies may be put in place by seabasses, which often feed in association with dolphins and other birds using similar prey herding strategies.
Published: 2021

14. Clarifying the smokescreen of Russian protected areas

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Alena Velichevksaya, Luigi Simeone, Cazzolla Gatti R., Velichevksaya A., and Simeone L.
Subjects: protected areas, Russia, deforestation, fire, forestry, logging, conservation, Environmental effects of industries and plants, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Geography, Planning and Development, Logging, TJ807-830, Forestry, Conservation, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, TD194-195, Fire, Protected area, Renewable energy sources, Environmental sciences, GE1-350, Deforestation
Abstract: Although in strictly protected areas no forest management and logging activities should be evident, a preliminary study detected that, even in the 200 areas with the highest protection of Russia, more than 2 Mha of trees have been lost between 2001 and 2018. Nonetheless, a relevant percentage of the actual drivers of tree loss in Russian strictly protected areas was surrounded by uncertainties due to several factors. Here, in an attempt to “clarify the smokescreen of Russian protected areas”, by validating previous remotely sensed data with new high-resolution satellite imagery and aerial images of land-use change, we shed more light on what has happened during the last 20 years. We used the same layer of tree loss from 2001 to 2020 but, instead of intersecting it with the MODIS data that could have been a source of underestimation of burned surfaces, we overlapped it to the layer of tree cover loss by dominant driver. We analysed the main drivers of tree loss in almost 200 strictly protected areas of Russia. We found that although fire is responsible for 75% of the loss in all strictly protected areas, forestry activities still account for 16%, and 9% is due to undefined causes. Therefore, uncontrolled wildfires (including those started before or after logging) and forestry activities are the main causes of 91% of the total tree loss. The combination of wildfires (often started intentionally) and forestry activities (illegally or barely legally put in place) caused a loss of an astonishing 3 million hectares. The fact that ≈10% of Russian tree cover was lost in two decades since 2001 only in strictly protected areas requires high attention by policymakers and important conservation actions to avoid losing other fundamental habitats and species during the next years when climate change and population growth can represent an additional trigger of an already dramatic situation. We call for an urgent response by national and local authorities that should start actively fighting wildfires, arsonists, and loggers even in inhabited remote areas and particularly in those included in strictly protected areas.
Published: 2021

15. Coronavirus outbreak is a symptom of Gaias sickness

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti and Cazzolla Gatti R.
Subjects: 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak, Ecological Modelling, Geography, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Ecological Modeling, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), medicine, Outbreak, Coronavirus, biodiversity, medicine.disease_cause, Virology, Article, Coronavirus
Abstract: It was New Year's Eve when Chinese authorities alerted WHO that several cases of an unusual pneumonia appeared in Wuhan (Huang et al. 2020). The COVID-19 was still unknown at that time but, in the first months of 2020, its outbreak has infected millions of people, killing (directly or indirectly) hundreds of thousands of them (WHO 2020). The panic related to the pandemic distribution of the virus shut down whole regions (in China, Iran, the United States, etc.) and even entire countries (Italy, Spain, Austria, etc.). Although it is not the worst microscopic killer humanity has ever known (for instance, think about the casualties due to the Black Death and the HIV; Wainberg et al. 2008; Haensch et al. 2010), this coronavirus is already changing our state of mind and impacting on our lifestyle, at a global scale.
Published: 2020
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16. Quantifying Changes in Plant Species Diversity in a Savanna Ecosystem Through Observed and Remotely Sensed Data

Author: Luxon Nhamo, Munyaradzi Chitakira, Lazarus Chapungu, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Chapungu L., Nhamo L., Cazzolla Gatti R., and Chitakira M.
Subjects: 0106 biological sciences, 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences, Geography, Planning and Development, Biodiversity, Climate change, TJ807-830, earth observation, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, Carbon sequestration, TD194-195, 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, Proxy (climate), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Renewable energy sources, Diversity index, Sampling design, Ecosystem, GE1-350, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences, biodiversity, Environmental effects of industries and plants, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, carbon sequestration, Environmental sciences, climate change, Environmental science, Physical geography, ecosystems, human activities
Abstract: This study examined the impact of climate change on plant species diversity of a savanna ecosystem, through an assessment of climatic trends over a period of forty years (1974&ndash, 2014) using Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe, as a case study. The normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) was used as a proxy for plant species diversity to cover for the absence of long-term historical plant diversity data. Observed precipitation and temperature data collected over the review period were compared with the trends in NDVI to understand the impact of climate change on plant species diversity over time. The nonaligned block sampling design was used as the sampling framework, from which 198 sampling plots were identified. Data sources included satellite images, field measurements, and direct observations. Temperature and precipitation had significant (p &lt, 0.05) trends over the period under study. However, the trend for seasonal total precipitation was not significant but declining. Significant correlations (p &lt, 0.001) were identified between various climate variables and the Shannon index of diversity. NDVI was also significantly correlated to the Shannon index of diversity. The declining trend of plant species in savanna ecosystems is directly linked to the decreasing precipitation and increasing temperatures.
Published: 2020

17. Learning from the environment: how predation changes the behavior of terrestrial Isopoda (Crustacea Oniscidea)

Author: Bianca Maria Lombardo, Francesco Tiralongo, Lorenzo A. Ursino, Giuseppina Messina, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Cazzolla Gatti R., Messina G., Tiralongo F., Ursino L.A., and Lombardo B.M.
Subjects: 0106 biological sciences, Isopoda, stimuli, behavior, predation, captivity, nature, nurture, Captivity, наземные равноногие раки, 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, Tonic (physiology), Predation, stimuli, Isopoda, поведенческие адаптации, 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences, 050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, поведение, biology, Ecology, behavior, 05 social sciences, nature, biology.organism_classification, Crustacean, хищничество, captivity, изоподы, nurture, Animal Science and Zoology, predation
Abstract: Terrestrial isopods have adapted to predatory pressures by evolving a variety of behaviors, which arise from a combination of specific traits, such as volvation and tonic immobility. Evolutionarily, these behavioral adaptations have been shown to increase the fitness of the individuals of the species who show them because the probability of being predated is reduced due to the loss of interest by the predator towards the immobile prey and the increase of interest towards the other mobile ones. Even if some of these behaviors have been shown to have a genetic basis, there is limited knowledge about the effects of environmental influences and predator-induced learning abilities on the antipredatory strategies of invertebrates, and isopods in particular. Our study aimed to understand the degree to which “nature” and “nurture” (i.e. environmental and genetic factors) and their interactions influence these antipredatory behaviors. There might be a difference in the behavior of wild and captive isopods in their volvation frequency and duration of tonic immobility due to environmental factors (i.e. predation) that induce learning-related behavioral changes. Therefore, we tested this hypothesis. We applied the three types of stimuli, which aim to simulate the interaction of the predator with the isopod. All three species showed a significant difference, between individuals collected in the field (wild) and raised in the laboratory (captive), in the reaction to the stimulus that simulates the fall from a bird’s beak or from the jaws of a lizard after a catch. Although volvation frequency was highly species- and stimulus-specific, the duration of tonic immobility and the delay in the response to each stimulus, when significant, was always higher in wild groups than captive ones. These substantial differences may reflect the evolutionary and ecological characteristics of each species and the importance of environmental pressures to shape the behavior of these invertebrates to optimize their life strategies.
Published: 2020

18. Certified 'sustainable' palm oil took the place of endangered Bornean and Sumatran large mammals habitat and tropical forests in the last 30 years

Author: Alena Velichevskaya, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Cazzolla Gatti R., and Velichevskaya A.
Subjects: Conservation of Natural Resources, Environmental Engineering, Certification, 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences, Biodiversity, Endangered species, 010501 environmental sciences, Forests, 01 natural sciences, Deforestation, Borneo, Environmental Chemistry, Animals, Conservation of Natural Resource, Waste Management and Disposal, Asia, Southeastern, Ecosystem, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences, Agroforestry, Animal, Tropics, Sumatra, Palm oil, Pollution, Endangered large mammal, Habitat destruction, Geography, Habitat, Sustainability, Indonesia, Threatened species
Abstract: Tropical forests inhabited by endangered orangutans, rhinos, tigers, and elephants in South-east Asia are threatened by deforestation, including oil palm expansion. Certification has been proposed to label sustainable palm oil production. However, from a remotely sensed time-series and imagery analysis (1984–2020), we discovered that most of the currently certified grower supply bases and concessions in Sumatra and Borneo are located in the 1990s large mammals habitat and in areas that were biodiverse tropical forests less than 30 years ago. In light of this dramatic evidence, we suggest that certification schemes claim for the “sustainable” production of palm oil just because they neglect a very recent past of deforestation and habitat degradation.
Published: 2020

19. Estimating biomass of savanna grasslands as a proxy of carbon stock using multispectral remote sensing

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Lazarus Chapungu, Luxon Nhamo, Chapungu L., Nhamo L., and Cazzolla Gatti R.
Subjects: луга, саванны, 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences, Geography, Planning and Development, 010501 environmental sciences, 01 natural sciences, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Grassland, Greenhouse gas emission, Tropical savanna climate, Multispectral pattern recognition, дистанционное зондирование, Savanna grasslands, Climate change, Satellite imagery, Ecosystem, Carbon stock, Computers in Earth Sciences, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences, geography, geography.geographical_feature_category, Forestry, Remote sensing, изменение климата, углеродный запас, выбросы парниковых газов, экосистемы, Greenhouse gas, Environmental science, Terrestrial ecosystem
Abstract: Limited research has been done to estimate the root biomass (belowground biomass) of savanna grasslands. The advent of remote sensing and related products have facilitated the estimation of biomass in terrestrial ecosystems, providing a synoptic overview on ecosystems biomass. Multispectral remote sensing was used in this study to estimate total biomass (belowground and aboveground) of selected tropical savanna grassland species. Total biomass was estimated by assessing the relationship between aboveground and belowground biomass, the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and belowground biomass, and NDVI and total biomass. Results showed a positive significant relationship (p = 0.005) between belowground and aboveground biomass. NDVI was significantly correlated (p = 0.0386) to aboveground biomass and the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) was 18.97 whilst the model BIAS was 0.019, values within acceptable ranges. A significant relationship (p = 0) was found between belowground biomass and NDVI and the RMSE was 5.53 and the model BIAS was 0.0041. More so, a significant relationship (p = 0.054) was observed between NDVI and total biomass. The positive relationships between NDVI and total grass biomass and the lack of bias in the model provides an opportunity to routinely monitor carbon stock and assess seasonal carbon storage fluctuations in grasslands. There is great potential in the ability of remote sensing to become an indispensable tool for assessing, monitoring and inventorying carbon stocks in grassland ecosystems under tropical savanna conditions.
Published: 2020

20. The pangolin's revenge: SARS-CoV-2 did not emerge from a lab but from wildlife exploitation

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti and Cazzolla Gatti R.
Subjects: 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak, History, biology, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous), Pangolin, Coronaviru, Wildlife, COVID-19, Epidemic, Environmental ethics, Environmental Science (miscellaneous), Environment, biology.organism_classification, Recombination, Experiment, Wildlife markets, Pandemic, medicine, Social media, Paranoia, medicine.symptom, China
Abstract: In recent weeks, news has spread that the current coronavirus is the result of something created in a laboratory that then escaped control. This concern also stems from news reporting that back in 2015 experiments were already being carried out in China to create a recombinant SARS-derived coronavirus. Unfortunately, such news finds fertile ground on social media and, especially in pandemic periods, fosters conspiracies and paranoia. This time, however, the news was spread by some authoritative sources. Here I explain how I found out convincing evidence that SARS-CoV-2 did not emerge from a lab but from wildlife exploitation.
Published: 2020

21. Longitudinal MRI quantification of muscle degeneration in Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Author: Maria Grazia Natali Sora, Alessandro Ambrosi, Antonella Iadanza, Andrea Tettamanti, Fabio Ciceri, Massimo Venturini, Clementina Sitzia, Claudia Godi, Stefano C. Previtali, Giulio Cossu, Corrado Santarosa, Letterio S. Politi, Andrea Falini, Marina Scarlato, Sara Napolitano, Yvan Torrente, Simonetta Gerevini, Maria Pia Cicalese, Francesca Nicastro, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Godi, Claudia, Ambrosi, Alessandro, Nicastro, Francesca, Previtali, Stefano C, Santarosa, Corrado, Napolitano, Sara, Iadanza, Antonella, Scarlato, Marina, Natali Sora, Maria Grazia, Tettamanti, Andrea, Gerevini, Simonetta, Cicalese, Maria Pia, Sitzia, Clementina, Venturini, Massimo, Falini, Andrea, Gatti, Roberto, Ciceri, Fabio, Cossu, Giulio, Torrente, Yvan, and Politi, Letterio S.
Subjects: Pathology, medicine.medical_specialty, Percentile, medicine.diagnostic_test, business.industry, General Neuroscience, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Disease progression, Fat infiltration, Magnetic resonance imaging, Muscle degeneration, Muscle volume, medicine.disease, 030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Ambulatory, medicine, Journal Article, Neurology (clinical), Nuclear medicine, business, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Research Articles, Research Article
Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in detecting the progression of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) by quantification of fat infiltration (FI) and muscle volume index (MVI, a residual-to-total muscle volume ratio). Methods Twenty-six patients (baseline age: 5–12 years) with genetically proven DMD were longitudinally analyzed with lower limb 3T MRI, force measurements, and functional tests (Gowers, 10-m time, North Star Ambulatory Assessment, 6-min walking test). Five age-matched controls were also examined, with a total of 85 MRI studies. Semiquantitative (scores) and quantitative MRI (qMRI) analyses (signal intensity ratio – SIR, lower limb MVI, and individual muscle MVI) were carried out. Permutation and regression analyses according to both age and functional test-outcomes were calculated. Age-related quantitative reference curves of SIRs and MVIs were generated. Results FI was present on glutei and adductor magnus in all patients since the age of 5, with a proximal-to-distal progression and selective sparing of sartorius and gracilis. Patients' qMRI measures were significantly different from controls' and among age classes. qMRI were more sensitive than force measurements and functional tests in assessing disease progression, allowing quantification also after loss of ambulation. Age-related curves with percentile values were calculated for SIRs and MVIs, to provide a reference background for future experimental therapy trials. SIRs and MVIs significantly correlated with all clinical measures, and could reliably predict functional outcomes and loss of ambulation. Interpretations qMRI-based indexes are sensitive measures that can track the progression of DMD and represent a valuable tool for follow-up and clinical studies.
Published: 2016

22. BioTIME: A database of biodiversity time series for the Anthropocene

Author: Grace E. Frank, Alecia Bellgrove, Flaviana Maluf Souza, Fakhrizal Setiawan, Vladimir G. Onipchenko, Miguel Barbosa, J. Emmett Duffy, Robert A. Davis, Giselda Durigan, Jan Vanaverbeke, Ricardo Rocha, Ana Paula Savassi-Coutinho, Francis Neat, Emily H. Stanley, Erkki Pulliainen, Vinicius Castro Souza, Stephen F. Newton, N. A. Mil'chakova, Annika Hofgaard, James A. Nelson, Elisabeth J. Cooper, Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi, Sonja Wipf, Anders Enemar, Gabriel Barros Gonçalves de Souza, Claire Laguionie-Marchais, Dušan Adam, Robert N. L. Fitt, Christopher P. Bloch, Claus Bässler, Gediminas Vaitkus, Magdalena Błażewicz, Robert R. Twilley, Richard Condit, B.R. Ramesh, Chaolun Allen Chen, Grace E. P. Murphy, Kevin P. Robinson, Gal Badihi, Lars G. Rudstam, J. Jonathan Moore, David M. Paterson, Sarah R. Supp, Claire E. Widdicombe, Suzanne M. Remillard, Hans M. Verheye, Jill F. Johnstone, Claire H. Davies, Shane A. Blowes, Mark E. Harmon, Rick D. Stuart-Smith, Andrew J. Brooks, Gert Van Hoey, José Eduardo Rebelo, Anna Maria Fosaa, Tim S. Doherty, Jasper A. Slingsby, Francesco Pomati, Raphaël Pélissier, Ward Appeltans, José Manuel Arcos, Phaedra Budy, Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, Maria Teresa Zugliani Toniato, Anthony J. Richardson, Luiz Fernando Loureiro Fernandes, Christopher D. Stallings, Rowan Stanforth, David J. Kushner, A. A. Akhmetzhanova, Geraldo Antônio Daher Corrêa Franco, Alessandra Fidelis, Elizabeth Gorgone-Barbosa, Dave Watts, S.A. Tarigan, Timothy C. Bonebrake, Kent P. McFarland, Jonathan Belmaker, Shahar Malamud, Kamil Král, John D. Lloyd, Diane M. McKnight, Alessandra Rocha Kortz, Luise Hermanutz, Tore Johannessen, N. Ayyappan, Brian J. Bett, Haley Arnold, Fernando Rodrigues da Silva, Peter L. Meserve, Francisco Lloret, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, Michael R. Willig, Linda A. Kuhnz, Esther Lévesque, Kwang-Tsao Shao, Sofía Sal, Robert D. Hollister, Andrew Rassweiler, Christoph F. J. Meyer, Jeffrey C. Oliver, Isla H. Myers-Smith, Graham J. Edgar, Jacek Siciński, Beatriz Salgado, Fábio Venturoli, Matt Bradford, Borgþór Magnússon, Edward Castañeda-Moya, Anne D. Bjorkman, Eric Post, Alain Paquette, Or Givan, Jonathan S. Lefcheck, Falk Huettmann, Fábio Lang da Silveira, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Thomas J. Valone, Sarah C. Elmendorf, Sinta Pardede, Esben Moland Olsen, Laura Siegwart Collier, Flavio Antonio Maës dos Santos, Andrew H. Baird, Cheol Min Lee, Robert B. Waide, Olivia Mendivil Ramos, David C. Lightfoot, Stefan B. Williams, Ute Jandt, David Janík, Stephen S. Hale, Robin Elahi, Andrew L. Rypel, S. K. Morgan Ernest, Jörg Müller, Gaius R. Shaver, Anna Jażdżewska, José Mauro Sterza, Maarten Stevens, Denise de Cerqueira Rossa-Feres, Dor Edelist, Martha Isabel Vallejo, Michael Paul Nelson, Conor Waldock, Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues, Sally Sherman, Dustin J. Wilgers, Sharon K. Collinge, Kristen T. Holeck, Josep Peñuelas, Douglas A. Kelt, Tiago Egydio Barreto, Faye Moyes, Robert L. Schooley, Peter B. Reich, Jason Meador, Anders Michelsen, J. Paul Richardson, Sara J. Snell, Julio R. Gutiérrez, Chih-hao Hsieh, Gary D. Grossman, Hernando García, Ana Carolina da Silva, Kyle J. A. Zawada, Richard T. Holmes, John C. Priscu, Christine L. Huffard, Christian Rixen, William O. McLarney, Julia A. Jones, Anne Tolvanen, William A. Gould, Maite Louzao, Alejandro Pérez-Matus, Donald L. Henshaw, Kathleen L. Prudic, Herbert H. T. Prins, Helge Bruelheide, Catalina S. Ruz, Rui P. Vieira, Gary P. Thiede, Erin C. Keeley, James H. Brown, William R. Fraser, Pieter Provoost, Andrew S. Hoey, Robert J. Pabst, Kerry D. Woods, Fabiano Turini Farah, Nancy B. Rybicki, Sara E. Scanga, Trevor J. Willis, Daniel J. Metcalfe, Mark Williamson, Joshua S. Madin, Tasrif Kartawijaya, Brian J. McGill, Erica M. Sampaio, Shannan K. Crow, Stephen P. Hubbell, Jochen Schmidt, Daniel C. Reed, Steven Degraer, Laura H. Antão, Krzysztof Pabis, Christopher C. Koenig, Fernando Carvalho, Marcelo Vianna, Anne E. Magurran, Marc Estiarte, Rebecca Kinnear, Tracey Smart, Lesley T. Lancaster, Frank P. Day, Natalia Norden, Unai Cotano, Fábio Z. Farneda, Nelson Valdivia, Corinna Gries, Tomasz Wesołowski, Pedro Higuchi, Jungwon Kang, Randall W. Myster, Itai van Rijn, Oscar Pizarro, Michael L. Zettler, Simon Thorn, Thomas W. Sherry, Timothy E. Dunn, Tung-Yung Fan, Susan Boyd, Adrià López-Baucells, Tomáš Vrška, Tory J. Chase, Ruben Escribano, R. Williams, Carolina Mathias Moreira, John F. Chamblee, Con Quang Vu, Halvor Knutsen, Amanda E. Bates, Maria Dornelas, Kari Klanderud, Jorge Yoshio Tamashiro, Tom Moens, Sara L. Webb, Iain Matthews, Carl Van Colen, Chao-Yang Kuo, Caya Sievers, Faith A. M. Jones, Gary Haskins, Eric J. Woehler, J. Hans C. Cornelissen, Allen H. Hurlbert, Mia O. Hoogenboom, Pamela Hidalgo, Henry A. Ruhl, Brian S. Evans, Ørjan Totland, Lien Van Vu, Yzel Rondon Súarez, Gabriella Damasceno, Even Moland, John Harte, Andrew Naumov, Ethan P. White, Natália Macedo Ivanauskas, Systems Ecology, International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, Oostende, Safety science group, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères (MEAE), Department of Biology [Pisa], University of Pisa - Università di Pisa, CSIRO Land and Water, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation [Canberra] (CSIRO), Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle Wittenberg (MLU), Management Unit of the Mathematical Model of the North Sea, Royal Belgian Insitute of Natural Sciences, Floresta Estadual Assis, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CEAB-CSIC, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona [Barcelona] (UAB), National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Polar Oceans Research Group [USA], Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University [Tel Aviv], Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), EWHALE Laboratory of Biology and Wildlife Department, Institute of Arctic Biology-University of Alaska [Fairbanks] (UAF), Laboratory of Polar Biology and Oceanobiology, University of Lódź, Dept Ecol Evol Biol, Univ California SC (EEB-UCSC), University of California [Santa Cruz] (UCSC), University of California-University of California, Département de chimie-biologie & Centre d’études nordiques [CANADA], Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), Human Communication Technologies Research Laboratory (UBC), University of British Columbia (UBC), Instituto Espanol de Oceanografia, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Department of Biology [Copenhagen], Faculty of Science [Copenhagen], University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (KU), Institute of Marine Research, Flødevigen Marine Research Station, Computer Laboratory [Cambridge], University of Cambridge [UK] (CAM), Aarhus University [Aarhus], Evolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre for Forest Research (CFR), Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), The Centre for Applied Genomics, Toronto, University of Toronto-The Hospital for Sick Children-Department of Molecular Genetics-McLaughlin Centre, Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations (UMR AMAP), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Centro de Investigación Oceanográfica en el Pacífico Sur Oriental (COPAS), Universidad de Concepción [Chile], Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), Penn State System-Penn State System, Department of Biological Science [Tallahassee], Florida State University [Tallahassee] (FSU), Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota [Twin Cities], University of Minnesota System-University of Minnesota System, WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Communication Systems Group [Zurich], Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich [Zürich] (ETH Zürich), Academia Sinica, Facultad Ciencias del Mar, universidad catolica del Norte, Marine Biology Section, Ghent University [Belgium] (UGENT), Department of Avian Ecology, Wrocław University, Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies [Horbat] (IMAS), University of Tasmania (UTAS), European Project: 610028,EC:FP7:ERC,ERC-2013-SyG,IMBALANCE-P(2014), Dornelas, Maria, University of St Andrews. School of Biology, University of St Andrews. Fish Behaviour and Biodiversity Research Group, University of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland, University of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews. Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences, University of St Andrews. St Andrews Sustainability Institute, University of St Andrews. Centre for Research into Ecological & Environmental Modelling, University of St Andrews. Sediment Ecology Research Group, University of St Andrews. Centre for Higher Education Research, Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères (MEAE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Universidade de São Paulo = University of São Paulo (USP), Tel Aviv University (TAU), University of California [Santa Cruz] (UC Santa Cruz), University of California (UC)-University of California (UC), University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH), Flødevigen Research Station (IMR), Institute of Marine Research [Bergen] (IMR), University of Bergen (UiB)-University of Bergen (UiB), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université du Québec à Montréal = University of Québec in Montréal (UQAM), The Hospital for sick children [Toronto] (SickKids)-University of Toronto-Department of Molecular Genetics-McLaughlin Centre, Universidad de Concepción - University of Concepcion [Chile], University of Minnesota [Twin Cities] (UMN), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich] (ETH Zürich), Universiteit Gent = Ghent University (UGENT), University of Wrocław [Poland] (UWr), Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies [Hobart] (IMAS), University of Tasmania [Hobart, Australia] (UTAS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, University of Toronto-The Hospital for sick children [Toronto] (SickKids)-Department of Molecular Genetics-McLaughlin Centre, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Sud]), Universiteit Gent = Ghent University [Belgium] (UGENT), Dornelas M., Antao L.H., Moyes F., Bates A.E., Magurran A.E., Adam D., Akhmetzhanova A.A., Appeltans W., Arcos J.M., Arnold H., Ayyappan N., Badihi G., Baird A.H., Barbosa M., Barreto T.E., Bassler C., Bellgrove A., Belmaker J., Benedetti-Cecchi L., Bett B.J., Bjorkman A.D., Blazewicz M., Blowes S.A., Bloch C.P., Bonebrake T.C., Boyd S., Bradford M., Brooks A.J., Brown J.H., Bruelheide H., Budy P., Carvalho F., Castaneda-Moya E., Chen C.A., Chamblee J.F., Chase T.J., Siegwart Collier L., Collinge S.K., Condit R., Cooper E.J., Cornelissen J.H.C., Cotano U., Kyle Crow S., Damasceno G., Davies C.H., Davis R.A., Day F.P., Degraer S., Doherty T.S., Dunn T.E., Durigan G., Duffy J.E., Edelist D., Edgar G.J., Elahi R., Elmendorf S.C., Enemar A., Ernest S.K.M., Escribano R., Estiarte M., Evans B.S., Fan T.-Y., Turini Farah F., Loureiro Fernandes L., Farneda F.Z., Fidelis A., Fitt R., Fosaa A.M., Daher Correa Franco G.A., Frank G.E., Fraser W.R., Garcia H., Cazzolla Gatti R., Givan O., Gorgone-Barbosa E., Gould W.A., Gries C., Grossman G.D., Gutierrez J.R., Hale S., Harmon M.E., Harte J., Haskins G., Henshaw D.L., Hermanutz L., Hidalgo P., Higuchi P., Hoey A., Van Hoey G., Hofgaard A., Holeck K., Hollister R.D., Holmes R., Hoogenboom M., Hsieh C.-H., Hubbell S.P., Huettmann F., Huffard C.L., Hurlbert A.H., Macedo Ivanauskas N., Janik D., Jandt U., Jazdzewska A., Johannessen T., Johnstone J., Jones J., Jones F.A.M., Kang J., Kartawijaya T., Keeley E.C., Kelt D.A., Kinnear R., Klanderud K., Knutsen H., Koenig C.C., Kortz A.R., Kral K., Kuhnz L.A., Kuo C.-Y., Kushner D.J., Laguionie-Marchais C., Lancaster L.T., Min Lee C., Lefcheck J.S., Levesque E., Lightfoot D., Lloret F., Lloyd J.D., Lopez-Baucells A., Louzao M., Madin J.S., Magnusson B., Malamud S., Matthews I., McFarland K.P., McGill B., McKnight D., McLarney W.O., Meador J., Meserve P.L., Metcalfe D.J., Meyer C.F.J., Michelsen A., Milchakova N., Moens T., Moland E., Moore J., Mathias Moreira C., Muller J., Murphy G., Myers-Smith I.H., Myster R.W., Naumov A., Neat F., Nelson J.A., Paul Nelson M., Newton S.F., Norden N., Oliver J.C., Olsen E.M., Onipchenko V.G., Pabis K., Pabst R.J., Paquette A., Pardede S., Paterson D.M., Pelissier R., Penuelas J., Perez-Matus A., Pizarro O., Pomati F., Post E., Prins H.H.T., Priscu J.C., Provoost P., Prudic K.L., Pulliainen E., Ramesh B.R., Mendivil Ramos O., Rassweiler A., Rebelo J.E., Reed D.C., Reich P.B., Remillard S.M., Richardson A.J., Richardson J.P., van Rijn I., Rocha R., Rivera-Monroy V.H., Rixen C., Robinson K.P., Ribeiro Rodrigues R., de Cerqueira Rossa-Feres D., Rudstam L., Ruhl H., Ruz C.S., Sampaio E.M., Rybicki N., Rypel A., Sal S., Salgado B., Santos F.A.M., Savassi-Coutinho A.P., Scanga S., Schmidt J., Schooley R., Setiawan F., Shao K.-T., Shaver G.R., Sherman S., Sherry T.W., Sicinski J., Sievers C., da Silva A.C., Rodrigues da Silva F., Silveira F.L., Slingsby J., Smart T., Snell S.J., Soudzilovskaia N.A., Souza G.B.G., Maluf Souza F., Castro Souza V., Stallings C.D., Stanforth R., Stanley E.H., Mauro Sterza J., Stevens M., Stuart-Smith R., Rondon Suarez Y., Supp S., Yoshio Tamashiro J., Tarigan S., Thiede G.P., Thorn S., Tolvanen A., Teresa Zugliani Toniato M., Totland O., Twilley R.R., Vaitkus G., Valdivia N., Vallejo M.I., Valone T.J., Van Colen C., Vanaverbeke J., Venturoli F., Verheye H.M., Vianna M., Vieira R.P., Vrska T., Quang Vu C., Van Vu L., Waide R.B., Waldock C., Watts D., Webb S., Wesolowski T., White E.P., Widdicombe C.E., Wilgers D., Williams R., Williams S.B., Williamson M., Willig M.R., Willis T.J., Wipf S., Woods K.D., Woehler E.J., Zawada K., Zettler M.L., The Wellcome Trust, European Research Council, and University of St Andrews. Centre for Biological Diversity
Subjects: Data Papers, 0106 biological sciences, Range (biology), QH301 Biology, temporal, NERC, Biodiversity, Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 [VDP], BIALOWIEZA NATIONAL-PARK, special, computer.software_genre, [SDV.BID.SPT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Systematics, Phylogenetics and taxonomy, 01 natural sciences, species richness, SDG 15 - Life on Land, biodiversity, Global and Planetary Change, B003-ecology, Database, Ecology, Sampling (statistics), SIMULATED HERBIVORY, supporting technologies, LAND-BRIDGE ISLANDS, [SDV.BV.BOT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Vegetal Biology/Botanics, PE&RC, global, PRIMEVAL TEMPERATE FOREST, Geography, POPULATION TRENDS, turnover, Data Paper, SECONDARY FOREST, Evolution, ESTUARINE COASTAL LAGOON, 010603 evolutionary biology, QH301, [SDV.EE.ECO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology, environment/Ecosystems, Behavior and Systematics, Anthropocene, spatial, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480, species richne, 14. Life underwater, SDG 14 - Life Below Water, NE/L002531/1, ZA4450, Relative species abundance, ZA4450 Databases, 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology, RCUK, Biology and Life Sciences, DAS, 15. Life on land, DECIDUOUS FOREST, Taxon, Fish, 13. Climate action, MCP, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, LONG-TERM CHANGE, Species richness, [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology, computer, BIRD COMMUNITY DYNAMICS, VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480
Abstract: Motivation The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time series. Our goal is to accelerate and facilitate quantitative analysis of temporal patterns of biodiversity in the Anthropocene. Main types of variables included The database contains 8,777,413 species abundance records, from assemblages consistently sampled for a minimum of 2 years, which need not necessarily be consecutive. In addition, the database contains metadata relating to sampling methodology and contextual information about each record. Spatial location and grain BioTIME is a global database of 547,161 unique sampling locations spanning the marine, freshwater and terrestrial realms. Grain size varies across datasets from 0.0000000158 km2 (158 cm2) to 100 km2 (1,000,000,000,000 cm2). Time period and grain BioTIME records span from 1874 to 2016. The minimal temporal grain across all datasets in BioTIME is a year. Major taxa and level of measurement BioTIME includes data from 44,440 species across the plant and animal kingdoms, ranging from plants, plankton and terrestrial invertebrates to small and large vertebrates. Software format .csv and .SQL., Global Ecology and Biogeography, 27 (7), ISSN:1466-822X, ISSN:1466-8238
Published: 2018

23. Cognitive training with action-related verbs induces neural plasticity in the action representation system as assessed by gray matter brain morphometry

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Daniela Perani, Andrea Tettamanti, Matteo Locatelli, Marco Tettamanti, Marta Ghio, Ghio, Marta, Locatelli, Matteo, Tettamanti, Andrea, Perani, Daniela, Gatti, Roberto, Tettamanti, Marco, Ghio, M, Locatelli, M, Tettamanti, A, Perani, D, Gatti, R, and Tettamanti, M
Subjects: Adult, Male, Cognitive Neuroscience, Decision Making, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, computer.software_genre, 050105 experimental psychology, Young Adult, 03 medical and health sciences, Embodiment, Behavioral Neuroscience, Cognition, 0302 clinical medicine, Voxel, Neuroplasticity, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Reaction Time, Humans, Semantic memory, 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences, Longitudinal Studies, Gray Matter, Brain Mapping, Neuronal Plasticity, Verbal Behavior, Teaching, 05 social sciences, Brain morphometry, Brain, Precentral gyrus, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cognitive training, Semantics, Action-related verb, Acoustic Stimulation, Embodied cognition, Mental Recall, Female, Gray matter brain morphometry, Psychology, computer, Neuroscience, Photic Stimulation, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Abstract: Embodied cognition theories of semantic memory still face the need for multiple sources of converging evidence in support of the involvement of sensory-motor systems in action-related knowledge. Previous studies showed that training manual actions improves semantic processing of verbs referring to the trained actions. The present work aimed to provide complementary evidence by measuring the brain plasticity effects of a cognitive training requiring sustained lexical-semantic processing of action-related verbs. We included two groups of participants, namely the Proximal Group (PG) and the Distal Group (DG), which underwent a 3-week training with verbs referring to actions involving the proximal and the distal upper limb musculature, respectively. Before and after training, we measured gray matter voxel brain morphometry based on T1 structural magnetic resonance imaging. By means of this 2 (Group: PG, DG) × 2 (Time: pre-, post-training) factorial design, we tested whether sustained cognitive experience with specific action-related verbs induces congruent brain plasticity modifications in target regions of interest pertaining to the action representation system. We found significant post- versus pre-training gray matter volume increases, specifically for PG in the left dorsal precentral gyrus, and for DG in the right cerebellar lobule VIIa. These preliminary results suggest that a cognitive training can induce structural plasticity modifications in brain regions specifically coding for the distal and proximal motor actions the trained verbs refer to.
Published: 2018

24. Modelling weed and vine disturbance in tropical forests after selective logging and clear cutting

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti and Cazzolla Gatti R.
Subjects: 0106 biological sciences, Clearcutting, Habitat fragmentation, тропические леса, Agroforestry, Ecological Modeling, Dynamic, Logging, Biodiversity, Tropics, Vine, Disturbance, Rainforest, Weed, 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, Habitat destruction, Forest gap, биоразнообразие, Environmental science, экосисистемы, 010606 plant biology & botany, Tropical rainforest
Abstract: Although tropical rainforests preserve high levels of biodiversity, they are among the most threatened ecosystems globally due to large-scale fragmentation as a result of anthropogenic activities. Overall, fast human-driven habitat destruction is suspected to be one of the major causes of species extinction. The mosaic of vegetation types, which contributes to the incredible diversity of the tropics is highly impacted by large-scale fragmentation. The main causes of such habitat fragmentation are selective logging for valuable timber and agricultural clearance. The knowledge of the short and long-term effects of removing selected species in the tropical rainforests are scarce and need to be further investigated. Some studies about the effects of tropical forest disturbance in the short term have been conducted, but in the long term, there is limited knowledge. In this paper, I consider a system of coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs) that modelled the dynamics of tropical rainforest subject to selective logging to understand how and why weeds and vine displace and limit tree species. From the empirical data collected on canopy height and plant diversity and the model proposed, I have the evidence of a decreasing tree diversity in tropical forests subject to management in comparison with to the same but untouched forests.
Published: 2018

25. A novel Multilevel Biodiversity Index (MBI) for combined field and satellite imagery surveys

Author: Claudia Notarnicola, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Cazzolla Gatti R., and Notarnicola C.
Subjects: 0106 biological sciences, Monitoring, Biodiversity, Land cover, 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, Ecoregion, lcsh:QH540-549.5, Satellite analyses, Ecosystem, Satellite imagery, Средиземноморский регион, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, спутниковые снимки, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Ecology, Land use, business.industry, 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology, Environmental resource management, Species diversity, Geography, экосистемы, Field and RS monitoring, Multilevel biodiversity index, биоразнообразие, Spatial ecology, Mediterranean ecoregion, lcsh:Ecology, business
Abstract: In an epoch of fast and dramatic changes in ecosystems, a complete survey of biodiversity and an analysis of its spatial patterns from the field shall be associated with satellite imagery, which can provide a synoptic observation in space and time of the territory. This work presents the preliminary results of a new approach to monitor the biodiversity of a well-defined area, which takes into account species diversity and the landscape characteristics in terms of ecosystems diversity (land cover classes). We developed a Multilevel Biodiversity Index (MBI) and we tested it in a study site of 400 km2, belonging to the Central Mediterranean Ecoregion and consisting of forested areas, scrublands and steppes (Murge). With the aim to reach a global land cover classification system and a standardisation of the biodiversity surveys, the MBI can be easily adapted to study areas of different ecoregions on Earth. This index could certainly be useful for future studies and to address environmental policies in order to protect vulnerable ecosystems and assign a conservation priority rank that takes into account the presence of diversity both in terms of species and ecosystems. Keywords: Biodiversity, Monitoring, Multilevel biodiversity index, Satellite analyses, Mediterranean ecoregion, Field and RS monitoring
Published: 2018

26. Is Gaia alive? The future of a symbiotic planet

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti and Cazzolla Gatti R.
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Thought experiment, Gaia's adaptation, Natural selection, Sociology and Political Science, Computer science, Biosphere, Gaia hypothesis, Unit of selection, Development, Astrobiology, 03 medical and health sciences, symbols.namesake, 030104 developmental biology, Teleology, Planet, Gaia's evolution, Biophora, symbols, Darwinism, Business and International Management, Symbiosis, Gaia's reproduction
Abstract: Life affecting first the development of the planetary environment, which, in turn, affects the future evolution of life in a coevolutionary way is a well-established idea now. Nevertheless, with the proposal of the Gaia hypothesis, there has been widespread criticism of some of its elements. Most critiques are related to teleology, the absence of natural selection at a universal scale, and the absence of planetary reproduction. Even if some of the problems concerning the rationale of this hypothesis have been resolved, it is not clear whether Earth can be considered a unit of selection and, therefore, Gaia can adapt according to Darwinian evolution. After Lovelock and Margulis, Gaia has been considered a symbiotic planet composed of biotic (the biosphere) and abiotic (the geosphere-atmosphere) interacting with and coevolving elements. Here, I took into consideration the main concerns raised on the Gaia hypothesis and I analysed them following a logic-deductive reasoning together with thought experiments, sometimes adopting analogical arguments. I propose why and suggest how, a Gaian system, considered as a “symbiotic planet” composed by biotic (the biosphere) and abiotic (the geosphere-atmosphere) interacting and coevolving elements, should be considered alive in an evolutionary sense. I argue that, without invoking teleology, so without any foresight or planning, a Gaian planet can be considered the same as a coevolutionary system analogous to a multicellular body: a super-unit of selection. I describe different situations according to which “Gaia” is able to reproduce and to transfer her planetary genome to other uninhabited or inhabited planets. Then I show that Gaia can face exclusion-competition-coexistence states depending on the fitness of her biota compared to those of the other reproducing biospheres. This demonstrates that Gaia can reproduce and evolve in competition-cooperation with other planets. Some deep implications arise from these pieces of evidence in the light of the recent discovery of a new solar system with Earth-like planets.
Published: 2018

27. A coupled des model for localized disturbances in tropical forests

Author: Alessandra Jannelli, Giuseppina Messina, Alena Velichevskaya, Marianna Ruggieri, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Maria Paola Speciale, Bianca Maria Lombardo, Jannelli A., Ruggieri M., Speciale M.P., Cazzolla Gatti R., Messina G., Velichevskaya A.I., and Lombardo B.M.
Subjects: forest, Physics and Astronomy (all), Geography, logging, Mathematics
Abstract: Althought commercial selective logging is considered a sustainable practice, it creates gaps and disturbance into tropical forests that could alter the ecosystem dynamics. Weeds and vines grow to fill the empty space, following the arrival of the light. This invasion alter significantly the forest in the surroundings of the cut. Here we propose a mathematical model to describe the behaviour of tropical rainforest subject to selective logging. As a preliminary result, we show the solution profile of the model and its behaviour in simulated examples.
Published: 2018

28. Some biological aspects of juveniles of the rough ray, Raja radula Delaroche, 1809 in Eastern Sicily (central Mediterranean Sea)

Author: Francesco Tiralongo, Bianca Maria Lombardo, Giuseppina Messina, Daniele Tibullo, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Tiralongo F., Messina G., Cazzolla Gatti R., Tibullo D., and Lombardo B.M.
Subjects: 0106 biological sciences, Evolution, Feeding habit, Fisheries, Zoology, Aquatic Science, Oceanography, 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, Rajidae, Fisherie, Mediterranean sea, Idotea balthica, Elasmobranchii, Behavior and Systematics, Dominance (ecology), Juvenile, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, biology, Feeding habits, Ionian Sea, Skates, Ecology, 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology, biology.organism_classification, Crustacean, Benthic zone, Sex ratio
Abstract: Several biological aspects of juvenile specimens of Raja radula were investigated from February to May 2017 in the central Mediterranean Sea. Diet, sex ratio, disc width-weight relationships, and size-frequency distribution were analyzed. Stomach content analysis of 127 collected specimens showed that juveniles of R. radula actively feed on small benthic crustaceans, particularly on amphipods and isopods (Idotea balthica) (%IRI values of 62.74% and 12.39%, respectively). Although the Levin's index value (Bi = 0.44) indicated that juveniles of R. radula are a moderately stenophagous feeders, active mostly on crustaceans, the analysis of the prey-specific (Pi) biomass of the main preys vs. the frequency of their occurrence (%F) showed no clear dominance. The analysis of the sex ratio showed no significant difference in sex distribution. However, there were significant differences in mean size between sexes: females were, on average, larger than males, and also the b value (slope of the curve) of the disc width-weight relationships was higher in females.
Published: 2018

29. The role of Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) in the storage, emission and deposition of carbon in lakes and rivers of the River Ob flood plain, western Siberia

Author: A. G. Lim, Inna Rozhkova-Timina, Sergey N. Kirpotin, Anastasia Dudko, Sergey N. Vorobyev, Oleg S. Pokrovsky, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Terry V. Callaghan, Cazzolla Gatti R., Callaghan T.V., Rozhkova-Timina I., Dudko A., Lim A., Vorobyev S.N., Kirpotin S.N., and Pokrovsky O.S.
Subjects: Biogeochemical cycle, Beaver, Carbon Sequestration, Environmental Engineering, River ecosystem, 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences, Floodplain, Population, Rodentia, 010501 environmental sciences, Carbon sequestration, 01 natural sciences, Carbon cycle, biology.animal, Environmental Chemistry, Animals, education, Waste Management and Disposal, Ecosystem, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences, Castor canadensis, Hydrology, geography, education.field_of_study, geography.geographical_feature_category, biology, Behavior, Animal, Western Siberia, biology.organism_classification, Pollution, River Ob, Stream ecology, Siberia, Lakes, Beaver dam, Environmental science
Abstract: Several studies have reported significant emission of greenhouse gasses (GHG) from beaver dams, suggesting that ponds created by beavers are a net source of CO2 and CH4. However, most evidence come from studies conducted in North America (on Castor canadensis) without a parallel comparison with the Eurasian beaver's (Castor fiber) impacts and a critical consideration of the importance of the carbon deposition in dam sediments. The most abundant population of the Eurasian beaver lives in Russia, notably within the River Ob watershed in Western Siberia which is the second largest floodplain on Earth. Consequently, we assessed the holistic impact of Eurasian beavers on the multiple carbon pools in water and on other related biogeochemical parameters of the Ob's floodplain streams. We compared dammed and flowing streams in a floodplain of the middle course of the river. We found that beavers in western Siberia increase the stream emission of methane by about 15 times by building their dams. This is similar to what has been documented in North America. A new finding from the present study is that Siberian beavers facilitate 1) nutrient recycling by speeding up the nutrient release from particulate organic matter; and 2) carbon sequestration by increasing the amount of dissolved organic carbon. This carbon becomes in part recalcitrant when buried in sediments and is, therefore, removed from the short-term carbon cycle. These new results should be taken into consideration in river management and provide a further reason for the conservation and management of Eurasian Beavers.
Published: 2018

30. Early stage litter decomposition across biomes

Author: Umberto Morra di Cella, Sean P. Charles, Matteo Gualmini, Naoko Tokuchi, Michael Mirtl, Marta Lobão Lopes, Takeshi Ise, Inmaculada García Quirós, Geovana Carreño-Rocabado, Arne Verstraeten, Joan-Albert Sanchez-Cabeza, Thomas Zechmeister, Jill Thompson, Norbert Hölzel, Maroof Hamid, Rodrigo Lemes Martins, Taiki Mori, José Marcelo Domingues Torezan, Dana Polyanskaya, Peter Haase, Björn Berg, Angela Stanisci, Issaka Senou, Inger Kappel Schmidt, Markus Wagner, Adriano Caliman, Laurel M. Brigham, Alejandro Valdecantos, Céline Meredieu, Kalifa Coulibaly, Margarida Santos-Reis, Georg Wohlfahrt, Regin Rønn, Marcello Tomaselli, Martin Weih, Bernd Ahrends, Kaie Kriiska, Anja Schmidt, Luciana S. Carneiro, Ana I. Lillebø, Alessandro Petraglia, Algirdas Augustaitis, Ana I. Sousa, Sonja Wipf, Chi-Ling Chen, Hassan Bismarck Nacro, Sue J. Milton, Ivan Mihal, Ika Djukic, Florence Maunoury-Danger, Peter Fleischer, Tatsuro Nakaji, Cendrine Mony, Sara Puijalon, Rafael D. Guariento, Rosa Isela Meneses, Mihai Pușcaș, Pablo Luis Peri, Flurin Sutter, Kate Lajtha, Peter B. Reich, Lindsey E. Rustad, María Guadalupe Almazán Torres, Laura Williams, George L. Vourlitis, Evanilde Benedito, Arely N. Palabral-Aguilera, Luis Villar, Stefanie Hoeber, Juan J. Jiménez, Esperança Gacia, Alba Gutiérrez-Girón, Kazuhiko Hoshizaki, Takanori Sato, Eric Lucot, Osvaldo Borges Pinto, Artur Stefanski, Andrew R. Smith, Takuo Hishi, Rosario G. Gavilán, Till Kleinebecker, Julia Seeber, Gina Arena, Marcelo Sternberg, Mo Jiangming, Tsutom Hiura, Satoshi N. Suzuki, Jeyanny Vijayanathan, Christine Delire, Francisco Cuesta, Bill Parker, Mark Frenzel, Franz Zehetner, Vincent Maire, Edward Crawford, Heinke Jäger, Nicolas Lecomte, Tanaka Kenta, Yuji Kominami, Joseph C. Morina, Paige E. Weber, Pavel Dan Turtureanu, Marc Lebouvier, Pascal Vittoz, Jónína Sigríður Þorláksdóttir, Anne Probst, David Fuentes Delgado, Laura Yahdjian, Johan Neirynck, Isaac Ahanamungu Makelele, Bernard Bosman, Fábio Padilha Bolzan, Yury Rozhkov, Ute Hamer, Henning Meesenburg, Vinicius F. Farjalla, Steffen Seitz, Marie-Noëlle Pons, Jess K. Zimmerman, Hans Verbeeck, Thomas Scholten, Elena Preda, Thomas Spiegelberger, Romain Georges, Stefan Löfgren, Ferdinand Kristöfel, Pierre Marmonier, Juha M. Alatalo, Katalin Szlavecz, Ana Carolina Ruiz Fernández, Johannes M. H. Knops, Rita Adrian, Vanessa Mendes Rêgo, Jean-Christophe Lata, Rafaella Canessa, Kathrin Käppeler, Andrea Fischer, Michael Bierbaumer, Jiří Doležal, Hideaki Shibata, Marcus Schaub, Zsolt Toth, Diyaa Radeideh, Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur, Robert Kanka, William H. McDowell, Birgit Sattler, Jean-Luc Probst, Mioko Ataka, Katarína Gerhátová, Jawad Shoqeir, Stefan Stoll, Michael Danger, Sébastien Gogo, Katja Tielbörger, Laryssa Helena Ribeiro Pazianoto, Bo Yang, Franco L. Souza, John Loehr, Francisco de Almeida Lobo, Michael J. Liddell, Sylvie Dousset, Dirk Wundram, Ralf Kiese, Yalin Hu, Miglena Zhiyanski, José-Luis Benito-Alonso, Katie A. Jennings, Tsutomu Enoki, Helena Cristina Serrano, Quentin Ponette, Helge Bruelheide, Simon Drollinger, Vincent Bretagnolle, Ivika Ostonen, Lambiénou Yé, Javier Roales, Philippe Choler, Madison Morley, Charles A. Nock, Grizelle González, Tudor-Mihai Ursu, Maaike Y. Bader, Cristina Branquinho, Hugo López Rosas, Nina V. Filippova, Erzsébet Hornung, Anzar A. Khuroo, Lourdes Morillas, Harald Auge, Andreas Bohner, Florian Kitz, Stephan Glatzel, Aurora Gaxiola, Marijn Bauters, Stefan Trogisch, Guylaine Canut, Oscar Romero, Hélène Verheyden, Yulia Zaika, Veronika Piscová, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Valentin H. Klaus, Elena Tropina, Michele Di Musciano, Marie-Andrée Giroux, Florian Hofhansl, Wenjun Zhou, Corinna Rebmann, Thomas J. Mozdzer, Zsolt Kotroczó, Evy Ampoorter, Michal Růžek, Jana Borovská, Jianwu Tang, Petr Petřík, Juan Dario Quinde, Simone Mereu, Esther Lévesque, Olga Ferlian, Veronika Fontana, Joël Merlet, Stacey M. Trevathan-Tackett, André-Jean Francez, Wentao Luo, Héctor Alejandro Bahamonde, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Brigitta Erschbamer, Christopher Andrews, Marie-Anne de Graaff, Martin Schädler, Luciano Di Martino, Verena Busch, Elli Groner, Victoria Carbonell, Michinari Matsushita, Maria Glushkova, Sarah Freda, Alain Paquette, Annie Ouin, Robert Weigel, Monique Carnol, Bohdan Juráni, Ian D. Yesilonis, Jean-Paul Theurillat, Hugo L. Rojas Villalobos, Alberto Humber, Martha Apple, Nico Eisenhauer, Claus Beier, Hermann F. Jungkunst, Hiroko Kurokawa, Nadia Barsoum, Thierry Camboulive, Klaus Steenberg Larsen, Frank Berninger, Laura Dienstbach, Yasuhiro Utsumi, Inara Melece, Felipe Varela, Sally Wittlinger, Christian Rixen, Valter Di Cecco, Anderson da Rocha Gripp, Marina Mazón, E. Carol Adair, Hanna Lee, István Fekete, Liesbeth van den Brink, José-Gilberto Cardoso-Mohedano, Ken Green, Heike Feldhaar, Jonathan von Oppen, Michele Carbognani, Lu Xiankai, Christophe Piscart, Fernando T. Maestre, Karibu Fukuzawa, Chiao-Ping Wang, Bart Muys, Lipeng Zhang, Harald Pauli, Inge van Halder, Carmen Eugenia Rodríguez Ortíz, Eduardo Ordóñez-Regil, Priscilla Muriel, Heather D. Alexander, Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas, Victoria Ochoa, Casper T. Christiansen, Mohammed Alsafran, Thaisa Sala Michelan, Christel Baum, Amélie Saillard, Hervé Jactel, Markus Didion, Evgeny A. Davydov, Sabyasachi Dasgupta, Anna Avila, Andrijana Andrić, Kris Verheyen, Jörg Löffler, Gisele Daiane Pinha, Anikó Seres, Jutta Stadler, Milan Barna, Andrey V. Malyshev, Rebecca E. Hewitt, Joh R. Henschel, Peter I. Macreadie, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Dept Forest & Water Management, Lab Forestry, Universiteit Gent = Ghent University [Belgium] (UGENT), Centre for Forest Research (CFR), Université du Québec à Montréal = University of Québec in Montréal (UQAM), Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA ), Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes [2016-2019] (UGA [2016-2019]), Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria = National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA), Ecosystèmes, biodiversité, évolution [Rennes] (ECOBIO), Université de Rennes 1 (UR1), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Institut Ecologie et Environnement (INEE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science [Leeds] (ICAS), School of Earth and Environment [Leeds] (SEE), University of Leeds-University of Leeds, Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement (ECOLAB), Institut Ecologie et Environnement (INEE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, Dynamiques Forestières dans l'Espace Rural (DYNAFOR), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-École nationale supérieure agronomique de Toulouse [ENSAT]-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, European Forest Institute = Institut Européen de la Forêt = Euroopan metsäinstituutti (EFI), Institute of Information Engineering [Beijing] (IIE), Chinese Academy of Sciences [Beijing] (CAS), Biodiversité, Gènes & Communautés (BioGeCo), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de Bordeaux (UB), University of Rostock, WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (UMR ISEM), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department Computational Hydrosystems [UFZ Leipzig], Helmholtz Zentrum für Umweltforschung = Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Laboratoire Chrono-environnement - CNRS - UBFC (UMR 6249) (LCE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Franche-Comté (UFC), Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE] (UBFC)-Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE] (UBFC), Département de chimie-biologie & Centre d’études nordiques [CANADA], Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), Area de Biodiversidad y Conservaciín, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos [Madrid] (URJC), Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Environnements Continentaux (LIEC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Terre et Environnement de Lorraine (OTELo), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Lorraine (UL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Lorraine (UL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Helsingin yliopisto = Helsingfors universitet = University of Helsinki, Institute of Soil Research, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien = University of Natural Resources and Life [Vienne, Autriche] (BOKU), Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Centre national de recherches météorologiques (CNRM), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Computational & Applied Vegetation Ecology (CAVElab), Department Community Ecology [UFZ Leipzig], University of Vienna [Vienna], Institut du Développement rural (IDR), Université Polytechnique Nazi Boni Bobo-Dioulasso (UNB), Unité de recherche Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage (CEFS), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle Wittenberg (MLU), Tohoku University [Sendai], Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences [Tartu], University of Tartu, Institut d'écologie et des sciences de l'environnement de Paris (iEES), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre alpien de Phytogéographie (CAP), Fondation Jean-Marcel Aubert, Inst Trop Ecosyst Studies, University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Universidad de Valladolid [Valladolid] (UVa), Mountain Agriculture Research Unit, Centre international de recherche-développement sur l'élevage en zone sub-humide (CIRDES), Centre Universitaire Polytechnique de Dédougou (CUP-D), Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo [Ouagadougou] (UJZK), USDA Forest Service, Instituto Pirenaico de Ecologia = Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (IPE), Station Biologique de Paimpont CNRS UMR 6653 (OSUR), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES), Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology [Zurich], Universität Zürich [Zürich] = University of Zurich (UZH), Centre for Ecology - Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c) - Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa = University of Lisbon (ULISBOA), Canada Research in Northern Biodiversity, Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés (LRGP), Université de Lorraine (UL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Zone Atelier du Bassin de la Moselle [LTSER France] (ZAM), Department of Crop Production Ecology, University of Freiburg, Forest Research Institute- BAS, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), Lab Plant & Microbial Ecol, Inst Bot B22, Université de Liège, Laboratoire Dynamique de la Biodiversité (LADYBIO), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Leipzig University, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster = University of Münster (WWU), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya [Barcelona] (UPC), Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne (UNIL), Department of Limnology and Conservation, Senckenberg Research Institutes and Natural History Museums, Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota [Twin Cities] (UMN), University of Minnesota System-University of Minnesota System, Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Naturels et Anthropisés (LEHNA), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État (ENTPE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung - Atmosphärische Umweltforschung (IMK-IFU), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans - UMR7327 (ISTO), Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM) (BRGM)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers en région Centre (OSUC), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Biogéosystèmes Continentaux - UMR7327, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM) (BRGM)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers en région Centre (OSUC), Department of Science for Nature and Natural Resources, Università degli Studi di Sassari = University of Sassari [Sassari] (UNISS), Biogéosciences [UMR 6282] (BGS), Université de Bourgogne (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Tomakomai Research Station, Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University [Sapporo, Japan], Bangor University, Technische Universität Dresden = Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden), Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), LTSER «Zone Atelier Plaine & Val de Sevre» [France], Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Condensed Matter Theory Laboratory RIKEN (RIKEN), RIKEN - Institute of Physical and Chemical Research [Japon] (RIKEN), 730938, Biological Interactions Doctoral Programme, Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, 2/0101/18, Scientific Grant Agency VEGA, 2190, Fundación Charles Darwin, UID/AMB/50017, Centro de Estudos Ambientais e Marinhos, Universidade de Aveiro, ILTER Initiative Grant, ClimMani Short-Term Scientific Missions Grant, ES1308-231015-068365, Austrian Environment Agency, SFRH/BPD/107823/2015, Portuguese Foundation, DEB-1557009, NSF, UID/BIA/00329/2013, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR)-Institut Ecologie et Environnement (INEE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Rennes 1 (UR1), Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), University of Helsinki, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien [Vienne, Autriche] (BOKU), Groupe d'étude de l'atmosphère météorologique (CNRM-GAME), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Météo France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Centre alpien de Phytogéographie, Fondation J.-M. Aubert, Centre international de recherche-développement sur l'élevage en zone Subhumide (CIRDES), Centre international de recherche-développement sur l'élevage en zone Subhumide, Instituto Pirenaico de Ecologia (IPE), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Madrid] (CSIC), University of Lisbon, Université de Leipzig, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU), Université de Lausanne (UNIL), University of Sassari, Biogéosciences [UMR 6282] [Dijon] (BGS), Université de Bourgogne (UB)-AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de La Rochelle (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de La Rochelle (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de La Rochelle (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universiteit Gent = Ghent University (UGENT), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut Ecologie et Environnement (INEE), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement (LEFE), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université de Toulouse (UT), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-École nationale supérieure agronomique de Toulouse (ENSAT), Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Laboratoire Chrono-environnement (UMR 6249) (LCE), Leopold Franzens Universität Innsbruck - University of Innsbruck, Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Instituto Pirenaico de Ecologìa = Pyrenean Institute of Ecology [Zaragoza] (IPE - CSIC), Université de Rennes (UR), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - CNRS (FRANCE), Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse - INPT (FRANCE), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - INRA (FRANCE), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier - UT3 (FRANCE), Météo France (FRANCE), UCL - SST/ELI/ELIE - Environmental Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Avalanche Research WSL, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences - Department of Forest Soils, Ghent University [Belgium] (UGENT), Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry])-Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Spanish National Institute for Agriculture and Food Research and Technology (INIA), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Science Politique Relations Internationales Territoire (SPIRIT), Université Montesquieu - Bordeaux 4-Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Bordeaux-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), University of Rostock [Germany], Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Universiteit Gent [Ghent], Laboratoire de Comportement et d'Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage, INRA, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan cedex, France, Institut d'écologie et des sciences de l'environnement de Paris (IEES), Universidad de Puerto Rico, Centre Universitaire Polytechnique de Dédougou, Université de Ouagadougou, Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, IPE-CSIC, University of Zürich [Zürich] (UZH), LTSER Zone Atelier du Bassin de la Moselle, Helmholtz Zentrum für Umweltforschung (UFZ), Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, University of Minnesota [Twin Cities], Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État (ENTPE), Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM) (BRGM)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers en région Centre (OSUC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Bourgogne (UB)-AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement, Hokkaido University, Technische Universität Dresden (TUD), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de La Rochelle (ULR), LTSER Zone Atelier Plaine & Val de Sèvre, Djukic I., Kepfer-Rojas S., Schmidt I.K., Larsen K.S., Beier C., Berg B., Verheyen K., Caliman A., Paquette A., Gutierrez-Giron A., Humber A., Valdecantos A., Petraglia A., Alexander H., Augustaitis A., Saillard A., Fernandez A.C.R., Sousa A.I., Lillebo A.I., da Rocha Gripp A., Francez A.-J., Fischer A., Bohner A., Malyshev A., Andric A., Smith A., Stanisci A., Seres A., Schmidt A., Avila A., Probst A., Ouin A., Khuroo A.A., Verstraeten A., Palabral-Aguilera A.N., Stefanski A., Gaxiola A., Muys B., Bosman B., Ahrends B., Parker B., Sattler B., Yang B., Jurani B., Erschbamer B., Ortiz C.E.R., Christiansen C.T., Carol Adair E., Meredieu C., Mony C., Nock C.A., Chen C.-L., Wang C.-P., Baum C., Rixen C., Delire C., Piscart C., Andrews C., Rebmann C., Branquinho C., Polyanskaya D., Delgado D.F., Wundram D., Radeideh D., Ordonez-Regil E., Crawford E., Preda E., Tropina E., Groner E., Lucot E., Hornung E., Gacia E., Levesque E., Benedito E., Davydov E.A., Ampoorter E., Bolzan F.P., Varela F., Kristofel F., Maestre F.T., Maunoury-Danger F., Hofhansl F., Kitz F., Sutter F., Cuesta F., de Almeida Lobo F., de Souza F.L., Berninger F., Zehetner F., Wohlfahrt G., Vourlitis G., Carreno-Rocabado G., Arena G., Pinha G.D., Gonzalez G., Canut G., Lee H., Verbeeck H., Auge H., Pauli H., Nacro H.B., Bahamonde H.A., Feldhaar H., Jager H., Serrano H.C., Verheyden H., Bruelheide H., Meesenburg H., Jungkunst H., Jactel H., Shibata H., Kurokawa H., Rosas H.L., Rojas Villalobos H.L., Yesilonis I., Melece I., Van Halder I., Quiros I.G., Makelele I., Senou I., Fekete I., Mihal I., Ostonen I., Borovska J., Roales J., Shoqeir J., Lata J.-C., Theurillat J.-P., Probst J.-L., Zimmerman J., Vijayanathan J., Tang J., Thompson J., Dolezal J., Sanchez-Cabeza J.-A., Merlet J., Henschel J., Neirynck J., Knops J., Loehr J., von Oppen J., Thorlaksdottir J.S., Loffler J., Cardoso-Mohedano J.-G., Benito-Alonso J.-L., Torezan J.M., Morina J.C., Jimenez J.J., Quinde J.D., Alatalo J., Seeber J., Stadler J., Kriiska K., Coulibaly K., Fukuzawa K., Szlavecz K., Gerhatova K., Lajtha K., Kappeler K., Jennings K.A., Tielborger K., Hoshizaki K., Green K., Ye L., Pazianoto L.H.R., Dienstbach L., Williams L., Yahdjian L., Brigham L.M., van den Brink L., Rustad L., Zhang L., Morillas L., Xiankai L., Carneiro L.S., Di Martino L., Villar L., Bader M.Y., Morley M., Lebouvier M., Tomaselli M., Sternberg M., Schaub M., Santos-Reis M., Glushkova M., Torres M.G.A., Giroux M.-A., de Graaff M.-A., Pons M.-N., Bauters M., Mazon M., Frenzel M., Didion M., Wagner M., Hamid M., Lopes M.L., Apple M., Schadler M., Weih M., Gualmini M., Vadeboncoeur M.A., Bierbaumer M., Danger M., Liddell M., Mirtl M., Scherer-Lorenzen M., Ruzek M., Carbognani M., Di Musciano M., Matsushita M., Zhiyanski M., Puscas M., Barna M., Ataka M., Jiangming M., Alsafran M., Carnol M., Barsoum N., Tokuchi N., Eisenhauer N., Lecomte N., Filippova N., Holzel N., Ferlian O., Romero O., Pinto O.B., Peri P., Weber P., Vittoz P., Turtureanu P.D., Fleischer P., Macreadie P., Haase P., Reich P., Petrik P., Choler P., Marmonier P., Muriel P., Ponette Q., Guariento R.D., Canessa R., Kiese R., Hewitt R., Ronn R., Adrian R., Kanka R., Weigel R., Gatti R.C., Martins R.L., Georges R., Meneses R.I., Gavilan R.G., Dasgupta S., Wittlinger S., Puijalon S., Freda S., Suzuki S., Charles S., Gogo S., Drollinger S., Mereu S., Wipf S., Trevathan-Tackett S., Lofgren S., Stoll S., Trogisch S., Hoeber S., Seitz S., Glatzel S., Milton S.J., Dousset S., Mori T., Sato T., Ise T., Hishi T., Kenta T., Nakaji T., Michelan T.S., Camboulive T., Mozdzer T.J., Scholten T., Spiegelberger T., Zechmeister T., Kleinebecker T., Hiura T., Enoki T., Ursu T.-M., di Cella U.M., Hamer U., Klaus V.H., Rego V.M., Di Cecco V., Busch V., Fontana V., Piscova V., Carbonell V., Ochoa V., Bretagnolle V., Maire V., Farjalla V., Zhou W., Luo W., McDowell W.H., Hu Y., Utsumi Y., Kominami Y., Zaika Y., Rozhkov Y., Kotroczo Z., Toth Z., and Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse - Toulouse INP (FRANCE)
Subjects: DYNAMICS, 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences, Biome, Biochimie, Biologie Moléculaire, Carbon turnover, 01 natural sciences, CARBON, Waste Management and Disposal, ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS, CLIMATE-CHANGE, биомы, Tea bag, Green tea, Rooibos tea, Carbon turnover, TeaComposition initiative, 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences, Pollution, Environmental chemistry, [SDE]Environmental Sciences, Terrestrial ecosystem, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Biologie, TRAITS, Rooibos tea, IMPACTS, Environmental Engineering, почвенные процессы, chemistry.chemical_element, Climate change, Environmental Sciences & Ecology, Ingénierie de l'environnement, Green tea, Tea bag, TeaComposition initiative, Ecology and Environment, Atmosphere, подстилки, Environmental Chemistry, Ecosystem, RATES, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences, оборот углерода, Science & Technology, Tea composition initiative, FEEDBACK, 15. Life on land, Decomposition, влияние климата, TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS, MODEL, экосистемы, chemistry, 13. Climate action, PATTERNS, 040103 agronomy & agriculture, Litter, 0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, Environmental science, [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology, 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik::570 Biowissenschaften, Biologie::577 Ökologie, Carbon, Environmental Sciences
Abstract: Through litter decomposition enormous amounts of carbon is emitted to the atmosphere. Numerous large-scale decomposition experiments have been conducted focusing on this fundamental soil process in order to understand the controls on the terrestrial carbon transfer to the atmosphere. However, previous studies were mostly based on site-specific litter and methodologies, adding major uncertainty to syntheses, comparisons and meta-analyses across different experiments and sites. In the TeaComposition initiative, the potential litter decomposition is investigated by using standardized substrates (Rooibos and Green tea) for comparison of litter mass loss at 336 sites (ranging from -9 to +26 °C MAT and from 60 to 3113 mm MAP) across different ecosystems. In this study we tested the effect of climate (temperature and moisture), litter type and land-use on early stage decomposition (3 months) across nine biomes. We show that litter quality was the predominant controlling factor in early stage litter decomposition, which explained about 65% of the variability in litter decomposition at a global scale. The effect of climate, on the other hand, was not litter specific and explained
Published: 2018

31. A century of biodiversity: Some open questions and some answers

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti and Cazzolla Gatti R.
Subjects: 0106 biological sciences, Global and Planetary Change, 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences, Ecology, Biodiversity, 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, Geography, Habitat, open questions, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences, Nature and Landscape Conservation, biodiversity
Abstract: The study the biodiversity is not just an attempt to understand the differences or similarities between species, habitats or genomes. It also includes an understanding of how nature regulates the processes that characterise ecosystems and ensure their functionality. It means as well to increase the ability to predict the impact of current and future anthropogenic actions on nature (Midgley et al. 2002). Biodiversity is what makes the Earth a unique planet. In the Universe, for all we know, or at least in our galaxy, life is the exception rather than the rule (Dick 1999). And even if a day when we are able to document the presence of living beings on other planets will come, this will also be an exception. The appearance of life is a phenomenon that has always fascinated mankind since without it, our human species would have never existed and no hairless biped would have studied life, with great admiration, and destroyed it with equal force (Cardinale et al. 2012).
Published: 2017

32. Climate change-induced salinity variation impacts on a stenoecious mangrove species in the Indian Sundarbans

Author: Kakoli Banerjee, Abhijit Mitra, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Banerjee K., Cazzolla Gatti R, and Mitra A.
Subjects: 0106 biological sciences, Delta, Salinity, 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences, Heritiera fome, Gangetic plain, Geography, Planning and Development, Endangered species, India, Climate change, 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, Report, Environmental Chemistry, соленость, мангровые деревья, Biomass, Malvaceae, Aboveground bioma, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences, Biomass (ecology), geography, geography.geographical_feature_category, Ecology, biology, Endangered Species, Glacier, General Medicine, Glacier melting, biology.organism_classification, изменение климата, Wetlands, Heritiera fomes, Mangrove, Geology
Abstract: The alterations in the salinity profile are an indirect, but potentially sensitive, indicator for detecting changes in precipitation, evaporation, river run-off, glacier retreat, and ice melt. These changes have a high impact on the growth of coastal plant species, such as mangroves. Here, we present estimates of the variability of salinity and the biomass of a stenoecious mangrove species (Heritiera fomes, commonly referred to as Sundari) in the aquatic subsystem of the lower Gangetic delta based on a dataset from 2004 to 2015. We highlight the impact of salinity alteration on the change in aboveground biomass of this endangered species that, due to different salinity profile in the western and central sectors of the lower Gangetic plain, shows an increase only in the former sector, where the salinity is dropping and low growth in the latter, where the salinity is increasing.
Published: 2017

33. The fractal nature of the latitudinal biodiversity gradient

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti and Cazzolla Gatti R.
Subjects: 0106 biological sciences, 0301 basic medicine, Niche, Equator, latitudinal gradient, Biodiversity, ecosystem niche, Plant Science, Atmospheric sciences, 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, Biochemistry, Fractal dimension, 03 medical and health sciences, Fractal, fractal, Genetics, Quantitative Biology::Populations and Evolution, Ecosystem, Molecular Biology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, biodiversity, Ecology, cauliflower, Cell Biology, Fractal nature, 030104 developmental biology, Polygon, Animal Science and Zoology, Geology
Abstract: For a long time ecologists have questioned on the variations of biodiversity across the latitudinal gradient. Recently, it has emerged that the changes in s-diversity are caused simply by changes in the sizes of species pools. In this study, the species pool size and the fractal nature of ecosystems was combined to clarify some general patterns of this gradient. Considering temperature, humidity and NPP as the main variables of an ecosystem niche and as the axis of the polygon in the Cartesian plane, it is possible to build fractal hypervolumes, whose fractal dimension rises up to three moving towards the equator. It follows that the best figure that graphically synthesizes the evolutionary forces that fit this ecosystem hypervolume is the fractal cauliflower.
Published: 2016

34. Cortical Motor Circuits after Piano Training in Adulthood: Neurophysiologic Evidence

Author: Giancarlo Comi, Elise Houdayer, Arturo Nuara, Marco Cursi, Letizia Leocani, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Sonia Zanini, Houdayer, E, Cursi, M, Nuara, A, Zanini, S, Gatti, R, Comi, Giancarlo, and Leocani, ANNUNZIATA MARIA LETIZIA
Subjects: Male, 0301 basic medicine, genetic structures, Physiology, medicine.medical_treatment, Social Sciences, lcsh:Medicine, Hands, Electromyography, Audiology, Electroencephalography, Functional Laterality, Learning and Memory, 0302 clinical medicine, Medicine and Health Sciences, Psychology, Right Hemisphere, lcsh:Science, Musculoskeletal System, Clinical Neurophysiology, Brain Mapping, Neuronal Plasticity, Multidisciplinary, medicine.diagnostic_test, Physics, Motor Cortex, Brain, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Electrophysiology, Arms, Bioassays and Physiological Analysis, medicine.anatomical_structure, Brain Electrophysiology, Physical Sciences, Female, Anatomy, Motor learning, Muscle Electrophysiology, Research Article, Adult, medicine.medical_specialty, Imaging Techniques, Neurophysiology, Neuroimaging, Research and Analysis Methods, Premotor cortex, 03 medical and health sciences, Rhythm, Diagnostic Medicine, Neuroplasticity, medicine, Humans, Learning, Music Cognition, business.industry, Electrophysiological Techniques, Limbs (Anatomy), lcsh:R, Cognitive Psychology, Biology and Life Sciences, Neural Inhibition, Acoustics, Evoked Potentials, Motor, Electric Stimulation, Transcranial magnetic stimulation, 030104 developmental biology, Cognitive Science, Silent period, lcsh:Q, Nerve Net, business, Bioacoustics, Cerebral Hemispheres, Music, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Neuroscience
Abstract: The neuronal mechanisms involved in brain plasticity after skilled motor learning are not completely understood. We aimed to study the short-term effects of keyboard training in music-naive subjects on the motor/premotor cortex activity and interhemispheric interactions, using electroencephalography and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Twelve subjects (experimental group) underwent, before and after a two week-piano training: (1) hand-motor function tests: Jamar, grip and nine-hole peg tests; (2) electroencephalography, evaluating the mu rhythm task-related desynchronization (TRD) during keyboard performance; and (3) TMS, targeting bilateral abductor pollicis brevis (APB) and abductor digiti minimi (ADM), to obtain duration and area of ipsilateral silent period (ISP) during simultaneous tonic contraction of APB and ADM. Data were compared with 13 controls who underwent twice these measurements, in a two-week interval, without undergoing piano training. Every subject in the experimental group improved keyboard performance and left-hand nine-hole peg test scores. Pre-training, ISP durations were asymmetrical, left being longer than right. Post-training, right ISPAPB increased, leading to symmetrical ISPAPB. Mu TRD during motor performance became more focal and had a lesser amplitude than in pre-training, due to decreased activity over ventral premotor cortices. No such changes were evidenced in controls. We demonstrated that a 10-day piano-training was associated with balanced interhemispheric interactions both at rest and during motor activation. Piano training, in a short timeframe, may reshape local and inter-hemispheric motor cortical circuits.
Published: 2016

35. A conceptual model of new hypothesis on the evolution of biodiversity

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti and Cazzolla Gatti R.
Subjects: 0106 biological sciences, 0301 basic medicine, avoidance of competition, Current distribution, media_common.quotation_subject, Biodiversity, endogenosymbiosi, niches differentiation, Plant Science, 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, Biochemistry, phenotypic plasticity, Competition (biology), 03 medical and health sciences, Plant science, evolution, Genetics, Ecosystem, Evolutionary dynamics, Molecular Biology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, media_common, biodiversity, Ecology, Environmental ethics, Cell Biology, 030104 developmental biology, Geography, Conceptual model, Animal Science and Zoology, Global biodiversity
Abstract: The mechanisms that allow species to evolve, coexist, compete, cooperate or become extinct are becoming always more understood. At the same time, the factors that allow species to coexist in a given time within the same environment are still debated. Many theories and hypotheses suggest that competition tends to differentiate the ecological requirements after repeated interactions and to allow the presence of many different species in the same area (i.e. biodiversity). After all, a thorough understanding of the evolutionary dynamics of biodiversity, which could somehow explain the current distribution patterns and mechanisms of coexistence, must consider the biogeographic and phylogenetic approaches. Here I propose a new graphic model that reviews the past and present, and sometimes debated, trends in biodiversity and evolutionary science, pointing out the importance of the avoidance of competition, the biological history, the endogenosymbiosis and the three-dimensionality as the main forces that structure ecosystems and allow the evolution of biological diversity. This model is an attempt to explain and summarize some of the mechanisms that underlie the current presence of the awesome number of species that currently inhabit our planet.
Published: 2016

36. Trends in human development and environmental protection

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti and Cazzolla Gatti R.
Subjects: 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences, Ecology, Geography, Planning and Development, Developing country, 010501 environmental sciences, 01 natural sciences, Pollution, Natural resource, Environmental protection, Indigenous, Human development (humanity), Ecosystem services, Human development, Living Planet Index, Human Development Index, Business, Computers in Earth Sciences, Trends, Waste Management and Disposal, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences, Global biodiversity
Abstract: Even if the will to follow a sustainable lifestyle in the Western countries is increasing, many developing countries are experiencing their phase of economic growth, threatening and overexploiting their environment. This study compares the Living Planet Index and the Human Development Index, and suggests that societies follow common patterns of development, from the indigenous lifestyle to undeveloped society, through a developing stage, towards a developed state. According to these common steps each society exploits local, regional and sometimes global natural resources to nourish its economic growth. If developing countries will not undertake strategies to skip the ‘intermediate’ stage of overexploitation of natural resources during their growing phase, Earth systems may not be able to keep alive the global biodiversity, and provide ecosystem services that sustain humanity.
Published: 2016

37. Modelling tropical forests response to logging

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Arianna Di Paola, Riccardo Valentini, PAPARELLA, Francesco, Roberto Cazzolla, Gatti, Arianna Di, Paola, Riccardo, Valentini, and Paparella, Francesco
Subjects: Carbon sequestration, Mathematical modeling
Abstract: Tropical rainforests are among the most threatened ecosystems by large-scale fragmentation due to human activity such as heavy logging and agricultural clearance. Although, they provide crucial ecosystem goods and services, such as sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, protecting watersheds and conserving biodiversity. In several countries forest resource extraction has experienced a shift from clearcutting to selective logging to maintain a significant forest cover and understock of living biomass. However the knowledge on the short and long-term effects of removing selected species in tropical rainforest are scarce and need to be further investigated. One of the main effects of selective logging on forest dynamics seems to be the local disturbance which involve the invasion of open space by weed, vines and climbers at the expense of the late-successional state cenosis. We present a simple deterministic model that describes the dynamics of tropical rainforest subject to selective logging to understand how and why weeds displace native species. We argue that the selective removal of tallest tropical trees carries out gaps of light that allow weeds, vines and climbers to prevail on native species, inhibiting the possibility of recovery of the original vegetation. Our results show that different regime shifts may occur depending on the type of forest management adopted. This hypothesis is supported by a dataset of trees height and weed/vines cover that we collected from 9 plots located in Central and West Africa both in untouched and managed areas.
Published: 2013

38. Long Tree-Ring Chronologies Provide Evidence of Recent Tree Growth Decrease in a Central African Tropical Forest

Author: Marco Marchetti, Enrica Zalloni, Fabio Marzaioli, Bruno Lasserre, Giovanna Battipaglia, Roberto Tognetti, Simona Castaldi, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Riccardo Valentini, Battipaglia G., Zalloni E., Castaldi S., Marzaioli F., Cazzolla Gatti R., Lasserre B., Tognetti R., Marchetti M., Valentini R., Battipaglia, Giovanna, Zalloni, E, Castaldi, Simona, Marzaioli, Fabio, Cazzolla Gatti, R, Lasserre, B, Tognetti, R., Marchetti, M, and Valentini, R.
Subjects: 0106 biological sciences, 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences, Dendrology, Climate change, lcsh:Medicine, selective logging, Biology, Carbon sequestration, Forests, 01 natural sciences, Trees, Dendrochronology, Africa, Central, Growth rate, Forest, lcsh:Science, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences, Tropical Climate, Multidisciplinary, Ecology, lcsh:R, Correction, 15. Life on land, Carbon Dioxide, Tropical forest, Confounding effect, Carbon, 13. Climate action, Regression Analysis, lcsh:Q, Tree (set theory), Research Article, 010606 plant biology & botany
Abstract: It is still unclear whether the exponential rise of atmospheric CO2 concentration has produced a fertilization effect on tropical forests, thus incrementing their growth rate, in the last two centuries. As many factors affect tree growth patterns, short -term studies might be influenced by the confounding effect of several interacting environmental variables on plant growth. Long-term analyses of tree growth can elucidate long-term trends of plant growth response to dominant drivers. The study of annual rings, applied to long tree-ring chronologies in tropical forest trees enables such analysis. Long-term tree-ring chronologies of three widespread African species were measured in Central Africa to analyze the growth of trees over the last two centuries. Growth trends were correlated to changes in global atmospheric CO2 concentration and local variations in the main climatic drivers, temperature and rainfall. Our results provided no evidence for a fertilization effect of CO2 on tree growth. On the contrary, an overall growth decline was observed for all three species in the last century, which appears to be significantly correlated to the increase in local temperature. These findings provide additional support to the global observations of a slowing down of C sequestration in the trunks of forest trees in recent decades. Data indicate that the CO2 increase alone has not been sufficient to obtain a tree growth increase in tropical trees. The effect of other changing environmental factors, like temperature, may have overridden the fertilization effect of CO2. It is still unclear whether the exponential rise of atmospheric CO2 concentration has produced a fertilization effect on tropical forests, thus incrementing their growth rate, in the last two centuries. As many factors affect tree growth patterns, short -term studies might be influenced by the confounding effect of several interacting environmental variables on plant growth. Long-term analyses of tree growth can elucidate long-term trends of plant growth response to dominant drivers. The study of annual rings, applied to long tree-ring chronologies in tropical forest trees enables such analysis. Long-term tree-ring chronologies of three widespread African species were measured in Central Africa to analyze the growth of trees over the last two centuries. Growth trends were correlated to changes in global atmospheric CO2 concentration and local variations in the main climatic drivers, temperature and rainfall. Our results provided no evidence for a fertilization effect of CO2 on tree growth. On the contrary, an overall growth decline was observed for all three species in the last century, which appears to be significantly correlated to the increase in local temperature. These findings provide additional support to the global observations of a slowing down of C sequestration in the trunks of forest trees in recent decades. Data indicate that the CO2 increase alone has not been sufficient to obtain a tree growth increase in tropical trees. The effect of other changing environmental factors, like temperature, may have overridden the fertilization effect of CO2.
Published: 2015

39. The impact of selective logging and clearcutting on forest structure, tree diversity and above-ground biomass of African tropical forests

Author: Francesco Paparella, David A. Coomes, Jeremy A. Lindsell, Riccardo Valentini, Arianna Di Paola, Mauro Maesano, Simona Castaldi, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Marco Marchetti, Cazzolla Gatti, R., Castaldi, Simona, Lindsell, J. A., Coomes, D. A., Marchetti, M., Maesano, M., Di Paola, A., Paparella, F., Valentini, R., Cazzolla Gatti, Roberto, Lindsell, Jeremy A., Coomes, David A., Marchetti, Marco, Maesano, Mauro, Di Paola, Arianna, Paparella, Francesco, Valentini, Riccardo, Cazzolla Gatti R., Castaldi S., Lindsell J.A., Coomes D.A., Marchetti M., Maesano M., Di Paola A., Paparella F., and Valentini R.
Subjects: Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, Clearcutting, Forest degradation, Tropical forests, Agroforestry, Logging, Forest management, Biodiversity, Selective logging, Sierra leone, Bioma, Tropical forest, Africa, Secondary forest, Environmental science, Africa, Biodiversity, Biomass, Forest degradation, Selective logging, Tropical forests, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Salvage logging
Abstract: Tropical deforestation is well known to have serious negative consequences for biodiversity, terrestrial carbon sinks and the balance of atmospheric greenhouse gases. By contrast, selective logging of tropical forests is often regarded as having a lesser impact on the ecosystem particularly in long terms, even though there have been few critical evaluations of the practice, particularly in Africa. We compared field data from 511 plots in the tropical forest of Sierra Leone, Ghana, Cameroon and Gabon. These plots were subject to different forest management practices: no recent logging (primary forests), selective logging (up to 30years old) and re-grown secondary forests post clear-cutting (at least 20years ago). Our findings suggest that the vertical structure and plant richness of the selectively logged and secondary forests change in different amplitude from those of primary forests, but stem density and the prevalence of vine and weed species differ greatly. We show that the effects of selective logging are greater than those expected simply from the removal of commercial species, and can persist for decades. Selective logging, unless it is practiced at very low harvest intensities, can significantly reduce the biomass of a tropical forest for many decades, seriously diminishing aboveground carbon storage capacity, and create opportunities for weeds and vines to spread and slow down the ecological succession.
Published: 2014

40. Accelerating upward treeline shift in the Altai Mountains under last-century climate change

Author: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Alena Velichevskaya, Jingjing Liang, Terry V. Callaghan, Anastasia Dudko, Luca Fabbio, Giovanna Battipaglia, Cazzolla Gatti R., Callaghan T., Velichevskaya A., Dudko A., Fabbio L., Battipaglia G., Liang J., Cazzolla Gatti, Roberto, Callaghan, Terry, Velichevskaya, Alena, Dudko, Anastasia, Fabbio, Luca, Battipaglia, Giovanna, and Liang, Jingjing
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, treeline, ved/biology.organism_classification_rank.species, mountain, Climate change, lcsh:Medicine, Shrub, Алтай, горы, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, East Asia, Ecosystem, Upward shift, lcsh:Science, climate, geography, Multidisciplinary, geography.geographical_feature_category, деревья, ved/biology, lcsh:R, 15. Life on land, климатические изменения, 030104 developmental biology, Phenology, 13. Climate action, горные экосистемы, lcsh:Q, Physical geography, Allometry, 030217 neurology & neurosurgery, Mountain range
Abstract: Treeline shift and tree growth often respond to climatic changes and it is critical to identify and quantify their dynamics. Some regions are particularly sensitive to climate change and the Altai Mountains, located in Central and East Asia, are showing unequivocal signs. The mean annual temperature in the area has increased by 1.3–1.7 °C in the last century. As this mountain range has ancient and protected forests on alpine slopes, we focus on determining the treeline structure and dynamics. We integrated in situ fine-scale allometric data with analyses from dendrochronological samples, high-resolution 3D drone photos and new satellite images to study the dynamics and underlying causal mechanisms of any treeline movement and growth changes in a remote preserved forest at the Aktru Research Station in the Altai Mountain. We show that temperature increase has a negative effect on mountain tree growth. In contrast, only younger trees grow at higher altitudes and we document a relatively fast upward shift of the treeline. During the last 52 years, treeline moved about 150 m upward and the rate of movement accelerated until recently. Before the 1950s, it never shifted over 2150–2200 m a.s.l. We suggest that a continuous upward expansion of the treeline would be at the expense of meadow and shrub species and radically change this high-mountain ecosystem with its endemic flora. This documented treeline shift represents clear evidence of the increased velocity of climate change during the last century.
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41. Long tree-ring chronologies provide evidence of recent tree growth decrease in a Central African tropical forest.

Author: Giovanna Battipaglia, Enrica Zalloni, Simona Castaldi, Fabio Marzaioli, Roberto Cazzolla-Gatti, Bruno Lasserre, Roberto Tognetti, Marco Marchetti, and Riccardo Valentini
Subjects: Medicine, Science
Abstract: It is still unclear whether the exponential rise of atmospheric CO2 concentration has produced a fertilization effect on tropical forests, thus incrementing their growth rate, in the last two centuries. As many factors affect tree growth patterns, short -term studies might be influenced by the confounding effect of several interacting environmental variables on plant growth. Long-term analyses of tree growth can elucidate long-term trends of plant growth response to dominant drivers. The study of annual rings, applied to long tree-ring chronologies in tropical forest trees enables such analysis. Long-term tree-ring chronologies of three widespread African species were measured in Central Africa to analyze the growth of trees over the last two centuries. Growth trends were correlated to changes in global atmospheric CO2 concentration and local variations in the main climatic drivers, temperature and rainfall. Our results provided no evidence for a fertilization effect of CO2 on tree growth. On the contrary, an overall growth decline was observed for all three species in the last century, which appears to be significantly correlated to the increase in local temperature. These findings provide additional support to the global observations of a slowing down of C sequestration in the trunks of forest trees in recent decades. Data indicate that the CO2 increase alone has not been sufficient to obtain a tree growth increase in tropical trees. The effect of other changing environmental factors, like temperature, may have overridden the fertilization effect of CO2.
Published: 2015
Full Text: View/download PDF

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