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Il contributo si propone di delineare Il patrimonio scientifico e storico di Giotto Dainelli a Napoli e la sua collocazione in relazione a quanto presente in altri sedi universitarie in cui Dainelli ha condotto l'attività di ricerca e di docenza. In particolare, ci si sofferma sul ruolo di Dainelli nell'ambito della geologia e della geografia partenopea per capire l'influenza che Dainelli ha avuto su tale ambito disciplinare a Napoli e sull'influenza che Napoli ha avuto per la formazione di Dainelli.

The Wikiplantbase project, started in 2013, provides a framework where georeferenced floristic records from Italian administrative regions can be stored, updated and accessed through the Internet. The online software platform was designed to encourage data entry by non-academic collaborators: pull-down menus and auto-complete fields reduce the amount of typing required and the chances of typographical errors alike; geographic localities can be entered by point-and-click on a map. All records entered are checked by regional coordinators, who can validate, modify or reject them before making them accessible online. Both academic and amateur botanists have joined the projects which counts 114 collaborators – mostly non academic – from four Italian regions (Tuscany, Sardinia, Liguria and Sicily) as of 28 June 2017. As a result, the database now stores 211693 floristic records, 188657 georeferenced toponyms, 18273 taxonomic records, and 3910 bibliographical references. A fifth region, Friuli Venezia Giulia, is currently completing the steps to become a member of the project, with the collaboration of the regional Group for Floristic Research and Exploration (GREF). Besides data, within days of Wikiplantbase online launch, collaborators have started to provide an active feedback on issues arising from data entry, searching, and missing options. Their feedback spurred a progressive refinement of the software platform. The version 2.0 was launched in 2015, and contains several improvements suggested by the Wikiplantbase community. As regards communication and dissemination, Wikiplantbase community members has participated in the organisation of both traditional scientific meetings and social events, like Piant@Là – a science café organised in Sassari in 2015 – and Wikifestival, a meeting held in Pisa in 2017 where scientific communications mingled with quiz games, and participants received official Wikifestival t-shirts. Furthermore, each regional coordinator has created a Facebook page. Data from Wikiplantbase have been used to draft a paper on phylogenetic diversity of pteridophytes in Tuscany, which has been accepted for publication on a scientific journal. To benefit the wider scientific community, the Wikiplantbase dataset is being connected to data aggregator platforms like the Italian National Biodiversity Network, and the GBIF, by using the BIOCASE protocol. The online platform Wikiplantbase is ready to be replicated in other contexts, thus providing support to a network of regional floristic databases, suited to exploit the involvement – still largely untapped – of non-academic collaborators, as advocated by citizen science.

CSMON-LIFE (Citizen Science MONitoring) aims at involving citizens in monitoring Italian biodiversity by a citizen science approach. Novel IT tools for mobile devices have been developed in the framework of the project, providing citizens with a platform for collecting and sharing geo-referenced data of target species. CSMON-LIFE also offered another option to participants, the “Ask the expert” campaign, which aims at encouraging citizens to satisfy their curiosity, by trying to identify and reporting other organisms other than the project’s target species, and having experts verifying their identification. This report analyses the data of taxa collected in the “Ask the expert” campaign, in order to evaluate the degree of citizen’s participation and engagement, the quality of observations, the distribution of observations, as well as the most intriguing taxa to citizens. The data analysed were: 1) amount of sightings, entrants and mean number of sightings per entrant; 2) temporal and spatial distribution of observations; 3) estimates of the correct identifications; 4) which taxa have been reported by citizens. During two years, more than 500 citizen scientists reported ca. 3000 observations, with a linear growth over time, and a certain degree of heterogeneity in temporal distribution, with evident seasonal peaks. Since the project started in Lazio, observations came mainly from this region. However, a high number of sightings were collected in other regions (Lombardia and Emilia-Romagna, especially). The whole dataset of observations included several taxonomic groups from plants to animals. As far as animal taxa are concerned, the greatest number of observations was about invertebrates, which triggered curiosity in most people, like spiders and insects (especially species of the orders Lepidoptera and Coleoptera). As far as vertebrates are concerned, most observations were collected on birds, mammals and reptiles. Citizens also provided new data on the occurrence of some alien animal species in Italy. Finally, these results enable us to make assumptions about which taxonomic groups could be best taken into account in future biodiversity projects aiming at involving citizens.

Decision-makers and governmental organizations are increasing the use of citizen volunteers to enhance the capacity to monitor species occurrence and distribution around the world and to investigate major aspects of global change impacts on biodiversity. For citizens the motivation is to contribute to “real” science, public information and conservation. For scientists, citizen science offers a way to collect information that would otherwise be not affordable. CSMON-LIFE (Citizen Science MONitoring) is one of the first Italian projects which focuses on using a citizen science approach on biodiversity. It is funded by the European Commission under the LIFE+ programme. CSMON has come to its latest year with more than 4000 registered users and over 20000 validated reports focused on several environmental issues, such as: the loss of biodiversity because of the presence of alien species; the effects of climate change; the conservation of rare species; the impact of human activities on the environment. The data validated feed the National Biodiversity Network established by the Italian Ministry for the Environment in order to make freely available biodiversity data. We used data collected by citizen volunteers for four alien plant species: Ailanthus altissima, Robinia pseudoacacia, Carpobrotus edulis and Opuntia ficus-indica to model their ecological niche using MaxEnt (Maximum Entropy) software. As environmental factors we used the WorldClim bioclimatic variables with a spatial resolution of 1 km2, as well as soil, land use and topography parameters. We set aside 25% of the samples for testing and the rest used for niche modelling training. The analyses used a threshold to make a binary prediction, with conditions above the threshold as suitable and those below as unsuitable. To identify variables that are most important for the species being modelled the jackknife test we used, and a set of response curves elaborated to interpret if there are strong correlations between variables. Finally, it was necessary to include in MaxEnt’s run a bias file to represent sampling effort to reduce the sampling bias performed during volunteer monitoring due to the different accessibility of the sites explored and the different amount of time dedicated to these operations. Despite these limitations data coming from the activity of citizen volunteers significantly increased the knowledge on the spatial distribution of target species. Based on these results, the establishment of permanent biodiversity observatories formed by citizen volunteers is envisaged.

sul ruolo della scienza giuridica italiana dei primi anni del Novecento dal punto di vista della teoria di Santi Romano

The GE.R.T. (Generare Reti Territoriali) project has been promoted by the Municipality of Brescia to involve citizens into territorial naturalistic surveys for studying and monitoring local biodiversity. The project is hosted by CSMON-LIFE (http://www.csmon-life.eu/), Citizen Science project LIFE13 ENV / IT / 842, which providees a software platform and a dedicated app. Data submitted by the citizens converge into the National Network on Biodiversity (NNB) of the Ministry of Environment. The GE.R.T. project is managed by the Natural Science Museum and by the Municipality Sustainability Department. It involves town’s scientific associations, whose volunteers analyze and validate data sent by the citizens. The aims of this work are: make a first project synthesis after a year of activity; demonstrate the utility of the data collected by the citizen scientists for environment management. The project officially began on May, 2016. At the end of April, 2017, 1786 georeferenced data have been collected, which have been submitted by 89 citizen scientists, even though 75% of data have been collected by 10% of the participant citizens. Data submitted by citizens have been identified at species or genus rank for 85% of the total observations. Those data are divided into four macro-categories: vascular flora, vertebrate fauna, invertebrate fauna and fungi & lichens. Most observations are located in the Province of Brescia (93%), especially from the Municipality of Brescia territory (63%). Some of them are located in the southeast of Brescia, where the Municipality wants to establish a local protected area. In this area, among 263 determined species, some of them (35) result to be under law protection (Habitats Directive 92/43/CEE, Birds Directive 79/409/CEE, L.R. 10/2008). The qualitative and quantitative presence of the protected species has the same importance in the area (13% ca). Unfortunately, a small number of species (Acer negundo L., Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle, Helianthus tuberosus L., Robinia pseudoacacia L., Trachemys scripta, Schoepff) are invasive and alien species (Black list of L.R. 10/2008, Commission Implementing Regulation EU 2016/1141).

In the framework of the LIFE programme, the European Commission is funding several projects with at least a partial focus on citizen science activities. The Project CSMON-LIFE (http://www.csmon-life.eu) started in June 2014, with the aim of contributing to the dissemination of citizen science approaches in collecting biodiversity data in Italy. Citizen science approaches are well developed in Northern Europe, Northern America and Australia, and are becoming more and more common all over the world. In Europe especially, the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) project in the British Isles, together with other relevant initiatives inm other countries, demonstrated that citizen science activities can produce reliable biodiversity data, and led to the formation of the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA). CSMON-LIFE built on the experience of previous experiences in Italy and abroad to address several environmental problems by monitoring target species. The project aimed also at improving the knowledge base for biodiversity policy in Italy, namely the Italian National Biodiversity Network. Hence, CSMON-LIFE promoted an active collaboration among scientists, public administrations and citizens in discovering, monitoring and protecting biodiversity. Citizens have been involved both in data collection and validation, thus accelerating the progress towards the objectives of the European 2020 biodiversity strategy. While participating to project activities, citizens became more aware of the importance of conservation and management of biodiversity at local and global scale, and gained a better understanding of environmental policies. Furthermore, they become able to ask for new strategic approaches in environmental management, when and where necessary. Progresses in citizens’ awareness and skills have been especially highlighted by some successful activities, which started “from below”, when citizens asked for new, more focused (to their interest/area of influence) monitoring activities, after participating to the project’s original monitoring campaigns.

La funzione delle sostanze bioattive di origine vegetale è rimasta per molti anni un’incognita. Uno dei primi chimici a interessarsi a questo campo di ricerca è stato il Prof. Giacomo Ciamician (1857-1922), che fra il 1908 e il 1921 rivolse la sua attenzione, insieme al suo allievo Prof. Ciro Ravenna, a queste sostanze da lui chiamate “accessorie”. In questo lavoro verranno illustrate le indagini di Ciamician e Ravenna per individuare l’origine e la funzione dei glicosidi e degli alcaloidi nei vegetali, attraverso l’inoculazione di diversi composti al loro interno e lo studio delle trasformazioni che ne derivavano. Essi giunsero alla conclusione che gli alcaloidi prodotti dalle piante eserciterebbero una funzione molto simile a quella degli ormoni negli animali. Verrà poi riportata la caratterizzazione strutturale dell’acido sedanonico effettuata da G. Ciamician e P. Silber, un esempio di come senza metodi strumentali, ma solo attraverso i mezzi chimici a loro disposizione, i ricercatori dell’epoca riuscissero a riconoscere i “pezzi” di una molecola e ad assemblarli in un’unica struttura. Key words: Piante; Metaboliti secondari; Giacomo Ciamician, caratterizzazione strutturale; acido sedanonico