Search

According to the European Landscape Convention (ELC), a landscape means “an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors”. Therefore, both human actions and natural processes play a role in shaping the landscape, which is, by this definition, ever changing. “Protecting” the landscape therefore means understanding, accepting and preserving such agents of change that have created it. Conversely, protective measures should not be designed to “freeze time”, nor to restore natural or human-influenced landscape features that have long ceased to exist. These basic concepts, delineated 20 years ago in Florence, are met in some parts of Italy by a dubious interpretation. Landscape protection agencies (Soprintendenze Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio) seem to be oriented towards stopping or limiting the traditional activities that have shaped the current Italian forest landscape, with the purpose of increasing the forest cover for “aesthetic” reasons. Such narrow view contradicts the aims of the ELC and of the related national rules and mechanisms of landscape conservation.

Using the energy flow account and the input/output analysis is possible to assess the “energetic sustainability” of landscape, in order to define policies as well as planning and management tools of the rural territory. The study area is the municipality of Castagneto Carducci, located on the Tuscan coastline, in the Leghorn district. The area, 14.000 hectares wide, is characterized by wooded hills in the inner part, a narrow dunal band along the coastline with mixed pine woods, and a flat area in the middle where all the major infrastructures and agricultural activities are located. The economy is based on tourism and on high quality wine production. The energy balance is not only referred to the present situation, but we have carried out the balances for the years 1832 and 1954, in order to assess the energy use evolution through the last 180 years, according to a multitemporal methodology develop for monitoring the dynamics of Tuscan landscape The energy balances examine all the energy flows result from the various activities in agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry. The study area must be considered as a close system, and we have to value the energy flows between the inside and the outside of this system, and how this energy is used inside of it. The three periods show different landscapes, due to the different socio-economic situation. In 1832 we find a traditional agricultural structure, based on large estate and on mezzadria management; in 1954 the mezzadria gives way to the diffusion of industrial agriculture and animal husbandry, while olive orchards became one of the main elements of the landscape. From the ’70s we attend at the proliferation of vineyards, and in few years Castagneto will become the area where some of the best Italian wines are produced (Sassicaia, Ornellaia). The wooded areas have undergone a dramatic change in their spatial location, specific composition, density and structure, but the extension remains the same, and it is approximately the half of the total communal area. In the 19th century the system was completely self-reliant about the production and the use of energy, but, with the intensification of agriculture after the Second World War, the local system consume more energy then it is produced, because of the energy imports coming from outside. Using a lot of energy brings to high productivity, but also to a less energetic efficiency compared to the 19th century and to a degradation of the landscape. The wooded areas can have an important role in mitigating the energy inefficiency, although only few of these are periodically managed; wooded areas and agricultural areas are not managed together, but they seems to be two different worlds, there is a lack of integrated approach.

Using the energy flow account and the input/output analysis is possible to assess the "energetic sustainability" of landscape, in order to define policies as well as planning and management tools of the rural territory. The study area is the municipality of Castagneto Carducci, located on the Tuscan coastline, in the Leghorn district. The area, 14.000 hectares wide, is characterized by wooded hills in the inner part, a narrow dunal band along the coastline with mixed pine woods, and a flat area in the middle where all the major infrastructures and agricultural activities are located. The economy is based on tourism and on high quality wine production. The energy balance is not only referred to the present situation, but we have carried out the balances for the years 1832 and 1954, in order to assess the energy use evolution through the last 180 years, according to a multitemporal methodology develop for monitoring the dynamics of Tuscan landscape. The energy balances examine all the energy flows result from the various activities in agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry. The study area must be considered as a close system, and we have to value the energy flows between the inside and the outside of this system, and how this energy is used inside of it. The three periods show different landscapes, due to the different socio-economic situation. In 1832 we find a traditional agricultural structure, based on large estate and on mezzadria management; in 1954 the mezzadria gives way to the diffusion of industrial agriculture and animal husbandry, while olive orchards became one of the main elements of the landscape. From the '70s we attend at the proliferation of vineyards, and in few years Castagneto will become the area where some of the best Italian wines are produced (Sassicaia, Ornellaia). The wooded areas have undergone a dramatic change in their spatial location, specific composition, density and structure, but the extension remains the same, and it is approximately the half of the total communal area. In the 19th century the system was completely self-reliant about the production and the use of energy, but, with the intensification of agriculture after the Second World War, the local system consume more energy then it is produced, because of the energy imports coming from outside. Using a lot of energy brings to high productivity, but also to a less energetic efficiency compared to the 19th century and to a degradation of the landscape. The wooded areas can have an important role in mitigating the energy inefficiency, although only few of these are periodically managed; wooded areas and agricultural areas are not managed together, but they seems to be two different worlds, there is a lack of integrated approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this perspective, we present and discuss four major causes of the worldwide nature conservation failure: 1) ideologies based on nature-culture dualism, 2) the bias prioritising forests in conservation, 3) the illusory objectiveness of selected biological indicators, and 4) the mismanagement of rural agricultural landscapes. All of these relate to ignorance of historical ecology and neglect of the role past plays in shaping landscapes and fostering biodiversity. These led to a false anthropology focussed on the broader human economy (including agriculture) as the absolute culprit of biodiversity loss. It is believed, therefore, that biodiversity preservation depends on conservation policies and actions providing protection against human activities, such as farming. In this way, nature conservation has been detached from the rich experiences of long and fruitful coexistence of people with other elements of nature. The bio-cultural legacy includes biodiversity-rich rural landscapes, whose habitats are often either neglected or wrongly interpreted as "remnants of natural ecosystems". Consequently, conservation efforts are frequently ineffective or worse still, counter-effective. In the face of policies favouring subsidised intensive agribusiness at the cost of destroying smallholder family farming, even expensive conservation projects are usually nothing more than a "fig leaf" to cover failure. We advocate re-focussing of conservation planning to put more emphasis on landscapes' historical ecology responsible for their bio-cultural diversity. It implies the need for new principles in policies necessary to secure the economic and cultural sovereignty of local socio-ecological systems responsible for the world's bio-cultural diversity., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In the present study, we investigate the combined interaction of mesoporous silica (SiO 2 ) and photocatalytic titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) nanoparticles with lipid membranes, using neutron reflectometry (NR), cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), fluorescence oxidation assays, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and ζ-potential measurements. Based on DLS, TiO 2 nanoparticles were found to display strongly improved colloidal stability at physiological pH of skin (pH 5.4) after incorporation into either smooth or spiky ("virus-like") mesoporous silica nanoparticles at low pH, the latter demonstrated by cryo-TEM. At the same time, such matrix-bound TiO 2 nanoparticles retain their ability to destabilize anionic bacteria-mimicking lipid membranes under UV-illumination. Quenching experiments indicated both hydroxyl and superoxide radicals to contribute to this, while NR showed that free TiO 2 nanoparticles and TiO 2 loaded into mesoporous silica nanoparticles induced comparable effects on supported lipid membranes, including membrane thinning, lipid removal, and formation of a partially disordered outer membrane leaflet. By comparing effects for smooth and virus-like mesoporous nanoparticles as matrices for TiO 2 nanoparticles, the interplay between photocatalytic and direct membrane binding effects were elucidated. Taken together, the study outlines how photocatalytic nanoparticles can be readily incorporated into mesoporous silica nanoparticles for increased colloidal stability and yet retain most of their capacity for photocatalytic destabilization of lipid membranes, and with maintained mechanisms for oxidative membrane destabilization. As such, the study provides new mechanistic information to the widely employed, but poorly understood, practice of loading photocatalytic nanomaterials onto/into matrix materials for increased performance.

Conjugation with poly(ethylene glycol) ("PEGylation") is a widely used approach for improving the therapeutic propensities of peptide and protein drugs through prolonging bloodstream circulation, reducing toxicity and immunogenicity, and improving proteolytic stability. In the present study, we investigate how PEGylation affects the interaction of host defense peptides (HDPs) with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as well as HDP suppression of LPS-induced cell activation. In particular, we investigate the effects of PEGylation site for KYE28 (KYEITTIHNLFRKLTHRLFRRNFGYTLR), a peptide displaying potent anti-inflammatory effects, primarily provided by its N-terminal part. PEGylation was performed either in the N-terminus, the C-terminus, or in both termini, keeping the total number of ethylene groups ( n = 48) constant. Ellipsometry showed KYE28 to exhibit pronounced affinity to both LPS and its hydrophobic lipid A moiety. The PEGylated peptide variants displayed lower, but comparable, affinity for both LPS and lipid A, irrespective of the PEGylation site. Furthermore, both KYE28 and its PEGylated variants triggered LPS aggregate disruption. To investigate the peptide structure in such LPS complexes, a battery of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods was employed. From this, it was found that KYE28 formed a well-folded structure after LPS binding, stabilized by hydrophobic domains involving aromatic amino acids as well as by electrostatic interactions. In contrast, the PEGylated peptide variants displayed a less well-defined secondary structure, suggesting weaker LPS interactions in line with the ellipsometry findings. Nevertheless, the N-terminal part of KYE28 retained helix formation after PEGylation, irrespective of the conjugation site. For THP1-Xblue-CD14 reporter cells, KYE28 displayed potent suppression of LPS activation at simultaneously low cell toxicity. Interestingly, the PEGylated KYE28 variants displayed similar or improved suppression of LPS-induced cell activation, implying the underlying key role of the largely retained helical structure close to the N-terminus, irrespective of PEGylation site. Taken together, the results show that PEGylation of HDPs can be done insensitively to the conjugation site without losing anti-inflammatory effects, even for peptides inducing such effects through one of its termini.