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The Italian Network for Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER-Italy) is currently made of 79 sites organized in 25 parent sites, distributed all over the Italian territory in terrestrial, freshwater, transitional and marine water environments; it also includes 7 extraterritorial sites in Antarctica and in the Himalayas LTER-Italy management is regulated according to a Statute that identify an Assembly of sites' managers, an elected Coordinator, a Coordination Committee, and a Technical-Scientific Secretariat. Its development and consolidation have been closely linked to that of LTER-Europe, to which the Network belongs since 2006. LTER-Italy researches are supported by numerous Scientific Institutions, Universities and Territorial Agencies. Furthermore, LTER-Italy has important connections with other European research infrastructures as well as with the Regional Authority. Its activities span over multiple scientific fields, with a socio-ecological approach on biodiversity, climate change, training and education and the environmental challenges that engage our society. LTER-Italy was conceived and implemented as a shared ecological research platform, which favors the comparison of results and the data conservation, with the aim of creating a wealth of information and observations accessible and usable for future generations. The members of LTER-Italy study ecosystems, their dynamics and their evolution, the relationships between biodiversity and ecological functionality, and the environmental responses to natural and anthropic drivers. Within this network, fruitful scientific collaborations are initiated and maintained, interdisciplinary activities and cross-sectional(dominion?) research on ecosystems are encouraged and the valorization of long-term ecological data is promoted. Since 2015, LTER Italia is working at the integration within the nascent eLTER-RI European infrastructure (European Long-Term Ecosystem, critical zone and socio-ecological Research Infrastructure).

Long-Term Ecosystem Research (LTER) is an essential component of world-wide efforts to better understand ecosystems and the environment we belong to and depend on. Through research and long-term observation of representative sites in Europe and around the globe, LTER enhances our understanding of the structure and functions of ecosystems, which are indispensable for people's life and well-being. The eLTER Site Catalogue presents 150 European eLTER Sites (foci for long-term ecosystem observation and research) and eLTSER Platforms (large areas facilitating socio-ecological research), forming about a third of the total European sites.Each site is described in one page, providing a description of the site, the main ecosystems represented, the site's research purpose(s), its location, research topics and the facilities available to support research. The catalogue is illustrated throughout with photographs from the sites. The eLTER Sites and eLTSER Platforms featured in the catalogue are distributed across 22 European countries and were included in the Horizon 2020 eLTER project (Integrated European Long-Term Ecosystem and Socio-Ecological Research Infrastructure, 2015-2019), a collaboration between LTER-Europe and the European Critical Zone Observatories. The aim of this catalogue is to showcase the wide range of eLTER Sites and eLTSER Platforms in Europe, and to attract prospective researchers to use the sites for research, either in-person or by accessing the many environmental datasets available. The eLTER Site Catalogue is based on, and links with, the extensive metadata on global LTER sites available via the Dynamic Ecological Information Management System Site and Dataset Registry (DEIMS-SDR).

Biodiversity and ecosystem research deals with heterogeneous and distributed data resources generated from a large number of disciplines, which need to be integrated to advance the actual scientific knowledge. There is a clear need for integrative research, but at the same time, it is very challenging to provide appropriate solutions for the management of information. Within the biological and ecological informatics communities, recent efforts are devoted to the adoption of semantic web techniques, which provide a promising way to properly describe and interrelate different data sources to reduce barriers to data discovery and integration. In this respect, semantic harmonization, achieved with the development and use of thesauri, represents an essential precondition. The E-Biodiversity Research Institute of LifeWatch Italy (LW-ITA) developed thesauri, available as a web service (http://www.servicecentrelifewatch.eu/catalogue-of-services), on morphological traits of several groups of aquatic organisms, on alien and endemic species, and on genomics and barcoding. They were all implemented in Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) and Resource Description Framework (RDF), using TemaTres, an open-source web-based platform for the collaborative management of thesauri, as well as a Linked Data interface and an RDF query language (SPARQL) endpoint. The development of LW-ITA thesauri is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration of experts from both the specific domains and information and communication technologies. In this context, experts had a central role in the different phases of implementation of thesauri, resulting in the production of shared and stable versions of thesauri, and in the extension of the range of covered concepts.

Environmental Science is undergoing a period of big changes facing the challenge of data collection in an era driven by data. A big amount of data is pivotal when upscaling the study of ecological processes to the macro-ecological level, investigating multiple species distributed in multiple habitats. LifeWatch (LW), the European e-Science infrastructure on biodiversity and ecosystems, aims to strength the scientific research on biodiversity through the sharing biodiversity data making them Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. According to this scenario, the LW Mediterranean Thematic Centre (MTC), together with the other TCs and the ICT members, developed a first case study collecting biodiversity data to investigate the vulnerability of ecosystems to biological invasions. The main scope of the Alien Species Show Case was assessing fragility of EUNIS habitat types to alien and invasive species and modelling their fragility to abiotic forcing. Occurrence records were gathered from specific datasets belonging to more than 30 public and private research institution. Overall a dataset on the occurrence of more than 12000 species from 560 sites (lagoon, marine, freshwater and terrestrial) across the Italian peninsula, was gathered. Records were organized and enriched with additional information to be useful to the further analysis. The data validation has been made through the data cleaning semi-automatic service in the LW dataportal, based on the lifewatch-ita Global Name Architecture, which refers to PESI, Worms, and COL. Here we report the steps that led to the show case development and the related results obtained, in terms of published scientific papers.

Biodiversity and ecosystem research is becoming central to major societal challenges as bioeconomy and climate action. To handle the scale and complexity of the scientific question being addressed, there is a strong need to integrate scientific knowledge. However, relevant data are heterogeneous, distributed and difficult to share. Initiatives to integrate data into viable resources for innovation in science and decision-making are being developed as local, regional, and global initiatives.The Data Portal of the LifeWatch Italy (LW-ITA) e-infrastructure aims at facilitating data sharing and stimulating collaborative and data-intensive science in the fields of biodiversity and ecosystem research. LW-ITA Data Portal functionalities ease data management through the Data Life Cycle (quality assurance and quality control, metadata creation, integration, data discovery, visualization and analysis). We present the currently available solutions for data management and sketch future developments. We aim to create a service-oriented e-infrastructure for biodiversity and ecosystem data, where all components are accessible through web services, in order to provide one single entry point to existing biodiversity and ecosystem data resources in Italy and to make them findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable (FAIR principles) at all levels, from local to global.

I Cammini della "Rete Italiana per la Ricerca Ecologica di Lungo Termine" (Rete LTER-Italia, dove LTER sta per Long Term Ecological Research) sono stati ideati nel 2015 da un gruppo di ricercatori e ricercatrici interessati a far conoscere le proprie attività a un pubblico vasto. Carta geografica alla mano, hanno dato vita a una serie di itinerari tra i luoghi in cui essi stessi svolgono ricerche ecologiche: i siti della Rete LTER-Italia...

Since 2015 Italian ecologists, active in long -term ecological research (LTER -Italy) and in biodiversity study (LifeWatch -Italy), started a process of informal public science communication, through walking and cycling together with citizens along itineraries connecting a number of LTER -Italy sites. The trails, named "CAMMINI LTER", aimed at offering citizens an opportunity to familiarize with the components and conditions of Italian biodiversity and ecosystems, from the sea to alpine tundra. This initiative was conceived to share the research results among a large public, by creating a physical and visible movement of researchers towards and with citizens, relying as well on the slow rhythm of walking and cycling that allow to create an intimate link with people and nature. Cammini LTER intended, in particular, to promote LTER and Life Watch activities to a not- expert audience and to increase ecological awareness and literacy, moving beyond communication deficit to dialogue, sharing scientific views as well as experiences and emotions. The trails were also an invaluable opportunity for scientists to understand the need to adopt a different cultural approach for more effective interactions with citizens, since communicating and sharing science is an important step for researchers to make their activity more visible and understandable. Actually, the trails produced unexpected effects on the scientists, evidencing the need of a cultural shift: they generated mutual learning by public and scientists and induced profound changes, vivid debates and critical considerations among researchers themselves, about some relevant aspects and needs of science communication. We report here some evaluations and perspectives coming form this experience that has recently crossed the national boundaries, becoming in 2016 the International initiative "TRAIL", selected and launched by the International Long- Term Ecological Research Network (ILTER)

Già da vari decenni si è affermata nella comunità scientifica internazionale la consapevolezza che le Ricerche Ecologiche a Lungo Termine (LTER), che si svolgono sulla scala pluridecadale, sono uno strumento indispensabile per comprendere la variabilità naturale degli ecosistemi nel tempo e per determinare le relazioni fra le loro componenti biotiche e abiotiche. Dagli anni '90 si sono sviluppate e consolidate a livello globale le reti di siti di ricerca LTER. In questo contesto internazionale, nasce e si sviluppa anche la rete LTER-Italia, comprendente 25 siti terresti e acquatici con 80 stazioni di ricerca, distribuite su tutto il territorio nazionale. Il ruolo delle donne nella costituzione e nel coordinamento della rete italiana, nella gestione dei siti e nelle attività di ricerca è stato ed è di grande rilevanza. L'osservazione dei fenomeni naturali richiede competenza scientifica, rigore e notevoli energie, sia per la raccolta dei dati sia per la loro interpretazione. Storie di persone e progetti di ricerca dimostrano che, accanto a queste qualità, ve ne sono altre, altrettanto necessarie e spesso trascurate, che tendenzialmente appartengono in misura maggiore al mondo femminile: la capacità relazionale, la pazienza di perseguire obiettivi a lungo termine in un percorso spesso accidentato, e la sensibilità nel riconoscere i limiti umani nell'interpretare fenomeni intrinsecamente complessi e non lineari.

Italian ecologists who are active in the Italian long-term ecosystem research (LTER-Italy) and in the study of biodiversity (Lifewatch-Italy), walk and cycle together with citizens along three paths organized as events of scientific dissemination. The paths, which are aimed at raising public awareness on ecosystems, biodiversity, and environmental sustainability, connect different LTER-Italy sites. They represent a sort of "Via Francigena" of the ecological research and offer citizens the opportunity to familiarize with the wealth and fragilities of Italian ecosystems. Observing the landscape at the natural speed of human walking or biking is the best way to appreciate the peculiarities of the surrounding environment, its diversity and ecological state. At the LTER sites and along the paths, researchers help citizens in recognizing and estimating the status of the vegetation, identify animals and plants, evaluate the degree of biodiversity, assess the quality of the waters of lakes and marine areas. Besides, citizens could meet researchers at work at the LTER-sites, join them in the fieldwork, understand the importance of the long-term ecological studies and activate initiatives of citizens science within the LTER and Lifewatch context.

The reconstruction of past ocean temperatures is fundamental to the study of past climate changes, therefore considerable effort has been invested in developing proxies for seawater temperatures. One of the most recent and promising new proxy is carbonate 'clumped isotope' thermometry, in particular because it is based on thermodynamic equilibrium and not on bio- geochemical proxies. Here, we present a new calibration of the 'clumped isotope' thermometer to foraminifera based on seven species of planktic and benthic foraminifera spanning a growth temperature range of 2-28 C. We used a newly developed technique for the measurements of small samples to improve the applicability of this method to paleoceanography. Our data have a comparable precision (0.005-0.013&) and confirm previous calibration studies based on biogenic and inorganic cal- cite. We discuss possible sources of uncertainty such as over-/underestimation of the calcification temperatures, species-spe- cific vital effects, pH variations between the seawater and the vacuole water of the species and possible kinetic effects on the 'clumped isotope' calibration. To validate our calibration study and test the applicability of our measuring technique to paleoclimate and paleoceano- graphic studies we measured the isotope composition of Globigerinoides ruber (white) at high-resolution in a sediment core covering the last 700 years in the Gulf of Taranto (Mediterranean Sea). The results show that it is necessary to average a rel- atively large number of analyses to achieve a consistent temperature signal for the detection of small sea surface temperature changes. Although with the current analytical system, 'clumped isotope' thermometry is only applicable to the analysis of rel- atively large SST changes in marine sediments, further technical improvements may make this a very powerful technique for paleoceanographic studies.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-30T10:49:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_2519_2005_Cristina Marinho Crist Bergami.pdf: 1161678 bytes, checksum: 1d3dde4178b2d257c8b2504e8d77c041 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-04-10 Trata-se de um estudo descritivo sobre a morbidade por causas externas, com o objetivo de descrever o perfil de internações por causas externas em crianças e adolescentes (0 a 19 anos) no estado do Espírito Santo, no período de 1998 a 2005, e identificar quais os municípios com maior índice de internação. Foi utilizado o Banco de Dados do Sistema de Informações Hospitalares do Sistema Único de Saúde, codificadas segundo a 10ª revisão da Classificação Internacional de Doenças. As internações diminuíram em 10,3%, estando na 4ª colocação entre as internações por todas as causas. Houve predomínio do sexo masculino (71,2%) e da faixa etária entre 10 a 19 anos (57,6%). As causas mais freqüentes foram as quedas (50,5%, 129,6/100.000 hab.), seguida dos acidentes de transporte (15,2%, 39,1/100.000 hab.), queimaduras (9,4%, 24,3/100.000 hab.) e intoxicações acidentais (5,4%, 13,7/100.000 hab.). Em relação a faixa etária destacam-s as quedas entre 10 a 14 anos (29,1%), os acidentes de transporte e as intoxicações entre 15 a 19 anos (45,9% e 41,8%, respectivamente) e as queimaduras entre 1 a 4 anos (45,9%). A principal lesão encontrada foi o traumatismo, responsável por mais de 70% das internações (170,8/100.000 hab.). Deste, a fratura de membros foi a mais encontrada (53,4%). Quanto os acidentes de transporte, predominaram os atropelamentos (54,3%). Líquidos, bebidas e óleos quentes (62,5%) foram as principais causas de queimadura e o contato com animais e plantas venenosas (68,3%) foi a principal causa de intoxicação acidental. O tempo médio de internação foi de 5,7 dias sendo maior na fratura de pescoço, tórax e pelve (13,4 dias), seguido das queimaduras (12,3 dias). A taxa de mortalidade hospitalar foi de 1,4%, sendo maiores no quase-afogamento e submersão acidentais (4,0%), seqüelas de causas externas (3,7%) e acidentes de trânsito (3,5%). O gasto médio das internações por causas externas (R$ 487,29) superou o de outras causas (R$ 381,87) em 27,6%. A queimadura foi a causa (R$ 1.015,91) e a lesão (R$ 1.033,08) com o maior gasto. Quanto às internações segundo mês de ocorrência, não foram encontradas qualquer tendência e sazonalidade no período estudado. O município da Serra foi o que gerou o maior número de casos, mas foi Vitória que mais internou. O maior coeficiente de morbidade foi encontrado em Afonso Cláudio (492,3/100.000 hab.), seguido por Alegre (475,9/100.000 hab.) e Itapemirim (435,4/100.000 hab.). Alegre e Vila Velha foram os municípios que mais aumentaram o número de casos (50,0%) e de internações (136,9%), respectivamente. Os municípios que mais diminuíram a incidência de internações foram Guaçuí (44,2%), Itapemirim (43,5%) e Santa Maria de Jetibá (42,4%). Os maiores coeficientes de morbidade foram encontrados em Marataízes para os acidentes de transporte, Alegre para as quedas, São Gabriel da Palha para as queimaduras e Afonso Cláudio para as intoxicações acidentais. O conhecimento das internações por causas externas se torna relevante para o subsídio na preparação de políticas públicas de prevenção destes agravos, melhoria no atendimento de resgate e remoção e a melhoria dos departamentos de emergência e reestruturação dos serviços de saúde.

This paper deals with the design of an innovative school building under construction in the historical center of Ariano Irpino (Italy). The building has been designed to be integrated into the historical Town, with very peculiar and innovative structural aspects. The very characteristic heritage location, with small access roads and typical historical buildings, and the site topography, at the top of the hill characterized by sloping sides and high retaining structures, with high seismic hazard, strongly influenced the structural and architectonical solution. In order to deal with the site complexity, and realize a sustainable building, the designers developed an innovative solution: the substructure is a reinforced concrete (r.c.) volume on three sides underground, the superstructure is composed by a couple of timber buildings. Between the base and the timber buildings a base isolation system is placed (which results above the third floor of the complex). The use of cast onsite concrete offer an optimal solution for the basement, with the multiple function of soil retaining system, foundation and location for several fundamental functions (gym, conference hall and restaurants), whereas the use of timber frames and cross-laminated timber (CLT) elements, for the buildings in elevations, allows to obtain a low energy consumption and eco-sustainability, not requiring big construction machines, notwithstanding the use of prefabrication. In this paper the architectural and structural solutions are presented discussing functionality, safety and sustainability issues.

A first synoptic and trans-domain overview of plankton dynamics was conducted across the aquatic sites belonging to the Italian Long-Term Ecological Research Network (LTER-Italy). Based on published studies, checked and complemented with unpublished information, we investigated phytoplankton and zooplankton annual dynamics and long-term changes across domains: from the large subalpine lakes to mountain lakes and artificial lakes, from lagoons to marine coastal ecosystems. This study permitted identifying common and unique environmental drivers and ecological functional processes controlling seasonal and long-term temporal course. The most relevant patterns of plankton seasonal succession were revealed, showing that the driving factors were nutrient availability, stratification regime, and freshwater inflow. Phytoplankton and mesozooplankton displayed a wide interannual variability at most sites. Unidirectional or linear long-term trends were rarely detected but all sites were impacted across the years by at least one, but in many case several major stressor(s): nutrient inputs, meteo-climatic variability at the local and regional scale, and direct human activities at specific sites. Different climatic and anthropic forcings frequently co-occurred, whereby the responses of plankton communities were the result of this environmental complexity. Overall, the LTER investigations are providing an unparalleled framework of knowledge to evaluate changes in the aquatic pelagic systems and management options.