Barbara ValleUniversità degli Studi di Siena | UNISI
Barbara Valle
PhD
About
28
Publications
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193
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
November 2019 - present
Education
October 2016 - April 2019
Publications
Publications (28)
Glaciers host a variety of cold‐adapted taxa, many of which have not yet been described. Interactions among glacier organisms are even less clear. Understanding ecological interactions is crucial to unravelling the functioning of glacier ecosystems, particularly in light of current glacier retreat. Through a review of the existing literature, we ai...
Melting glaciers give a unique possibility to study how life colonizes newly exposed ground. Research during the last two decades has shown that arthropods play a key role in establishing the first functioning ecosystems. However, there are still gaps in our knowledge about this succession process and a need to identify key research directions. Goo...
Although Svalbard archipelago is considered as a natural laboratory for the environmental studies in the High Arctic, the knowledge on the transport and diversity of bioaerosols (aeroplankton) in the atmosphere is poorly recognized. To improve our knowledge about the aeroplankton over the Svalbard, we conducted a short-term study in the central par...
Springtails can occur in large populations on the snow surface. This peculiar habitat hosts specialized winter-active springtails living in colonies and using this seasonal habitat for feeding, effective dispersal and migration. Snow-active species have never been studied in Southern European Alps: the aim of this work is to study snow-active sprin...
A new species of Campanula (Campanulaceae), C. bergomensis sp. nov., is described from the Bergamo Prealps (Orobic Prealps, Lombardy, Northern Italy), based on both morphological and molecular evidence. The new species was considered in the past as an isolated population of C. cespitosa, which presents an eastern Alpine distribution. C. bergomensis...
The surveying of European Union (EU) Annex I habitat “8110 - Siliceous scree of the montane to snow levels (Androsacetalia alpinae and Galeopsietalia ladani)” is generally executed by humans. However, robots could increase human monitoring capabilities. To this end, we collected information on this habitat employing the quadrupedal robot ANYmal C....
We applied a multi-taxa approach integrating the co-occurrence of plants, ground beetles, spiders and springtails with soil parameters (temperatures and chemical characteristics) in order to describe the primary succession along two glacier forelands in the Maritime Alps (Italy), a hotspot of Mediterranean biodiversity. We compared these succession...
In the current global warming phase, relict glacial areas are one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world. They are “cold-spots” of biodiversity
and of great interest both from the ecological and conservation point of view. We investigated the biological communities (plants and arthropods) hosted
by one of the southernmost European glaciers:...
Subterranean environments host a substantial amount of biodiversity, however assessing the distribution of species living underground is still extremely challenging. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is a powerful tool to estimate biodiversity in poorly known environments and has excellent performance for soil organisms. Here, we tested 1) whe...
We describe and delimit with integrative taxonomy the new springtail species Desoria calderonis sp. nov. (Collembola: Isotomidae). This cryophilic species is strictly linked to the supraglacial stony debris of the isolated Calderone glacier (Central Apennines, Italy), one of the southernmost glaciers of Europe. Desoria calderonis sp. nov. could bel...
Habitat monitoring in Europe is regulated by Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, which suggests the use of typical species to assess habitat conservation status. Yet, the Directive uses the term “typical” species but does not provide a definition, either for its use in reporting or for its use in impact assessments. To address the issue, an onlin...
The cryosphere (i.e. glaciers and permafrost) and its related landforms offer a wide range of ecosystem services, thus they have strong relationships with human population. Even if these harsh environments have often been regarded as inhospitable, there is a growing amount of literature on glacial biodiversity, specifically concerning European moun...
In the current scenario of climate change, cold-adapted insects are among the most threatened organisms in high-altitude habitats of the Alps. Upslope shifts and changes in phenology are two of the most investigated responses to climate change, but there is an increasing interest in evaluating the presence of high-altitude landforms acting as refug...
In the current scenario of climate change, cold-adapted insects are among the most threatened organisms in high-altitude habitats of the Alps. Upslope shifts and changes in phenology are two of the most investigated responses to climate change, but there is an increasing interest in evaluating the presence of high-altitude landforms acting as refug...
As glaciers retreat, their forelands represent "natural laboratories" for the study of primary succession. This review describes how certain arthropods conquer pristine ground and develop food webs before the establishment of vascular plants. Based on soil samples, pitfall traps, fallout and sticky traps, gut content studies, and some unpublished d...
Riassunto-il detrito roccioso posto sulla superficie dei ghiacciai è in grado di ospitare una biodiversità, sia animale che vegetale, che include specie microterme a rischio di estinzione nello scenario attuale di riscaldamento climatico globale. Gli ambienti glaciali delle Alpi orientali, dominati da substrato carbonatico, non sono mai stati studi...
Nebria germari (Coleoptera: Carabidae) is a cold-adapted species currently restricted to high altitude habitats of the Eastern Alps and exhibits fragmented distribution patterns suggesting refugial occurrence. It is a brachypterous species (thus with low dispersal ability) and it has nocturnal forage behaviour (mainly predating springtails and midg...