Giuliano Bonanomi

• PhD
• Professor at University of Naples Federico II

Compost tea is widely recognized for its beneficial effects on crop growth and soil health. However, its efficacy varies depending on the composition of the feedstock and brewing conditions. This study investigates the chemical composition and agronomic impact of compost tea prepared from a commercial mixture of plant residues and animal manure. St...

Fungal fairy rings (FFR) are fascinating natural phenomena that have intrigued people and scientists for centuries. These patterns, often represented by circular distributions of altered vegetation, are found in grasslands and forest habitats. Fairy rings occur when fungi grow radially in the soil, raising from a central point, progressively degrad...

The biodeterioration process involves the alteration of stone monuments by living organisms, such as bacteria, algae, fungi, lichens, mosses, ferns, and vascular plants, combined with abiotic factors, resulting in physical and chemical damage to historic buildings. This study aims to investigate the role of the vascular plants affecting four archae...

Plastic pollution in marine ecosystems is a growing concern, yet the degradation behavior of different plastic types and their interactions with microbial communities remain poorly understood. This study investigated the degradation kinetics and microbial colonization of four widely used plastic materials, surgical masks (most made of PP), PET bott...

Question: Scattered trees are easily discernible in landscapes worldwide. They are integral to "wooded grassland" ecosystems, characterized by grazed and/or mowed open areas. In the Mediterranean basin, these dynamic systems are threatened by the abandonment of traditional management of marginal areas. Despite the ecological relevance of wooded gra...

Soilborne plant pathogens significantly impact agroecosystem productivity, emphasizing the need for effective control methods to ensure sustainable agriculture. Soil fungistasis, the soil’s ability to inhibit fungal spore germination under optimal conditions, is pivotal for biological control. This study explores soil fungistasis variability across...

Ski resort abandonment is more frequent due to global warming, which progressively reduces snowpack and persistence. However, projects aiming for new resorts in the Apennines have proliferated. Such economic investments are risky, especially without long-term data on snow cover duration. Our aim, thus, is to provide the first census of abandoned sk...

Plants shape their surrounding soil, influencing subsequent plant growth in a phenomenon known as plant–soil feedback (PSF). This feedback is driven by chemical and microbial legacies. Here, we cultivated six crops from two functional groups, i.e., three grasses (Lolium, Triticum, and Zea) and three legumes (Glycine, Lens, and Medicago), to conditi...

Charcoal kilns, old structures used for charcoal production in the forest, preserve a charcoal-enriched topsoil representing a suitable proxy for studying the long-term effect of biochar addition to soil. Two kiln platforms located at Gelbison and Vesole mountain sites in Southern Italy were selected due to their comparable climates but distinct pa...

This study focused on Pinus mugo dieback in the Maiella massif, categorizing patches into four sections: OUT, FRONT, DEAD, and IN. Vegetation analyses revealed that increased light in DEAD belts promoted higher plant diversity, while OUT belts had the lowest diversity. A high mortality rate in mature trees was followed by recolonization within dieb...

Soilborne plant pathogens significantly impact agroecosystem productivity, highlighting the need for effective control methods for sustainable agriculture. Soil fungistasis, the ability of soil to inhibit fungal spore germination, is key for biological control. This study examines soil fungistasis across various land use intensities, including fore...

Determining the chemical quality of soil organic matter and decomposing organisms is critical for predicting carbon fluxes in ecosystems. However, the classical C/N and lignin/N ratios have been criticized for their capability in predicting ecosystem function including litter decay rate, nitrogen mineralization and soil aggregation. Therefore, with...

In this study, we consider a mathematical model for the disease dynamics in both prey and predator by considering the Susceptible–Infected–Recovered–Susceptible (SIRS) model with the prey–predator Lotka–Volterra differential equations. Carrying capacity, predation, migration, and immunity loss are also taken into account for both species. Using the...

This study explores Agaricus urinascens fairy rings in Mediterranean grasslands using vegetation surveys and next-generation sequencing. Findings show decreased diversity among plants, fungi, and bacteria, favouring short-lived species. Specific fungal and bacterial shifts occur across ring zones. Moreover, the fungal front shows increased hydropho...

Charcoal kilns are ancient structures used for charcoal production. The aim of this study was to describe the chemical and microbiological features of soil and charcoal particles collected in kilns platforms. Kilns from two mountain sites i.e., Gelbison and Vesole located in Southern Italy, were selected. Standard soil chemical analyses i.e., pH, o...

Negative plant–soil feedback (PSF) arises when localized accumulations of pathogens reduce the growth of conspecifics, whereas positive PSF can occur due to the emergence of mutualists. Biochar, a carbon-rich material produced by the pyrolysis of organic matter, has been shown to modulate soil microbial communities by altering their abundance, dive...

Application of biochar to soil has been recommended as a carbon sequestration approach that can also improve soil physical and chemical properties. The addition of biochar to soil can change the physicochemical properties of the soil, leading to a subsequent modification of the microbial community. However, the long-term implications of these chang...

The rate of water infiltration, surface runoff, and overland flow are all affected by soil water repellency (SWR), i. e., the reduced affinity for water caused by hydrophobic coatings on soil particles. SWR impacts water balance, which in turn affects ecosystem's function and watersheds hydrology, but little is known about changes of these properti...

Posidonia oceanica, a Mediterranean Sea seagrass, generates significant litter debris in coastal regions, adversely affecting tourism. To manage this debris, we explored two strategies: (i) promoting in situ decomposition by introducing ligninolytic microbes from forest microbiomes and (ii) utilizing P. oceanica debris as a substrate for ornamental...

Wood vinegar is a by-product of the pyrolysis of organic raw materials. In this study, we investigated the chemical composition and biological activity of industrial wood vinegar derived from the pyrolysis of wood pruning waste. The composition of wood vinegar was characterized using liquid chromatography (LC) and gas chromatography–mass spectromet...

Extracellular DNA (exDNA) can be actively released by living cells and different putative functions have been attributed to it. Further, homologous exDNA has been reported to exert species-specific inhibitory effects on several organisms. Here, we demonstrate by different experimental evidence, including 1H-NMR metabolomic fingerprint, that the gro...

Many mushroom-forming fungi can develop circular colonies affecting the vegetation in a phenomenon named fairy rings. Since the nineteenth century, several hypotheses have been proposed to explain how fairy ring fungi form ring-like shapes instead of disks and why they produce negative or positive effects on the surrounding vegetation. In this cont...

Peat has long been the primary substrate for the production of ornamental and horticultural plants in pots. Today, peat is no longer considered a renewable resource due to its very lengthy regeneration time. Biochar, a solid by-product of biomass pyrolysis, has been proposed as an agricultural soil amendment. We investigated the effects of two type...

With approximately 2800 species, the Campania region has the richest vascular flora in southern Italy and the highest number of medicinal species reported in the Italian folk traditions. The study area is inserted in a wide rural landscape, still retaining a high degree of naturalness and is studied for the first time from an ethnobotanical point o...

One of the biologically beneficial oils against many ailments is Achillea fragrantissima essential oil (EO). The current study focused on the comprehensive comparative chemical characterization of A. fragrantissima EOs, which were gathered from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as well as evaluation of their allelopathic, antioxidant, and antibacterial funct...

We develop a 2×2\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$2\times 2$$\end{document} evolutionary matrix game to model vegetation dynamics due to the effect of aut...

Population expansion within agricultural lands applies pressure on natural resources, particularly water resources, and leads to contamination through different types of pollutants, such as heavy metals, that consequently alter the ecosystem and impact human health. In the present work, several heavy metals in sediment along the Kitchener drain wer...

Charcoal pits (kilns) are ancient structures used for charcoal production. These patches of charred ground represent a unique opportunity to study long-term effects of their biochar content. The aim of this study was to characterize the charcoal in the soil from these kilns and investigate its disease suppression capacity related to microbiota comp...

We investigated the effect of Trichoderma harzianum in combination with biochar or other organic feedstocks, i.e., fish meal, Medicago, and maize straw, on the growth of Lens culinaris, Zea mays, Oryza sativa, and Glycine max. Biochar and other organic feedstocks were characterized by 13C-CPMAS NMR spectroscopy. Fish and Medicago had low C/N and hi...

We investigated the effects of a severe windstorm on vegetation, soil chemistry, understory microclimate, and soil microbiota in a Mediterranean holm oak forest. Plant species composition remained almost unchanged in the undisturbed area, whereas highly diverse plant communities were found in the disturbed area (e.g. gap area). Specifically, 11 inv...

Plant-soil negative feedback (NF) is a well-established phenomenon that, by preventing the dominance of a single species, allows species coexistence and promotes the maintenance of biodiversity. At community scale, localized NF may cause the formation of exclusion zones under adult conspecifics leading to Janzen-Connell (JC) distribution. In this s...

Question Cushion‐forming vascular plants are adapted to alpine environments and act as ecosystem engineers by moderating microclimate and creating a fertility island under their canopy. Most of the available studies on cushion ecology have been devoted to plant facilitation, but none used a holistic approach that considers the response of co‐existi...

Litter decomposition is a fundamental process, and the number of published studies has steadily increased in recent decades. However, few experiments have systematically compared a large number of litter types and evaluated their temperature sensitivity. We conducted a two-year experiment on the decomposition of litter bags containing 101 leaf litt...

In this Special Issue of Microorganisms, we invite you to submit papers on various aspects of the soil microbial community, such as beneficial and detrimental ones, in the development or alleviation of soil sickness in agroecosystems. In addition, manuscripts are welcome that address the application of organic amendments, biocontrol agents, biochar...

Modelling the inter-relationships between litter accumulation and plant–soil feedback is a major challenge to predict natural and agricultural ecosystem dynamics. At increasing levels of undecomposed plant litter, seedling growth tends to show a multi-faceted response trend, characterised by a peak of positive stimulation at lower dosage followed b...

Ectomycorrhizas (ECM) are a common symbiotic association between fungi and various plant species in forest ecosystems, affecting community assemblages at the landscape level. ECMs benefit host plants by increasing the surface area for nutrient uptake, defending against pathogens, and decomposing organic matter in the soil. ECM-symbiotic seedlings a...

Plants belonging to the Artemisia genus (Asteraceae) are widely distributed worldwide and have many ethnopharmacological, traditional, therapeutic, and phytochemical aspects. Artemisia monosperma is an important aromatic plant due to its traditional and therapeutic uses and phytochemical diversity, including essential oils (EOs). The EO chemical pr...

It is widely known that interactions between plants and their inhabiting fungi are essential for sustainable and ecological agriculture. Plant mycobiota provide a number of beneficial effects to their host plants, increasing plant growth and protecting against harmful pathogens and abiotic environmental stresses. However, due to the lack of appropr...

Accurate application of agrochemicals is an important way to achieve efficient use of chemicals and to combine limited pollution with effective control of weeds, pests, and diseases. In this context, we investigate the potential application of a new delivery system based on ink-jet technology. First, we describe the structure and functionality of i...

Here, we quantified the dieback of Silene acaulis subsp. bryoides along a 500 m elevational transect from 1900 to 2400 m a.s.l. in the Sibillini Group (Apennines). We also investigated the role of the 2022 summer heat wave that affected the Apennines as a putative cause. The intensity of the dieback was not uniformly distributed across the elevatio...

Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lactucae (Fol) is the causal agent of Fusarium wilt of lettuce, one of the most troublesome diseases affecting lettuce worldwide. Chemical control strategies are inadequate due to limited fungicide availability and consumer interest in organic vegetable production. Alternative control strategies, such as biological control...

Biochar is known to promote plant growth and is marketed worldwide as a soil amendment. However, benefits of pure biochar on crop yields are, in some cases, limited, while its mixture with non-pyrogenic organic amendments (NPOAs) has a more consistent stimulatory effect. Here, we studied the biochar effect together with three NPOAs (fishmeal, Medic...

Deciphering the spatial patterns of alpine treelines is critical for understanding the ecosystem processes involved in the persistence of tree species and their altitudinal limit. Treelines are thought to be controlled by temperature, and other environmental variables but they have rarely been investigated in regions with different land‐use change...

Biological–mathematical models of trees can be exploited for a wide range of agronomic applications including crop management, visualization of ecosystem changes over time, in-field phenotyping, crop load effects, testing of plant functions, biomechanics, and many others. Some models propose a 3D output of tree that, in addition to having functiona...

Plant recruitment interactions (i.e., what recruits under what) shape the composition, diversity, and structure of plant communities. Despite the huge body of knowledge on the mechanisms underlying recruitment interactions among species, we still know little about the structure of the recruitment networks emerging in ecological communities. Modelin...

Wild plants are considered promising natural eco-friendly resources for fibers. Leptadenia pyrotechnica is a xerophytic shrub that flourishes in a sandy desert habitat with high biomass production; therefore, it could be a potential resource for fibers. The present study aimed to investigate the vegetation composition of L. pyrotechnica communities...

Biodeterioration is defined as the alteration of a given substrate due to a combination of physical and chemical factors produced by living organisms when attached to such materials. This phenomenon attracts scientific research attention due to its risk in causing destruction to outdoor cultural rock heritage sites. In this review, an update on the...

Negative plant–soil feedback can cause density and distance effects that lead to Janzen–Connell (JC) distribution. The JC hypothesis has been proposed to explain the high species diversity in tropical forests, but it has been rarely tested in species‐rich Mediterranean shrublands. In this study, we assessed whether the JC hypothesis could explain E...

Plant recruitment interactions (i.e., who recruits under whom) between 3,318 vascular plant species across the globe

Pine wilt disease is caused by nematodes transmitted by pine sawyer beetles and is fatal for several pine species. The trees might be destroyed within a few months after being attacked, leads to major ecological and financial losses. In this article, we presented a model of pine wilt disease in the trees considering the interaction between nematode...

Purpose Posidonia oceanica litter debris accumulate in large quantities in coastal areas and pose a serious problem of negative economic impact on tourism activities. Here, we investigated the possibility of managing such residues by in situ decomposition using green leaves, brown litter, and rhizomes for 720 days at two temperatures (10 and 20 °C)...

Soilborne pathogens and pests in agroecosystems are serious problems that limit crop yields. In line with the development of more ecologically sustainable agriculture, the possibility of using biochar to control pests has been increasingly investigated in recent years. This work provides a general overview of disease and pest suppression using bioc...

Bactrocera oleae is the key pest of olive production. Several attempts have been carried out over time to control it using biological solutions but with results rarely comparable to those obtained with chemical applications. The purpose of this work was to identify and test new compounds from samples of various Smoke Waters (SWs) for their effect o...

Soilborne pathogens and pests in agroecosystems represent a serious problem limiting crop yield. With a view to developing more ecologically sustainable agriculture, the possibility of using biochar to control the damaging agents has been increasingly studied in recent years. This work provided a general overview of the suppression of diseases and...

Past anthropogenic disturbances lowered the altitudinal distribution of the Mediterranean Fagus sylvatica forests below 2,000 m a.s.l. Accordingly, our current understanding of the southern distribution range of F. sylvatica forests is restricted to managed stands below this elevation, neglecting relic forests growing above. This study has shed lig...

The aim of this work was to compare the application of biochar, compost, and their mixtures on soil fertility and crop yields using a volcanic Mediterranean soil. For this reason, three types of organic amendments (OAs) were selected: compost1, made from olive mill waste and orchard pruning residues; compost2, made from olive mill waste, animal man...

Litter decomposition releases nutrients beneficial to plants but also induces phytotoxicity. Phytotoxicity can result from either labile allelopathic compounds or species specific and caused by conspecific DNA. Aquatic plants in flowing water generally do not suffer phytotoxicity because litter is regularly removed. In stagnant water or in litter p...

Forest dieback in the last decade has been reported all over the world and not only causes a significant loss of forest yield but also affects successional trajectories. Here, we investigate the plant communities associated with Pinus mugo subsp. mugo dieback patches in Maiella massif. Dieback patches were examined by using satellite images to desc...

The most-used method for essential oil extraction is steam distillation due to its simplicity and low investment requirements. Due to the importance of this extractive method, technological updates represent an immense opportunity for improving this component of essential oil production. In order to evaluate how such updates have been applied to es...

Abiotic and biotic stresses affect plant physiology and growth. The development of metabolomics, along with other -omics technologies, allowed in depth analysis of the reactive processes characterizing plant stress as the result of the alteration of metabolites and gene expressions. Here, we organize and interpret data from 151 studies to provide a...

Mediterranean grasslands are semi-natural, fire-prone, species-rich ecosystems that have been maintained for centuries through a combination of fire, grazing, and mowing. Over the past half century, however, grasslands have faced numerous threats, including the abandonment of traditional agro-pastoral practices. Our hypothesis was that mowing and p...

Introduction: Arbutus unedo L. (strawberry tree), Ceratonia siliqua L. (carob), Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. (eucalyptus), Laurus nobilis L. (laurel), Mentha aquatica L. (water mint), Myrtus communis L. (common myrtle), and Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary) are aromatic plants from the Mediterranean region whose parts and preparations are us...

Soil aggregation, a key aspect of soil physical health, is a crucial component of agroecosystem sustainability as it affects numerous soil processes and agroecosystem productivity. Application of organic amendment (OA) plays a vital role in improving soil aggregation. In this review, we provide a comprehensive synthesis and a critical assessment of...

The exploration of new bioactive compounds from natural resources as alternatives to synthetic chemicals has recently attracted the attention of scientists and researchers. To our knowledge, the essential oil (EO) of Kickxia aegyptiaca has not yet been explored. Thus, the present study was designed to explore the EO chemical profile of K. aegyptiac...

Intensive cultivation based on monocultures has a significant impact on ecosystem function, and sustainable agriculture must rely on alternative methods, including crop rotation. On the Canadian prairies, the use of pulse crops is a common practice, but few studies have investigated the impact on soil microorganisms. Here, we studied the effect of...

Shrub encroachment (SE) is a phenomenon in which grasses and herbaceous vegetation are replaced by woody shrubs. Many previous studies have highlighted the effects of SE on soil respiration rates and nutrient storage, but little is known about impacts on soil microbiota. While previous work considered shrubs to be non-species specific or as a singl...

The future scenario in the agricultural sector, challenged by regulatory pressure, public concern and environmental issues, continues to motivate the development of alternative methods to chemicals for applications as fertilizers and pesticides (Martin, 2003). Among these, the use of organic amendments and microbial biocontrol agents represents the...

This study aims to gather, analyze, and discuss the ethnobotanical information regarding wild and cultivated plants used in traditional alcoholic beverages in Italy. The online literature search allowed data collection from 161 articles concerning the use of wild and cultivated plants in Italy for liqueurs preparation. Overall, we identified 130 ta...

Environmental and land-use changes put severe pressure on wild plant habitats. The present study aims to assess the biodiversity of wild plant habitats and the associated spatiotemporal environmental changes in the coastal region of Dakahlia Governorate following an integrated approach of remote sensing, GIS, and samples analysis. Thirty-seven stan...

Aim Fungal ‘fairy rings’ (FRs) are regular bands of vegetation caused by a centrifugal expansion of fungal mycelia. It is well established that FR fungi affect both soil chemistry and microbiome, but nothing is known about the distribution of these patterns at the regional scale. Here, we assess the abundance and occurrences of different FR shapes...

The use of soil fumigants and fungicides to control soilborne pathogens are reduced due to awareness of their negative drawbacks. Long‐term application of such agrochemicals negatively affects soil microbiota and reduces natural soil suppressiveness. We investigated long‐term impacts of biochar and not‐pyrogenic organic amendment (OAs –manure, alfa...

The Asteraceae (Compositae) family is one of the largest angiosperm families that has a large number of aromatic species. Pulicaria undulata is a well-known medicinal plant that is used in the treatment of various diseases due to its essential oil (EO). The EO of both Saudi and Egyptian ecospecies were extracted via hydrodistillation, and the chemi...

The EU Nitrates Directive calls for urgent integration of process-oriented indicators of nitrate fate with map overlay approaches for assessing nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZs). In the region of Campania (southern Italy), groundwater contamination represents a serious concern because of the presence of intensive agricultural practices and livestock...

Ailanthus altissima is an aggressive invasive tree worldwide, but the ecological factors that lead to the spread of this species in Mediterranean ecosystems are still unclear. Here we aim to identify such factors, focusing on the interaction of human activity with climatic conditions. We determined the occurrence and abundance of Ailanthus in 240 s...

The El-Salam canal in Egypt is considered an important stream of fresh water for the agricultural sector that extends from the Nile River to Sinai, while it is subjected to several anthropogenic stresses. In this study, five-georeferenced stations (named from S1 to S5) were monitored along the El-Salam Canal before El-Sahara of the Suez Canal, via...

Book of abstracts - http://clone2020.unicam.it/

The exploration of new green, ecofriendly bioactive compounds has attracted the attention of researchers and scientists worldwide to avoid the harmful effects of chemically synthesized compounds. Persicaria lapathifolia has been reported to have various bioactive compounds, while its essential oil (EO) has not been determined yet. The current work...