Marco Sarigu

University of Cagliari | UNICA · Department of Life and Environmental Sciences

During the archaeological excavations in the Phoenician and Punic settlement of Santa Giusta (Oristano, Sardinia, Italy), dating back to the 6th–2nd centuries bc, several Prunus fruitstones (endocarps) inside amphorae were recovered. The exceptional state of preservation of the waterlogged remains allowed morphometric measurements to be done by ima...

The identification of plum varieties is generally done on the base of distinctive plant traits such as shape, size, and fruit drupe color identified during the variety registration, following official descriptors. In this paper, image analysis techniques were applied to study endocarps variability of 23 Prunus domestica cultivars from Sardinia. Dig...

Seed morphological traits were used to identify 67 Italian bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) accessions, belonging to 58 Italian landraces. An overall of 138 size, shape and texture descriptors were measured, on each seed, using image analysis techniques. The achieved data, analysed applying the stepwise Linear Discriminant Analysis, allowed to discrimi...

In 1953, during the building restoration of San Michele church (Bono, Sardinia, 16th–19th Century), a high number of disarticulated skeletons were recovered. From a group of 412 hip bones, two of these, affected by several pathological lesions, were analysed. The two coxal bones can be referred to the same individual, an adult man. A multi-analytic...

Dear Colleagues, Morpho-colorimetric analysis has become a powerful tool in botanical research, providing a quantitative alternative and/or extension to conventional methodologies. In the last two decades, image morpho-colorimetric analysis has gained considerable attention in plant research for its potential to automate seed discrimination, repl...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, exclusions, and status changes from casual to naturalized or invasive for Italy or for Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Acacia , Akebia , Allocasuarina , Aloë , Brachychiton , Convolvulus , Freesia...

Seed features are a useful and relevant source of taxonomic information, especially when evaluated based on morphometric and micromorphological approaches. Here, we studied 21 populations from four out of the five species of the Mediterranean Linaria purpurea group (Plantaginaceae). Linaria capraria (endemic to Tuscan Archipelago) and L. cossonii (...

Phaseolus lunatus L., commonly known as lima bean, is a species of creole bean, widely cultivated by small farmers in Northeast Brazil [1]. This Brazilian region is responsible for 99% of national production, with the states of Ceará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, and Piauí standing out as the largest producers [2]. P. lunatus, in addition to being a source...

European wild carnations (Dianthus) are represented by a high number of taxa organized in unresolved taxonomies. Particularly, taxa belonging to the Dianthus virgineus L. complex in the Central Mediterranean have been delimited mainly with qualitative morphological data and still await quantitative investigations, which are vital to understand boun...

Citation: Ucchesu, M.; Depalmas, A.; Sarigu, M.; Gardiman, M.; Lallai, A.; Meggio, F.; Usai, A.; Bacchetta, G. Abstract: The grapevine was one of the earliest domesticated fruit crops and has been cultivated since ancient times. It is considered one of the most important fruit crops worldwide for wine and table grape production. The current grape v...

Citation: Ucchesu, M.; Martinetto, E.; Sarigu, M.; Orrù, M.; Bornancin, M.; Bacchetta, G. Morphological Characterization of Fossil Vitis L. Abstract: The discovery of well-preserved fossil Vitis L. seeds from the Gelasian stage in Italy has provided a unique opportunity to investigate the systematics of fossilized Vitis species. Through seed image...

Physiological dormancy of Vitis vinifera seeds jeopardises breeding programs and biodiversity evolution. To increase the knowledge on dormancy breaking, seeds of white and black Sardinian grape cultivars (cvs) were exposed to different pre-germination treatments. To shed light on the physiological and structural factors involved in seed dormancy, t...

The domestic grape germination eco-physiology is a little studied aspect since reproduction occurs predominantly agamically, despite the sexual reproduction remains the main form for the selection of new cultivars. In this study, two international cultivars grown all over the world-Chardonnay and Syrah-were chosen as models of the domestic grape fo...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records and status changes from casual to naturalized for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrections are provided as supplementary material.

Santolina is a clear example of a genus lying in an alpha-taxonomic status, with species accepted only based on qualitative morphological descriptions. In particular, taxonomic issues still need to be resolved for Santolina populations from southern France and north-eastern Spain, so that we carried out an integrative taxonomic study involving morp...

Dear Colleagues, One of the most debated themes of archaeobotanical research is to find a way to quickly identify archaeobotanical remains arriving to outline distinctive characters at genus or species level. In the past two decades, to overcome the manual seed discrimination system, image morphometric and outline analysis has received considerabl...

Sardinia and Corsica are two Mediterranean islands where the genus Armeria is represented by 11 taxa, 10 out of which are endemic. An integrative approach, using molecular phylogeny, karyology, seed and plant morphometry was used to resolve the complex taxonomy and systematics in this group. We found that several taxa are no longer supported by new...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrections are provided as Suppl. material 1.

The conservation of endemic and endangered plant species is of great interest to the scientific and research community. In this frame, seed banks play a crucial role when biodiversity preservation and climate change are considered. The study of seed viability and germination during storage conditions provides basic and useful information to ensure...

Recent archaeological investigations in the lagunas di Santa Giusta and Mistras, waterlogged sites in central-west Sardinia, Italy, have enabled the recovery of archaeobotanical remains, exceptional in terms of quantity and preservation, dated to the Archaic and Punic periods in the 7th–3rd century bc . Among the finds was a significant amount of O...

Mediterranean forests produce many goods and services, such as wood, but also various non-wood products (mushrooms, honey, cork, resins, aromatic and medicinal plants, pine nuts). The State of Mediterranean Forests 2018, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and Plan Bleu, reminds us of the importance of the...

Dans le cadre du projet de coopération « MEDLENTISK, Partenariat pour un échange de bonnes pratiques sur l’huile fixe de lentisque, un produit forestier non-ligneux emblématique en Méditerranée« , co-financé par le Programme ERASMUS+, l’AIFM et ses partenaires méditerranéens ont publié un ouvrage à l’intention des personnes désireuses d’en apprendr...

The discovery of several waterlogged plant remains in a Middle Ages context (1330–1360 AD) in Sassari (NS, Sardinia, Italy) enabled the characterisation of archaeological plum fruit stones and watermelon and grape seeds through computer image analysis. Digital seed/endocarp images were acquired by a flatbed scanner and processed and analysed by app...

Santolina is a plant genus of dwarf aromatic shrubs that includes about 26 species native to the western Mediterranean Basin. In Corsica and Sardinia, two of the main islands of the Mediterranean, Santolina corsica (tetraploid) and S. insularis (hexaploid) are reported. Along with the cultivated pentaploid S. chamaecyparissus, these species form a...

a Department of life and environmental sciences, university of cagliari, cagliari, italy; b Department of life sciences and systems Biology, university of turin, turin, italy; c Biodiversity conservation center (ccB), Department of life and environmental sciences, university of cagliari, cagliari, italy; d Department of science, university of roma...

The results of the 4th National Report for the Italian flora under the 92/43/EEC “Habitats” Directive are presented. The outcomes showed a general negative conservation status for plant species, with the worst situation being in the Mediterranean bioregion. At the National level, significant monitoring and conservation activities are required.

Dear Colleagues, One of the most debated topics of the medieval history concerns the great economic transformations related to changes in agricultural production systems starting from the fall of the Roman Empire; but the our knowledge on production systems, method of cereal storage and diversity of plant crops of the Medieval period is based mostl...

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Furthermore, three new combinations are proposed. Nomenclatural and distribution updates published elsewhere are provided a...

The taxonomy of the Paeonia mascula group in the Tyrrhenian Islands has always been controversial, especially in Sardinia and Corsica. In this paper, 124 morpho-colorimetric quantitative and qualitative features of seeds of the Paeonia mascula group from the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sicily, and Sardinia were measured by an image analysis system t...

The use of digital image analysis for discriminating between and comparing groups of seeds is becoming an increasingly common practice in taxonomic studies. For this type of study, many variables, concerning different kinds of data such as size, texture and shape, are generally used as inputs in statistical algorithms without any data pre-processin...

La tassonomia del gruppo di Paeonia mascula nelle isole tirreniche (Isole Baleari, Corsica, Sardegna e Sicilia) è piuttosto controversa (Hong, Wang 2006). In Sardegna, per esempio, Hong (2005) e Hong, Wang (2006) hanno segnalato la presenza della sola Paeonia corsica, considerando Paeonia morisii suo sinonimo; nel 2007, Schmitt riporta che nell’iso...

A research project carried out in Santa Giusta lagoon, Sardinia, since 2005 has revealed the presence of Phoenician and Punic waterlogged archaeological contexts of exceptional importance. Several transport amphorae, together with Punic coarse pottery and materials typical of funerary and votive contexts have been recovered. Two principal depositio...

The BRAIN (Botanical Records of Archaeobotany Italian Network) database and network was developed by the cooperation of archaeobotanists working on Italian archaeological sites. Examples of recent research including pollen or other plant remains in analytical and synthetic papers are reported as an exemplar reference list. This paper retraces the m...

This paper presents new paleobiological data from the skeletal remains founded in the necropolis of Cap de Forma; the site is located on a narrow isthmus that links a 30-m-high coastal promontory in the island of Minorca (Mahon). The archeological complex, made of rock tombs called Cuevas, surrounds a complex cyclopean monument that is an atypical...

La Banca del Germoplasma della Sardegna (BG-SAR), nasce nel 1997 grazie ad una convenzione firmata con la Provincia di Cagliari e un finanziamento concesso dal Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (MIUR). Dal 2015, BG-SAR fa parte del Centro Servizi Hortus Botanicus Karalitanus (HBK) dell’Università degli Studi di Cagliari com...

The Sardinian Germplasm Bank (BG-SAR) is a facility of the Hortus Botanicus Karalitanus (HBK), which belongs to the University of Cagliari (Italy). Its main objective is the conservation, study and management of the germplasm of Sardinian endemic, threatened and policy species (i.e., species inserted in the Habitat Directive 92/43/EEC, CITES and Be...

Background. In 2015, a paper on the archaeobotany as a key tool ‘for the understanding of the bio-cultural diversity of the Italian landscape’ gave rise to a new initiative, the realization of the first cooperative network of archaeobotanists and palynologists working on archaeological sites located in Italy. The Botanical Record of Archaeobotany I...

In occasione dello scavo condotto nel 2003 alle pendici del colle di Tuvixeddu, sono state individuate due tombe a fossa nelle quali erano state deposte due donne, morte prima della nascita dei bambini che portavano in grembo. Entrambe le tombe fanno parte di una stratigrafia complessa, con modifica delle tipologie funerarie. Lo studio antropologic...

ABSTRACT Keywords: ex situ conservation, Mediterranean species, germination ecophysiology, salt stress, archaeological seeds, alien species. The Sardinian Germplasm Bank (BG-SAR) is part of the Hortus Botanicus Karalitanus (HBK) which belongs to the University of Cagliari (Italy). The main objective of BG-SAR is the conservation, study and manage...

The X International Meeting Biodiversity Conservation and Management: Conservation studies on Mediterranean threatened flora and vegetation was held in Sardinia, Italy, at the University of Cagliari and Villacidro on June 13-17, 2016. One post-congress excursion to Sulcis-Iglesiente biogeographic sector, were carried out on June 18. This meeting fo...

Le indagini nella cella B della tomba 1 2 della necropoli di Cannas di sotto, nel centro abitato di Carbonia, stanno restituendo importanti dati per la decodifica del Neolitico Sardo. Il rinvenimento di 62534 reperti ossei, di cui 511 61 sono riferibili a individui adulti e 11 373 a subadulti, ha consentito l'individuazione di 225 individui adulti...

El objetivo de este manual es mejorar los conocimientos del sector viverístico, público y privado, sobre especies autóctonas adecuados para la restauración ecológica y la jardinería en la región biogeográfica mediterránea. Los resultados científicos sobre germinación de semillas obtenidos durante el proyecto ECOPLANTMED se han transferido en este m...

Σκοπός αυτού του εγχειριδίου είναι η βελτιστοποίηση της τεχνογνωσίας των φυτωρίων, τόσο του δημοσίου, όσο και του ιδιωτικού τομέα, σχετικά με τη χρήση ιθαγενών φυτών, κατάλληλων για οικολογική αποκατάσταση και κηπουρική, στη βιογεωγραφική περιοχή της Μεσογείου. Τα επιστημονικά αποτελέσματα που αποκτήθηκαν από τη μελέτη της φύτρωσης σπερμάτων, μέσω...