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Publications (46)
Animal activities threaten levee stability, especially during flood events, increasing levee failure risk. Indeed, while dens alter hydraulically‐induced failure mechanisms, it is difficult to locate them and to know in advance if critical conditions may be reached. This paper demonstrates that it is possible to perform nondestructive surveys to as...
Stammericaris similior sp. nov. is described combining light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and genetic barcoding. The new species was collected from rimstone pools in Scrivilleri Cave, a cave in Sicily with so far unexplored microcrustacean fauna. The new species is particularly interesting because it is morphologically very similar to...
The spread of antimicrobial resistance is one of the major health emergencies of recent decades. Antimicrobial-resistant bacteria threaten not only humans but also populations of domestic and wild animals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the distribution of antibiotic resistance (AMR) and multidrug resistance (MDR) in bacterial strains is...
Background:
The study of bats is of significant interest from a systematic, zoogeographic, ecological, and physiological point of view. The aim of this study is to investigate the culturable aerobic enteric, conjunctival, and oral bacterial flora of bats to determine their physiological microbiome and to investigate the possible occurrence of path...
Poster presented at ECSA59 (Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain) about our contribution to project REST-COAST. The poster shows some preliminary results of a flooding model to assess the performance of dune revegetation to reduce hydraulic risk from extreme wave climate and sea level rise in a coastal-lagoon area in the South-East of Sicily.
The Eulipotyphla and Rodentia remains from the Grotta dei Pipistrelli in Sicily (Italy), a key region for the historical reconstruction of the Quaternary climates and environments of the central Mediterranean basin, are described and discussed. Three 14C radiometric dating display that the fossil remains were accumulated during the Last Glacial Max...
The study of bats has a significant interest from a systematic, zoogeographic, ecological and physiological point of view, but their possible role as potential carriers of pathogenic bacteria is little explored and very little research has been carried out on the European continent. The aim of this study is to investigate the culturable aerobic ent...
Spread of multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria in natural environments pose a risk to human and animal health. Wild birds are considered to be reservoirs of human pathogens and vectors of antimicrobial resistance distribution in the environment. The aim of this study is to assess the occurrence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in isolates from bird...
The White Stork Ciconia ciconia in Sicily: updating after 30 years of colonization. The aim of this study was to analyze changes in population size, breeding success and nest location of a local White Stork Ciconia ciconia population in Sicily from 1991 to 2020. We gathered all the available data and field records regarding the species in Sicily an...
We describe three new parastenocaridid: Cottarellicaris sanctiangeli Bruno & Cottarelli sp. nov., Stammericaris vincentimariae Bruno & Cottarelli sp. nov. and Proserpinicars specincola Bruno & Cottarelli sp. nov., collected in the pools of five different caves located in Calabria (Southern Italy). We conducted a phylogenetic analysis based on the m...
Abstract. We describe three new parastenocaridid: Cottarellicaris sanctiangeli Bruno & Cottarelli sp. nov., Stammericaris vincentimariae Bruno & Cottarelli sp. nov. and Proserpinicars specincola Bruno & Cottarelli sp. nov., collected in the pools of five different caves located in Calabria (Southern Italy). We conducted a phylogenetic analysis base...
: The study aimed to highlight the degree of trace element contamination along three sites of Sicily: the Magnisi peninsula (MP), located in proximity to the Augusta–Priolo–Melilli petrochemical plant; the Ragusa agro-ecosystem (RA), characterized by a rural landscape; and the Gela plain (GP), characterized by intensive agriculture and a disused pe...
European stone curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus) is a Palearctic species with high conservation interest. This species nests on the ground, in open canopies with sparse herbaceous vegetation, and is typically found next to areas of intense agro-pastoral activity, where it feeds on invertebrates present in ruminant droppings. This study aimed to investig...
Egg retrieval is a common behaviour among ground-nesting birds and a key part of their parental care. This paper deals with an experimental study of that behaviour in four Sicilian populations of Stone curlew, considering not only the success in retrieving but also the time latency in the bird reacting to the sight of an egg displaced from its nest...
The "Life Stork Sicily" project ended due to the death of young white storks.
5 out of 7 died by electrocution. The power lines where the cases occurred are near urban landfills. The electrocution is a critical problem especially for the birds that have to start the first migration to Africa.
Bat remains are useful for palaeoecological reconstructions, they provide independent information on palaeoenvironment and are good indicators for hypogean microclimates. Nine taxa of Chiroptera divided into three families (Rhinolophidae, Vespertilionidae and Miniopteridae) and four genera (Rhinolophus, Myotis, Plecotus and Miniopterus) were discov...
Bat remains are useful for palaeoecological reconstructions, they provide independent information on palaeoenvironment and are good indicators for hypogean microclimates. Nine taxa of Chiroptera divided into three families (Rhinolophidae, Vespertilionidae and Miniopteridae) and four genera (Rhinolophus, Myotis, Plecotus and Miniopterus) were discov...
This abstract illustrates an interdisciplinary research project which focuses on the study, conservation and enhancement, through 3D digitization and virtual fruition, of an asset of great naturalistic, historical and ethnoanthropological value: Grotta dei Pipistrelli of Pantalica Nature Reserve (Sortino, SR). The cave (located in the Calcinara nec...
Weather is an important regulator factor of the breeding success of birds (MOSS et al., 2001). The largest White Stork population in Sicily breeds in the Special Protection Area (SPA) “Plain of Gela” at the top of Medium Voltage electricity poles. During our study we have collected data on the breeding failures due to adverse weather conditions.
The project C.L.E.S.A. aims at making a complete checklist of the species at risk, collecting information from published articles and personal reports. Unpublished data were collected through a request for information widely circulated among professional and dabbler ornithologists, local sections of bird conservation ONG and wildlife services.
Trace elements bioaccumulation in liver and fur of Myotis myotis from two caves of the eastern side of Sicily (Italy): A comparison between a control and a polluted area * a b s t r a c t Environmental pollution is a topic of great interest because it directly affects the quality of ecosystems and of all living organisms at different trophic and sy...
The epikarst crustacean fauna from four Sicilian caves (Conza, Entella, Molara, and Zubbia del Cavallo caves) and four caves in the Lessinian Massif in the Venetian Prealps (Covolo della Croce, Ponte di Veja, Roverè Mille, Buso della Rana caves) was recently investigated. The two groups of caves differ in their environmental conditions: the Sicilia...
We describe Stammericaris destillans sp. nov., and re-describe Stammericaris trinacriae (Pesce, Galassi and Cottarelli 1988) based on new material. The two species were collected from epikarstic drips and pools on the floor of two different caves: a karstic (Molara Cave) and a gypsum (Entella Cave) cave, respectively, both located in Sicily, Italy....
Seven species of bats (Mammalia, Chiroptera) have been identified in the fossil assemblage from the Grotta dei Pipistrelli (Sortino, Sicily, Italy): Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, R. euryale, R. mehelyi, Myotis myotis, M. blythii, M. capaccinii and Miniopterus schreibersii. All the recognized species are presently part of the Italian bat fauna; current...
The White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) is an opportunistic species that feeds on whatever is available. Foraging on rubbish dumps is a very common practice (Tortosa et al., 1995, 2002, 2003; Blanco, 1996; Peris, 2003). In the Plain of Gela, White Stork nestings are 50.6% -53.7% of Sicilian couples and the distance from the dump (Timpazzo) to the nearest...
In the Plain of Gela poles of power lines are the important structures available for nesting birds due to the absence of trees and other natural perches. The medium voltage (MT) metal pylons are frequently used by different species of birds for nesting and, since 2001, by the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia). This research, conducted from 2014 to 2016...
A preliminary test using a single UAV (Autonomous Air Vehicle) has allowed to monitor the nesting sites with the objective of determining the number of individuals and the distribution of the nests (distance and allocation) of Stone Curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus).
The cetacean heritage of museum collections of Sicily.
It is reported the cetacean heritage of seven museum institutes of Sicily. In total have been report 88 specimens and one cast of 10 species, of the Mediterranean fauna and 2 species exotic fauna. Very interesting is the most old skeleton preserved in Sicily that is proper to one of seven Physe...
In this paper we report on the presence of two non-native and invasive species of bivalve mollusks in Sicily: Sinanodonta woodiana woodiana (Lea, 1834) (Bivalvia Unionidae) native to East Asia and Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas, 1771) (Bivalvia Dreissenidae) native to the Ponto-Caspian area, with a particular focus on how the presence of these alien...
The results of a study on the fauna ofterrestrialmolluscsfromtheR.N.I. "GrottaConza" (Palermo, North-Western Sicily) are here described.Research has allowed usto compile a checklist of 41 species, 18 of which are endemic to Sicily. For each species ecological and
distributional data are provided.
A new species of a troglobitic Pselaphinae is described. Tychobythinus molarensis sp. n. has shown many adaptations to cave life: wingless and anophthalmous, very elongated legs and antennae. The new species differs from others related taxa in different arrangement of some characters of external morphology, especially the shape of profemora and pro...
This paper presents and discusses the copepod fauna collected from several rimstone pools in Conza Cave (Palermo, Sicily). The geology, lithology, and hydrology of the cave suggest that all of the copepods collected in the pools were dislodged from the epikarst and were carried by dripping water into the pools. The copepod fauna included the first...
The Eurasian Stone curlew Burhinus oedicnemus (Linnaeus, 1758) is currently included into the European list of species of conservation concern given the large decline of its breeding populations, which occurred during the second half of the twentieth century. A similar trend, mostly due to the fragmentation and the contraction of the potential nest...
Negli anni 2009-2011 è stata accertata la nidificazione del Fratino (Charadrius alexandrinus) nella penisola Magnisi (SR). Vengono presentati i dati relativi ad alcuni aspetti di scelta di habitat e di biologia riproduttiva rilevati durante questo periodo. La penisola Magnisi ha superficie pianeggiante di 1,128 km² (quota massima 19 m s.l.m.); è co...
Individuare le scelte trofiche di una specie rappresenta un contributo di elevato valore nella comprensione della sua biologia, permettendone la congrua collocazione nell’ambito dei flussi energetici dell’ecosistema di cui fa parte. Da ciò discendono positivi input in senso applicativo-gestionale, specialmente per entità ad habitat specializzato o...
Two small ischyrocerid amphipods were found in quite unusual habitats: one in thermal water of Sardinia, the other in a Sicilian cave 175 m above sea level. As the first is represented by only a single immature specimen, it is illustrated and described, without receiving a name; the second one could be fully described as a new species Jassa trinacr...
A new genus and a new species of a troglobitic Cixiidae from Sicily are described. Ibleocixius gen. n. differs from Cixius and related taxa in a different arrangement of several characters which are also present in other taxa. Characters at genus level lie in the peculiar morphology of the aedeagus which has only one movable spine, a longitudinal s...
The retrieval of eggs naturally or artificially displaced from their nest was described for the first time by Lorenz &
Tinbergen (1938) in Greylag Goose Anser anser. This behaviour has been reported subsequently for several species (Duncan 1984 and references therein, Giesen 1978, Kosten 1982, Prevett & Prevett 1973). Egg retrieval has an obvious...
Trichoniscus alexandrae Caruso is a blind troglobiont isopod; males possess secretory and sensory organs on the cephalon and 1st pereionite consisting of cuticular pits hosting a tuft of setae and gland openings. Such organs are absent in females. Three types of cuticular structures have been observed: (a) lamellar setae, which likely play a role i...
The communities of terrestrial small mammals (Insectivora, Rodentia) in the area of the Caronia Valley, Nebrodi Park (northeastern Sicily), were studied. The samplings were done on a transect of six woodland sites using pit‐fall traps. A total of 143 specimens belonging to five species (Suncus etruscus (Savi, 1822), Crocidu‐ra sicula Miller, 1901,...
