Ricerc@Sapienza

A study on essential oil fractions of the Western Balkan endemic Sideritis romana L. subsp. purpurea (Tal. ex Benth.) Heywood collected in Montenegro is reported. The 24-h systematic steam distillation extraction procedure was performed. The gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric (GC/MS) analysis of the fractions showed ?-elemene and spathulenol as two main constituents, revealing a new chemotype of this plant species.

Steam distillation is known to be the most prevalent method of essential oil extraction. Despite many studies on extraction methods, there is no report about the impact of distillation process duration on the yield and oil quality. A new 24-h steam distillation process for extraction of plant essential oils is presented. For improving the total yield, prolonged and continued isolation was used. A selection of plant species from Lamiaceae and Apiaceae families was subjected to direct steam distillation and essential oils were collected at different times (1, 2, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h).

Bacterial canker of Actinidia, caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa), is the most serious disease of these plants worldwide. Leaves of three species of Actinidia, namely A. chinensis var. chinensis, A. chinensis var. deliciosa and A. arguta, having different degrees of tolerance to Psa, were analyzed by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy. Aqueous extracts of leaves were studied and several metabolites, classified as organic acids, amino acids, carbohydrates, phenols and other metabolites, were identified by 1D and 2D NMR experiments and quantified.

Total extracts and kuwanon G from Morus nigra root bark showed antifungal activity against several phytopathogenic fungi, with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC50) ranging from 32 to 128 ?g/ml and from 16 to 64 ?g/ml, respectively. Acetonic extracts inhibited 60% B. cinerea biofilm formation at concentration of 128 ?g/ml.

We present the EU LIFE PonDerat project, which is aimed at restoring the natural ecosystems of the Pontine Archipelago, a group of islands located off the western coast of Italy. The spread of invasive species is a major environmental threat on these islands, which are rich in rare habitats and endemic species and are important sites for the conservation of Mediterranean biodiversity. The project focuses on the conservation of species and habitats that are protected by EU laws but are currently threatened by introduced plants and animals.

We present a statistically derived phytogeographic regionalization based on the spatial distribution of native woody flora, investigating environmental correlates and assessing congruence between the spatial patterns of species, genera, and families. A sector of central peninsular Italy (Lazio and Abruzzo regions) was selected as a case study. A rich georeferenced floristic database was compiled, including information from different sources.

Although Albania’s territory is small, its natural heritage is characterized by a high diversity of ecosystems and
habitats and a considerable species richness. This diversity is attributable to the country’s geographic position
(at the interface of three important regions: the Balkans, the Mediterranean region and southern continental
Europe), as well as geological, hydrological, climatic, soil diversity, and a large altitudinal range. The study of
the vegetation of Albania begun, apart from a few pioneer works, in the late 1980s. However, only recently

In recent years, interest in availability of georeferenced vegetation plots has stimulated or reinvigorated national initiatives to compile these data. In Italy, eleven vegetation databases are currently registered in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD). In this paper we describe the Vegetation Plot Database - Sapienza University of Rome (VPD-Sapienza; GIVD code EU-IT-011), which started in 2012 and rapidly became one of the most prominent ones with a total of 21,917 georeferenced vegetation plots spanning across the country.

An assessment of the natural value of some extensively managed agroecosystems in Latium region (central Italy) has been made, through the collection of floristic and phytosociological data and the development of new indices (Floristic Naturalness Index – FNI and a set of synthetic indices). The survey allowed the evaluation of the study areas as High Natural Value Farmland areas. In a GIS environment, a mapping of the naturalness levels was then carried out.

Background: Recent genome studies of modern and ancient samples have proposed that Native Americans derive from a subset of the Eurasian gene pool carried to America by an ancestral Beringian population, from which two well-differentiated components originated and subsequently mixed in different proportion during their spread in the Americas.