Insect Biodiversity in a Prealpine Suburban Hilly Area in Italy.

Human activities and habitat fragmentation are known to greatly influence biodiversity. The aim of this study was to update an entomological checklist of a prealpine area in Italy, and also to evaluate the influence of different habitats and the proximity to cities on the entomological fauna. This study included different areas of a local park in Northern Italy, covering about 4000 ha, and situated at altitudes between 190 and 960 m asl.

Difference between invasive alien and native vegetation in trapping beach litter: A focus on a typical sandy beach of W-Mediterranean Basin.

Beach litter is one of the most pervasive pollution issues in coastal environments worldwide. In this study, we aim to assess the amount and distribution of beach litter on Porto Paglia beach, its entrapment across psammophilous habitats, and whether the invasive Carpobrotus acinaciformis (L.) L.

Back to the Middle Ages: Entomological and Botanical Elements Reveal New Aspects of the Burial of Saint Davino of Armenia.

The natural mummy of Saint Davino Armeno (11th century) is preserved in the church of Saint Michele in Foro in the city of Lucca (Tuscany, Central Italy). The body of Davino is one of the oldest Italian mummies of a Saint, and his paleopathological study was performed in 2018. In the present research, we investigated the arthropod fragments and botanical remains collected from the body, coffin, and fabrics of Saint Davino.

Back to the Wild: The Parasitoid Community of (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in a Grapevine-Free Natural Environment.

The European grapevine moth (EGVM), (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is one of the major concerns for vineyard managers in the Mediterranean area. It is a polyphagous moth, which develops on a wide variety of host plants, among which the spurge flax, (Thymelaeaceae), very likely represents its originary wild host plant. In this study, we investigated the parasitoid complex of feeding on during a three-year sampling in a natural reserve in Tuscany, Italy, where this plant is extremely abundant while the grapevine is absent.

Ultrahigh nanostructured drug payloads from degradable mesoporous silicon aerocrystals.

Porous silicon has found increased attention as a drug delivery system due to its unique features such as high drug payloads, surface area and biodegradation. In this study supercritical fluid (SCF) assisted drying of ultrahigh porosity (>90%) silicon particles and flakes was shown to result in much higher mesopore volumes (~4.66 cm/g) and surface areas (~680 m/g) than with air-drying.