Riparian vegetation entraps macroplastics along the entire river course: Implications for eco-safety activities and mitigation strategies.

Macroplastic litter causes detrimental effects on freshwater biota affecting human health. Despite the significant role of rivers in transporting plastic waste, most plastics remain in fluvial ecosystems, accumulating in infrastructure, river sediment, and (riverbank) vegetated areas. However, the entrapment of plastics by riparian vegetation was overlooked, particularly in upper and middle river courses.

Enhances Hook. f Growth and Flowering in Different Growing Media.

spp. are widely reported to regulate plant growth by improving nutrient uptake, photosynthesis, and abiotic stress tolerance. However, their possible application for bedding plants is little explored, especially when comparing different growing media.

Study on the suitability of life cycle assessment for the estimation of donkey milk environmental impact.

In the last decades, western Countries increased their interest in innovative products like donkey milk and other activities carried out with donkeys (onotherapy, onotourism). Donkey milk is considered a high-added-value food and is very similar to human breast milk. It is also used as an ingredient in cosmetics.

Increased Cattle Feeding Precision from Automatic Feeding Systems: Considerations on Technology Spread and Farm Level Perceived Advantages in Italy.

Automation reduces the impact of farming on climate change and helps farmers adapt to its financial impact. Automatic feeding systems (AFSs) increase the ruminant's feeding precision and ease operators' workload. Such systems exist on a spectrum, requiring varied levels of operator support and installation complexity.

The Role of Inter- and Intraspecific Variations in Grassland Plant Functional Traits along an Elevational Gradient in a Mediterranean Mountain Area.

Elevational gradients offer special opportunities to investigate the relative role of intraspecific and interspecific trait variations in relation to stress gradients. We used an altitudinal gradient in the Mediterranean (Mt Velino, Central Italy) to study (1) how community-weighted means (CWM) and nonweighted means (CM) vary with elevation for plant height, specific leaf area, and seed mass; and (2) how variation patterns differ for inter- and intraspecific functional variability. We tested (1) if elevation influences community functional composition on the basis of the adaptive value of plant traits and (2) if the latter shows intraspecific variations according to the species' ability to cope with local conditions.

Functional composition and diversity of leaf traits in subalpine versus alpine vegetation in the Apennines.

Mediterranean high mountain grasslands are shaped by climatic stress and understanding their functional adaptations can contribute to better understanding ecosystems' response to global change. The present work analyses the plant functional traits of high-elevation grasslands growing in Mediterranean limestone mountains to explore, at the community level, the presence of different plant strategies for resource use (conservative vs. acquisitive) and functional diversity syndromes (convergent or divergent).

Activity budget, home range, and habitat use of moor macaques (Macaca maura) in the karst forest of South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Primate behavior can be responsive to the different ecological pressures associated with different habitats, as well as to the effects of direct and indirect anthropogenic disturbance. The karst forest ecosystem of South Sulawesi (Indonesia) represents one of the few intact forests available for residual populations of the moor macaque, but our understanding of its habitat use is limited. In the present study, this gap in knowledge was addressed by observing the activity and habitat use of two groups of moor macaques and by assessing the suitability of different habitats in the karst forest.

EVALUATION OF AGRICULTURAL TRACTOR SEAT COMFORT WITH A NEW PROTOCOL BASED ON PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION ASSESSMENT.

Professional drivers have been found to be at a high risk of developing low back pain due to prolonged sitting and vehicle vibration. In a previous survey carried out on 1,155 tractor drivers, tractor vibration and/or incorrect posture while driving were found to cause low back disorders in more than 80% of the interviewed drivers. In this context, the present research introduces a new evaluation protocol to assess the ergonomic characteristics of agricultural tractor seats through the use of pressure sensors, taking into account both static and dynamic conditions.