Discovering Plum, Watermelon and Grape Cultivars Founded in a Middle Age Site of Sassari (Sardinia, Italy) through a Computer Image Analysis Approach.

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 applying computerised image analysis techniques. The morphometric data were statistically elaborated using stepwise linear discriminant analysis (LDA), allowing comparisons among archaeological remains, wild populations and autochthonous cultivars.

Niche Differentiation at Multiple Spatial Scales on Large and Small Mediterranean Islands for the Endemic Pourr. ex Loisel. (Caryophyllaceae).

The aim of this work is to investigate niche variations in endemic (Caryophyllaceae, Angiosperms) on Mediterranean islands that differ in size. Six populations on both large and small islands were sampled across the geographic range of the species. For each population, 10 plots (1 × 2 m, with a 25 cm grill) were randomly placed to quantify environmental (abiotic and biotic factors and disturbance) and population (demographic structure and reproductive success) parameters.

Predictive Method for Correct Identification of Archaeological Charred Grape Seeds: Support for Advances in Knowledge of Grape Domestication Process.

The identification of archaeological charred grape seeds is a difficult task due to the alteration of the morphological seeds shape. In archaeobotanical studies, for the correct discrimination between Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris and Vitis vinifera subsp.

Geographic isolation affects inter- and intra-specific seed variability in the Astragalus tragacantha complex, as assessed by morpho-colorimetric analysis.

The effect of geographical isolation on the inter- and intra-specific seed variability of the Astragalus tragacantha complex was investigated by using a computer-aided imaging system. In particular, seed morphometric and colorimetric features of Astragalus balearicus, A. tegulensis, A.

Computer vision as a method complementary to molecular analysis: grapevine cultivar seeds case study.

Despite different breeding events, as well as the domestication phenomena which contributed to enrich the grape varietal heritage in Sardinia, many local varieties simply are the product of linguistic distorting due to the wide heterogeneity historic-cultural of the island. This phenomenon generated a great assortment of grape names, that, together with the huge real number of cultivars, is the cause of the incredible current grapevine Sardinian panorama. The goal of this article is to compare the published molecular data of 40 Sardinian autochthonous cultivars with the results achieved by the germplasm phenotypical characterization, on the basis of morpho-colorimetric features and Elliptic Fourier Descriptors (EFDs), measured by image analysis.