Green Chemometric-Assisted Characterization of Common and Black Varieties of Celery.

Celery (Apium graveolens L., var. Dulce), is a biennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Apiaceae family, cultivated in humid soils in the Mediterranean basin, in Central-Southern Europe, and in Asia. Despite its wide diffusion and although it is well-known that cultivar/origin strongly influences plant composition, only a few studies have been carried out on the different types of celery. The present work aims to investigate four different Italian types of celery (two common, Elne and Magnum celery, and two black, Torricella Peligna Black and Trevi Black celery), and to test, whether the combination of FT-IR spectroscopy and chemometrics allows their ecotype discrimination. The peculiarity of this study lies in the fact that all the analyzed celeries were grown in the same experimental field under the same soil and climate conditions. Consequently, the differences captured by the FT-IR-based tool are mainly imputable to the different ecotypes. In order to achieve this goal, FT-IR profiles were handled by two diverse classifiers: sequential preprocessing through ORThogonalization (SPORT) and soft independent modeling by class analogy (SIMCA). Eventually, the highest classification rate (90%, on an external set of 100 samples) has been achieved by SPORT.

Geographical Discrimination of Bell Pepper (Capsicum annuum) Spices by (HS)-SPME/GC-MS Aroma Profiling and Chemometrics.

Dried and ground red pepper is a spice used as seasoning in various traditional dishes all over the world; nevertheless, the pedoclimatic conditions of the diverse cultivation areas provide different chemical characteristics, and, consequently, diverse organoleptic properties to this product. In the present study, the volatile profiles of 96 samples of two different ground bell peppers harvested in diverse Italian geographical areas, Altino (Abruzzo) and Senise (Lucania), and a commercial sweet paprika, have been studied by means of headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The investigation of their volatile profile has led to the identification of 59 analytes. Eventually, a discriminant classifier, Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA), was exploited to discriminate samples according to their geographical origin. The model provided very accurate results in external validation; in fact, it correctly classified all the 30 test samples, achieving 100% correct classification (on the validation set). Furthermore, in order to understand which volatiles contribute the most at differentiating the bell peppers from the different origins, a variable selection approach, Variable Importance in Projection (VIP), was used. This strategy led to the selection of sixteen diverse compounds which characterize the different bell pepper spices.

Lichens as monitors of the atmospheric deposition of potentially toxic elements in high elevation Mediterranean ecosystems.

In this study we used a terricolous lichen (Cetraria islandica) as bioaccumulator of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) to explore spatial patterns of air pollutant deposition along elevational gradients in the Majella Massif (Italy). Samples of C. islandica were collected at 200 m intervals along 6 transects from 1600 to 2600 m, both along the eastern and the western slope of the Majella massif, and analyzed for their PTE content. The results supported the hypothesis that the deposition of PTEs to the Majella massif is largely influenced by elevation and slope. Two main patterns emerged connected either with local soil erosion and long-range atmospheric transport. For some PTEs, namely Al, Cr, Li, Mg, in the absence of any other data, it is supposed that the anthropogenic input is very small compared to the natural input from weathering processes. In contrast, the group of air pollutants subjected to long-range transport, as in the case of Cd, Hg, and Pb, has very limited local input and the main sources responsible for the higher concentrations on the eastern slope are probably to be searched in the Balkan area.

Wild Italian Hyssopus officinalis subsp. aristatus (Godr.) Nyman: From Morphological and Phytochemical Evidences to Biological Activities.

Three specimens of H. officinalis subsp. aristatus were collected in three areas of the Abruzzo region (Italy) and subjected to macroscopic and microscopic observation to support their botanical identification. The essential oils (EOs) obtained from the aerial parts of the samples were characterized with the object to define their phytochemical and pharmaceutical biology profile. They highlight three different chemotypes, including one never seen in previous literature (CIV17-EO, distilled from sample harvested in 2017 at Civitaretenga), that showed a fingerprinting with the predominance of (-)-limonen-10-yl-acetate (67.9%). In 2017 European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reported the genotoxicity of similar compounds, therefore, to dismiss any safety concern for the CIV17-EO use as flavouring substance, the Ames test was performed with no evidence of mutagenic activity. Safety of use coupled with chemical characterization of this new chemotype set the stage for a better standardization of H. officinalis EOs. The ethanolic extracts, on the other hand, with qualitatively similar chemical profiles in which caftaric, chlorogenic and rosmarinic acid were the main molecules, showed interesting antioxidant activity and a slight cytotoxicity towards the A549 cell line that could indicate a starting point for the evaluation of an additional preventive tool for maintaining health status.

Contrasting multitaxon responses to climate change in Mediterranean mountains.

We explored the influence of climatic factors on diversity patterns of multiple taxa (lichens, bryophytes, and vascular plants) along a steep elevational gradient to predict communities' dynamics under future climate change scenarios in Mediterranean regions. We analysed (1) species richness patterns in terms of heat-adapted, intermediate, and cold-adapted species; (2) pairwise beta-diversity patterns, also accounting for its two different components, species replacement and richness difference; (3) the influence of climatic variables on species functional traits. Species richness is influenced by different factors between three taxonomic groups, while beta diversity differs mainly between plants and cryptogams. Functional traits are influenced by different factors in each taxonomic group. On the basis of our observations, poikilohydric cryptogams could be more impacted by climate change than vascular plants. However, contrasting species-climate and traits-climate relationships were also found between lichens and bryophytes suggesting that each group may be sensitive to different components of climate change. Our study supports the usefulness of a multi-taxon approach coupled with a species traits analysis to better unravel the response of terrestrial communities to climate change. This would be especially relevant for lichens and bryophytes, whose response to climate change is still poorly explored.

Contribution to the ecology of the Italian hare (Lepus corsicanus).

The Italian hare (Lepus corsicanus) is endemic to Central-Southern Italy and Sicily, classified as vulnerable due to habitat alterations, low density and fragmented populations and ecological competition with the sympatric European hare (Lepus europaeus). Despite this status, only few and local studies have explored its ecological features. We provided some key traits of the ecological niche of the Italian hare as well as its potential distribution in the Italian peninsula. All data derived from genetically validated presences. We generated a habitat suitability model using maximum entropy distribution model for the Italian hare and its main competitor, the European hare. The dietary habits were obtained for the Italian hare with DNA metabarcoding and High-Throughput Sequencing on faecal pellets. The most relevant environmental variables affecting the potential distribution of the Italian hare are shared with the European hare, suggesting a potential competition. The variation in the observed altitudinal distribution is statistically significant between the two species.The diet of the Italian hare all year around includes 344 plant taxa accounted by 62 families. The Fagaceae, Fabaceae, Poaceae, Rosaceae and Solanaceae (counts > 20,000) represented the 90.22% of the total diet. Fabaceae (60.70%) and Fagaceae (67.47%) were the most abundant plant items occurring in the Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter diets, respectively. The Spring/Summer diet showed richness (N = 266) and diversity index values (Shannon: 2.329, Evenness: 0.03858, Equitability: 0.4169) higher than the Autumn/Winter diet (N = 199, Shannon: 1.818, Evenness: 0.03096, Equitability: 0.3435). Our contribution adds important information to broaden the knowledge on the environmental (spatial and trophic) requirements of the Italian hare, representing effective support for fitting management actions in conservation planning.