Giampiero Ciaschetti

Fine resolution distribution modelling of endemics in Majella National Park, Central Italy

Abstract Majella National Park in central Italy is known to be an endemic-rich area, but distributions of its endemics have not been comprehensively studied. Endemics with 10 or more records and spatial uncertainties at <5 km were extracted from the Central-Apennine floristic geodatabase and the MNP Seed Index. Nine environmental predictor layers were prepared at 90 and 30 m resolution. A stepwise Maximum Entropy (Maxent) model was generated per endemic to achieve the most parsimonious result at an area under the curve > 0.8. Arctic-alpine elevation, edaphic barrens and low open-vegetation, individually or in pairs, were found to be predictive for endemics. Forty-eight endemics, 10 of which exclusive, were recorded and Maxent-predicted for the Majella massif. Subsets of 38 endemics were recorded on other mountains in proportion to their arctic-alpine area, thus conforming to the Island Theory. Maxent confirmed its strengths also at fine resolutions and, in addition, showed to be robust across predictor layers at both resolutions. A linear species-area relationship appeared superior to the Maxent model in predicting the number of endemics per arctic-alpine “island”. Our findings suggest the need for a proactive management of the botanical biodiversity contained in the alpine and montane barrens and low-open vegetation.

Volatile compounds from Achillea tenorii (Grande) growing in the Majella National Park (Italy).

This work presents the first reported phytochemical study on the hydro-distilled essential oil from Achillea tenorii (Grande), collected in the protected area of Majella National Park (Italy). The composition of the essential oil was very different from those reported for the other species of Achillea nobilis group, being constituted mainly by oxygenated monoterpenes, among which ketones, alcohols and acetates compounds were the most representative. The marker compounds of A. nobilis group were not detected while the most abundant phytoconstituents were α-thujone (29.7%), trans-sabinol (18.6%) and trans-sabinyl acetate (15.7%), revealing a composition quite similar to that of Artemisia absinthium.

Iridoids and phenylethanoid glycosides from the aerial parts of Ajuga tenorei, an endemic Italian species

Abstract We report the first analysis in absolute, and in particular, concerning the phytochemical pattern, about an endemic Italian species, Ajuga tenorei C. Presl. The analysis, performed by means of techniques such as Column Chromatography and NMR spectroscopy and Mass spectrometry, led to the isolation and the identification of five compounds namely verbascoside (1), echinacoside (2), ajugoside (3), harpagide (4) and 8-O-acetylharpagide (5). The presence of these compounds is important from both chemotaxonomic and ethno-pharmacological point of view. For what concerns the first point is confirmed the correct botanical classification of the species. The isolated compounds are also known to exert peculiar pharmacological activities and their presence may give a rationale to the historical medicinal properties associated to the Ajuga genus in general, since these plants have a long traditional use in many parts of the world. Such fact might suggest the use of also this species in this sense.

Isoflavones and Other Compounds from the Roots of Iris marsica I. Ricci EColas. Collected from Majella National Park, Italy

In this study, a phytochemical analysis was performed, for the first time, on Iris marsica I. Ricci e Colas. In particular, the attention was focused on the constituents of the roots. Twenty-one compounds were isolated by column chromatography and were analyzed/identified by NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. They all own chemotaxonomic, ethno-pharmacological and nutraceutical relevance which allowed us to provide a phytochemical rationale, for the correct botanical classification of this species, for the employment of its roots in folk medicine like for all the other species belonging to the Iris genus and, lastly, for their further uses as food with important healthy benefits. All of these parts were broadly discussed about within the text.

Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of seven uncommon essential oils

Abstract Seven uncommon types of essential oils obtained from Pinus nigra, Hyssopus officinalis, Sison amomum, Smyrnium olusatrum, Helosciadium nodiflorum, Pelargonium graveolens and Vepris macrophylla were tested against a panel of thirty bacterial strains that cause serious infectious diseases. Among these bacterial species, the most dangerous for human health were five documented multi-drug-resistant strains belonging to the Acinetobacter and Klebsiella genera and derived from clinical isolation. The chemical composition of essential oils was achieved by GC-MS analysis, whereas the antibacterial efficacy was evaluated by the microdilution technique according to CLSI document M7-A9. The Vepris macrophylla essential oil, which contains geranial (33.2%), neral (23.1%) and citronellol (14.5%), exhibited the strongest inhibition against the multi-resistant strains A. baumannii, K. pneumoniae and S. aureus, with MIC values of 4.1, 2.05 and 4.1 mg/ml, respectively.