L. Forlani

Recherches géobotaniques sur les Monts Madonie (Sicile du Nord)

Le ricerche palinologiche sulle Madonie, le prime in Sicilia, si collocano a fianco degli studi fitosociologici che ne costituiscono lo stadio finale. Sono stati presi in considerazione ambienti umidi di altitudine alimentati da piccole sorgenti di strato. Si sono gia avuti risultati apprezzabili ai siti T13 (Urgo di Pietra Giordano, msm 1440, prof, cm 260, resti di faggeta). Nel profilo si ha un predominio della faggeta che si prolunga fino al periodo Atlantico, quando il querceto a dominante Quercus petraea inizia il suo predominio. Ilex aquijolium e presente lungo tutto il diagramma. Sono stati studiati legni fossili, che al livello—cm 150 hanno permesso una datazione assoluta di 9200 ± 90 B P. Al sito T 11 (Urgo di Pollicino, msm 1200, prof, cm 200, vegetazione atuale erbacea per denudamento antropico) si sono ricavati spettri con percentuali massicce di erbacee. Si sono utilizzati dati sedimentologici, si e proceduto allo studio di pollini di taxa attuali, quali Plantago cupani, Abies nebrodensis ecc.

Isotopic–geochemical study of nitrogen and carbon in peat from the Tunguska Cosmic Body explosion site

Abstract Isotopic–geochemical investigations were carried out on peat samples from the 1908 Tunguska Cosmic Body (TCB) explosion area. We analyzed two peat columns from the Northern peat bog, sampled in 1998, and from the Raketka peat bog, sampled during the 1999 Italian expedition, both located near the epicenter of the TCB explosion area. At the depth of the “catastrophic” layer, formed in 1908, and deeper, one can observe shifts in the isotopic composition of nitrogen (up to Δ 15 N = +7.2‰) and carbon (up to Δ 13 C = +2‰) and also an increase in the nitrogen concentration compared to those in the normal, upper layers, unaffected by the Tunguska event. One possible explanation for these effects could be the presence of nitrogen and carbon from TCB material and from acid rains, following the TCB explosion, in the “catastrophic” and “precatastrophic” layers of peat. We found that the highest quantity of isotopically heavy nitrogen fell near the explosion epicenter and along the TCB trajectory. It is calculated that 200,000 tons of nitrogen fell over the area of devastated forest, i.e., only about 30% of the value calculated by Rasmussen et al. (1984) . This discrepancy is probably caused by part of the nitrogen having dispersed in the Earth’s atmosphere. The isotopic effects observed in the peat agree with the results of previous investigations (Kolesnikov et al., 1998a, 1998b, 1999; Rasmussen et al., 1999) and also with the increased content of iridium and other platinoids found in the corresponding peat layers of other columns (Hou et al., 1998, 2000) . These data favor the hypothesis of a cosmochemical origin of the isotopic effects.

Palynological diagram of the peat‐bog near Pavullo nel Frignano (Modena, Italy) in the framework of Tuscan/Emilian Apennines vegetation history

A pollen diagram drawn for a peat bog located at San Pellegrino, in a vast plain at 675 m a.s.1. near Pavullo nel Frignano (Modena, Italy), is of vegetation on the northern slope of the Tuscan/Emilian Apennines. This altitude is just below the lower limit of the Fagus‐Abies belt. The sequence, 20 m in depth, consists mostly of clayey sediments in its lower part, the upper part prevalently formed by peat. The upper complex is dated by 14C at 10,790 yr B.P. and 2590 yr B.P., the lower part of the sequence is dated by chronological comparison with Chiarugis diagram (1950) and subsequent 14C updates (Bertolani Marchetti, 1985). The sequence apparently begins after 16,950 yr B.P., because its lower part does not reach the Salix tundra/Artemisia steppe located at the bottom of Chiarugis diagram. The period of general dominance of Pinus over the existing Fagus and oak mixed forest runs from about 20 m and 12 m. The Lanscombe (?), Dryas I and Bolling phases fall here. After a hiatus that may contain the Dryas I...

Pollen grains in human cytology

Abstract This paper reports on pollen analyses carried out in the course of a ten-year investigation, on many thousands of cytological smears coming from various organs and systems of the human body, and prepared for diagnostic purposes. The frequency and the significance of the pollen records vary according to the specific cytological field taken into account. In the urinary sediment smears, nipple secretions, and needle aspirations the polliniferous smears are very few, and the pollen number per smear is low (max 14 pollen grains, belonging always or mostly to anemophilous species). In these cases, the pollen records evidence the airborne contamination during medical procedures, the same happens with most of cervico-vaginal smears. In some cervico-vaginal smears, the high frequency of pollen grains belonging to pharmaceutical taxa suggests that lavages with vegetable components were used by the patients before undergoing the test. In nasal, bronchial and conjunctival cytology greater amounts of pollinif...

Composition of the oils from Artemisia coerulescens L. subsp. cretacea (Fiori) Br.-Catt. et Gubell. grown in different areas of Italy.

Abstract The essential oil, isolated by hydrodistillation from flowering tops of Artemisia coerulescens L. subsp. cretacea (Fiori) Br.-Catt. et Gubell., was investigated by GC/MS. The analyses were carried out on oils obtained from plants collected in Romagna and in Tuscany (Central Italy) in three different stages of growing cycle. The oil yield was higher from plants collected in Romagna than in those collected in Tuscany. The main components of the Romagna and Tuscan oils were α-thujone (59.6–71.0% and 32.9–39.7%), β-thujone (17.8–18.7% and 10.0–10.8%) and camphor (4.2–6.2% and 35.6–45.3%), respectively.

Palynological Italian Flora: Species of Sicilian Flora: Cards Nos. 92–99

Abstract This further contribution to the Palynological Italian Flora deals with eight entities of the Sicilian Flora, some of which are endemic of the Sicilian floristic sector and some of the Pelagic Maltese one. Palynological cards show pollen features observed by light and scanning electron microscopy. This actuopalynological work has connections with geobotanical researches carried out on the Madonie mountains (Sicily, Italy).