Roberto Venanzoni

Interactions of fungi with other organisms

Living organisms establish complex networks of mutualistic and antagonistic interactions in nature, which impact strongly on their own survival and on the stability of the whole population. Fungi, in particular, can shape natural as well as man-managed ecosystems due to their ubiquitous occurrence and the range of interactions they establish with plants, animals and other microbes. This review describes some examples of mutualistic and antagonistic fungal interactions that are of particular interest for their ecological role, or because they can be exploited by man to improve plant health and/or productivity in sustainable agriculture and forestry.

VegItaly: The Italian collaborative project for a national vegetation database

Abstract Two years after its official start, the national vegetation database VegItaly, a collaborative project supported by the Italian scientific community and developed by a large group of scientists, is presented. This article offers a concise overview of the content of the database, currently consisting of 31,100 vegetation plot, including published and unpublished data. Some basic statistics are analysed; for example, data distribution in space and time, represented vegetation types expressed as physiognomic categories. Although rather young and still in progress, VegItaly already contains data from all the Italian regions and stands as an optimal candidate for the development of an Italian national vegetation database. Its main goals,theoretical basis, technical features, functionalities and recent progresses are outlined, showing glimpses of future prospects.

Identification and characterisation of human pathogenic filamentous fungi and susceptibility to Thymus schimperi essential oil

Twenty‐eight clinical fungal isolates were characterised by morphological (macro‐ and micro‐features and growth response at 25, 30 and 37 °C) and molecular (nuclear rDNA‐internal transcriber spacer, calmodulin, cytochrome c oxidase 1 and the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II) analyses. The clinical fungal isolates were ascribed to the following taxa: Penicillium chrysogenum, Verticillium sp., Aspergillus tubingensis, Aspergillus minutus, Beauveria bassiana and Microsporum gypseum. In addition, in vitro susceptibility testing of the isolates to conventional antifungal agents and to two chemically well‐defined chemotypes of Thymus schimperi essential oil was performed. Most of the isolates were resistant to amphotericin B (except A. minutus), and itraconazole, while terbinafine was quite active on these fungi. T. schimperi essential oil showed antifungal activity against all of the tested fungal isolates with minimal inhibitory concentration values similar or lower than those of terbinafine. Transmission electron microscopy analyses revealed that fungal growth inhibition by essential oil was accompanied by marked morphological and cytological changes.

Reed die-back in southern Europe? A case study from Central Italy

Common reed die-back is a widely investigated phenomenon in Central Europe, not frequently recorded in S-European areas and almost unknown in the Mediterranean Basin. Symptoms of reed decline recently observed in the Italian Peninsula provided the starting point for a detailed investigation on a reed population in one of the largest freshwater ecosystems in Central Italy. The analyses were conducted over two vegetative seasons in 19 plots at seven locations. A set of 13 morphologic and phenologic reed traits were screened, monitored and statistically analysed. The data indicated the presence of the reed die-back syndrome in a wet Mediterranean ecosystem and enabled us to highlight a set of usable traits to detect the condition of decline. Among them, the stem height and diameter, the number of nodes, the relative growth rate and the lateral root diameter resulted the most significant factors highlighting the declining condition. Some environmental characteristics of the reed stands were also taken into account. The period of submersion and the presence of standing litter emerged as important features of the stands, strictly related to the degree of decline in the population. The results draw attention to the risk, in southern Europe too, of the loss of an ecosystem which plays an important role in biodiversity conservation.

New national and regional bryophyte records, 42

New national and regional bryophyte records, 42 L. T. Ellis, M. Aleffi, V. A. Bakalin, H. Bednarek-Ochyra, A. Bergamini, P. Beveridge, S. S. Choi, V. E. Fedosov, R. Gabriel, M. T. Gallego, S. Grdović, R. Gupta, V. Nath, A. K. Asthana, L. Jennings, H. Kürschner, M. Lebouvier, M. C. Nair, K. M. Manjula, K. P. Rajesh, M. Nobis, A. Nowak, S. J. Park, B.-Y. Sun, V. Plášek, L. Čı́hal, S. Poponessi, M. G. Mariotti, A. Sabovljević, M. S. Sabovljević, J. Sawicki, N. Schnyder, R. Schumacker, M. Sim-Sim, D. K. Singh, D. Singh, S. Majumdar, S. Singh Deo, S. Ştefănuţ, M. Suleiman, C. M. Seng, M. S. Chua, J. Váňa, R. Venanzoni, E. Bricchi, M. J. Wigginton Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London, UK, University of Camerino, Camerino (MC), Italy, Botanical Garden-Institute, Vladivostok, Russia, Laboratory of Bryology, Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Biodiversity & Conservation Biology, Birmensdorf, Switzerland, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand, National Institute of Ecology, Seocheon, Korea, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia, Azorean Biodiversity Group — CITAA, DCA — University of the Azores, Portugal, Departamento de Biologı́a Vegetal (Botánica), Universidad de Murcia, Spain, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, India, Conservation Biogeography and Macroecology Group, SGE — University of Oxford, UK, Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Biologie, Systematische Botanik und Pflanzengeographie, Germany, CNRS UMR 6553, Université de Rennes 1, France, Department of Botany, The Zamorin’s Guruvayurappan College, Kozhikode, Kerala, India, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, University of Opole, Poland, Department of Life Sciences, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Korea, University of Ostrava, Czech Republic, University of Genova, Genova, Italy, Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden, University of Belgrade, Serbia, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland, Institut für Systematische Botanik, Universität Zürich, Switzerland, Department of Botany, University of Liège, Belgium, Centre for Environmental Biology, University of Lisbon, Portugal, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, India, Botanical Survey of India, Central National Herbarium, Howrah, India, Institute of Biology Bucharest of Romanian Academy, Romania, Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, University Malaysia, Sabah, Malaysia, Department of Botany, Charles University, Czech Republic, University of Perugia, Italy, Warmington, Peterborough, UK

Macrofungi as ecosystem resources: Conservation versus exploitation

Fungi are organisms of significant importance not only for the crucial roles they undertake in nature but also for many human activities that are strictly dependent on them. Indeed, fungi possess fundamental positions in ecosystems functioning including nutrient cycles and wood decomposition. As concerns human-related activities, edible and non-edible mushrooms are also involved and/or exploited in forestry, pharmaceutical industry and food production; hence, nowadays they represent a major economic source worldwide. In order to maintain and improve their strategic importance, several conservation strategies, such as habitat preservation, are needed. This article reports several contributions inherent to the relationships between wood-decaying fungi, edible and non-edible mushrooms and their potential exploitation as non-timber forest products and genetic resources.

Toward a framework of integrated knowledge of terrestrial vegetation system: The role of databases of phytosociological relevés

Abstract In this article, we consider the meaning of the phytosociological relevé of the Braun-Blanquets approach as a source of biodiversity matrices. We stress the importance of phytosociological relevé for the integrated vegetation studies dedicated to understand the vegetation system and its ecosystem role at different hierarchical levels. We review the state of the art of building databases of the Italian vegetation under the perspective to develop a knowledge database of Italian vegetation based on formal ontologies. This would constitute a node in the possible network of knowledge databases of European Union and of the world that is proposed within the International Association of Vegetation Science.

New occurrence of reed bed decline in southern Europe: Do permanent flooding and chemical parameters play a role?

Based on the experimental design proposed in similar studies, macromorphological and ecological traits of common reed beds were analysed at Lake Chiusi (Central Italy), together with selected chemical parameters in sediments and interstitial waters and aerial images of the site, in order to investigate reed decline and search for possible correlations among data. Typical symptoms of the reed dieback syndrome were detected, thus enlarging the occurrence of this phenomenon in southern Europe. Permanently dry, permanently flooded and partially flooded stands show different levels of decline, with the permanent flooding always co-occurring with reed dieback. Only few of the considered chemical parameters seem to play a role in reed decline (nitrates, rubidium, nickel, barium, manganese), although no clear pattern was identified. Data suggest that the co-occurrence of some chemicals with stressing conditions might affect the growth even of an efficient metal accumulator, as reed is generally considered.

Cyto-histological and morpho-physiological responses of common duckweed (Lemna minor L.) to chromium

Along with cadmium, lead, mercury and other heavy metals, chromium is an important environmental pollutant, mainly concentrated in areas of intense anthropogenic pressure. The effect of potassium dichromate on Lemna minor populations was tested using the growth inhibition test. Cyto-histological and physiological analyses were also conducted to aid in understanding the strategies used by plants during exposure to chromium. Treatment with potassium dichromate caused a reduction in growth rate and frond size in all treated plants and especially at the highest concentrations. At these concentrations the photosynthetic pathway was also altered as shown by the decrease of maximum quantum yield of photosystem II and the chlorophyll b content and by the chloroplast ultrastructural modifications. Starch storage was also investigated by microscopic observations. It was the highest at the high concentrations of the pollutant. The data suggested a correlation between starch storage and reduced growth; there was greater inhibition of plant growth than inhibition of photosynthesis, resulting in a surplus of carbohydrates that may be stored as starch. The investigation helps to understand the mechanism related to heavy metal tolerance of Lemna minor and supplies information about the behavior of this species widely used as a biomarker.

The anArchive taxonomic Checklist for Italian botanical data banking and vegetation analysis: Theoretical basis and advantages

In recent years, research in botany was increasingly related with the use of large data-sets and data banks, in order to address emerging issues such as the severe risk of species, habitats and biodiversity loss. In this frame, the anArchive taxonomic Checklist, an online synonymized list of botanical species names, developed to support the botanical data banking and vegetation analysis, is presented and discussed here. The benefits deriving from such a supervised and referenced tool are emphasized. They include the possibility to keep track of old and new species names, pointing out the latest reviewed accepted scientific name and its synonyms, and harmonizing different taxonomic points of view. Furthermore, the list is open access and expert qualified customers can collaborate to its improvement. The basic unit of the taxonomic Checklist is an object including the taxon name at specific or, when present, infraspecific level; the taxonomic frame stops at the level of family and ranks higher than genus are not treated hierarchically. Some technical features, the main taxonomic references and the current state of the art are reported.