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A catchment and its relative coastal zone are both influenced by climate change, particularly by specific factors as precipitation, temperature and wind. In the Mediterranean predicted changes are expected to be superimposed over long-term alterations caused by both natural and anthropogenic pressures (IPCC, 2001). Therefore, climate modification will have an impact on the Po catchment and the Northern Adriatic Coastal system, affecting water resources, ecosystems, agriculture and food security, human settlements, financial services and human health. Climate pressure has the potential to exacerbate already existing problems (i.e. eutrophication, heavy metal pollution, subsidence). The connections between Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM), already studied and analysed in the EUROCAT project, have been re-analysed and the tools (models) used for the Po catchment study have been modified in relation to the climate change. In particular, this research activity aims to estimate the nutrient flux changes (using the MONERIS model) in the Po basin under possible climate change impacts. These preliminary studies have been done in order to understand and quantify direct and indirect relationships between climate change and estimated nutrient fluxes taking into consideration the specific pathways of the MONERIS model

We present the preliminary results of a~230 m deep borehole drilled in the eastern part of the Paganica-San Demetrio-Castelnuovo Basin (PSC) (L'Aquila, central Italy), at the top of the Castelnuovo hill within the Valle Daria paleosurface. The PSC is a NW-SE trending graben bordered by active normal faults and filled by Plio-Quaternary deposits. The oldest ones, largely outcropping in the Valle Daria area, pertain to the San Demetrio-Colle Cantaro Synthem and are composed by several formations, laterally interfingered each other, representing different depositional environments of the Paleolake San Nicandro. The deep lacustrine facies (San Nicandro Fm.-SNF) is formed by laminated to massive whitish calcareous silts, bearing an endemic ostracod assemblage mainly composed by Caspiocypris ssp., allowing to ascribe the SNF to a late Piacenzian-Gelasian age. The outcropping part of the SNF, usually less than 50 m thick, shows a normal magnetic polarity in the basal 10 m, passing upwards to a reverse polarity. In addition, in the upper portion of the SNF, close to Castelnuovo village, three blackish tephra layers are present. Starting from these premises, the Castelnuovo deep borehole (CN1) was realized to investigate, in a palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic perspective, the early sedimentary infilling of the PSC and the evolution of the lacustrine system. The borehole reached a depth of 229.30 m b.g.l., drilling a succession mainly composed by cyclic alternations of fine-grained laminated and massive sediments. The cyclic variations of different parameters among which the CaCO3 content, the granulometry, the sediment colour and the magnetic susceptibility testify that sedimentation was controlled by orbital and climatic oscillations. In detail, the upper part of the well-log (<60 m), partly matching the outcropping succession, is characterized by the typical features of the SNF, consisting of a cyclic alternation of white calcareous silts and light grey clayey-silts couplets, often separated by a thin oxidized silty-sandy layer. In this interval, the CaCO3 content cyclically ranges between 50% and 90%, mostly occurring as lacustrine endogenic calcite. Between 60 and 115 m, clayey levels become more abundant and thicker and organic-rich clay levels appear, whereas minima CaCO3 contents are periodically recorded, around 25%. From 115 to 150 m, massive over-consolidated organic-rich clays are predominant, while calcareous silty levels become occasional and thin. From 150 to 190 m the sequence is formed by alternations of clayey-silts and whitish calcareous silts, while down to 220 m it is composed by alternations of clay and clayey-gravels, with coarser sediments becoming more and more frequent. Below 220 m, fine grain deposits almost disappear, passing to coarse calcareous breccias with rare clayey-silty layers. Several tephra layers are present between 25-30 m, 55-75 m, 100-105 m and 165-170 m. Ongoing analyses, consisting in a multidisciplinary approach that integrates sedimentology, micropaleontology, palynology, tephrochronology, geochemistry and magnetostratigraphy, will constrain the onset and subsequent evolution of the San Nicandro lacustrine system, unraveling the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene climatic variations in the central Mediterranean area and bringing new insights on the post-orogenic evolution of the central Apennines.

Historically, water resources have allowed the development of urban settlements and water forms and availability - such as surface water or underground water (springs, rivers and streams, aquifers, lakes), have influenced the urban environment either in connection to danger and risk connected to the proximity of the water body, either for the functional and aesthetic value. The educational project Daylighting Rivers -co-funded by the European Union in 2017 (Project number 2017-1-IT02- KA201-036968), takes its cue from such theme to develop a teaching methodology that aims to facilitate STEM learning and at the same time to raise teachers' and students' awareness on the importance and vulnerability of water bodies, especially in a urban context. The project was implemented in Italy, Spain and Greece, countries with similar environmental characteristics and urban sprawl processes that have been emphasizing water issues especially in time of climate change. Over the first two years, the project involved three pilot secondary schools that tested an innovative, multidisciplinary and participatory teaching methodology, based on a model of Inquiry Based Learning. From the pedagogical point of view, the methodology fosters the students' centrality and curiosity for investigating the local river in own town or province. Twenty learning units were developed on specific topics connected to macro-themes that can be implemented in different school disciplines. The promotion of innovative digital tools such as Location Based Games have also allowed students to approach and work with georeferenced information, but also combine technical-scientific aspects and language to historical-humanistic-artistic aspects and storytelling. Students could also reflect on a variety of aspects related to rivers in town such as social, ecological, cultural and economic well-being aspects.

Plant water status is a major factor influencing burning potential of vegetation and a low-cost method to assess the water status can provide an index for fire potential. It can also reduce costs associated with travel to remote locations and can improve fire forecast models. Under severe water stress, plant stomata close and reduce the actual evapotranspiration rate (ETa) relative to the potential evapotranspiration rate (ETp). A fire potential index (I=1 - ETa/ETp) is a measure of vegetation burning potential. When there is no ET reducing water stress, I=0 and it increases as the ETa rate decreases relative to ETp. The difficulty in the application of a fire index is the cost and complexity to measure or estimate ETa and ETp. From solar radiation (Rs) measurements and site specific calibration, it is possible to estimate net radiation (Rn) and soil heat flux density (G). If a good estimate of sensible heat flux density is available, then latent heat flux density (LE) can be calculated as the residual of the energy balance equation (LE=Rn - G - H). The surface renewal (SR) method for estimating sensible heat flux from canopies provides a simple, portable, robust, and low-cost method to measure sensible heat flux density (H). High frequency temperature data are collected with fine-wire thermocouples. The data are analyzed with a structure function to identify average ramp characteristics (i.e., amplitude and duration) of the temperature traces during a sampling period. Then the amplitude and duration are used in a conservation of energy equation to estimate H. This method has been used over a wide variety of crops and natural vegetation with good results. Recently, the method was tested over grass in a wildfire-prone mixed oak-grassland region of the Sierra Nevada Mountain foothills in California. In this paper, the methodology to measure H with the SR method and the results of the fire index calculations will be reported.

An update of The Top 50 Mediterranean Island Plants to assess any changes that may have occurred in the conservation status of these 50 taxa and to see what measures have been taken to improve their conservation status

The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential environmental life-cycle impacts of olives produced in three management systems of olive tree integrated with natural grassland. This study compares three small farms using different farming systems (silvopastoral, organic and traditional) with an average Italian farm using life cycle assessment methodology. The most related to agriculture impact categories were assessed: Global Warming potential, acidification and eutrophication. All farms were are using small amount of fertilisers, low use of chemicals, and no pesticides. However among all agricultural practices, fertilization has the highest environmental impact followed by machinery use. In this case organic farming system is looking as the most promising one due to low organic fertiliser application.

In Sardinia (Italy), the highest frequency of extreme events is recorded in the Central-East area (3-4 events per year). The presence of high and steep mountains near the sea on the central and south-eastern coast, causes an East- West precipitation gradient in autumn especially, due to hot and moist currents coming from Africa. Soil structure and utilization make this area highly vulnerable to flash flooding and landslides. The specific purpose of this work is to provide a description of the heavy rainfall phenomenon on a statistical basis. The analysis mainly focuses on i) the existence of trends in heavy rainfall and ii) the characterization of the distribution of extreme events. First, to study possible trends in extreme events a few indices have been analyzed by the linear regression test. The analysis has been carried out at annual and seasonal scales. Then, extreme values analysis has been carried out by fitting a Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD) to the data. As far as trends are concerned, different results are obtained at the two temporal scales: significant trends are obtained at the seasonal scale which are masked at the annual scale. By combining trend analysis and GPD analysis, the vulnerability of the study area to the occurrence of heavy rainfall has been characterized. Therefore, this work might support the improvement of land use planning and the application of suitable prevention systems. Future work will consider the extension of the analysis to all Sardinia and the application of statistical methods taking into account the spatial correlation of extreme events.

It is recognised that several constraints such as the lack of knowledge and expertise of farmers, land users and policy makers concerning agroforestry systems establishment and management hamper the adoption of agroforestry systems (Camilli et al. 2017). AFINET project acts at EU level in order to direct research results into practice and promote innovative ideas to face challenges and solve practitioners' problems. AFINET proposes an innovative methodology based on the creation of a European Interregional Network, linking different Regional Agroforestry Innovation Networks (RAINs). RAINs represent different climatic, geographical, social and cultural conditions and enclose a balanced representation of the key actors with complementary types of expertise (farmers, policy makers, advisory services, extension services, etc.). The Italian RAIN is focused on the Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) value chain, with the main aim to promote agroforestry management of local olive orchards. Olive trees are still managed traditionally, often in marginal sites, with minimal mechanization and relatively low external inputs such as chemical treatments in comparison to other crops. The presence of permanent crops (olive trees) guarantees a partially tree cover reducing hydrogeological risk. Soil management usually keeps natural grassing reducing soil carbon emission and increasing soil fertility (Bateni et al. 2017). Intercropping with cereals and/or fodder legumes and livestock can also be practiced in olive orchards, increasing the complexity of the olive tree multifunctional system. Moreover, olive orchards can be managed as agroforestry systems since they can be intercropped with arable crops (cereals, legumes) and/or combined with livestock (sheep, poultry). The RAIN process, involving local stakeholders, highlighted the main bottlenecks of the EVOO value chain related to communication and dissemination of knowledge, technical and management aspects, market and policy. In order to contrast bottlenecks and exploit opportunities of the olive oil supply chain, the identified innovations are: i) adoption of best practices: testing and experimenting innovative agroforestry systems introducing different crop/animals species and varieties; ii) improve the management of the olive orchards: encouraging and increasing the organic production; iii) valorisation of olive processing residues: identifying and testing innovative products (bio-materials, olive paste as example); iv) arise the awareness among consumers: educating people about the benefits of olive oil consumption, creating networks among stakeholders, improving marketing and commercialization. Creating a Bio-district, defined as a geographical area where farmers, citizens, tourist operators, associations and public authorities enter into an agreement for the sustainable management of local resources, emerged a powerful tool to implement the innovation in the local EVOO value chain.

To study and characterize underutilized crops is an important strategy that might improve agricultural biodiversity and produce new products with a low environmental impact. One example is Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz (family Brassicaceae) or false flax, an ancient plant, that has been cultivated in temperate climate belt of Europe, as an annual summer or winter crop, for centuries. Camelina is gaining interest because of its low input requirements and, therefore, it might be used as a low greenhouse-gas-emission biofuel crop. In this last decade several agronomic trials have demonstrated that camelina has several unique agronomic features, including adaptability to marginal soils, short growth cycle and, if compared to rapeseed, a greater resistance to the dehiscence of the siliques. Several consecutive agronomic trials have been carried out in two north Italian localities and in north-east India (Assam and Manipur). The localities are characterized by a temperate and sub-tropical climate condition in Italy and India, respectively. Several camelina genotypes were used and three genotypes were compared between temperate and sub tropical area. Comparison at agronomical, physiological and biochemical levels have been carried out in both Italian and Indian regions. Our results have demonstrated that in these climatic areas camelina was able to grow and produce seeds in both countries, but in north-east India only during local winter season (from November to March) when the precipitation are absent, giving a dry condition season, and the temperature is comparable to that of spring-summer temperate European belt, which is the best season period for camelina growing in north Italy. At morphological level the most evident effect between the localities was on the plant height and number of branches of the camelina genotypes analyzed. Regarding the seed productivity in the two years of trials, the seed yield in India was lower (0.3 ton/ha max) in comparison to the potential yield obtained in Italy (1.0-2.5 ton /ha). Low yield was accompanied by small and light seeds, < 1.0 g/1000 seeds in Manipur, 1.2 g/1000 seeds in Assam in comparison to 1.5-1.8 g/1000 seeds in north Italy. Furthermore the seeds harvested in north-east India showed a lower oil content, about 25%, in comparison to the same genotypes, approximately 35% of oil, grown in Italy. The different percentage in oil, detected in the seeds grown in north-east India, was accompanied by minor differences in fatty acid compositions. The high level of polyunsaturated fatty acids (linolenic and linoleic) characteristic of camelina oils, were always conserved, but oils from sub-tropical climate had higher level of saturated fatty acids (palmitic and stearic acids) in comparison to the seeds harvested in temperate climate. However, the Indian smaller seeds showed a higher content in tocopherols, which gives a greater oxidative stability and shelf life to the seeds. Furthermore, differences in total protein content were also observed. In conclusion, it is possible to infer that Camelina sativa has a high ability to adapt to different climate belts, outside of its original one. Camelina shows to have a high plasticity to climate changes with only minor morphology traits and biochemical characteristics seeds modification.

Toxigenic fungi and mycotoxins are very common in food crops, with noticeable differences in their host specificity in terms of pathogenicity and toxin contamination. In addition, such crops may be infected with mixtures of mycotoxigenic fungi, resulting in multi-mycotoxin contamination. Climate represents the key factor in driving the fungal community structure and mycotoxin contamination levels pre- and post-harvest. Thus, there is significant interest in understanding the impact of interacting climate change-related abiotic factors (especially increased temperature, elevated CO2 and extremes in water availability) on the relative risks of mycotoxin contamination and impacts on food safety and security. We have thus examined the available information from the last decade on relative risks of mycotoxin contamination under future climate change scenarios and identified the gaps in knowledge. This has included the available scientific information on the ecology, genomics, distribution of toxigenic fungi and intervention strategies for mycotoxin control worldwide. In addition, some suggestions for prediction and prevention of mycotoxin risks are summarized together with future perspectives and research needs for a better understanding of the impacts of climate change scenarios.