Hints of economic change during the late Roman Empire period in central Italy: a study of charred plant remains from “La Fontanaccia”, near Rome

The archaeobotanical study of the charred macro-remains recovered from the burnt settlement of La Fontanaccia, Allumiere, 50 km northwest of Rome, a small hut from the time of the end of the late Roman Empire, provided results on the use of food of its inhabitants, their living conditions, and the natural environment. The fire which destroyed the small settlement was archaeologically dated to the middle of the 5th century a.d., few years before the end of the Roman Empire. This was a period in which the state structure, undermined by the barbarian invasions which provoked famine and destruction, was in deep economic and political crisis, and the population in Rome and in the countryside lived in precarious conditions. No archaeo-botanical data have been available until now for this period in the region of Rome. The presence of grass peas, acorns, two-rowed barley caryopses, and small horse bean seeds demonstrate the general state of regression in the late Roman Empire, when misery and famine were widespread. The finds of charcoal from chestnut, deciduous oak, maple and elm suggest the presence of thermophilous deciduous woods and environmental conditions similar to today’s. It deserves mention that this is the first site in which macro-remains (charcoal) of Castanea have been found in central Italy.     

Crop processing of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Olea europaea</Emphasis> L.: an experimental approach for the interpretation of archaeobotanical olive remains

Archaeobotanical research, ethnographic observations and laboratory experiments are put together to create model sequences of olive processing, which are developed, presented and explored as an aid for the interpretation of rich archaeobotanical assemblages of Olea. We conclude that the remains of different processing stages are reasonably distinctive in the archaeobotanical record and assist in the identification of different types of olive remains, such as fragmented olive stones, the inner kernels, and fruit flesh     

An approach to funerary rituals in the Roman provinces: plant remains from a Gallo-Roman cemetery at Faulquemont (Moselle, France)

Archaeobotanical studies of funerary offerings allow important insights into beliefs in the afterlife and rituals in the past. Although the number of such investigations has increased in recent years, there are still only a very few systematic investigations of Gallo-Roman cremation graves, especially in northern France. The archaeobotanical study presented here concerns the cemetery (necropolis) of Faulquemont, located in the Département of Moselle. 70 cremation graves, dated from the 1st up to the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. have been sampled for the study of the botanical remains. The graveyard belongs to a rural site. The structures, mainly pits, contained secondary deposits of cremations, characterised by ashy fillings, broken archaeological burned material, bones and carbonised plant remains. 18 plant species have been identified including cereals, pulses, tubers and fruits plus bread/pastry. The most important ones were Triticum (hulled wheat), Hordeum (hulled barley), Lens (lentil) and Pisum (pea). There were also more “exotic” finds like Olea (olive), Phoenix (date) and Lupinus (lupin). The preservation of the cereals suggests possible cooking before cremation, or a long exposure to the fire. Some other plants like hazelnut and olive were maybe consumed as a component of funerary meals. In addition, there were also complete fruits burned as funerary offerings. Only the wealthy deceased received luxurious products such as date. Altogether, the spectrum of Faulquemont fits very well with the known picture of plant offerings during Gallo-Roman times. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at     

Top-down control on plankton components in an Antarctic pond: experimental approach to the study of low-complexity food webs

In order to address the top-down effect on the different phytoplankton size-fractions and ciliates, a survey at microcosm scale was conducted in a hypertrophic Antarctic pond, testing the hypotheses that (1) the picophytoplankton is regulated by a top-down control exerted by organisms of the bigger size-fractions, and (2) the nanoplankton fraction (algae and ciliates) is not regulated by a top-down control exerted by the microplankton. The treatments enclosed pond water that was filtered to obtain the different plankton sizes: (a) through 55 μm, (b) 20 μm, and (c) 3 μm pore size filters. The variation in the net growth rate (k′) of the phytoplankton size-fractions and ciliates was analysed after 4 days. The results determined a significant difference (P<0.011) in the k′ value of the picophytoplankton when nano and micro-sized fractions where removed. Conversely, nanophytoplankton and nanociliates were not affected by the removal of bigger size-fractions. We suggest that in this pond the top-down control of the picophytoplankton is relevant, and that the grazing impact is not a key factor in the regulation of the nano-sized (algae and ciliates) plankton components.     

Molecular approach to describing a seed‐based food web: the post‐dispersal granivore community of an invasive plant

Communities of post‐dispersal granivores can shape the density and dispersion of exotic plants and invasive weeds, yet plant ecologists have a limited perception of the relative trophic linkages between a seed species and members of its granivore community. Dandelion seeds marked with Rabbit IgG were disseminated into replicated plots in the recipient habitat (South Dakota) and the native range (Czech Republic). Arthropods were collected in pitfall traps, and their guts were searched for the protein marker using enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Seed dishes were placed in each plot, and dandelion seed removal rates were measured. The entire experiment was repeated five times over the dandelion flowering period. Gut analysis revealed that approximately 22% of specimens tested positive for the seed marker. A more diverse granivore community had trophic linkages to seeds than has been previously realized under field conditions. This community included taxa such as isopods, millipedes, weevils, rove beetles, and caterpillars, in addition to the traditionally recognized ants, crickets, and carabid beetles. Rarefaction and Chao analysis estimated approximately 16 and 27 species in the granivore communities of the Czech Republic and South Dakota, respectively. Synthesis: Generalist granivore communities are diverse and polyphagous, and are clearly important as a form of biotic resistance to invasive and weedy plants. These granivore communities can be managed to limit population growth of these pests.     

Assessment of land use changes through an indicator-based approach: A case study from the Lamone river basin in Northern Italy

This study has been performed in order to evaluate the land use changes and related environmental impacts which occurred in recent decades in the Lamone river basin (Northern Italian Apennines). Using the DPSIR indicator-based approach, agricultural land use changes and conversions occurred within the periods 1976–1994 and 1994–2003, have been associated with the shortage of water in the river and the modification of the landscape structure. Results show that Lamone river basin in 1976 was mainly dominated by forest (27.4%) and cropland (32.3%) and through the entire period the valley presented a strong persistence of land uses and the main conversions detected are afforestation and agricultural intensification. The hydrological balance analysis results indicate that the agricultural intensification process produced a water deficit in summer periods equal to 0.89 mln m³ in 2003. The landscape of the Lamone valley became more homogeneous, showing a decrease in diversity (Shannon Diversity Index values decreased from 1.81 to 1.58) and the riparian corridor became more human-dominated (Human Habitat values increased from 0.61 to 0.77). An integrated assessment of possible management options has been conducted, using the MULINO-DSS software as a support. Thirteen different management scenarios have been produced in order to solve the water balance issue and to enhance the riparian corridor. Attributing equal weight to the environmental, social and economical criteria, the best solution corresponds to the sole creation of artificial basins and the actual situation is placed at position 8 (out of 13).     

Developing an approach to defining the potential distributions of invasive plant species: a case study of Hakea species in South Africa

Aim  Models of the potential distributions of invading species have to deal with a number of issues. The key one is the high likelihood that the absence of an invading species in an area is a false absence because it may not have invaded that area yet, or that it may not have been detected. This paper develops an approach for screening pseudo-absences in a way that is logical and defensible.
Innovation  The step-wise approach involves: (1) screening environmental variables to identify those most likely to indicate conditions where the species cannot invade; (2) identifying and selecting the most likely limiting variables; (3) using these to define the limits of its invasion potential; and (4) selecting points outside these limits as true absence records for input into species distribution models.
This approach was adopted and used for the study of three prominent Hakea species in South Africa. Models with and without the false absence records were compared. Two rainfall variables and the mean minimum temperature of the coldest month were the strongest predictors of potential distributions. Models which excluded false absences predicted that more of the potential distribution would have a high invasion potential than those which included them.
Main conclusions  The approach of applying a priori knowledge can be useful in refining the potential distribution of a species by excluding pseudo-absence records which are likely to be due to the species not having invaded an area yet or being undetected. The differences between the potential distributions predicted by the different models convey more information than making a single prediction, albeit a consensus model. The robustness of this approach depends strongly on an adequate knowledge of the ecology, invasion history and current distribution of that species.