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      Acorn Isotopic Composition: A New Promising Tool for Authenticity Maps of Montado’s High-Value Food Products

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          Abstract

          It is often overlooked that even food production is linked to the ecology of plants and animals. Living organisms respond to environmental short-and long-term variability: acknowledging this may help in the ultimate goal of valorizing a territory/product. We investigated acorns of the two main Quercus species of the Portuguese Montado, a main feed of the renown black Iberian pig. We tested their responses to an aridity gradient by morphological parameters and isotopic signature. Q. rotundifolia and Q. suber acorns did not differ morphologically, even if a higher variability in all parameters was observed in acorns of Q. suber. According to the site-specific Aridity Index, correlations are indicative to higher weight and length only in Q. suber acorns from more arid sites. As for isotopic composition, there were no differences in nitrogen or carbon (δ 15N and δ 13C) between the two species. However, combining the samples and testing for association with the Aridity Index, we found that more arid sites lead to a 15N enrichment. This result, combined with the positive correlation between AI and acorns length, support the use of acorns as a tool, their isoscapes of nitrogen being a stepping stone for the provenance of the black Iberian pig.

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          Stable Isotopes in Plant Ecology

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            Nutrient dynamics on a precipitation gradient in Hawai'i.

            We evaluated soil and foliar nutrients in five native forests in Hawai'i with annual rainfall ranging from 500 mm to 5500 mm. All of the sites were at the same elevation and of the same substrate age; all were native-dominated forests containing Metrosiderospolymorpha Gaud. Soil concentrations of extractable NO3-N and PO4-P, as well as major cations (Ca, Mg, and K), decreased with increasing annual precipitation, and δ(15)N values became more depleted in both soils and vegetation. For M.polymorpha leaves, leaf mass per area (LMA) and lignin concentrations increased significantly, while δ(13)C values became more depleted with increasing precipitation. Foliar phosphorus, and major cation (Ca, Mg, and K) concentrations for M.polymorpha all decreased significantly with increasing precipitation. For other native forest species, patterns of LMA, δ(13)C, and δ(15)N generally mirrored the pattern observed for M. polymorpha. Decreasing concentrations of available rock-derived nutrients in soil suggest that the effect of increased rainfall on leaching outweighs the effect of increasing precipitation on weathering. The pattern of decreased foliar nutrient concentrations per unit leaf area and of increased lignin indicates a shift from relatively high nutrient availability to relatively high carbon gain by producers as annual precipitation increases. For nitrogen cycling, the pattern of higher inorganic soil nitrogen concentrations in the drier sites, together with the progressively depleted δ(15)N signature in both soils and vegetation, suggests that nitrogen cycling is more open at the drier sites, with smaller losses relative to turnover as annual precipitation increases.
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              Stable isotopes as one of nature's ecological recorders.

              Analyses of the natural variation in stable isotopes of components of ecological systems have provided new insights into how these systems function across paleoecological to modern timescales and across a wide range of spatial scales. Isotope abundances of the molecules in biological materials and geochemical profiles are viewed as recorders that can be used to reconstruct ecological processes or to trace ecological activities. Here, we review key short-, medium- and long-term recording capacities of stable isotopes that are currently being applied to ecological questions. The melding of advances in genetics, biochemical profiling and spatial analysis with those in isotope analyses and modeling sophistication opens the door to an exciting future in ecological research.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Academic Editor
                Role: Academic Editor
                Journal
                Molecules
                Molecules
                molecules
                Molecules
                MDPI
                1420-3049
                27 March 2020
                April 2020
                : 25
                : 7
                : 1535
                Affiliations
                [1 ]cE3c—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal; cmaantunes@ 123456fc.ul.pt (C.A.); manuela.giovanetti@ 123456gmail.com (M.G.)
                [2 ]Unidade Tecnologia e Inovação, Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, I.P. Av. da República, Quinta do Marquês, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal; marta.abreu@ 123456iniav.pt
                [3 ]CREA—Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment, Via di Saliceto 80, 40128 Bologna, Italy
                [4 ]LEAF—Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence: csalegria@ 123456fc.ul.pt (C.A.); cmhanson@ 123456fc.ul.pt (C.M.); Tel.: +351-217500577 (ext. 22512) (C.M.)
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9461-4569
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5934-388X
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0245-7122
                Article
                molecules-25-01535
                10.3390/molecules25071535
                7181146
                32230969
                587a96ad-e15d-408f-99a5-fc44a918ea2b
                © 2020 by the authors.

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                : 25 February 2020
                : 27 March 2020
                Categories
                Article

                quercus rotundifolia,quercus suber,physiological traits,δ15n,aridity index,isoscapes

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