Effect of Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826) "forest" on the benthic populations of Tremiti Islands Effetto "foresta" di Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826) sui popolamenti bentonici delle Isole Tremiti

Mediterranean coralligenous habitats are biogenic reefs characterised by high species diversity and built mainly by encrusting calcareous red algae, growing in dim light conditions. The global climate change and several human activities may threaten species living in these habitats, especially some of those that are considered particularly relevant in structuring and in maintaining the complexity and diversity of the benthic assemblages. Among them, the red gorgonian, Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826), which can form dense populations, in the last decades showed worrying mass mortality events. Understand the role of this “animal forests” in the coralligenous assemblages is of fundamental importance in order to design appropriate monitoring programs and conservation policies, especially in the marine protected areas. For this purpose, benthic assemblages were studied in presence and absence of red gorgonians at two sites at the Tremiti islands. Overall, the benthic assemblages significantly differed among sites, nevertheless in both places, clear differences between assemblages associated and not associated to the gorgonian forests were found. In particular, encrusting corallinered algae were significantly more abundant in the gorgonian understories at both sites. This result indicates that the gorgonians may promote the development of calcareous algae, which are the main builders of the coralligenous habitats. Moreover species diversity resulted higher in the assemblages associated to the gorgonians. The present study highlights the role of Paramuricea clavata as a relevant ecosystem engineer in the coralligenous habitats.

Proposta di traduzione del romanzo di Antonio Ventura: Un amor en tres tiempos

Il presente elaborato è dedicato alla proposta di traduzione, dallo spagnolo in italiano, del romanzo di Antonio Ventura "Un amor en tres tiempos". Protagonisti della storia sono Emile e Alexandra e il sentimento amoroso che li lega lungo i ventotto anni in cui essa si sviluppa. Attraverso le loro emozioni e le loro paure, Ventura ci fa entrare, in modo mirabile, nel mondo dei due protagonisti, con un’approfondita indagine introspettiva nella loro vita, seguendo l’evoluzione di un sentimento che si modula, nei tre tempi cui fa accenno il titolo, dall’infanzia, quindi l’adolescenza, infine, l’età adulta. Oltre all’introduzione e alle conclusioni, il lavoro si compone di cinque capitoli: il primo è dedicato all’autore che ho avuto modo di conoscere di persona e di incontrare più volte, sia in Italia sia in Spagna, e con cui ho mantenuto uno stretto rapporto di collaborazione lungo tutto il percorso traduttivo; nel secondo sviluppo la mia analisi del testo focalizzandomi su trama, paratesto, temi, personaggi, narratore, tempo e spazio della storia e stile dell’autore; il terzo, che contiene la proposta di traduzione, è seguito dal commento alla traduzione, argomento sia del quarto capitolo, di carattere teorico, che del quinto, in cui si analizzano più da vicino i problemi traduttivi riscontrati e le strategie messe in atto per risolverli.

Parole in forma di gatto. Gatos y leones di Xose Antonio Neira Cruz: proposta di traduzione

El presente trabajo tiene el objetivo de dar a conocer a los jóvenes lectores italianos la obra narrativa y el estilo literario de Xosé Neira Cruz, uno de los autores más representativos de la literatura infantil contemporánea gallega y española. Con este fin, se ha traducido y analizado uno de los libros más famosos del autor, Gatos y leones, finalista en el concurso catalán Lola Anglada poco tiempo después de su primera aparición. El trabajo consta de cinco capítulos. En el primero, se presenta al autor, detallando su vida, su estilo y sus obras, a través de una entrevista que es el fruto del encuentro con el autor en Santiago de Compostela (enero de 2015). En el segundo capítulo, se ofrece un análisis del texto original, profundizando los aspectos más significativos de la obra en general y de cada cuento en particular (trama, narrador, personajes principales, tiempo y espacio, estilo y temas). El tercer capítulo está dedicado a la figura del gato, protagonista indiscutible de los cuentos que forman el libro e inspiración de la obra literaria y artística de muchos escritores, poetas y pintores, a lo largo de los siglos. En el cuarto capitúlo se encuentra la propuesta de traducción, en la que se ha preservado el formato del original y se han añadido ilustraciones para enriquecer el texto. Finalmente, en el quinto capítulo, se expone la metodología adoptada para traducir el texto y se comentan las estrategias empleadas a lo largo del proceso de traducción para resolver los problemas que han surgido.

Traduzione dall’italiano al francese di un brano tratto dal romanzo "Fuori piove, dentro pure, passo a prenderti?" di Antonio Dikele Distefano

Dans ce mémoire, il a été question pour moi de faire la traduction, de l’italien vers le français, d’un extrait de l’œuvre "Fuori piove, dentro pure, passo a prenderti ?" de Antonio Dikele Distefano, qui s’intitule "Kaaris, Or noir". C’est un texte dans lequel l’auteur parle de la discrimination dont il est victime et de la rigueur de ses parents, sa mère en particulier. On met également en exergue le rejet social, car c’est plus ou moins le thème central de l’œuvre. Ainsi, j’ai organisé et articulé mon travail selon les techniques de commentaire, d’analyse et de traduction qui m’ont été enseignées tout au long de mon parcours académique. Vous en trouverez et en apprécierez l’illustration dans les pages qui suivent.

Ruolo della gorgonia Paramuricea clavata (Risso 1826) nei popolamenti epibentonici coralligeni dell'Isola d'Elba

The red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata is considered a key species in Mediterranean coralligenous habitats and, when present at high density, its colonies may develop “gorgonian forests”, which are three-dimensional structures that increase habitat complexity. Mediterranean coralligenous habitats support high biodiversity but the structure and heterogeneity of communities can be strongly modified by several kinds of human-derived impacts. The global environmental change and human activity could threaten the coralligenous habitats and during the last few decades, Mediterranean suspension feeders have been involved in mass mortality events, in which P. clavata was one of the most affected. Without the complex three-dimensional structures formed by P. clavata, many benthic species may have not adequate sheltering and feeding opportunities. The aim of the present study was to investigate the ecological role of Paramuricea clavata in coralligenous habitats by comparing epibenthic assemblages established inside and outside gorgonian forests. This study was carried out in four sites randomly chosen, along the south-east coast of Elba island (north-western Mediterranean). The structure of the epibenthic assemblages were significantly different between area with and without gorgonians. Main differences concern very important taxa in the coralligenous bioconstruction processes like the encrusting red algae, Peyssonnelia spp. and Halimeda tuna, which were more abundant in presence of gorgonians. On the contrary, algal turf, mucilaginous algae and the invasive seaweed Caulerpa cylindracea were more abundant in areas without P. clavata. The presence of gorgonians may have a positive effect also on species diversity. The results of this study highlight the ecological role of P. clavata in the coralligenous habitats.

Charles P. Daly's Gendered Geography, 1860-1890

The American Geographical Society (AGS) serves as a case study for considering the nature of “gendered geography” in the nineteenth-century United States. This article links the ideals and programmatic interests of the society—which were fundamentally commercial in nature—with the personal subjectivity of its chief protagonist, Charles P. Daly, AGS president from 1864 until his death in 1899. Daly is presented as an “armchair explorer” who shifted the focus of the society away from statistical representations of the world toward the action packed narrative descriptions of the world supplied by embodied explorers in the field. The gender dynamics associated with the center versus the field provide a useful way to contrast both sides of Daly’s persona—as a scholar performing detached, careful study yet someone who also derived a great deal of personal authority by staging popular and dramatic spectacles in New York City, speechifying and presenting himself on stage at geographical society meetings with returning heroic explorers. Daly not only served as New York’ smost influential access point to the Arctic at the time, he also served as an important node in the reproduction of masculine culture in promotion of a particularly masculinist commercial geography. Key Words: American Geographical Society, Charles Patrick Daly, gender and geography, history of geography, masculinity.

Strategies of Representation, Relationship, and Resistance: British Women Travelers and Mormon Plural Wives, c. 1870-1890

During the 1870s and 1880s, several British women writers traveled by transcontinental railroad across the American West via Salt Lake City, Utah, the capital of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons. These women subsequently wrote books about their travels for a home audience with a taste for adventures in the American West, and particularly for accounts of Mormon plural marriage, which was sanctioned by the Church before 1890. "The plight of the Mormon woman," a prominent social reform and literary theme of the period, situated Mormon women at the center of popular representations of Utah during the second half of the nineteenth century. "The Mormon question" thus lends itself to an analysis of how a stereotyped subaltern group was represented by elite British travelers. These residents of western American territories, however, differed in important respects from the typical subaltern subjects discussed by Victorian travelers. These white, upwardly mobile, and articulate Mormon plural wives attempted to influence observers' representations of them through a variety of narrative strategies. Both British women travel writers and Mormon women wrote from the margins of power and credibility, and as interpreters of the Mormon scene were concerned to established their representational authority.

Civic Discipline: Geography in America, 1860-1890

Civic Discipline argues that the story of the origins of American geography is a distinctly "New York story." Wealthy businessmen began America's first geographical society - the American Geographical Society - in 1851, inspired by what geographical knowledge of the globe could offer an expanding American commercial Empire at home and abroad. AGS meetings were spectacularly popular among the public and press. At them, geography was cast as a science in the service of the public and civic good. Meanwhile though, AGS men's spatial and financial "missions" became closely linked. They helped improve derelict spaces in New York City and weighed in on controversial scientific questions of the day in the Arctic, yet the geographical knowledge they advanced - such as in the American West and in Central Africa - also created enormous personal wealth. Civic Discipline shows that it was not just that historical events shaped geography, but rather, that geography shaped historical events.