The red palm weevil (RPW) Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is one of the major pests of palms. The larvae bore into the palm trunk and feed on the palm tender tissues and sap, leading the host tree to death. The gut microbiota of insects plays a remarkable role in the host life and understanding the relationship dynamics between insects and their microbiota may improve the biological control of insect pests. The purpose of this study was to analyse the diversity of the gut microbiota of field-caught RPW larvae sampled in Sicily (Italy).

World population growth, with the consequent consumption of primary resources and production of waste, is progressively and seriously increasing the impact of anthropic activities on the environment and ecosystems. Environmental pollution deriving from anthropogenic activities is nowadays a serious problem that afflicts our planet and that cannot be neglected. In this regard, one of the most challenging tasks of the 21st century is to develop new eco-friendly, sustainable and economically-sound technologies to remediate the environment from pollutants. Nanotechnologies and new performing nanomaterials, thanks to their unique features, such as high surface area (surface/volume ratio), catalytic capacity, reactivity and easy functionalization to chemically modulate their properties, represent potential for the development of sustainable, advanced and innovative products/techniques for environmental (bio)remediation. This review discusses the most recent innovations of environmental recovery strategies of polluted areas based on different nanocomposites and nanohybrids with some examples of their use in combination with bioremediation techniques. In particular, attention is focused on eco-friendly and regenerable nano-solutions and their safe-by-design properties to support the latest research and innovation on sustainable strategies in the field of environmental (bio)remediation.

The need to ensure adequate antifouling protection of the hull in the naval sector led to the development of real painting cycles, which involve the spreading of three layers of polymeric material on the hull surface exposed to the marine environment, specifically defined as primer, tie coat and final topcoat. It is already well known that coatings based on suitable silanes provide an efficient and non-toxic approach for the hydrophobic and antifouling/fouling release treatment of surfaces. In the present work, functional hydrophobic hybrid silica-based coatings (topcoats) were developed by using sol-gel technology and deposited on surfaces with the “doctor blade” method. In particular, those organic silanes, featuring opportune functional groups such as long (either fluorinated) alkyl chains, have a notable influence on surface wettability as showed in this study. Furthermore, the hydrophobic behavior of this functionalized coating was improved by introducing an intermediate commercial tie-coat layer between the primer and the topcoat, in order to decrease the wettability (i.e., decreasing the surface energy with a matching increase in the contact angle, CA) and to therefore make such coatings ideal for the design and development of fouling release paints. The hereby synthesized coatings were characterized by optical microscopy, contact angle analysis and a mechanical pull-off test to measure the adhesive power of the coating against a metal substrate typically used in the nautical sector. Analysis to evaluate the bacterial adhesion and the formation of microbial biofilm were related in laboratory and simulation (microcosm) scales, and assessed by SEM analysis.