10 results on '"Ferdinando Boero"'
Search Results
2. Reconnecting research and natural history museums in Italy and the need of a national collection biorepository
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Franco Andreone, Ferdinando Boero, Marco A. Bologna, Giuseppe M. Carpaneto, Riccardo Castiglia, Spartaco Gippoliti, Bruno Massa, and Alessandro Minelli
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Zoology ,QL1-991 - Abstract
In Italy, differently from other countries, a national museum of natural history is not present. This absence is due, among other reasons, to its historical political fragmentation up to 1870, which led to the establishment of medium-sized museums, mostly managed by local administrations or universities. Moreover, a change of paradigm in biological research, at the beginning of the 20th century, contributed to privilege experimental studies in universities and facilitated the dismissal of descriptive and exploratory biology, which formed the basis of the taxonomic research carried out by natural history museums. Consequently, only a few museums have a provision of curatorial staff, space and material resources adequate to maintain their original mission of discovering the natural world, by conducting a regular research activity accompanied by field campaigns. The creation of a national research centre for the study of biodiversity, facilitating interconnections among the existing natural history museums could be a solution and is here supported, together with a centralised biorepository to host collections and vouchers, to the benefit of current and future taxonomic research and environmental conservation. Such an institution should find place and realisation within the recently proposed National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC) planned within the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience (PNRR). Pending upon the creation of this new national centre, a network among the existing museums should coordinate their activities.
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- 2022
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3. Linking ecosystems, habitats, and biodiversity: from the grand picture to the tiny details, and back
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Ferdinando Boero
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Ecosystem ,habitat ,biodiversity ,ocean ,Ecology ,QH540-549.5 - Abstract
Natural sciences usually proceed through the analysis of facts that are then assembled into a general framework, often called a “theory”. I have tried here to assemble the “tiny facts” that I have uncovered in my career and to organize them into a holistic perspective. I have chosen to start from the “big picture”, i.e., the functioning of ecosystems, to focus then on details regarding the expression of biodiversity, from the role of life cycles in ecosystem functioning, to the way of assessing biodiversity based on the accurate knowledge of its evolution in time. The Historical Biodiversity Index allows to compare the potential biodiversity (all the species recorded from the studied habitat type) with the realized biodiversity (the species found by sampling in that habitat). The study of natural history might lead to unexpected ecological connections, such as the dynamics of plankton (the most important ecological phenomenon of the whole planet) and the composition of resting stage banks, or the keystone role of the interstitial fauna in determining the diversity of plankton. The oceanic realm is in three dimensions and must be considered as a volume rather than as an area. Living systems, though, change constantly and a fourth dimension (time) is crucial to understand their structure and function. The cells of ecosystem functioning, based on connectivity, are proposed as natural spatial units for both management and protection from human impacts.
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- 2022
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4. From Phenotypes to Genotypes and Back: Toward an Integrated Evaluation of Biodiversity in Calanoid Copepods
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Iole Di Capua, Rosa D’Angiolo, Roberta Piredda, Carmen Minucci, Ferdinando Boero, Marco Uttieri, and Ylenia Carotenuto
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integrated taxonomy ,DNA barcoding ,biodiversity ,calanoid copepods ,Mediterranean Sea ,Science ,General. Including nature conservation, geographical distribution ,QH1-199.5 - Abstract
Zooplankton molecular analyses allow for accurate species identification with a proper molecular signature, complementing classic phenotypic-based taxonomy (α taxonomy). For the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene sequences of calanoid copepods were associated with morphological identification, HD and SEM images, using a fully integrated approach to assess taxonomic diversity. Such method was applied to selected species, generating consensus sequences from the Gulf of Naples (Central Tyrrhenian Sea, Western Mediterranean Sea) also including reference barcodes of three target species (Nannocalanus minor, Pleuromamma gracilis and the non-indigenous species (NIS) Pseudodiaptomus marinus) that are new for the Mediterranean area. The new barcodes were selected including: dominant and rare species; species that were originally described in the study area as type locality, but lacking a molecular description; emergent NIS and potential species complex. The integration between morphological and molecular identification by tree placement, using species-specific highly conserved oligonucleotides, also provided new and high-quality references of the most common and abundant copepod genera and species in the Mediterranean Sea. Our regional reference library was then integrated and analyzed with global data reference available on BOLD database to explore the presence of potential cryptic species and biogeographic patterns and links among geographically distant populations of copepods. Overall, this study provides valuable insight into the actual copepod taxonomic diversity and contributes to building baseline knowledge to monitor coastal biodiversity in neritic areas worldwide, where copepods are of paramount ecological importance, paving the way for future metabarcoding studies.
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- 2022
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5. Project 'Biodiversity MARE Tricase': A Species Inventory of the Coastal Area of Southeastern Salento (Ionian Sea, Italy)
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Valerio Micaroni, Francesca Strano, Fabio Crocetta, Davide Di Franco, Stefano Piraino, Cinzia Gravili, Fabio Rindi, Marco Bertolino, Gabriele Costa, Joachim Langeneck, Marzia Bo, Federico Betti, Carlo Froglia, Adriana Giangrande, Francesco Tiralongo, Luisa Nicoletti, Pietro Medagli, Stefano Arzeni, and Ferdinando Boero
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species list ,checklist ,benthos ,gelatinous plankton ,temperate mesophotic ecosystems ,citizen science ,Biology (General) ,QH301-705.5 - Abstract
Biodiversity is a broad concept that encompasses the diversity of nature, from the genetic to the habitat scale, and ensures the proper functioning of ecosystems. The Mediterranean Sea, one of the world’s most biodiverse marine basins, faces major threats, such as overexploitation of resources, pollution and climate change. Here we provide the first multi-taxa inventory of marine organisms and coastal terrestrial flora recorded in southeastern Salento (Ionian Sea, Italy), realized during the project “Biodiversity MARE Tricase”, which provided the first baseline of species living in the area. Sampling was carried out by SCUBA and free diving, fishing gears, and citizen science from 0 to 70 m. Overall, 697 taxa were found between March 2016 and October 2017, 94% of which were identified to the species level. Of these, 19 taxa represented new records for the Ionian Sea (36 additional new records had been reported in previous publications on specific groups, namely Porifera and Mollusca Heterobranchia), and two findings represented the easternmost records in the Mediterranean Sea (Helicosalpa virgula and Lampea pancerina). For eight other taxa, our findings represented the only locality in the Ionian Sea, besides the Straits of Messina. In addition to the species list, phenological events (e.g., blooms, presence of reproductive traits and behaviour) were also reported, with a focus on gelatinous plankton. Our results reveal that even for a relatively well-known area, current biodiversity knowledge may still be limited, and targeted investigations are needed to fill the gaps. Further research is needed to understand the distribution and temporal trends of Mediterranean biodiversity and to provide baseline data to identify ongoing and future changes.
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- 2022
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6. Is integrated taxonomy useful to study diversity and ecology? An example from crustacean zooplankton at the Long‐Term ecological research site MareChiara ( <scp>LTER‐MC</scp> )
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Iole Di Capua, Roberta Piredda, Rosa D'Angiolo, Carmen Minucci, Andrea Montalbano, Ferdinando Boero, Ylenia Carotenuto, and Marco Uttieri
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Ecology ,Aquatic Science ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics - Published
- 2023
7. Taste and Smell: A Unifying Chemosensory Theory
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Ernesto Mollo, Ferdinando Boero, Josep Peñuelas, Angelo Fontana, Mary J. Garson, Vassilios Roussis, Carlo Cerrano, Gianluca Polese, Alberto Maria Cattaneo, I Wayan Mudianta, Gregory Genta-Jouve, Orazio Taglialatela-Scafati, Giovanni Appendino, Pietro Amodeo, and Michael T. Ghiselin
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General Agricultural and Biological Sciences - Published
- 2022
8. β-diversity reveals ecological connectivity patterns underlying marine community recovery: Implications for conservation
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Stanislao Bevilacqua, Ferdinando Boero, Francesco De Leo, Giuseppe Guarnieri, Vesna Mačić, Lisandro Benedetti‐Cecchi, Antonio Terlizzi, Simonetta Fraschetti, Bevilacqua, Stanislao, Boero, Ferdinando, De Leo, Francesco, Guarnieri, Giuseppe, Mačić, Vesna, Benedetti-Cecchi, Lisandro, Terlizzi, Antonio, and Fraschetti, Simonetta
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reserve network ,distance-decay similarity ,Ecology ,marine protected area ,Mediterranean Sea ,rocky reef communities ,experimental marine ecology ,resilience - Abstract
As β-diversity can be seen as a proxy of ecological connections among species assemblages, modeling the decay of similarity in species composition at increasing distance may help elucidate spatial patterns of connectivity and local- to large-scale processes driving community assembly within a marine region. This, in turn, may provide invaluable information for setting ecologically coherent networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) in which protected communities are potentially interrelated and can mutually sustain against environmental perturbations. However, field studies investigating changes in β-diversity patterns at a range of spatial scales and in relation to disturbance are scant, limiting our understanding of how spatial ecological connections among marine communities may affect their recovery dynamics. We carried out a manipulative experiment simulating a strong physical disturbance on subtidal rocky reefs at several locations spanning >1000 km of coast in the Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea) and compared β-diversity patterns and decay of similarity with distance and time by current transport between undisturbed and experimentally disturbed macrobenthic assemblages to shed light on connectivity processes and scales involved in recovery. In contrast to the expectation that very local-scale processes, such as vegetative regrowth and larval supply from neighboring undisturbed assemblages, might be the major determinants of recovery in disturbed patches, we found that connectivity mediated by currents at larger spatial scales strongly contributed to shape community reassembly after disturbance. Across our study sites in the Adriatic Sea, β-diversity patterns suggested that additional protected sites that matched hotspots of propagule exchange could increase the complementarity and strengthen the ecological connectivity throughout the MPA network. More generally, conditional to habitat distribution and selection of sites of high conservation priority (e.g., biodiversity hotspots), setting network internode distance within 100-150 km, along with sizing no-take zones to cover at least 5 km of coast, would help enhance the potential connectivity of Mediterranean subtidal rocky reef assemblages from local to large scale. These results can help improve conservation planning to achieve the goals of promoting ecological connectivity within MPA networks and enhancing their effectiveness in protecting marine communities against rapidly increasing natural and anthropogenic disturbances.
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- 2023
9. Setting thresholds is not enough: Beach litter as indicator of poor environmental status in the southern Adriatic Sea
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Milica Mandić, Slađana Gvozdenović, Doris De Vito, Giuseppe Alfonso, Shkelqim Daja, Besnik Ago, Eralba Cela, Aleksandra Ivanović, Alba Zoto, Nemanja Malovrazić, Elena Beli, Gianmarco Ingrosso, Francesco De Leo, Branka Pestorić, Arjol Lule, Flavio Vata, Antonio De Rinaldis, Cristian Carpentieri, Aida Bode, Shaqir Nazaj, Monika Hoxhaj, Cercis Durmishi, Giuseppe Paladini, Ines Peraš, Milena Raičević, Silvia Fraissinet, Ferdinando Boero, Stefano Piraino, Mandić, Milica, Gvozdenović, Slađana, De Vito, Dori, Alfonso, Giuseppe, Daja, Shkelqim, Ago, Besnik, Cela, Eralba, Ivanović, Aleksandra, Zoto, Alba, Malovrazić, Nemanja, Beli, Elena, Ingrosso, Gianmarco, De Leo, Francesco, Pestorić, Branka, Lule, Arjol, Vata, Flavio, De Rinaldis, Antonio, Carpentieri, Cristian, Bode, Aida, Nazaj, Shaqir, Hoxhaj, Monika, Durmishi, Cerci, Paladini, Giuseppe, Peraš, Ine, Raičević, Milena, Fraissinet, Silvia, Boero, Ferdinando, and Piraino, Stefano
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Waste Products ,Beach litter Pollution GES Mediterranean MSFD IMAP ,Aquatic Science ,Oceanography ,Environmental Pollution ,Pollution ,Plastics ,Bathing Beaches ,Environmental Monitoring - Abstract
This study deals with the issue of beach litter pollution in the context of the Descriptor 10 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive Good Environmental Status of EU waters and Ecological objective 10, Common indicator 22 of IMAP. Analyses of the amount, distribution and categorization of beach litter were conducted on nine beaches during 108 surveys covering the area of 206.620 m2 in Albania, Italy and Montenegro. Our findings showed that the level of beach litter pollution on south Adriatic beaches is significantly above the adopted threshold values, with a median item numbers of 327, 258 and 234 per 100 m of beach stretch for Albania, Italy and Montenegro, respectively. It can be concluded that, when it comes to beach litter pollution, GES has not been achieved. Given the defined baseline and threshold values at the EU level, the process of reducing the total amount of marine litter in southern Adriatic Sea will be very challenging and needs urgent and specific actions.
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- 2022
10. The future ocean we want
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Ferdinando, Boero
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Conservation of Natural Resources ,Oceans and Seas ,Biodiversity ,Ecosystem - Abstract
Backcasting involves the design of a desirable future that is not simply predicted with forecasts being, instead, proactively aimed at with effective action. So far, all initiatives towards sustainability failed, probably due to lack of investments in the acquisition of knowledge on the structure and the function of natural systems (i.e. biodiversity and ecosystem functioning), and to the reliance on models and estimates based on incomplete data.
- Published
- 2021
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