Search

Coralligenous, a typical Mediterranean mesophotic habitat, is a highly diverse assemblage, severely threatened by several stressors, including fishing litter. To characterise the coralligenous of the upper mesophotic of the Portofino Promontory (Ligurian Sea, Italy), video transects at 35 and 50 m depth were performed at four sites. Benthic assemblages and lost fishing gears were recorded, and the two depths compared. A higher coverage of taxa with complex 3D structures was found at 50 m, mainly due to the gorgonian Paramuricea clavata. However, the overall low density of this species (0.4–6.6 colonies/m2), together with the impact caused by 120 fishing lines found along the transects, highlights the need for tailored conservation measures. With climate change moving further down the water column and fishing impacts being a major cause of degradation, the design of marine protected areas needs to be extended to include mesophotic depths, contributing to the 30 × 30 targets agreed upon at the COP15. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine biology is an increasingly preferred study major and career among youth. This is particularly the case of countries with extensive coastlines, such as Italy. In order to understand what exactly is fuelling this trend, and whether it culminates in the successful absorption of marine biologists as valued workforce by society, this study investigated the motivations, satisfaction and career goals of marine biology undergraduate students in Italy. Although it was expected that scientific literacy in formal education plays an important role in motivating marine biology students, the results showed that intrinsic motivations and informal education play a more crucial role. The students consider realistic career options, although these imply having to leave the country. The results of this study were used to make recommendations on the importance of marine and ocean literacy in the formal educational system in Italy, and the general improvement of scientific literacy in formal school education. Recommendations were also made on the potential improvements that can be made by higher education institutions, to better equip marine biologists with the skills required by emerging sectors in society. Finally, considerations were made regarding the dimensioning of supply, offer and marketing of employment opportunities for marine biologists in Italy.

Porifera are essential components of marine ecosystems, providing valuable ecological functions. Traditional approaches to estimating sponge growth and biomass are destructive and often not suitable for certain morphologies. The implementation of new innovative techniques and nondestructive methodologies have allowed for a more sustainable approach. In this study, a population of Sarcotragus foetidus Schmidt, 1982 (Demospongiae, Dictyoceratida, Irciinidae), thriving inside the Portofino Marine Protected Area, was monitored using Structure from Motion photogrammetry over a period of 6 years, from September 2017 to October 2023. Of the 20 initial individuals, only 12 were still in place during the last monitoring, indicating 40% mortality. Through photogrammetry, the overall volume change and biomass production were estimated to be 9.24 ± 5.47% year−1 and 29.52 ± 27.93 g DW year−1, respectively, indicating a general decreasing trend between 2021 and 2023. Signs of necrosis were observed in some individuals, potentially related to the high temperature occurring during summer 2022 and 2023. Considering the current climate crisis, long-term monitoring efforts must be made to better understand the dynamics of this species, and photogrammetry has the potential to be a versatile monitoring tool that will contribute to the standardization of methodologies for sponge growth studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both wild and reared bivalves can host hydroids from the Eirenidae family which settle on the soft body parts of their host. Thousands of hydroids have been observed on a single bivalve, and often have severe detrimental effects on the host. However, this relationship has received little attention in aquaculture research, which is probably due to a lack of baseline data. An extensive review was conducted (i) to show the current level of knowledge on the association between eirenids and bivalves, providing a benchmark for future research; (ii) to detect a critical combination of biotic/abiotic factors that could switch the relationship from commensalism to infestation and (iii) to identify research priorities for future studies. Seventy scientific papers were screened to provide ecological information useful in understanding the hydroid‐host‐environment interactions and to show the global spatial and bathymetric distribution of the relationship. Although the main parameters influencing the hydroid abundance were identified, it was challenging to collate information from such heterogeneous data sources. A standardized method for data collection is proposed to obtain more robust and comparable data on the association. The most relevant and unstudied issue is the potential physiological and qualitative changes that could occur in infested bivalves. Monitoring the association could provide data needed to prevent or to control hyper‐proliferation of the symbionts and to detect eventual synergistic effects with climate change. This could be fundamental for species living in areas particularly prone to climate regime shifts, such as semi‐enclosed basins and estuarine habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine has an ever-increasing need for innovative biomaterials suitable for the production of wound-dressing devices and artificial skin-like substitutes. Marine collagen is one of the most promising biomaterials for the production of such devices. In this study, for the first time, 2D collagen membranes (2D-CMs) created from the extracellular matrix extract of the marine demosponge Chondrosia reniformis have been evaluated in vitro as possible tools for wound healing. Fibrillar collagen was extracted from a pool of fresh animals and used for the creation of 2D-CMs, in which permeability to water, proteins, and bacteria, and cellular response in the L929 fibroblast cell line were evaluated. The biodegradability of the 2D-CMs was also assessed by following their degradation in PBS and collagenase solutions for up to 21 days. Results showed that C. reniformis-derived membranes avoided liquid and protein loss in the regeneration region and also functioned as a strong barrier against bacteria infiltration into a wound. Gene expression analyses on fibroblasts stated that their interaction with 2D-CMs is able to improve fibronectin production without interfering with the regular extracellular matrix remodeling processes. These findings, combined with the high extraction yield of fibrillar collagen obtained from C. reniformis with a solvent-free approach, underline how important further studies on the aquaculture of this sponge could be for the sustainable production and biotechnological exploitation of this potentially promising and peculiar biopolymer of marine origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During scientific expeditions in Indonesia and Vietnam, several sponge specimens belonging to the genus Cladocroce were collected. The integration of morphological and molecular analyses, incorporating species delimitation models (ABGD, ASAP, and bPTP) and phylogenetic approaches using three molecular markers (COI, 28S, and 18S–ITS1–5.8S–ITS2–28S), allowed us to discriminate three congeneric species. Two of these species (C. burapha and C. pansinii sp. nov.) were supported by morphological and molecular data, whereas a third species (C. lamellata sp. nov.) was delimited by morphological data only. We formally describe two new species, C. pansinii sp. nov. and C. lamellata sp. nov. C. aculeata is a newly recorded species for Indonesia and the first documented finding after the original description. The re-examination of the type material of C. burapha, and indirectly the molecular approach, allowed us to confirm that C. burapha lives in sympatry with C. pansinii sp. nov. in Vietnam and with C. lamellata in Indonesia. Thanks to these findings, we relocated the paratype of C. burapha to the new species described here, i.e., C. pansinii sp. nov. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The series of technological advances that occurred over the past two decades allowed photogrammetry-based approaches to achieve their actual potential, giving birth to one of the most popular and applied procedures: structure from motion (SfM). The technique expanded rapidly to different environments, from the early ground-based and aerial applications in terrestrial scenarios, to underground and underwater surveys. Nevertheless, the transfer through different media required a period of adaptation that could take anything from years to decades. Only recently, thanks to the emergence of low-cost versatile imaging systems, have airborne and underwater photogrammetry became approachable to a wide range of research budgets, resulting in a popular cost-effective solution for many disciplines. Although numerous review efforts have already been made to resume the current knowledge on photogrammetry, this review summarizes the evolution of the technique in both terrestrial and underwater environments, paying special attention to the transfer of methods and techniques between the two environments. The acquired information helped to identify trends during its development and to highlight the urgency to widen the range of its applications in aquatic habitats in order to fill the current gap of knowledge on their structure and species distribution, delaying the design of proper conservation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accurate delimitation of species boundaries in nonbilaterian marine taxa is notoriously difficult, with consequences for many studies in ecology and evolution. Anthozoans are a diverse group of key structural organisms worldwide, but the lack of reliable morphological characters and informative genetic markers hampers our ability to understand species diversification. We investigated population differentiation and species limits in Atlantic (Iberian Peninsula) and Mediterranean lineages of the octocoral genus Paramuricea previously identified as P. clavata. We used a diverse set of molecular markers (microsatellites, RNA‐seq derived single‐copy orthologues [SCO] and mt‐mutS [mitochondrial barcode]) at 49 locations. Clear segregation of Atlantic and Mediterranean lineages was found with all markers. Species‐tree estimations based on SCO strongly supported these two clades as distinct, recently diverged sister species with incomplete lineage sorting, P. cf. grayi and P. clavata, respectively. Furthermore, a second putative (or ongoing) speciation event was detected in the Atlantic between two P. cf. grayi color morphotypes (yellow and purple) using SCO and supported by microsatellites. While segregating P. cf. grayi lineages showed considerable geographic structure, dominating circalittoral communities in southern (yellow) and western (purple) Portugal, their occurrence in sympatry at some localities suggests a degree of reproductive isolation. Overall, our results show that previous molecular and morphological studies have underestimated species diversity in Paramuricea occurring in the Iberian Peninsula, which has important implications for conservation planning. Finally, our findings validate the usefulness of phylotranscriptomics for resolving evolutionary relationships in octocorals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The macrofauna in the intertidal zone of sandy beaches provides the trophic connectivity between land and sea, by linking microbiome, meiofauna, and megafauna, representing a food source for several terrestrial animals, including shorebirds and mammals. However, the macrozoobenthos in urbanised beaches is subjected to intense disturbances, such as breakwater barriers and tourism, which limit or impede the energy transfer from the marine to the terrestrial habitats. Because the information about diversity and abundance of the macrozoobenthos of the intertidal zone on the Mediterranean sandy coasts is scant, the main objective of this study is to increase the knowledge on the macrofauna living in this habitat and to identify taxa sensitive to cumulative human-induced stresses. To achieve this purpose, the structure and dynamics of macrozoobenthic communities from (1) a highly frequented beach characterized by breakwater barriers and (2) a marine protected area (MPA) in the Adriatic Sea were compared. The hypotheses that macrofauna composition and abundance changed in the two sites and over time were tested. Results highlighted that the macrozoobenthos in the MPA is mainly dominated by juvenile bivalves, which peaked from autumn to winter, and to a lesser extent by ostracods and mysids. Conversely, ostracods and the bivalve Lentidium mediterraneum (O. G. Costa, 1830) are particularly abundant in the highly disturbed beach, while the gastropod Tritia neritea (Linnaeus, 1758) increased only during summer. A possible combined effect of breakwater barriers and intense trampling has been theorized to explain the main differences between the two sites especially in the summer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gray's sea fan, Paramuricea grayi (Johnson, 1861), typically inhabits deep littoral and circalittoral habitats of the eastern temperate and tropical Atlantic Ocean. Along the Iberian Peninsula, where P. grayi is a dominant constituent of circalittoral coral gardens, two segregating lineages (yellow and purple morphotypes) were recently identified using single-copy nuclear orthologues. The mitochondrial genomes of 9 P. grayi individuals covering both color morphotypes were assembled from RNA-seq data, using samples collected at three sites in southern (Sagres and Tavira) and western (Cape Espichel) Portugal. The complete circular mitogenome is 18,668 bp in length, has an A + T-rich base composition (62.5%) and contains the 17 genes typically found in Octocorallia: 14 protein-coding genes (atp6, atp8, cob, cox1-3, mt-mutS, nad1-6, and nad4L), the small and large subunit rRNAs (rns and rnl), and one transfer RNA (trnM). The mitogenomes were nearly identical for all specimens, though we identified a noteworthy polymorphism (two SNPs 9 bp apart) in the mt-mutS of one purple individual that is shared with the sister species P. clavata. The mitogenomes of the two species have a pairwise sequence identity of 99.0%, with nad6 and mt-mutS having the highest rates of non-synonymous substitutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]