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The first edition of the SUNRISE (Seashore and UNderwater documentation of aRchaeological herItage palimpSests and Environment) summer school was carried out in Marina di Ragusa in Sicily (Italy) from 3rd to 9th September 2022. It was jointly organized by Politecnico di Torino, IUAV, University of Sassari, FBK, University of Udine and the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia with the support of SIFET, ISPRS Student Consortium, private companies (Images, Microgeo, Stonex, Leica and Geomax) and the municipality of Santa Croce Camerina.The five days of summer school were attended by 20 students from Europe, Asia and USA. After the first day of lectures focused on the theoretical basis of surveying, photogrammetry, LiDAR, and SLAM, the field activities took place in a submerged and terrestrial scenario. The underwater surveying involved a submerged amphora, and the terrestrial activity was focused on the Arab bath of Mezzagnone, a 6th-century AD building that has been fully preserved until today. The paper deal with this experience and underline the followed approach. Finally some results achieved by the students are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative studies on population dynamics and life history traits of key species are useful to predict changes in the structure and organization of biological communities. In this context, Hermodice carunculata (Pallas, 1766) is a selective scavenger/carnivore polychaete species (known as a fireworm) that, in recent years, has exhibited a northern expansion along the whole basin, including the Italian coasts, and an increasing abundance in its southern areas. Here we report ecological data and fireworm abundances from two shallow stations of the Salento peninsula in the Ionian Sea (Lecce, Italy), characterized by different hydrodynamic exposure levels and structural communities. The observed densities by visual census in the years 2019–2021 (up to 18 ind./15 m2) document a striking shift compared to the past anecdotal reports of the rare occurrence of fireworms along the studied area. Additionally, their abundance seems to be driven by the substrate coverage; in fact, a higher density of fireworms was observed where the biodiversity is richer. Results from this study will serve as a baseline reference for future investigation of the invasiveness potential of a species that can act as a biological marker of ocean warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mediterranean Sea is a hot spot for marine biodiversity, and this is particularly evident taking into consideration the diversity observed in many animal groups, among them the Molluscs. In the last decade, several works have revealed a high rate of cryptic diversity characterizing the Molluscan fauna of the Mediterranean Sea and an increasing number of endemic and/or new species inhabiting this semi-enclosed basin have been recorded or described. The DNA-barcoding method is considered an essential step in the integrative taxonomy applications, to unravel cryptic diversity and for species identification. Here we report the case of DNA-barcoding technique applied to identify a nudibranch (Heterobranchia) collected from the Adriatic Sea, in the Bay of Kotor (Montenegro), for which a standard morphological identification was not possible. Mediterranean specimen belonging to Pruvotfolia pselliotes (Labbé, 1923) is for the first time molecularly identified and its COI DNA sequence compared with the one of an individual collected from the type locality. In addition, this is the first verified report of this species from the Adriatic Sea. Finally, the potential of using DNA-barcoding is here discussed, together with the habitat and the geographical distribution of this uncommon species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Members of the globally distributed bivalve family Ostreidae (oysters) have a significant role in marine ecosystems and include species of high economic importance. In this work, we report the occurrence of digenean parasites of the families Bucephalidae (Prosorhynchoides sp.) and Monorchiidae (Postmonorchis sp.) in Mediterranean native populations of Ostrea edulis (but not in the introduced Magallana gigas). Molecular detection was based on DNA sequencing of the ribosomal intergenic spacer 2 (ITS2) marker. The importance of detecting the presence of overlooked digenean parasites in Mediterranean oysters is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing interest in recent years in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) by the scientific community, software developers, and geomatics professionals, has led these systems to be used more and more widely, in different fields of engineering and architecture. This is thanks, above all, to their flexibility of use and low cost compared to traditional photogrammetric flights using expensive metric digital cameras or LiDAR sensors. In recent years, UAVs have also been used in the field of monitoring and inspection of public or private buildings that are remarkable in terms of size and architecture. This is mainly due to the focus a sustainability and resource efficiency in the building and infrastructure sector, which aims to extend their lifetimes. Through the use of remote checking using UAVs, the monitoring and inspection of buildings can be brought to a new level of quality and saving. This paper focuses on the processing and study of 3D models obtained from images captured by an UAV. In particular, the authors wanted to study the accuracy gains achieved in the building 3D model obtained with both nadir and oblique UAV flights. The images from the flights were processed using Structure-for Motion-based approach for point cloud generation using dense image-matching algorithms implemented in an open source software. We used the open source software VisualSfM, developed by Chanchang Wu in collaboration with the University of Washington and Google. The dense matching plug-in integrated in its interface, PMVS/CMVS, made by Yasutaka Furukawa, was employed to generate the dense cloud. The achieved results were compare with those gained by Photoscan software by Agisoft and with 3D model from the Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chromodorid nudibranchsFelimare tricolor(Cantraine, 1835),F. fontandraui(Pruvot-Fol, 1951) andF. picta(Shultz in Philippi, 1836) typically show highly variable colour patterns that are misleading for species identification. Their taxonomy has long been confused, and their identification can be difficult if based only on morphological characters. We carried out molecular genetic analyses using the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and 16S rDNA markers on Mediterranean samples of these three taxa representing a large part of their range of chromatic variation. Results proved the usefulness of the DNA-barcoding approach in assessing species delimitation in this group, and in identification of specimens with body colours not clear for species recognition. We inferred preliminary phylogenetic relationships among one third of the currently recognised species ofFelimare: they indicated with good support sister species relationship amongFelimare tricolorandF. fontandraui, and suggested (with low support) potential relationships amongF. picta,F. verdensis,F. californiensisandF. agassizi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last twenty years, several studies have demonstrated the primary role of the lithological properties of hard substrates in conditioning the diversity and structure of marine sessile communities (aka bio-mineralogy). This research was dedicated to testing whether different substrates (limestones and granites) influence higher levels of the trophic net. For this purpose, the diversity and abundance of heterobranch molluscs were used to test the hypothesis that their distribution could mirror their prey. The study was conducted in the 'Tavolara-Punta Coda Cavallo' Marine Protected Area (NE Sardinia, Mediterranean Sea), where substrates of different lithology co-occur in a restricted area. Diversity and abundance of heterobranchs were investigated by photographic sampling (3300 studied images) in twelve sites (six limestones and six granites), between 35 and 50 m depth, demonstrating clear preferences of several species for a specific substrate, while others are ubiquitarian. In general, diversity and abundance were higher on limestones due to the exclusive presence of Sacoglossa coupled with a more significant number of Cladobranchia and Doridina; on the other hand, Umbraculida were strongly granite-selected. In some cases, the different affinity of each species was clarified by the distribution of their food sources, but, in others, it is possible to hypothesise that the structure of the whole benthic community, affected by the substrate characteristics, may drive the heterobranchs' distribution. • Lithology (limestone vs granite) drives the marine benthic communities' structure. • The influence of the substrate may reach higher levels of the trophic nets. • Diversity and abundance of heterobranchs were higher on limestone than on granite. • The distribution of some heterobranchs directly mirrors that of their prey. • The occurrence of some species results by the general community complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]