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The ESCA (Ecological Status of Coralligenous Assemblages) index was developed to assess the ecological quality of coralligenous habitat using macroalgae as a biological indicator. The aim of this study was to evaluate the response to human-induced pressures of macroalgae and sessile macro-invertebrates shaping the coralligenous habitat and to integrate their sensitivity into the ESCA index. Coralligenous assemblages were sampled at 15 locations of the NW Mediterranean Sea classified into three groups: i) marine protected areas; ii) low urbanized locations; and iii) highly urbanized locations. A sensitivity level value was assigned to each taxon/group on the basis of its abundance in each environmental condition, the data available in the literature and the results of an expert judgement survey. The index that includes the totality of the assemblages (named ESCA-TA), calculated using both macroalgae and sessile macro-invertebrates, detected the levels of human pressure more precisely than the index calculated with only macroalgae or with only invertebrates. The potential for assessing the ecological quality of marine coastal areas was thus increased with the ESCA-TA index thanks to the use of a higher variety of descriptors. El índice ESCA (Estado Ecológico de las Comunidades Coralígenas) ha sido desarrollado para determinar el estado ecológico de los hábitats coralígenos utilizando macro-algas como indicador biológico. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la respuesta, ante presiones antropogénicas, de macro-algas y macro-invertebrados sésiles moldeadores de la comunidad coralígena y su sensibilidad al índice ESCA. Se muestrearon comunidades coralígenas en 15 localizaciones del Mediterráneo Nord-Occidental clasificadas en 3 grupos: i) áreas marinas protegidas; ii) poco urbanizadas; iii) muy urbanizadas. Un valor de Nivel de Sensibilidad fue asignado a cada taxón/grupo en base a su abundancia en cada condición medioambiental, a información bibliográfica disponible y a los resultados de juicios por parte de expertos. El índice que integra la totalidad de las comunidades (llamado ESCA-TA), calculado usando tanto macro-algas como macro-invertebrados sésiles, detectó los diferentes niveles de presión humana de manera más precisa que el índice calculado solo con macro-algas o solo con invertebrados. El potencial para determinar el estado ecológico de las áreas marinas protegidas se incrementó con el índice ESCA-TA gracias al uso de una mayor variedad de descriptores.

International audience; no abstract

International audience

International audience; A sort of dichotomy pervaded ecological studies in the last decades. On the onehand, an important part of ecologists had the diffuse perception that the observational approachof natural history had to fade away in favour of more formal experimental or modellingapproaches. Others, on the other hand, had an increasing perception that these formal approacheswere dismissing important cultural components of natural history that fed ecology since itsvery beginning. We provide here a reconstruction of ecological thinking from natural historyarguing that the above mentioned schism between ’schools of thinking’ should be reconciled.Modern ecology and natural history deserve reciprocal scientific respect and both seek understandingnature, its components at different hierarchical levels (from species to ecosystems andbeyond) and the way it works. Ecology needs natural history to figure out meaningful scenarios,select relevant variables and conceive meaningful hypotheses based on sound knowledge ofspecies up to ecosystems. Similarly, natural history needs more structured ecological thinkingfor selecting appropriate experimental and/or quantitative approaches to ultimately move fromfield insight to hypothesis testing.

WOS: 000288831000015, The state-of-art on alien species in the Mediterranean Sea is presented, making distinctions among the four subregions defined in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive: (i) the Western Mediterranean Sea (WMED); (ii) the Central Mediterranean Sea (CMED); (iii) the Adriatic Sea (ADRIA); and (iv) the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMED). The updated checklist (December 2010) of marine alien species within each subregion, along with their acclimatization status and origin, is provided. A total of 955 alien species is known in the Mediterranean, the vast majority of them having being introduced in the EMED (718), less in the WMED (328) and CMED (267) and least in the Adriatic (171). Of these, 535 species (56%) are established in at least one area. Despite the collective effort of experts who attempted in this work, the number of introduced species remains probably underestimated. Excluding microalgae, for which knowledge is still insufficient, aliens have increased the total species richness of the Mediterranean Sea by 5.9%. This figure should not be directly read as an indication of higher biodiversity, as spreading of so many aliens within the basin is possibly causing biotic homogenization. Thermophilic species, i.e. Indo-Pacific, Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Tropical Atlantic, Tropical Pacific, and circum(sub)tropical, account for 88.4% of the introduced species in the EMED, 72.8% in the CMED, 59.3% in the WMED and 56.1% in the Adriatic. Cold water species, i.e. circumboreal, N Atlantic, and N Pacific, make up a small percentage of the introduced species, ranging between 4.2% and 21.6% and being more numerous in the Adriatic and less so in the EMED. Species that are classified as invasive or potentially invasive are 134 in the whole of the Mediterranean: 108 are present in the EMED, 75 in the CMED, 53 in the Adriatic and 64 in the WMED. The WMED hosts most invasive macrophytes, whereas the EMED has the lion's share in polychaetes, crustaceans, molluscs and fish., SEBI2010 - Streamlining European 2010 Biodiversity Indicators Expert Group 5; EUEuropean Union (EU) [036949]; Italian Ministry for the Environment, The work was initiated under the auspices of the SEBI2010 - Streamlining European 2010 Biodiversity Indicators Expert Group 5: Numbers and costs of invasive alien species.; Further research on the distribution of alien species in the Mediterranean Sea has been carried out in the frame of the Integrated Project 'SESAME' (Southern European Seas: Assessing and Modelling Ecosystem changes: Project no: 036949) funded by the EU [A. Zenetos, I. Siokou and N. Streftaris] and in the frame of the research project The impacts of biological invasions and climate change on the biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea' (C.N. Bianchi and C. Morri), an Italy-Israel co-operation funded by the Italian Ministry for the Environment. Special thanks are due to C. Salas Casanova and A. Logan whose constructive criticism and suggestions have improved the manuscript.

Checklist delle specie degli anellidi policheti della fauna Italiana

The present-day brachiopods from the Mediterranean Sea were thoroughly described by nineteenth-century workers, to the extent that Logan´s revision in 1979 listed the same 11 species as Davidson, almost 100 years earlier. Since then recent discoveries, mainly from cave habitats inaccessible to early workers, have increased the number of species to 14. The validity of additional forms, which are either contentious or based on scanty evidence, is evaluated here. Preferred substrates and approximate bio-depth zones of all species are given and their usefulness for paleoecological reconstruction is discussed. A previous dearth of material from the eastern Mediterranean has now been at least partially remedied by new records from the coasts of Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, and, in particular, Lebanon and the southern Aegean Sea. While 11 species (79 % of the whole fauna) have now been recorded from the eastern basin, Terebratulina retusa, Argyrotheca cistellula, Megathiris detruncata and Platidia spp. appear to be less common than in the western basin. Lacazella mediterranea, Tethyrhynchia mediterranea and Gwynia capsula have not yet been recorded from the eastern Mediterranean, but whether this is due to a west-east faunal impoverishment or insufficient collecting is uncertain. L. mediterranea and T. mediterranea may be endemic to the Mediterranean. The Messinian (Late Miocene) salinity crisis caused most species to disappear from the ancestral Mediterranean Sea. T. mediterranea may be a paleoendemic that has survived in marine refuges mostly located on the outer margin of the western basin, while other species either entered or re-entered the Mediterranean from the Atlantic after the Miocene., Los Braquiópodos actuales del mar Mediterráneo fueron descritos con detalle por los investigadores del siglo XIX, hasta el punto que en la revisión de Logan (1979) se citaban las mismas 11 especies que indicaba Davidson (1886-1888) casi un siglo antes. Desde entonces, descubrimientos recientes, en su mayor parte procedentes de hábitats de cuevas, inaccesibles a los primeros investigadores, han aumentado el número de especies hasta 14. Aquí se evalúa la validez de las formas adicionales, que son disputadas o bien se basan en escasas pruebas. Se dan los sustratos preferidos y las zonas batimétricas aproximadas de todas las especies, y se comenta su utilidad para la reconstrucción paleoecológica. La escasez previa de material procedente del Mediterráneo oriental se ha solventado al menos parcialmente mediante nuevos registros de las costas de Chipre, Israel, Egipto y, en particular, Líbano y el mar Egeo meridional. En la cuenca oriental se han registrado ahora 11 especies (el 79% de toda la fauna), pero Terebratulina retusa, Argyrotheca cistellula, Megathiris detruncata y Platidia spp. parecen ser menos comunes que en la cuenca occidental. Lacazella mediterranea, Tethyrhynchia mediterranea y Gwynia capsula no se han encontrado todavía en el Mediterráneo oriental, pero no está claro si ello se debe a un epobrecimiento de la fauna en el sentido oeste-este o a una recolección insuficiente. L. mediterranea y T. mediterranea pueden ser endémicas del Mediterráneo. La crisis de salinidad del Messiniense (Mioceno tardío) hizo que muchas especies desaparecieran del mar Mediterráneo ancestral. T. mediterranea puede ser un paleoendemismo que sobrevivió en refugios marinos situados en su mayor parte en el borde externo de la cuenca occidental, mientras que otras especies entraron o volvieron a entrar desde el Atlántico después del Mioceno.