258 results on '"Ferdinando Boero"'
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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. Unfolding Jellyfish Bloom Dynamics along the Mediterranean Basin by Transnational Citizen Science Initiatives
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Macarena Marambio, Antonio Canepa, Laura Lòpez, Aldo Adam Gauci, Sonia K. M. Gueroun, Serena Zampardi, Ferdinando Boero, Ons Kéfi-Daly Yahia, Mohamed Nejib Daly Yahia, Verónica Fuentes, Stefano Piraino, and Alan Deidun
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gelatinous zooplankton ,scyphozoa ,Pelagia noctiluca ,Rhizostoma pulmo ,forecasting system ,mitigation tool ,Biology (General) ,QH301-705.5 - Abstract
Science is addressing global societal challenges, and due to limitations in research financing, scientists are turning to the public at large to jointly tackle specific environmental issues. Citizens are therefore increasingly involved in monitoring programs, appointed as citizen scientists with potential to delivering key data at near to no cost to address environmental challenges, therein fostering scientific knowledge and advising policy- and decision-makers. One of the first and most successful examples of marine citizen science in the Mediterranean is represented by the integrative and collaborative implementation of several jellyfish-spotting campaigns in Italy, Spain, Malta, and Tunisia starting in 2009. Altogether, in terms of time coverage, geographic extent, and number of citizen records, these represent the most effective marine citizen science campaigns thus far implemented in the Mediterranean Sea. Here, we analyzed a collective database merging records over the above four countries, featuring more than 100,000 records containing almost 25,000 observations of jellyfish specimens collected over a period of 3 to 7 years (from 2009 to 2015) by citizen scientists participating in any of the national citizen science programs included in this analysis. Such a wide citizen science exercise demonstrates a valuable and cost-effective tool to understanding ecological drivers of jellyfish proliferation over the Western and Central Mediterranean basins, as well as a powerful contribution to developing tailored adaptation and management strategies; mitigating jellyfish impacts on human activities in coastal zones; and supporting implementation of marine spatial planning, Blue Growth, and conservation strategies.
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- 2021
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7. An Integrated Approach to Coastal and Biological Observations
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Jun She, Ángel Muñiz Piniella, Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi, Lars Boehme, Ferdinando Boero, Asbjorn Christensen, Tasman Crowe, Miroslaw Darecki, Enrique Nogueira, Antoine Gremare, Francisco Hernandez, Tarmo Kouts, Jacco Kromkamp, George Petihakis, Isabel Sousa Pinto, Jan Hinrich Reissmann, Laura Tuomi, and Adriana Zingone
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integrated observing ,fit-for-purpose integration ,parameter integration ,instrumental integration ,coastal observation ,biological observation ,Science ,General. Including nature conservation, geographical distribution ,QH1-199.5 - Abstract
Maritime economy, ecosystem-based management and climate change adaptation and mitigation raise emerging needs on coastal ocean and biological observations. Integrated ocean observing aims at optimizing sampling strategies and cost-efficiency, sharing data and best practices, and maximizing the value of the observations for multiple purposes. Recently developed cost-effective, near real time technology such as gliders, radars, ferrybox, and shallow water Argo floats, should be used operationally to generate operational coastal sea observations and analysis. Furthermore, value of disparate coastal ocean observations can be unlocked with multi-dimensional integration on fitness-for-the-purpose, parameter and instrumental. Integration of operational monitoring with offline monitoring programs, such as those for research, ecosystem-based management and commercial purposes, is necessary to fill the gaps. Such integration should lead to a system of networks which can deliver data for all kinds of purposes. Detailed integration activities are identified which should enhance the coastal ocean and biological observing capacity. Ultimately a program is required which integrates physical, biogeochemical and biological observation of the ocean, from coastal to deep-sea environments, bringing together global, regional, and local observation efforts.
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- 2019
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8. Successional dynamics of marine fouling hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) at a finfish aquaculture facility in the Mediterranean Sea.
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Luis Martell, Roberta Bracale, Steven A Carrion, Adriana Giangrande, Jennifer E Purcell, Marco Lezzi, Cinzia Gravili, Stefano Piraino, and Ferdinando Boero
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Medicine ,Science - Abstract
Aquaculture is increasing rapidly to meet global seafood demand. Some hydroid populations have been linked to mortality and health issues in finfish and shellfish, but their dynamics in and around aquaculture farms remain understudied. In the present work, two experiments, each with 36 panels, tested colonization (factors: depth, season of immersion) and succession (factors: depth, submersion duration) over one year. Hydroid surface cover was estimated for each species, and data were analyzed with multivariate techniques. The assemblage of hydrozoans was species-poor, although species richness, frequency and abundance increased with time, paralleling the overall increase in structural complexity of fouling assemblages. Submersion duration and season of immersion were particularly important in determining the species composition of the assemblages in the succession and colonization experiments, respectively. Production of water-borne propagules, including medusae, from the hydroids was observed from locally abundant colonies, among them the well-known fouling species Obelia dichotoma, potentially representing a nuisance for cultured fish through contact-driven envenomations and gill disorders. The results illustrate the potential importance of fouling hydroids and their medusae to the health of organisms in the aquaculture industry.
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- 2018
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9. Correction: Successional dynamics of marine fouling hydroids (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) at a finfish aquaculture facility in the Mediterranean Sea.
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Luis Martell, Roberta Bracale, Steven A Carrion, Adriana Giangrande, Jennifer E Purcell, Marco Lezzi, Cinzia Gravili, Stefano Piraino, and Ferdinando Boero
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Medicine ,Science - Abstract
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195352.].
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- 2018
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10. Italian natural history museums on the verge of collapse?
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Franco Andreone, Luca Bartolozzi, Giovanni Boano, Ferdinando Boero, Marco Bologna, Mauro Bon, Nicola Bressi, Massimo Capula, Achille Casale, Maurizio Casiraghi, Giorgio Chiozzi, Massimo Delfino, Giuliano Doria, Antonio Durante, Marco Ferrari, Spartaco Gippoliti, Michele Lanzinger, Leonardo Latella, Nicola Maio, Carla Marangoni, Stefano Mazzotti, Alessandro Minelli, Giuseppe Muscio, Paola Nicolosi, Telmo Pievani, Edoardo Razzetti, Giorgio Sabella, Marco Valle, Vincenzo Vomero, and Alberto Zilli
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Zoology ,QL1-991 - Abstract
The Italian natural history museums are facing a critical situation, due to the progressive loss of scientific relevance, decreasing economic investments, and scarcity of personnel. This is extremely alarming, especially for ensuring the long-term preservation of the precious collections they host. Moreover, a commitment in fieldwork to increase scientific collections and concurrent taxonomic research are rarely considered priorities, while most of the activities are addressed to public events with political payoffs, such as exhibits, didactic meetings, expositions, and talks. This is possibly due to the absence of a national museum that would have better steered research activities and overall concepts for collection management. We here propose that Italian natural history museums collaborate to instate a “metamuseum”, by establishing a reciprocal interaction network aimed at sharing budgetary and technical resources, which would assure better coordination of common long-term goals and scientific activities.
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- 2014
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11. Information and technology are not enough: we need also knowledge and science.
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Ferdinando Boero
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Management information systems ,T58.6-58.62 ,Information technology ,T58.5-58.64 - Abstract
EnThe era of Information and Technology has changed our life, allowing those who can access an internet connection to consult an almost unlimited number of sites covering almost all topics. It is difficult, however, to distinguish reliable information from unreliable one. The data posted in the web might be very precise while lacking accuracy. It is very important that information is based on solid knowledge, like the one guaranteed by peer-reviewed scientific journals. It is argued, with some examples, that the current policy of Information availability throught the internet is not based on sufficient knowledge. More reliability is available at the sites of scientific journals, but they often require a subscription and enforce copyright restrictions, so hampering the spread of knowledge which is the basis of scientific "publication" (i.e. the delivery of the results of science to the public).ItL'era della Tecnologia dell'Informazione ha cambiato la nostra vita, permettendo a chi abbia una connessione internet di consultare un numero illimitato di siti che coprono quasi tutti gli argomenti. E' difficile, tuttavia, distinguere le informazioni attendibili da quelle inattendibili. I dati pubblicati nella rete possono essere molto precisi ma mancare completamente di accuratezza. E' molto importante che le informazioni siano basate su solide conoscenze, come quella garantita dalla revisione dei pari (peer-review) utilizzata dalle riviste scientifiche. Questo lavoro suggerisce, con alcuni esempi, che la politica corrente di disponibilità di informazioni attraverso internet non è basata su sufficiente conoscenza. Una maggiore attendibilità è disponibile sui siti delle riviste scientifiche, ma essi spesso richiedono un abbonamento e impongono restrizioni basate sul copyright, impedendo così la diffusione delle conoscenze che è alla base delle "pubblicazioni" scientifiche (cioè della disponibilità pubblica dei risultati della ricerca scientifica).
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- 2011
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12. Marine Sciences: from natural history to ecology and back, on Darwin's shoulders
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Ferdinando Boero
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Ecology, evolution, biological oceanography, marine biology, biodiversity, ecosystem functioning ,Ecology ,QH540-549.5 - Abstract
The naturalist Charles Darwin founded modern ecology, considering in a single conceptual framework the manifold aspects regarding the organization of life at various levels of complexity and its relationship with the physical world. The development of powerful analytical tools led to abandon Darwin's natural history and to transform naturalists, as Darwin labelled himself, into the practitioners of more focused disciplines, aimed at tackling specific problems that considered the various aspects of the organization of life in great detail but, also, in isolation from each other. Among the various disciplines that stemmed from the Darwinian method, ecology was further split into many branches, and marine ecology was no exception. The compartmentalization of the marine realm into several sub-domains (e.g., plankton, benthos, nekton) led to neglect of the connections linking the various parts that were separated for the ease of analyses that, in this way, prevented synthetic visions. The way marine sciences were studied also led to separate visions depending on the employed tools, so that ship-based biological oceanography developed almost separately from marine station-based marine biology. The necessity of putting together such concepts as biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is rapidly leading to synthetic approaches that re-discover the historical nature of ecology, leading to the dawn of a new natural history.
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- 2010
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13. The Study of Species in the Era of Biodiversity: A Tale of Stupidity
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Ferdinando Boero
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biodiversity ,traditional taxonomy ,molecular taxonomy ,information and technology ,research policies ,Biology (General) ,QH301-705.5 - Abstract
Research policies ensuing from the Convention on Biological Diversity made huge funds available to study biodiversity. These were mostly dedicated to projects aimed at providing services to taxonomy via information and technology, or to develop “modern”, i.e., molecular, approaches to taxonomy. Traditional taxonomy was overly neglected and is in serious distress all over the world. It is argued that both novel and traditional ways to study biodiversity are essential and that the demise of traditional taxonomy (based on phenotypes) in the era of biodiversity is the result of an unwise policy, mainly fostered by portions of the scientific community that aim at taking total advantage of the funds dedicated to the study of biodiversity.
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- 2010
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14. Deterministic Factors Overwhelm Stochastic Environmental Fluctuations as Drivers of Jellyfish Outbreaks.
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Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi, Antonio Canepa, Veronica Fuentes, Laura Tamburello, Jennifer E Purcell, Stefano Piraino, Jason Roberts, Ferdinando Boero, and Patrick Halpin
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Medicine ,Science - Abstract
Jellyfish outbreaks are increasingly viewed as a deterministic response to escalating levels of environmental degradation and climate extremes. However, a comprehensive understanding of the influence of deterministic drivers and stochastic environmental variations favouring population renewal processes has remained elusive. This study quantifies the deterministic and stochastic components of environmental change that lead to outbreaks of the jellyfish Pelagia noctiluca in the Mediterranen Sea. Using data of jellyfish abundance collected at 241 sites along the Catalan coast from 2007 to 2010 we: (1) tested hypotheses about the influence of time-varying and spatial predictors of jellyfish outbreaks; (2) evaluated the relative importance of stochastic vs. deterministic forcing of outbreaks through the environmental bootstrap method; and (3) quantified return times of extreme events. Outbreaks were common in May and June and less likely in other summer months, which resulted in a negative relationship between outbreaks and SST. Cross- and along-shore advection by geostrophic flow were important concentrating forces of jellyfish, but most outbreaks occurred in the proximity of two canyons in the northern part of the study area. This result supported the recent hypothesis that canyons can funnel P. noctiluca blooms towards shore during upwelling. This can be a general, yet unappreciated mechanism leading to outbreaks of holoplanktonic jellyfish species. The environmental bootstrap indicated that stochastic environmental fluctuations have negligible effects on return times of outbreaks. Our analysis emphasized the importance of deterministic processes leading to jellyfish outbreaks compared to the stochastic component of environmental variation. A better understanding of how environmental drivers affect demographic and population processes in jellyfish species will increase the ability to anticipate jellyfish outbreaks in the future.
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- 2015
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15. Fauna of the Mediterranean Hydrozoa.
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Jean Bouillon, María Dolores Medel, Francesc Pagès, Josep María Gili, Ferdinando Boero, and Cinzia Gravili
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hydrozoa ,hydromedusae ,hydropolyps ,siphonophores ,taxonomy ,systematics ,fauna ,mediterranean ,Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling ,SH1-691 - Abstract
This study provides a systematic account of the hydrozoan species collected up to now in the Mediterranean Sea. All species are described, illustrated and information on morphology and distribution is given for all of them. This work is the most complete fauna of hydrozoans made in the Mediterranean. The fauna includes planktonic hydromedusae, benthic polyps stages and the siphonophores. The Hydrozoa are taken as an example of inconspicuous taxa whose knowledge has greatly progressed in the last decades due to the scientific research of some specialists in the Mediterranean area. The number of species recorded in the Mediterranean almost doubled in the last thirty years and the number of new records is still increasing. The 457 species recorded in this study represents the 12% of the world known species. The fauna is completed with classification keys and a glossary of terms with the main purpose of facilitating the identification of all Meditrranean hydrozoan species
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- 2004
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16. Resting stage in the biogenic fraction of surface sediments from the deep Mediterranean Sea
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Luigi della Tommasa, Roberto Danovaro, Genuario Belmonte, and Ferdinando Boero
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resting stages ,deep sea ,mediterranean ,biogenic sediments ,cyst morphology ,Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling ,SH1-691 - Abstract
The presence of resting stages in neritic areas is well known, while their occurrence in the deep sea realm has seldom been considered. Recent investigations showed strict interactions between neritic and deep sea domains, due to up- and down-welling phenomena driven by submarine canyons. To estimate the presence of resting stages in deep bottom sediments, seven sediment cores, collected along a trans-Mediterranean transect by means a multi-corer during the TRANSMED survey (1999), were studied. Most biogenic sediment was composed of Foraminifera tests (tens of thousand tests cm-3), Calciodinellum albatrosianum and Leonella granifera (Dinophyta) cysts (up to thousands cysts cm-3). Eleven dinocyst morphotypes were recorded mainly as empty shells (seven calcareous-walled: C. albatrosianum, Calciperidinium asymmetricum, Leonella granifera, Scrippsiella trochoidea, S. precaria type 1, S. precaria type 2, S. regalis; four organic-walled: Impagidinium aculeatum, unid. dinocyst 1, unid. dinocyst 2 and unid. dinocyst 3), while no metazoan resting eggs were observed. The presence of viable resting stages in deep bottom surface sediments was much lower than in neritic areas, suggesting that oceanic species do not produce cysts for a "benthic resting" strategy. Further taxonomic and biogeographic studies are needed to better understand the ecological dynamics of oceanic plankton in the Mediterranean Sea.
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- 2004
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17. Plankton biodiversity around the Salento Peninsula (South East Italy): an integrated water/sediment approach
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Salvatore Moscatello, Fernando Rubino, Orestina D. Saracino, Giovanni Fanelli, Genuario Belmonte, and Ferdinando Boero
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resting stages ,cyst banks ,microzooplankton ,phytoplankton ,central mediterranean ,Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling ,SH1-691 - Abstract
The microplankton community was studied at 9 sites (29 sampling stations) along the Salento Peninsula (SE Italy). Integrated samplings from both the water column (to collect active stages), and sediments (to collect resting stages), were carried out. More than 400 taxa were recognised in total. As for phytoplankton, 64 taxa were new records from the area. In particular, 16 of them were found only as resting stages in the sediments. A harbour, a coastal lake, and a submerged cave were investigated to understand the role of confined or sheltered environments in the accumulation of resting stages. The harbour and the lake were found to be biodiversity reservoirs, due to the abundance of resting stages in their sediments. Only few species were found both in the water column, as plankton, and in the sediments, as resting stages. Furthermore, the most abundant species in the water column were not equally dominant as resting stages in the sediments. This suggests that species other than those observed in the plankton during the present work (i.e., those found as dominant among resting stages in the sediments) dominated the plankton in the past. Furthermore, they could dominate the future plankton, with multiannual cycles, starting from sediment reservoirs. The search for resting stages in the sediment, thus, is useful to discover temporarily rare species, because species persist in the sediments as resting stages for longer periods than those spent as active stages in the plankton.
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- 2004
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18. Biodiversity, taxonomy and metagenomics
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Ettore Olmo and Ferdinando Boero
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Zoology ,QL1-991 - Published
- 2017
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19. Jellyfish as prey: frequency of predation and selective foraging of Boops boops (Vertebrata, Actinopterygii) on the mauve stinger Pelagia noctiluca (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa).
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Giacomo Milisenda, Sara Rosa, Veronica L Fuentes, Ferdinando Boero, Letterio Guglielmo, Jennifer E Purcell, and Stefano Piraino
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Medicine ,Science - Abstract
In recent years, jellyfish blooms have attracted considerable scientific interest for their potential impacts on human activities and ecosystem functioning, with much attention paid to jellyfish as predators and to gelatinous biomass as a carbon sink. Other than qualitative data and observations, few studies have quantified direct predation of fish on jellyfish to clarify whether they may represent a seasonally abundant food source. Here we estimate predation frequency by the commercially valuable Mediterranean bogue, Boops boops on the mauve stinger jellyfish, Pelagia noctiluca, in the Strait of Messina (NE Sicily). A total of 1054 jellyfish were sampled throughout one year to quantify predation by B. boops from bite marks on partially eaten jellyfish and energy density of the jellyfish. Predation by B. boops in summer was almost twice that in winter, and they selectively fed according to medusa gender and body part. Calorimetric analysis and biochemical composition showed that female jellyfish gonads had significantly higher energy content than male gonads due to more lipids and that gonads had six-fold higher energy content than the somatic tissues due to higher lipid and protein concentrations. Energetically, jellyfish gonads represent a highly rewarding food source, largely available to B. boops throughout spring and summer. During the remainder of the year, when gonads were not very evident, fish predation switched towards less-selective foraging on the somatic gelatinous biomass. P. noctiluca, the most abundant jellyfish species in the Mediterranean Sea and a key planktonic predator, may represent not only a nuisance for human leisure activities and a source of mortality for fish eggs and larvae, but also an important resource for fish species of commercial value, such as B. boops.
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- 2014
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20. Global warming and mass mortalities of benthic invertebrates in the Mediterranean Sea.
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Irene Rivetti, Simonetta Fraschetti, Piero Lionello, Enrico Zambianchi, and Ferdinando Boero
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Medicine ,Science - Abstract
Satellite data show a steady increase, in the last decades, of the surface temperature (upper few millimetres of the water surface) of the Mediterranean Sea. Reports of mass mortalities of benthic marine invertebrates increased in the same period. Some local studies interpreted the two phenomena in a cause-effect fashion. However, a basin-wide picture of temperature changes combined with a systematic assessment on invertebrate mass mortalities was still lacking. Both the thermal structure of the water column in the Mediterranean Sea over the period 1945-2011 and all documented invertebrate mass mortality events in the basin are analysed to ascertain if: 1- documented mass mortalities occurred under conditions of positive temperature trends at basin scale, and 2- atypical thermal conditions were registered at the smaller spatial and temporal scale of mass mortality events. The thermal structure of the shallow water column over the last 67 years was reconstructed using data from three public sources: MEDAR-MEDATLAS, World Ocean Database, MFS-VOS programme. A review of the mass mortality events of benthic invertebrates at Mediterranean scale was also carried out. The analysis of in situ temperature profiles shows that the Mediterranean Sea changed in a non-homogeneous fashion. The frequency of mass mortalities is increasing. The areas subjected to these events correspond to positive thermal anomalies. Statistically significant temperature trends in the upper layers of the Mediterranean Sea show an increase of up to 0.07°C/yr for a large fraction of the basin. Mass mortalities are consistent with both the temperature increase at basin scale and the thermal changes at local scale, up to 5.2°C. Our research supports the existence of a causal link between positive thermal anomalies and observed invertebrate mass mortalities in the Mediterranean Sea, invoking focused mitigation initiatives in sensitive areas.
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- 2014
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21. First evidence of inbreeding, relatedness and chaotic genetic patchiness in the holoplanktonic jellyfish Pelagia noctiluca (Scyphozoa, Cnidaria).
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Giorgio Aglieri, Chiara Papetti, Lorenzo Zane, Giacomo Milisenda, Ferdinando Boero, and Stefano Piraino
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Medicine ,Science - Abstract
Genetic drift and non-random mating seldom influence species with large breeding populations and high dispersal potential, characterized by unstructured gene pool and panmixia at a scale lower than the minimum dispersal range of individuals. In the present study, a set of nine microsatellite markers was developed and used to investigate the spatio-temporal genetic patterns of the holoplanktonic jellyfish Pelagia noctiluca (Scyphozoa) in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea. Homozygote excess was detected at eight loci, and individuals exhibited intra-population relatedness higher than expected by chance in at least three samples. This result was supported by the presence of siblings in at least 5 out 8 samples, 4 of which contained full-sib in addition to half-sib dyads. Having tested and ruled out alternative explanations as null alleles, our results suggest the influence of reproductive and behavioural features in shaping the genetic structure of P. noctiluca, as outcomes of population genetics analyses pointed out. Indeed, the genetic differentiation among populations was globally small but highlighted: a) a spatial genetic patchiness uncorrelated with distance between sampling locations, and b) a significant genetic heterogeneity between samples collected in the same locations in different years. Therefore, despite its extreme dispersal potential, P. noctiluca does not maintain a single homogenous population, but rather these jellyfish appear to have intra-bloom localized recruitment and/or individual cohesiveness, whereby siblings more likely swarm together as a single group and remain close after spawning events. These findings provide the first evidence of family structures and consequent genetic patchiness in a species with highly dispersive potential throughout its whole life cycle, contributing to understanding the patterns of dispersal and connectivity in marine environments.
- Published
- 2014
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22. Structure of an epiphytic hydroid community on Cystoseira at two sites of different wave exposure
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Anuschka Faucci and Ferdinando Boero
- Subjects
epiphytic hydroids ,water movement ,cystoseira ,mediterranean ,Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling ,SH1-691 - Abstract
Epiphytism is a strategy by which opportunistic species such as hydroids, escape the intense levels of competition in marine hard bottom communities. Species of the macroalgae Cystoseira have a seasonal turnover of the frond, and we hypothesise that epiphytic hydroids colonising such an unstable substrate might show some degree of specialisation. Here the first systematic study on hydroid-Cystoseira communities is presented. In particular, the seasonal and spatial distribution of epiphytic hydroids on three species of Cystoseira at two sites of different wave exposure at Porto Cesareo (Ionian Sea/Italy) were investigated. Thirty-two hydroid species were recorded which are well known from other substrates and thus are not specific to Cystoseira; dominant species were all thecates. The influence of biological factors such as competition and the structure and abundance of the host, seem to have little influence on the hydroid community. The factors of greatest influence were mostly abiotic: sedimentation rate, nutrient levels, temperature and most especially water movement. The importance of water movement was evident in the higher colonisation of algal stems, higher hydroid frequency, larger colonies, reduced colony height, species composition, and distribution on the stems at the wave-exposed site.
- Published
- 2000
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
23. Photosynthetic planulae and planktonic hydroids: contrasting strategies of propagule survival
- Author
-
Patrizia Pagliara, Jean Bouillon, and Ferdinando Boero
- Subjects
hydrozoa ,life cycle ,planula ,floating hydroid ,zooxanthellae ,dispersal ,Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling ,SH1-691 - Abstract
Settlement delays can be important to prevent propagule waste when proper settling substrates are not immediately available. Under laboratory conditions, the planulae of Clytia viridicans underwent two alternative developmental patterns. Some settled on the bottom, forming a hydranth-gonotheca complex that produced up to four medusae and later either degenerated or gave rise to a hydroid colony. Other planulae settled right below the air-water interface, forming floating colonies that eventually fell to the bottom and settled. Halecium nanum released planulae with a rich population of symbiotic zooxanthellae that survived into a rearing jar for three months. After a long period of apparent quiescence (possibly fuelled by photosynthetic activities of zooxanthellae) the planulae produced new colonies. Both photosynthetic planulae and settlement at the interface air-water allow a delay in the passage from a planktonic to a fully functional benthic life.
- Published
- 2000
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
24. A salp bloom (Tunicata, Thaliacea) along the Apulian coast and in the Otranto Channel between March-May 2013 [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/1ok]
- Author
-
Ferdinando Boero, Genuario Belmonte, Roberta Bracale, Simonetta Fraschetti, Stefano Piraino, and Serena Zampardi
- Subjects
Community Ecology & Biodiversity ,Ecosystem Ecology ,Marine & Freshwater Ecology ,Medicine ,Science - Abstract
Between March-May 2013 a massive Salpa maxima bloom was recorded by a citizen science study along the Ionian and Adriatic coast of the Salento peninsula (Italy). Citizen records were substantiated with field inspections along the coast and during an oceanographic campaign in the Otranto Channel. Salps clogged nets, impairing fishing activities along the coast. Swimmers were scared by the gelatinous appearance of the salps, and thought they were jellyfish. At the end of the bloom the dead bodies of the colonies, that were up to 6-7 m long, were accumulated along the coast and stirred by the waves, forming foams along dozens of kilometers of coast. The bloom also occurred at the Tremiti Islands, north of the Gargano Peninsula. The possible impacts of such events on the functioning of pelagic systems are discussed.
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
25. Observational articles: a tool to reconstruct ecological history based on chronicling unusual events [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/1kg]
- Author
-
Ferdinando Boero
- Subjects
Behavioral Ecology ,Community Ecology & Biodiversity ,Ecosystem Ecology ,Global Change Ecology ,Marine & Freshwater Ecology ,Publishing & Peer Review ,Medicine ,Science - Abstract
Natural history is based on observations, whereas modern ecology is mostly based on experiments aimed at testing hypotheses, either in the field or in a computer. Furthermore, experiments often reveal generalities that are taken as norms. Ecology, however, is a historical discipline and history is driven by both regularities (deriving from norms) and irregularities, or contingencies, which occur when norms are broken. If only norms occured, there would be no history. The current disregard for the importance of contingencies and anecdotes is preventing us from understanding ecological history. We need rules and norms, but we also need records about apparently irrelevant things that, in non-linear systems like ecological ones, might become the drivers of change and, thus, the determinants of history. The same arguments also hold in the field of evolutionary biology, with natural selection being the ecological driver of evolutionary change. It is important that scientists are able to publish potentially important observations, particularly those that are unrelated to their current projects that have no sufficient grounds to be framed into a classical eco-evolutionary paper, and could feasibly impact on the history of the systems in which they occurred. A report on any deviation from the norm would be welcome, from the disappearance of species to their sudden appearance in great quantities. Any event that an “expert eye” (i.e. the eye of a naturalist) might judge as potentially important is worth being reported.
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
26. Protection enhances community and habitat stability: evidence from a mediterranean marine protected area.
- Author
-
Simonetta Fraschetti, Giuseppe Guarnieri, Stanislao Bevilacqua, Antonio Terlizzi, and Ferdinando Boero
- Subjects
Medicine ,Science - Abstract
Rare evidences support that Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) enhance the stability of marine habitats and assemblages. Based on nine years of observation (2001-2009) inside and outside a well managed MPA, we assessed the potential of conservation and management actions to modify patterns of spatial and/or temporal variability of Posidonia oceanica meadows, the lower midlittoral and the shallow infralittoral rock assemblages. Significant differences in both temporal variations and spatial patterns were observed between protected and unprotected locations. A lower temporal variability in the protected vs. unprotected assemblages was found in the shallow infralittoral, demonstrating that, at least at local scale, protection can enhance community stability. Macrobenthos with long-lived and relatively slow-growing invertebrates and structurally complex algal forms were homogeneously distributed in space and went through little fluctuations in time. In contrast, a mosaic of disturbed patches featured unprotected locations, with small-scale shifts from macroalgal stands to barrens, and harsh temporal variations between the two states. Opposite patterns of spatial and temporal variability were found for the midlittoral assemblages. Despite an overall clear pattern of seagrass regression through time, protected meadows showed a significantly higher shoot density than unprotected ones, suggesting a higher resistance to local human activities. Our results support the assumption that the exclusion/management of human activities within MPAs enhance the stability of the structural components of protected marine systems, reverting or arresting threat-induced trajectories of change.
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
27. Policies Supporting Renewable Energies Uses: The Next Big Challenge
- Author
-
Ferdinando Boero
- Subjects
n/a ,Technology ,Science (General) ,Q1-390 - Abstract
The question in the referendum on 17 April is: “At the end of the concessions presently authorized for extraction plants in the sea, at a distance within 12 km from the coast of Italy, are you in favor of stopping the extraction, even if there is still some methane or oil to be extracted?”.[...]
- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
28. 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> )
- Author
-
Iole Di Capua, Roberta Piredda, Rosa D'Angiolo, Carmen Minucci, Andrea Montalbano, Ferdinando Boero, Ylenia Carotenuto, and Marco Uttieri
- Subjects
Ecology ,Aquatic Science ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics - Published
- 2023
29. Taste and Smell: A Unifying Chemosensory Theory
- Author
-
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
- Subjects
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences - Published
- 2022
30. β-diversity reveals ecological connectivity patterns underlying marine community recovery: Implications for conservation
- Author
-
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
- Subjects
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.
- Published
- 2023
31. Setting thresholds is not enough: Beach litter as indicator of poor environmental status in the southern Adriatic Sea
- Author
-
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
- Subjects
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.
- Published
- 2022
32. The future ocean we want
- Author
-
Ferdinando, Boero
- Subjects
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
33. Economia senza natura. La grande truffa
- Author
-
Ferdinando Boero and Ferdinando Boero
- Published
- 2012
34. Mission possible: Holistic approaches can heal marine wounds
- Author
-
Ferdinando, Boero
- Subjects
Conservation of Natural Resources ,Animals ,Ecosystem - Abstract
Ocean sciences comprise a vast array of disciplines ranging from physics to socio-economics. The various approaches compete with each other for visibility, rather than cooperate and join forces. Communication beyond the science journals tends to focus on charismatic species and habitats (the ohhh tactics, aimed at provoking wonder) that does not result in the full perception (the ahhh strategy) of the role of ocean sciences for our well-being. Furthermore, natural sciences fail to establish the logical primacy of natural laws over social and economic laws, even though society and the economy cannot exist without the rest of the environment. Sustainability is universally recognized as a stringent priority, but it gives prevalence to economic and social values, relegating natural phenomena to a secondary role: natural assets are evaluated with measures of economics (in monetary terms) giving primacy to economic laws over ecological laws. The solution to these problems resides in the cultural evolution of that part of the scientific community that recognizes the necessity of evolving from reductionistic tactics to a holistic strategy, with a timely integration of ocean sciences and technologies and of their collaboration with social and economic sciences.
- Published
- 2021
35. Observational articles: a tool to reconstruct ecological history based on chronicling unusual events [version 1; referees: 2 approved]
- Author
-
Ferdinando Boero
- Subjects
Opinion Article ,Articles ,Behavioral Ecology ,Community Ecology & Biodiversity ,Ecosystem Ecology ,Global Change Ecology ,Marine & Freshwater Ecology ,Publishing & Peer Review - Abstract
Natural history is based on observations, whereas modern ecology is mostly based on experiments aimed at testing hypotheses, either in the field or in a computer. Furthermore, experiments often reveal generalities that are taken as norms. Ecology, however, is a historical discipline and history is driven by both regularities (deriving from norms) and irregularities, or contingencies, which occur when norms are broken. If only norms occured, there would be no history. The current disregard for the importance of contingencies and anecdotes is preventing us from understanding ecological history. We need rules and norms, but we also need records about apparently irrelevant things that, in non-linear systems like ecological ones, might become the drivers of change and, thus, the determinants of history. The same arguments also hold in the field of evolutionary biology, with natural selection being the ecological driver of evolutionary change. It is important that scientists are able to publish potentially important observations, particularly those that are unrelated to their current projects that have no sufficient grounds to be framed into a classical eco-evolutionary paper, and could feasibly impact on the history of the systems in which they occurred. A report on any deviation from the norm would be welcome, from the disappearance of species to their sudden appearance in great quantities. Any event that an “expert eye” (i.e. the eye of a naturalist) might judge as potentially important is worth being reported.
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
36. Mission possible: Holistic approaches can heal marine wounds
- Author
-
Ferdinando Boero
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Reductionism ,Natural law ,010604 marine biology & hydrobiology ,Political science ,Charismatic megafauna ,Sustainability ,Science communication ,Environmental ethics ,Social value orientations ,Sociocultural evolution ,01 natural sciences ,Wonder - Abstract
Ocean sciences comprise a vast array of disciplines ranging from physics to socio-economics. The various approaches compete with each other for visibility, rather than cooperate and join forces. Communication beyond the science journals tends to focus on charismatic species and habitats (the ohhh tactics, aimed at provoking wonder) that does not result in the full perception (the ahhh strategy) of the role of ocean sciences for our well-being. Furthermore, natural sciences fail to establish the logical primacy of natural laws over social and economic laws, even though society and the economy cannot exist without the rest of the environment. Sustainability is universally recognized as a stringent priority, but it gives prevalence to economic and social values, relegating natural phenomena to a secondary role: natural assets are evaluated with measures of economics (in monetary terms) giving primacy to economic laws over ecological laws. The solution to these problems resides in the cultural evolution of that part of the scientific community that recognizes the necessity of evolving from reductionistic tactics to a holistic strategy, with a timely integration of ocean sciences and technologies and of their collaboration with social and economic sciences.
- Published
- 2021
37. The future ocean we want
- Author
-
Ferdinando Boero
- Subjects
media_common.quotation_subject ,Global warming ,Sustainability ,Business ,Environmental economics ,Function (engineering) ,Novel ecosystem ,Natural (archaeology) ,Backcasting ,media_common - 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
38. Mediterranean rocky reefs in the Anthropocene: Present status and future concerns
- Author
-
Antonio Di Franco, Marco Milazzo, Laura Airoldi, Stanislao Bevilacqua, Fabio Bulleri, Giuseppe Guarnieri, Enric Ballesteros, Paolo Guidetti, Carlo Cerrano, Gianluca Sarà, Monia Renzi, Francesco Colloca, Joachim Claudet, Maria Cristina Mangano, Joaquim Garrabou, Fiorenza Micheli, Martina Coppari, Antonio Pusceddu, Stelios Katsanevakis, Ferdinando Boero, Benjamin S. Halpern, Emma Cebrian, Gil Rilov, Cristiana Guerranti, Antonio Terlizzi, Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi, and Simonetta Fraschetti
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Mediterranean climate ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Ecology ,010604 marine biology & hydrobiology ,Climate change ,Global change ,15. Life on land ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Geography ,Mediterranean sea ,Habitat ,13. Climate action ,Anthropocene ,Marine ecosystem ,sense organs ,14. Life underwater ,Reef - Abstract
Global change is striking harder and faster in the Mediterranean Sea than elsewhere, where high levels of human pressure and proneness to climate change interact in modifying the structure and disrupting regulative mechanisms of marine ecosystems. Rocky reefs are particularly exposed to such environmental changes with ongoing trends of degradation being impressive. Due to the variety of habitat types and associated marine biodiversity, rocky reefs are critical for the functioning of marine ecosystems, and their decline could profoundly affect the provision of essential goods and services which human populations in coastal areas rely upon. Here, we provide an up-to-date overview of the status of rocky reefs, trends in human-driven changes undermining their integrity, and current and upcoming management and conservation strategies, attempting a projection on what could be the future of this essential component of Mediterranean marine ecosystems.
- Published
- 2021
39. Italian Seas
- Author
-
Roberto Danovaro, Ferdinando Boero, ROBERTO DANOVARO, FERDINANDO BOERO, Charles Sheppard, and Boero, Ferdinando
- Subjects
Mediterranean Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Adriatic Sea, Physical and Biological oceanography, an environmental evaluation. L'opera è costituita da tre volumi che coprono tutti i mari del mondo, ed è un testo di riferimento dove sono sintetizzate in modo originale le conoscenze relative ai vari bacini. Gli autori invitati sono riconosciuti come i massimi esperti in materia, per quell'area geografica - Published
- 2019
40. Fighting for the life of natural history
- Author
-
FERDINANDO BOERO and Boero, Ferdinando
- Subjects
NATURAL HISTORY, MARINE BIODIVERSITY, ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING - Published
- 2020
41. Navigating the Future V: Recommendations for the Ocean Decade
- Author
-
Ferdinando Boero, Valerie Cummins, Jeremy Gault, Geir Huse, Catharine Philippart, Ralph Schneider, Anne Marie Treguier, Sukru Besiktepe, Gilles Boeuf, Marta Coll, Carlos Garcia-Soto, Kevin Horsburgh, Heidrun Kopp, Francesca Malfatti, Patrizio Mariani, Nele Matz-Luck, Jan Mees, Luis Menezes Pinheiro, Denis Lacroix, Martin Le Tissier, David M Paterson, Gerald Schernewski, Olivier Thebaud, Michiel B. Vandegehuchte, Sebastian Villasante, Martin Visbeck, and Jan Marcin
- Subjects
UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainability, multiple stressors, sustainability science, four-dimensional ocean, science of surprises, ocean data, ocean modelling, ocean technologies - Abstract
This policy brief provides recommendations for the science needed for the next decade and beyond to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The document outlines the societal outcomes of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainability (A Clean Ocean, A Sustainably Harvested Ocean, A Safe Ocean, A Healthy Ocean, A Predicted Ocean, A Transparent Ocean) and provides recommendations from the 'Navigating the Future V' Position Paper (2019) by the European Marine Board to address each societal outcome.
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
42. Project 'Biodiversity MARE Tricase': biodiversity research, monitoring and promotion at MARE Outpost (Apulia, Italy)
- Author
-
Federico Betti, Gabriele Costa, Valerio Micaroni, Stefano Piraino, Marco Bertolino, Fabio Rindi, Stefano Arzeni, Vincenzo Zuccarello, Francesca Strano, Marzia Bo, Davide Di Franco, Cinzia Gravili, Luisa Nicoletti, Ferdinando Boero, Pietro Medagli, Joachim Langeneck, Carlo Froglia, Fabio Crocetta, Adriana Giangrande, Francesco Mastrototaro, Loretta Lattanzi, Micaroni, V., Strano, F., Di Franco, D., Langeneck, J., Gravili, C., Bertolino, M., Costa, G., Rindi, F., Froglia, C., Crocetta, F., Giangrande, A., Nicoletti, L., Medagli, P., Zuccarello, V., Arzeni, S., Bo, M., Betti, F., Mastrototaro, F., Lattanzi, L., Piraino, S., Boero, F., Micaroni, Valerio, Strano, Francesca, Di Franco, Davide, Langeneck, Joachim, Gravili, Cinzia, Bertolino, Marco, Costa, Gabriele, Rindi, Fabio, Froglia, Carlo, Crocetta, Fabio, Giangrande, Adriana, Nicoletti, Luisa, Medagli, Pietro, Zuccarello, Vincenzo, Arzeni, Stefano, Bo, Marzia, Betti, Federico, Mastrototaro, Francesco, Lattanzi, Loretta, Piraino, Stefano, and Boero, Ferdinando
- Subjects
Biodiversity ,Tricase ,Species inventory ,Mediterranean Sea ,Avamposto MARE ,Scientific dissemination ,0106 biological sciences ,Mediterranean climate ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Mediterranean sea ,Citizen science ,14. Life underwater ,Biodiversity, Tricase, Species inventory, Mediterranean Sea, Avamposto MARE, Scientific dissemination ,General Environmental Science ,Sustainable development ,business.industry ,010604 marine biology & hydrobiology ,Environmental resource management ,Biota ,Taxon ,Geography ,Agricultural and Biological Sciences (all) ,13. Climate action ,2300 ,Earth and Planetary Sciences (all) ,General Earth and Planetary Sciences ,Marine protected area ,General Agricultural and Biological Sciences ,business - Abstract
The project "Biodiversity MARE Tricase" aims to research and promote coastal and marine biodiversity at the MARE Outpost (Avamposto MARE), a marine station established in Tricase (Lecce, Italy) in 2015. From March 2016 to September 2017, the first biodiversity inventory of the Tricase coastal area (Ionian Sea) was realized with the aid of citizen scientists (e.g. local fishermen, divers, bathers, and tourists). Preliminary results include 556 taxa, of which the 95% were identified at the species level. Despite the broad knowledge on Mediterranean coastal biodiversity, 71 species represented new records for the Ionian Sea. In parallel with the research activities, people's awareness of the value of biodiversity was raised with scientific dissemination initiatives, involving about 1700 people. The "Biodiversity MARE Tricase" project realized a first small-scale species inventory contributing to the distributional, taxonomic, and ecological knowledge of the present Mediterranean biota. The coastal area of Tricase will be soon included in a new Marine Protected Area and this project represents a step forward for the sustainable development of the community of this coast.
- Published
- 2018
43. Reproductive and bloom patterns of Pelagia noctiluca in the Strait of Messina, Italy
- Author
-
Ferdinando Boero, A. Martinez-Quintana, Verónica Fuentes, Stefano Piraino, Mar Bosch-Belmar, Giacomo Milisenda, G. Aglieri, Milisenda, Giacomo, Martinez Quintana, A., Fuentes, V. L., BOSCH BELMAR, MARIA DEL MAR, Aglieri, Giorgio, Boero, Ferdinando, Piraino, Stefano, European Commission, Milisenda G., Martinez-Quintana A., Fuentes V.L., Bosch-Belmar Mar., Aglieri G., Boero F., Piraino S., Milisenda, G., Martinez-Quintana, A., Bosch-Belmar, M., Aglieri, G., Boero, F., and Piraino, S.
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Jellyfish ,Scyphozoa ,Spawning ,spawning ,Aquatic Science ,Oceanography ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Reproductive cycle ,Mediterranean sea ,biochemical composition ,biology.animal ,Reproductive biology ,14. Life underwater ,biology ,Ecology ,010604 marine biology & hydrobiology ,Biochemical composition ,Pelagia noctiluca ,biology.organism_classification ,Fecundity ,Sexual reproduction ,Gonadosomatic Index ,13. Climate action ,Gonadosomatic index ,reproductive cycle - Abstract
Special issue Vectors of change in the marine environment.-- 11 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2016.01.002, Investigations on sexual reproduction of jellyfish are essential to understanding mechanisms and patterns of outbreaks formation. Pelagia noctiluca (Forskål, 1775) (Scyphozoa) is known as the predominant jellyfish species with direct development in Western and Central Mediterranean Sea. In this paper we used integrated morphometric, histological, and biochemical approaches to investigate the annual reproductive biology of P. noctiluca from the Strait of Messina (South Thyrrenian Sea), a key proliferation area for this species due to favourable temperatures and high productivity. From November 2011 to September 2012, P. noctiluca sexual reproduction occurred throughout the year, with two seasonal peaks (autumn, spring) of spawning and embryonic development. Gonads of female P. noctiluca were characterized by a large amount of mature eggs of small size (diameter < 200 μm) during high food availability, whereas fewer, larger eggs (diameter > 200 μm) were detected during low availability of prey. Two morphometric indexes were applied: the Gonad-Somatic Index (GSI, gonadal/somatic tissue dry weight ratio) and Fecundity Index (FI, n° eggs mm−2 * gonadal dry weight). The FI showed longer spawning periods than the GSI, providing a better causal-mechanistic explanation for the year-round occurrence of P. noctiluca in the Strait of Messina. Protein contents of the gonads changed seasonally, with the highest concentrations during the pre-spawning periods. We suggest that investigations on jellyfish sexual reproduction can provide biological information relevant for understanding mechanisms of jellyfish blooms as well as for the management of coastal zones affected by outbreaks of gelatinous species, The research leading to these results received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under Grant Agreement No. 266445 for the project Vectors of Change in Oceans and Seas Marine Life, Impact on Economic Sectors (VECTORS – http://www.marine-vectors.eu)
- Published
- 2018
44. Project 'Biodiversity MARE Tricase': a biodiversity inventory of the coastal area of Tricase (Ionian Sea, Italy) – Mollusca: Heterobranchia
- Author
-
Fabio Crocetta, Stefano Piraino, Ferdinando Boero, D. Di Franco, Daniele Grech, Francesca Strano, Valerio Micaroni, Micaroni, V., Strano, F., Di Franco, D., Crocetta, F., Grech, D., Piraino, S., and Boero, F.
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Mediterranean climate ,Good Environmental Status ,Species distribution ,Biodiversity ,Mediterranean Sea ,biodiversity ,Avamposto MARE ,checklist ,sea slugs ,sea slug ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Marine Strategy Framework Directive ,Mediterranean sea ,lcsh:Zoology ,media_common.cataloged_instance ,14. Life underwater ,lcsh:QL1-991 ,European union ,Heterobranchia ,media_common ,biology ,010604 marine biology & hydrobiology ,biology.organism_classification ,Fishery ,Geography ,Animal Science and Zoology - Abstract
The marine biodiversity of the Tricase coastal area (Ionian Sea, Italy) was investigated at the MARE Outpost (Avamposto MARE) between 2016 and 2017, with the help of citizen scientists and trained taxonomists. Among the most interesting groups encountered, heterobranch molluscs deserve a special mention. Altogether, 268 specimens were ascribed to this group and referred to 49 taxa. Notwithstanding the extensive literature on Mediterranean heterobranchs, two species proved to be new to the Italian coasts, the records of eight species represented their easternmost sightings in the Mediterranean Sea, and 13 taxa represented new records for the Ionian Sea. In addition, several feeding habits and phenological events were new to science. Although the European Union’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive lists “Biodiversity is maintained” as the first descriptor in achieving “Good Environmental Status”, our results highlighted the presence of conspicuous gaps in the knowledge of species distribution, taxonomy and ecology of heterobranch molluscs, indicating the necessity of even small-scale species checklists to understand biodiversity changes in worldwide biota.
- Published
- 2018
45. The historical reconstruction of distribution of the genusHalecium(Hydrozoa: Haleciidae): a biological signal of ocean warming?
- Author
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Francesco Cozzoli, Cinzia Gravili, Ferdinando Boero, Gravili, Cinzia, Cozzoli, Francesco, and Boero, Ferdinando
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Marine ecoregions ,Effects of global warming on oceans ,sentinel species ,Aquatic Science ,Biology ,global warming ,Oceanography ,hydroids ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Latitude ,Halecium ,Mediterranean sea ,Genus ,Biogeographic realms ,Temperate climate ,14. Life underwater ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Hydrozoa ,Ecology ,010604 marine biology & hydrobiology ,hydroid ,15. Life on land ,sentinel specie ,biology.organism_classification ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematic ,Biogeographic realm ,13. Climate action ,Species richness - Abstract
The distribution of 130 nominal species of the genus Halecium, based on published records, has been mapped for the first time in a comprehensive set of marine ecoregions, to analyse their distribution. Most Halecium species are found at mid- and high latitudes, with some overlaps in distribution ranges across regions. The species richness of Halecium is strongly related to the latitudinal gradient, with maximal diversity at polar and temperate latitudes. Previous detailed studies in the Mediterranean Sea show that large Halecium species of coldwater affinity have regressed or disappeared in recent years, probably due to global warming. Worldwide, however, the overall species richness of Halecium has not changed along the latitudinal gradient over recent decades, with some changes in species composition at temperate-tropical latitudes in both hemispheres, even though the majority of the species that have not been recorded for more than 50 years are of coldwater affinity. The genus can be considered an indicator for biological responses to climate changes for the Mediterranean Sea, but the available distribution data do not allow extending this possibility to the rest of the world. A focused evaluation on the distribution of Halecium species with the addition of new field data might reinforce the picture stemming from the present analysis.
- Published
- 2017
46. The Cells of Ecosystem Functioning: Towards a holistic vision of marine space
- Author
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Ferdinando, Boero, Francesco, De Leo, Simonetta, Fraschetti, and Gianmarco, Ingrosso
- Subjects
Aquatic Organisms ,Food Chain ,Oceans and Seas ,Population Dynamics ,Water Movements ,Animals ,Ecosystem - Abstract
Marine space is three dimensional, the turnover of life forms is rapid, defining a fourth dimension: time. The definition of ecologically significant spatial units calls for the spatio-temporal framing of significant ecological connections in terms of extra-specific (biogeochemical cycles), intra-specific (life cycles), and inter-specific (food webs) fluxes. The oceanic volume can be split in sub-systems that can be further divided into smaller sub-units where ecosystem processes are highly integrated. The volumes where oceanographic and ecological processes take place are splittable into hot spots of ecosystem functioning, e.g., upwelling currents triggering plankton blooms, whose products are then distributed by horizontal currents, so defining Cells of Ecosystem Functioning (CEFs), whose identification requires the collaboration of physical and chemical oceanography, biogeochemistry, marine geology, plankton, nekton and benthos ecology and biology, food web dynamics, marine biogeography. CEFs are fuzzy objects that reflect the instability of marine systems.
- Published
- 2019
47. Navigating the Future V: Marine Science for a Sustainable Future
- Author
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Ferdinando Boero, Anne Marie Treguier, Catharina Philippart, Geir Huse, Jeremy Gault, Ralph Schneider, Valerie Cummins, Carlos Garcia-Soto, David Patterson, Denis Lacroix, Francesca Malfatti, Gerald Schernewski, Gilles Boeuf, Heidrun Kopp, Jan Marcin Wesławski, Jan Mees, Kevin Horsburgh, Luís Menezes Pinheiro, Marta Coll, Martin Le Tissier, Martin Visbeck, Michiel B. Vandegehuchte, Nele Matz-Lück, Olivier Thébaud, Patrizio Mariani, Sebastián Villasante, and Sukru Besiktepe
- Subjects
marine science, sustainability science, UN decade of ocean science - Abstract
Navigating the Future V gives a birds-eye big-picture view of marine science and looks into the future (2030 and beyond) to identify key topics/themes that are set to significantly advance our understanding of the marine and broader earth and climate systems; and will be of increasing importance to societal wellbeing in decades to come.
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
48. An integrated approach to coastal and biological observations
- Author
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Tarmo Kõuts, Isabel Sousa Pinto, Jun She, Ángel Muñiz Piniella, Ferdinando Boero, Mirosław Darecki, Laura Tuomi, Tasman P. Crowe, Antoine Grémare, Enrique Nogueira, Francisco Hernandez, Lars Boehme, Asbjørn Christensen, Jan Hinrich Reissmann, Adriana Zingone, Jacco C. Kromkamp, Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi, George Petihakis, She, J., Piniella, A. M., Benedetti-Cecchi, L., Boehme, L., Boero, F., Christensen, A., Crowe, T., Darecki, M., Nogueira, E., Gremare, A., Hernandez, F., Kouts, T., Kromkamp, J., Petihakis, G., Pinto, I. S., Reissmann, J. H., Tuomi, L., and Zingon e, A.
- Subjects
coastal observation ,0106 biological sciences ,Ocean observations ,lcsh:QH1-199.5 ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Best practice ,Biological observation ,integrated observing ,Ocean Engineering ,lcsh:General. Including nature conservation, geographical distribution ,Aquatic Science ,Oceanography ,01 natural sciences ,Lead (geology) ,Coastal observation ,Coordinated observation ,Fit-for-purpose integration ,Instrumental integration ,Integrated observing ,Ocean observation ,Parameter integration ,SDG 13 - Climate Action ,Ecosystem ,14. Life underwater ,lcsh:Science ,Argo ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Water Science and Technology ,Global and Planetary Change ,parameter integration ,business.industry ,fit-for-purpose integration ,010604 marine biology & hydrobiology ,Environmental resource management ,Sampling (statistics) ,Integrated approach ,Waves and shallow water ,13. Climate action ,Environmental science ,instrumental integration ,lcsh:Q ,business ,biological observation - Abstract
Maritime economy, ecosystem-based management and climate change adaptation and mitigation raise emerging needs on coastal ocean and biological observations. Integrated ocean observing aims at optimizing sampling strategies and cost-efficiency, sharing data and best practices, and maximizing the value of the observations for multiple purposes. Recently developed cost-effective, near real time technology such as gliders, radars, ferrybox, and shallow water Argo floats, should be used operationally to generate operational coastal sea observations and analysis. Furthermore, value of disparate coastal ocean observations can be unlocked with multi-dimensional integration on fitness-for-the-purpose, parameter and instrumental. Integration of operational monitoring with offline monitoring programs, such as those for research, ecosystem-based management and commercial purposes, is necessary to fill the gaps. Such integration should lead to a system of networks which can deliver data for all kinds of purposes. Detailed integration activities are identified which should enhance the coastal ocean and biological observing capacity. Ultimately a program is required which integrates physical, biogeochemical and biological observation of the ocean, from coastal to deep-sea environments, bringing together global, regional, and local observation efforts.
- Published
- 2019
49. First record of the non-native jellyfish Chrysaora cf. achlyos (Cnidaria: Pelagiidae) in the Mediterranean Sea
- Author
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Joachim Langeneck, Ferdinando Boero, Fabio Crocetta, Stefano Piraino, Ioannis Giovos, Nikos Doumpas, Langeneck, J., Crocetta, F., Doumpas, N., Giovos, I., Piraino, S., and Boero, F.
- Subjects
Cnidaria ,Jellyfish ,Pelagiidae ,Ecology ,biology ,Zoology ,Introduced species ,Aquatic animal ,alien species ,gelatinous plankton ,scyphomedusae ,citizen science ,Citizen science ,biology.organism_classification ,Invasive species ,Gelatinous plankton ,Geography ,Mediterranean sea ,biology.animal ,Chrysaora ,Scyphomedusae ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Alien specie - Abstract
A single specimen of a Pelagiidae jellyfish (Scyphozoa) referable to the genus Chrysaora Péron and Lesueur, 1810 is reported from the port of Elefsina (Saronikos Gulf, Greece) on the basis of photographic evidence. Despite the absence of a voucher and the impossibility to check fine morphological features of diagnostic value, its recognizable features (coloration, umbrellar and oral arms morphology, number of tentacles, and squared shape of marginal lappets) are consistent with the group of the "Pacific" Chrysaora, and in particular with Chrysaora achlyos Martin, Gershwin, Burnett, Cargo and Bloom, 1997. The specimen is therefore identified here as Chrysaora cf. achlyos, a candidate as a new non-indigenous species in the Mediterranean Sea. Although this rare species has been often observed as single specimens even in its native range (northeastern Pacific Ocean), the occurrence of additional individuals cannot be excluded due to possible misidentifications with the native Chrysaora hysoscella (Linnaeus, 1767). Citizen science proved again to be a useful tool for NIS detection and monitoring, which overall calls for the necessity of focused and joint programmes along the whole Mediterranean coastline.
- Published
- 2019
50. The Cells of Ecosystem Functioning: Towards a holistic vision of marine space
- Author
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Gianmarco Ingrosso, Simonetta Fraschetti, Francesco De Leo, and Ferdinando Boero
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,010604 marine biology & hydrobiology ,Nekton ,Marine geology ,Biogeochemistry ,15. Life on land ,Plankton ,01 natural sciences ,Food web ,Oceanography ,Benthos ,13. Climate action ,Upwelling ,Ecosystem ,14. Life underwater - Abstract
Marine space is three dimensional, the turnover of life forms is rapid, defining a fourth dimension: time. The definition of ecologically significant spatial units calls for the spatio-temporal framing of significant ecological connections in terms of extra-specific (biogeochemical cycles), intra-specific (life cycles), and inter-specific (food webs) fluxes. The oceanic volume can be split in sub-systems that can be further divided into smaller sub-units where ecosystem processes are highly integrated. The volumes where oceanographic and ecological processes take place are splittable into hot spots of ecosystem functioning, e.g., upwelling currents triggering plankton blooms, whose products are then distributed by horizontal currents, so defining Cells of Ecosystem Functioning (CEFs), whose identification requires the collaboration of physical and chemical oceanography, biogeochemistry, marine geology, plankton, nekton and benthos ecology and biology, food web dynamics, marine biogeography. CEFs are fuzzy objects that reflect the instability of marine systems.
- Published
- 2019
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