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Lagoons are ecotone ecosystems, naturally exposed to immigration from their freshwater and marine input environments; strictly lagoonal species are rare, if ever occurring, and lagoon community are likely to be organised through loItery competition processes. These evidences suggest the study of lagoons as models address ecosystem fragility to alien species. Here, we present an analysis of lagoon guild fragility to alien species carried out using the e-Science facilities of LifeWatch, the European Research Infrastructure on biodiversity and ecosystem research. The analysis has been performed on two EUNIS habitat (X02 and X03) using data existing on 18 Italian lagoons. The analysis has been carried out taking into account that rarity, redundancy and singularity are key properties of different guilds in lagoon ecosystems at every geographical area, affecting B (Beta) and y (Gamma) diversity. At every area an high regional biodiversity is determined by a large number of rare species and a high dissimilarity among lagoons. Life cycle traits and the behaviour of larval stages, at the species level, as well as lagoon openness and vigour, at the ecosystem level, seem to have a major role to explain the difference in patterns of biodiversity between study areas at a biogeographical scale. The same species and ecosystem level properties, together with spatial patchiness, seem also to be key factors downscaling biodiversity analysis at the landscape level.

Sabellidae are among the most visible polychaetes of the hard substrate fouling communities and are colonizing new geo-graphic areas. The fouling community was surveyed in 25 shallow coastal estuaries on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States with the specific goal of detecting non-indigenous species. During surveys in 2012 and 2014, specimens of Branchiomma coheni Tovar-Hernández and Knight-Jones, 2006 were found for the first time in Tampa Bay, Florida, occurring at the same marina site (27°53'7.58"N, 82°32'2.29"W) each year and suggesting it is established here. The spe-cies was not detected at other sites surveyed in the United States, and has not been reported from the eastern Atlantic or the Mediterranean basin. Type material of B. coheni, specimens from southern Gulf of California, and specimens from the Pacific coast of Mexico, were used to corroborate identification. The transfer of this species by ships via the Panama Canal is a probable mechanism of introduction, based on the current known distribution and shipping traffic patterns. This rep-resents the first record of the species in the Atlantic Ocean. A worldwide update of the records of this species and a list of valid species of the genus Branchiomma with notes on introduced populations are provided, as well as recommendations for accurate identification and sampling.

1 - The Long-Term Ecosystem Research (LTER) network, now a global reality, was founded on a combination of long-term ecological studies, short-term experiments, and comparisons among sites and eco-domains. 2 - The LTER-Italy network was officially established as a formal member of the LTER international network in 2006, following a wider on-going process in Europe; it currently consists of 22 sites representing the main ecosystem typologies of Italy. Four coastal transitional ecosystem sites are included in the LTER-Italy network: on the northern Peninsula, these include the Venice Lagoon and the lagoons of the Po River Delta, which are characterized by a temperate climate and the influence of tides; and in the southern sector, these include the coastal ecosystems of Sardinia and the Mar Piccolo of Taranto, which are characterized by a Mediterranean climate and the absence of sensible tides. 3 - In this paper, we present and discuss three main issues: the LTER-International and LTER-Europe context, emphasising the most practical issues and activities that must be addressed for the effective organization and maintenance of LTER networks; the history, structure, and perspectives of the national LTER-Italy network; and the opportunities, strengths, and weaknesses related to participation of the LTER-Italy network in the study of coastal transitional ecosystems.

In order to assist decision-makers towards the management of coastal transitional waters, we tested the potential of three benthic indices (AMBI, M-AMBI and BITS) in hundreds stations from Italian CTEs, from the Northern Adriatic to Sardinia. Our study highlights i) a high correlation between AMBI and BITS results, despite the different level of taxonomic identification needed, ii) a high correlation between M-AMBI and species' diversity and richness, iii) that M-AMBI overweights the number of species since in its calculation they are counted twice, iv) that M-AMBI acts as a "diversity-corrected AMBI", and, thus, v) it suffers of the reduction of species number along the transitional gradient. This study suggests that in such environments M-AMBI classification seems unable to capture some peculiarities of benthic assemblages in transitional waters. The unmodified use of these indices might impair accurate assessment of ecological quality status and decision-making on the managers' point of view.

Si tratta di una pubblicazione scientifica prodotta nell'ambito dell'Intervento 72 - Campo Sperimentale in mare, progetto finanziato dalla Regione del Veneto e dal Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio. Vengono ampiamente esposti i risultati dello studio interdisciplinare condotto nell'area a barriere artificiali del Campo, finalizzato alla sperimentazione di tecniche e metodologie di protezione costiera, di ripopolamento ittico, di molluschicoltura e di monitoraggio ambientale attraverso bioindicatori.

A study on soft macrozoobenthos along the Dese estuary in the northern basin of the Venice lagoon (Italy, North Adriatic Sea) were carried out from June 2002 to March 2003. Molluscs and polychaetes were identified. The benthic macrofauna showed a zonation pattern established by the distance from the sea; temporal variations of assemblages observed were caused by changes in the populations of the polychaete Streblospio shrubsolii.

Distribution of mollusc and polychaete communities in the Dese estuary were analysed in spring, Summer and autumn. The benthic communities follow a distribution pattern which is affected by salinity gradient and established through different assemblages of species. This pattern, evident in spring, is modified from summer to autumn because of the explosion of Streblospio shrubsolii. Possible Explanations include not only the role played by temperature and trophic conditions as factors Determining the increase of S. shrubsolii populations but also competition due to different degrees of opportunism of dominant species.

Members of the human TTG/RBTN family, now renamed 'LMO' for LIM-only proteins, encode proteins with two tandem copies of a LIM motif. There are three members of this family, two have been isolated at the sites of chromosomal translocations in T-cell leukaemia. The function of the LIM motifs is at present unknown. We found that the LMO-2 gene is highly conserved between mammals, Drosophila and yeast. As a first step to obtain a model system for studying the function of the LIM motifs we have isolated the Drosophila homologue Dlmo. In contrast to mammals Drosophila appears to have only one lmo gene. A 2087 bp cDNA clone was isolated from a larval cDNA library, encoding a protein of 266 amino acids. A second transcript with an alternative 5' end was identified in RNA from embryos. The Drosophila lmo protein consists of two tandem copies of the conserved LIM domain characteristic of the human LMO family and an extended amino and carboxy terminus, which is not present in the human proteins. The amino acid sequence similarity with human LMO-1 and LMO-2 in LIM 1 is 79% and 69% and in LIM-2 90% and 60%, respectively. In addition a short stretch of 25 nucleotides with a homology of 83% between LMO-2 and Dlmo is found in the 3' UTR. Dlmo, like LMO-1, has an intron after the second LIM encoding region, which is not present in LMO-2. It is expressed maternally and at a high level in early embryogenesis as well as in adults. Interestingly we observed that the Dlmo protein is immunologically related to LMO-2 and can be detected by immunohistochemistry in early cellular blastoderm embryos. The gene was localised to a genetically well characterized region (17C on the X chromosome) opening the way for identification of mutations.