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The first records of Protura in three localities of Campania (South Italy) are shown. Three species were recorded: Acerentulus confinis (88 specimens), Gracilentulus gracilis (34) and Eosentomon transitorium (1). Some considerations are outlined on the presence of juvenile individuals and on the sex ratio of the two dominant species., BELS - Bulletin of Enviromental and Life Sciences, V. 4 N. 1 (2022): Bulletin of Environmental and Life Sciences

The temperate coralligenous habitats are considered hotspots of Mediterranean marine biodiversity. These coralligenous bioconcretions are built primarily by the accumulation of encrusting coralline algae growing at low irradiance levels that host numerous long-lived macroinvertebrates with prominent ecological roles. Several pressures, such as fishing activities, invasive species, and recurrent warming-induced mass mortalities, affect coralligenous assemblages and lead to dramatic loss of habitat complexity and biodiversity. One aim of the EU-funded project MERCES, dedicated to marine ecosystems restoration, was to develop innovative active restoration protocols with a focus on coralligenous habitat-forming macroinvertebrates from three key taxonomic groups: Cnidaria/Anthozoa, Porifera/Demospongiae and Bryozoa. These protocols combined transplants from donor organisms and recruitment-enhancing devices, taking into account the life-history traits, population dynamics, and genetics of targeted habitat formers. Our results show that transplantations require low initial effort due to high survival of transplants, but decades will be needed to fully recover habitat complexity because targeted species are slow- growing. In order to speed up recovery, we explored the potential influence of facilitation processes, i.e. positive species interactions. In order to guide the choice of transplant donors, we also aimed to identify thermo-resistant populations and specimens. We thus combined a transregional common garden and whole-genome sequencing to unravel the eco- evolutionary processes driving the differential responses to thermal stress. The outcomes of these works will implement the EU directives and contribute to the strategic planning of restoration initiatives for temperate marine ecosystems in the context of global change.

In the context of legislated marine restoration goals and new and on-going initiatives, and as part of the background preparation work in a wide variety of MERCES project restoration actions, a detailed review of restoration efforts was undertaken on targeted European habitat/species. Part of this review has focused on principal techniques and methods used in restoration actions, innovative approaches, major barriers/deal breakers, solutions to upscaling to the level of degradation, and relevant timescales to restoration. The targeted habitat/species included kelp forests in Norway, Cystoseira forests in Spain, seagrass meadows in Norway, the Baltic (both Zostera marina) and the Mediterranean (Posidonia oceanica), Pinna nobilis in Croatia, coralligenous habitats in Spain, red corals in Italy, sponges in Italy, deep sea corals in the Azores and deep-sea seamounts in Italy. Techniques ranged from regeneration to transplantation and facilitation (e.g. by introducing mussels with seagrass) using different life-history stages or methods. Restoration is still in its infancy for some species and new protocols are being developed for deep waters. Time scales to restoration vary widely between ecosystems from months to years (kelp, sponges, some seagrasses), to decades (some seagrasses and corals), to multi- decades or centuries (deep-sea corals). Deal- breakers commonly depend on target species characteristics, the methods and techniques used, site parameters, but also the continued absence of threats. Up-scaling presents a number of challenges but will need an approach using a family of restorative activities (e.g. threat removal, unassisted regeneration, remediation, good management) combined with technological innovations, science-industry solutions, and citizen science/volunteering support.

Coralligenous outcrops are slow-dynamic habitats exhibiting high structural complexity. If these valuable habitats are degraded, relatively long time is required to recover their structure and full functionality. In order to reduce recovery times, restoration actions can focus on target habitat-forming species. Facilitation processes (i.e. positive species interactions), rarely considered to date, may be further explored to enhance the effectiveness of coralligenous restoration initiatives. Here we test if erect habitat- forming species, putatively modifying light penetration and/or water movement, can affect the survival and growth of co-occurring encrusting and massive ones. For that purpose, we designed an experiment using the red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata and bryozoans, important coralligenous structural animals, as model organisms. The experiment, replicated in Spain, Italy and Croatia, is based on the comparison between series of 0.25 m2 experimental plots. Experimental treatments include addition of bryozoan recruitment- enhancing devices (plastic grids) with and without gorgonian colonies and controls (empty and artefact ones) for a total of 4 replicates per treatment. The hypothesis is that the erect layer (15 P. clavata fragments up to 20 cm in maximal height per experimental plot) could facilitate the settlement of bryozoan colonies onto grids within the experimental plots and enhance their survival and growth. The experiment was initiated in May-July 2017 within the EU Horizon 2020 project MERCES (Marine Ecosystem Restoration in Changing European Seas, http://www.merces-project.eu/) and it is still ongoing. In this contribution we present and discuss our preliminary experimental findings.

The temperate coralligenous bioconcretions harbour approximately 10% of marine Mediterranean species (about 1600 species), including long-lived algae and invertebrates. Enhanced by climate change, several pressures affect coralligenous assemblages, leading to recurrent mass mortalities and dramatic loss of habitat complexity and biodiversity. The EU- funded project MERCES is developing innovative methodologies to restore macroinvertebrate habitat-forming species from three key taxonomic groups: Cnidaria/Anthozoa, Porifera/Demospongiae and Bryozoa. Restoration protocols combined transplants from donor organisms using different techniques and recruitment-enhancing devices designed for habitat-forming species. Considering the life- history traits, population dynamics and population genetics of the selected species, restoration actions should be mainly based on transplants of small to medium size collected from donor specimens. Bearing in mind that survival of transplants is higher in species with slow growth rates such as those dwelling in the coralligenous than in more dynamic species, transplantation efforts in the coralligenous will require low initial effort but a long period will be required to fully recover habitat complexity, i.e. decades. We identified survival and growth of transplants and recruitment as the most suitable short-term indicators of the success of the restoration actions. Collaboration with volunteers (divers and diving operators) in several phases of field activities are being explored to cost- effective scaling up the restoration actions and to increase the sense of stewardship in a major users’ segment.

This is a report from the EU project Green Bubbles RISE, summarising results from the first Green Bubbles' stakeholders meeting in the Portofino MPA (Italy)., This report has received funding from the European Union (EU)'s H2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 643712 to the project Green Bubbles RISE for sustainable diving (Green Bubbles). This report reflects only the authors' view. The Research Executive Agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

This is a report from the EU project Green Bubbles RISE, summarising results from the first Green Bubbles' stakeholders meeting in Ponta do Ouro (Mozambique).

Pressures on marine ecosystems are often derived from human activities, either near the coast or through mobilities and inter- connections to the open ocean. Facilities permanently located on land or fixed platforms are straightforward to map, while mobile activities pose a greater challenge for researchers and managers. One of the goals of the ongoing Horizon 2020 MERCES project (http://www.merces-project.eu/) is to produce a thorough census of available maps for activities and pressures with impacts on marine habitats in the European Seas. To this end, we performed an extensive review and compiled a catalogue with mapping sources for (a) maritime activities, (b) endogenous pressures (i.e. those applying locally, resulting from a specific activity), and (c) exogenous pressures (i.e. those deriving from large-scale phenomena) that could potentially drive key- habitat changes. Currently the inventory includes approximately 300 entries covering several key coastal and deep sea habitats. Sources include published records, web resources, and grey literature. A substantial amount of the records regard maritime mobilities, such as fisheries and transport (included in 52% and 39% of the entries, respectively), as compared to coastal and marine infrastructure which is included in 42% of the entries. A similar trend is apparent in the records mapping pressures to ecosystems, where those linked to mobile maritime activities, such as abrasion of the seafloor, rank high on the list (23%). Whilst marine litter (mixed maritime and urban sources) is well mapped, an array of other pressures linked to mobile activities (e.g. underwater noise) are present but may be underestimated, due to their less frequent assessment. Mapping the location and intensity of maritime mobile activities has been facilitated in the past years, mainly through broad employment of satellite monitoring systems ; these data, especially when overlaid on available habitat maps, can produce meaningful information aiding habitat assessments, conservation and restoration efforts.

Human activities crisscross the urban and coastal fabric, and expand into the off shore and deep sea, deriving numerous associated pressures often impacting marine habitats. A main goal of the ongoing MERCES project (http://www.merces-project.eu/) is to produce a catalogue of available maps for existing activities and pressures in the European Seas. To this end, we compiled a catalogue with mapping sources for maritime activities, as well as endogenous and exogenous pressures that could potentially drive key-habitat changes. It currently includes more than 250 entries covering several key coastal and deep sea habitats, comprising published records, web resources, and grey literature. Fisheries, coastal marine infrastructure and transport are the most featured activities at the broad scale maps. Aquaculture and tourism rank high at the sublittoral habitats maps and research/conservation at the deep-sea records. Chemical pressures and biological invasions rank high at the broad scale followed by litter, abrasion and extraction of species. These last 3 pressures seem to be the most mapped pressures in deep-sea records. Mapping the location and intensity of marine activities has been steadily increasing, and could be valuable when overlaid on key habitats, aiding spatial planning and conservation by linking pressures to mitigation and restoration efforts.

One of the main goals of MERCES project (http://www.merces-project.eu/) is to produce a census of available maps for marine habitats, along with their degradation status and restoration potential in the European Seas. To achieve this goal, we performed an extensive review and compiled a catalogue with mapping sources for (a) marine key-habitats, (b) degraded marine habitats, and (c) pressures and mechanisms that could potentially drive key- habitat changes. In its current form, the MERCES WP1 catalogue includes approximately 900 entries with meta-data regarding various marine habitats, assemblages and marine areas. These entries include published records, web resources, and grey literature (i.e. project reports, technical documents, and unpublished data). A considerable portion of the catalogue’s entries (18%) concern sponges and anthozoans. Available mapping sources for their assemblages mainly concern the deep-sea (56%) and sublittoral hard substrate habitats (31%) of the North-East Atlantic Ocean (60%) and the Mediterranean Sea (31%). Most of the reviewed information sources underline a general decline in the extent and ecological status of these assemblages across the European Seas. Knowledge on their recovery potential is often lacking or limited, but there is a general concern that highly impacted coral colonies are unlikely to recover due to their slow growth rate, coupled with the increasing degree of human-induced impacts. The most frequently highlighted threats for these assemblages are: fishing (bottom trawling and longlining), global warming, scientific research, tourism and recreational activities (e.g. diving), extraction of non-living resources (e.g. oil, gas and minerals) and marine litter. Interestingly, half of the catalogue entries (48%) were derived from grey literature and web sources, showing that they both can be a valuable source of information and underlining the importance of cataloguing information sources on data repositories.

Despite increased conservation efforts and new policy instruments aiming to safeguard biodiversity, to halt further loss and to protect and restore the marine environment, many European habitats maintain unfavourable conservation status while habitat degradation is still ongoing in a number of areas. Several initiatives and policy drivers call for extensive mapping of the marine environment, particularly for key, priority and vulnerable habitats along with information on their status and existing threats and pressures (e.g. as required by the Habitats Directive and the MSFD). The Marine Spatial Planning directive also requires the mapping of human activities acting on marine habitats, to support sustainable development of the oceans and blue growth opportunities operating under the ecosystem approach to marine management. One of the goals of the H2020 MERCES project (http://www.merces-project.eu/) is to produce an inventory of maps of degraded marine habitats and a catalogue of maps of activities and pressures acting on marine habitats in the European Seas with the overall aim to link habitat degradation with mitigation and restoration potential. To achieve this, an extensive review was undertaken and catalogues were compiled with mapping sources for: (a) key habitats in decline or assessed as degraded, (b) maritime activities (e.g. fishing, transport, carbon sequestration, and research/conservation), (c) pressures (including locally acting chemical, physical, hydrological and biological pressures such as abrasion and alien invasions, as well as larger scale pressures related to climate change). The catalogues currently include over 750 entries covering all European Seas and various key shallow soft and hard substrate habitats, as well as deep-sea habitats. The findings show differences in mapping efforts by region and habitat type. Sources include published scientific literature, web resources, mapping portals, and grey literature such as project deliverable reports. Despite progress made in the recent years, mapping efforts still lack the required coverage, resolution and detail while mapping outputs have limited usability for planning, restoration and conservation purposes.

Within the MERCES project (http://www.merces- project.eu/), one of the first objectives is to catalogue existing and available maps for marine habitats, along with their degradation status and restoration potential in the European Seas. In order to reach this objective, an extensive review has been performed and a catalogue compiled with mapping sources for (a) marine habitats, (b) degraded marine habitats, and (c) pressures and mechanisms that could potentially drive key- habitat changes in them. In its current form, the MERCES WP1 catalogue includes a total of approximately 900 entries with meta-data regarding various marine habitats, assemblages and marine areas. These entries include published records, web resources, and grey literature (i.e. project reports, technical documents, and unpublished data). Information about sponge assemblages covers only 6% of the catalogue’s entries highlighting a potential gap in relevant broad- scale mapping initiatives. In half of the available sources (52%), sponge assemblages were found together with those of anthozoans (e.g. cold water corals, coral gardens, gorgonian forests), suggesting that these two biological features often co-exist and/or are treated together in broad-scale mapping initiatives. Available mapping sources for sponge assemblages mainly concern the deep-sea (53%) and sublittoral hard substrate habitats (31%) of the North-East Atlantic Ocean (55%) and the Mediterranean Sea (38%). More specifically, the main habitats/assemblages identified were deep-sea sponge aggregations and mixed coral/sponge fields, sublittoral rocky and coralligenous beds. Several information sources underline a significant – though not quantified – decline in deep sponge fields, along with recorded mortality events for the shallow ones. The most frequently highlighted threats for these assemblages are: bottom trawling, climate change, dumping, land-based activities, harvesting, minerals exploration, scientific research, and marine litter. Interestingly, most of the catalogue entries (71%) were derived from grey literature, indicating a valuable – yet often overlooked – source of information. This research has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 689518 (MERCES: Marine Ecosystem Restoration in Changing European Seas).