Michele Scardi

University of Rome Tor Vergata

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Antonella Penna

University of Urbino

Samuela Capellacci

University of Urbino

Silvia Casabianca

University of Urbino

Stefano Cataudella

University of Rome Tor Vergata

Marjorie A. M. Friedrichs

William & Mary

Tim Smyth

Plymouth Marine Laboratory

F. Mattei

Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche

Frédéric Mélin

Joint Research Centre

David Antoine

Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche

Ichio Asanuma

Tokyo University of Information Sciences

Cooperative Institutions

CoNISMa

University of Rome Tor Vergata

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn

National Research Council

University of Malta

Sorbonne Université

University of Palermo

Institute of Marine Science

Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche

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Coralligenous and maërl habitats: predictive modelling to identify their spatial distributions across the Mediterranean Sea

Scientific Reports (2014)

Corinne Martin Marianna Giannoulaki Francesco De Leo Michele Scardi Maria Salomidi

Bioconstructions such as coralligenous outcrops and maërl beds are typical Mediterranean underwater seascapes. Fine-scale knowledge on the distribution of these sensitive habitats is crucial for their effective management and conservation. In the present study, a thorough review of existing spatial datasets showing the distribution of coralligenous and maërl habitats across the Mediterranean Sea was undertaken, highlighting current gaps in knowledge. Predictive modelling was then carried out, based on environmental predictors, to produce the first continuous maps of these two habitats across the entire basin. These predicted occurrence maps for coralligenous outcrops and maërl beds provide critical information about where the two habitats are most likely to occur. The collated occurrence data and derived distribution model outputs can help addressing the challenge of developing basin-wide spatial plans and to guide cost-effective future surveys and monitoring efforts towards areas that are presently poorly-sampled.

Marine Spatial Planning

Mediterranean Basin

Outcrop

10.1038/srep05073

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Citations (147)

Small-scale perturbation on soft bottom macrozoobenthos after mechanical cleaning operations in a Central-Western Mediterranean lagoon

Transitional waters bulletin (2007)

Lorenzo A. Chessa Michele Scardi Simonetto Serra António Pais Pasquale Lanera

1 - Sardinia Island (Italy), even if relatively small, has over 100 lagoons totalling some 12,000 ha. Yet their potential yield remain often unexpressed because they are subjected to environmental stress and degradation. As far as benthic communities are concerned, one of the main disturbances is certainly the accumulation of shell detritus, which progressively modifies the way benthic organisms interact with the sediment. 2 - An experimental dredging study was therefore performed in the Calich lagoon (NW Sardinia), due to its particular interest for fishing activities and potential semi-intensive mollusc culture. Changes in benthic community structure were examined in two areas of the lagoon by analysing both the demographic profile of several abundant species and the features of sedimentary matrix immediately after the cleaning operations and seven months later. Data obtained were compared with those collected in undisturbed areas of the lagoon. This allowed us to evaluate the effects of dredging operations on the benthic assemblages unaffected by natural temporal shifts of the system. 3 - Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated a strong relationship between macrofaunal community structure and intensity of the cleaning activities. At the dredged sites benthic fauna was not depleted but did exhibit higher diversity and evenness indexes than at the undisturbed sites. This seemed to be a consequence of decrease in the density of some abundant species at the dredged sites. Furthermore, a general reduction of total organic content was observed in the upper sediment layer. Lastly, the cleaning method employed is discussed in relation to its potential for impacting the benthos.

Dredging

Benthos

Dominance (genetics)

Detritivore

Detritus

10.1285/i1825229xv1n2p9

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Citations (6)

A Machine Learning Approach to Chlorophyll a Time Series Analysis in the Mediterranean Sea

Lecture notes in computer science (2021)

F. Mattei Michele Scardi

10.1007/978-3-030-68780-9_10

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Citations (0)

Chemical signatures of femoral pore secretions in two syntopic but reproductively isolated species of Galápagos land iguanas (Conolophus marthae and C. subcristatus)

Scientific Reports (2020)

Giuliano Colosimo Gabriele Di Marco Alessia D’Agostino Angelo Gismondi Carlos A. Vera

The only known population of Conolophus marthae (Reptilia, Iguanidae) and a population of C. subcristatus are syntopic on Wolf Volcano (Isabela Island, Galápagos). No gene flow occurs suggesting that effective reproductive isolating mechanisms exist between these two species. Chemical signature of femoral pore secretions is important for intra- and inter-specific chemical communication in squamates. As a first step towards testing the hypothesis that chemical signals could mediate reproductive isolation between C. marthae and C. subcristatus, we compared the chemical profiles of femoral gland exudate from adults caught on Wolf Volcano. We compared data from three different years and focused on two years in particular when femoral gland exudate was collected from adults during the reproductive season. Samples were processed using Gas Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). We identified over 100 different chemical compounds. Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling (nMDS) was used to graphically represent the similarity among individuals based on their chemical profiles. Results from non-parametric statistical tests indicate that the separation between the two species is significant, suggesting that the chemical profile signatures of the two species may help prevent hybridization between C. marthae and C. subcristatus. Further investigation is needed to better resolve environmental influence and temporal reproductive patterns in determining the variation of biochemical profiles in both species.

10.1038/s41598-020-71176-7

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Citations (8)

Comparison between Modern Clustering Techniques and Original Macrobenthic Community Classification on A. Vatova’s Adriatic Data Set (1934–36)

Springer eBooks (2001)

P Di Dato Eugenio Fresi Michele Scardi

Normalization

Data set

Hierarchical clustering

10.1007/978-88-470-2105-1_35

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Citations (3)

The implementation of different tools for understanding and managing harmful algal blooms: case studies in theMediterranean Sea

Antonella Penna Valbi Eleonora Fabio Ricci Silvia Casabianca Samuela Capellacci

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Cascaded neural networks improving fish species prediction accuracy: the role of the biotic information

Scientific Reports (2018)

Simone Franceschini Emanuele Gandola Marco Martinoli Lorenzo Tancioni Michele Scardi

Species distribution is the result of complex interactions that involve environmental parameters as well as biotic factors. However, methodological approaches that consider the use of biotic variables during the prediction process are still largely lacking. Here, a cascaded Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) approach is proposed in order to increase the accuracy of fish species occurrence estimates and a case study for Leucos aula in NE Italy is presented as a demonstration case. Potentially useful biotic information (i.e. occurrence of other species) was selected by means of tetrachoric correlation analysis and on the basis of the improvements it allowed to obtain relative to models based on environmental variables only. The prediction accuracy of the L. aula model based on environmental variables only was improved by the addition of occurrence data for A. arborella and S. erythrophthalmus. While biotic information was needed to train the ANNs, the final cascaded ANN model was able to predict L. aula better than a conventional ANN using environmental variables only as inputs. Results highlighted that biotic information provided by occurrence estimates for non-target species whose distribution can be more easily and accurately modeled may play a very useful role, providing additional predictive variables to target species distribution models.

Biotic component

10.1038/s41598-018-22761-4

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Citations (29)

Ricerche sui popolamenti bentonici di substrato duro del porto di Ischia: infralitorale fotofilo: Policheti (11) = The benthic populations living on hard substrate in Ischia Harbor (Italy): Polychaetes of the infralittoral zone (11)

Cahiers de biologie marine (1984)

Eugenio Fresi Rita Colognola Maria-Cristina Gambi Adriana Giangrande Michele Scardi

Benthos

Source

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Citations (0)

Optimizing Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile shoot density: Lessons learned from a shallow meadow

Ecological Indicators (2015)

Tiziano Bacci Sante Francesco Rende Domenico Rocca Simone Scalise Piero Cappa

Posidonia oceanica

Potamogetonaceae

10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.05.054

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Citations (5)

Toxic Pseudo-nitzschia spp. in the northwestern Adriatic Sea: characterization of species composition by genetic and molecular quantitative analyses

Journal of Plankton Research (2012)

Antonella Penna Silvia Casabianca Federico Perini Mauro Bastianini Elena Riccardi

Various genetic aspects of the toxic diatom Pseudo-nitzschia species in the northwestern Adriatic Sea were investigated. For this area, limited or no knowledge is available regarding the genetic diversity and geographical patterns of Pseudo-nitzschia spp., as well as the toxin content. Phylogenetic analyses identified strains belonging to P. delicatissima, P. calliantha, P. pungens and P. mannii. Networks of haplotypes inferred from Adriatic and worldwide strains revealed two main haplotypes in P. delicatissima from the Mediterranean and north Atlantic, with a single panmictic population in P. calliantha, and Adriatic P. pungens strains sharing the most frequent haplotype. The quantitative real-time PCR (qrt-PCR) assay was developed to estimate the number of rDNA copies and their variation among Pseudo-nitzschia species and strains. Qrt-PCR analysis showed that P. delicatissima and P. calliantha had different average rDNA copy numbers per cell (P < 0.001). It is suggested that different rDNA copy numbers among species might be used to discriminate between morphotypes identified using light microscopy. We also discuss how the rDNA copy number variability found among P. pungens strains from different months (P < 0.001) may relate to physiological activities and/or adaptative strategies. Northwestern Adriatic P. delicatissima strains produced domoic acid at low concentrations.

Domoic Acid

10.1093/plankt/fbs093

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Citations (41)