0000000000053202
AUTHOR
Erika M. D. Porporato
Predicting shifting sustainability trade-offs in marine finfish aquaculture under climate change
Defining sustainability goals is a crucial but difficult task because it often involves the quantification of multiple interrelated and sometimes conflicting components. This complexity may be exacerbated by climate change, which will increase environmental vulnerability in aquaculture and potentially compromise the ability to meet the needs of a growing human population. Here, we developed an approach to inform sustainable aquaculture by quantifying spatio-temporal shifts in critical trade-offs between environmental costs and benefits using the time to reach the commercial size as a possible proxy of economic implications of aquaculture under climate change. Our results indicate that optim…
The effectiveness of fish feeding behaviour in mirroring trawling-induced patterns
The ability to observe and predict trawling-induced patterns at spatial and temporal scales that are relevant to inform realistic management strategies is a challenge which scientists have consistently faced in recent decades. Here, we use fish feeding behaviour, a biological trait easily impaired by trawling disturbance, to depict alterations in fish condition (i.e. individual fitness) and feeding opportunities. The benthivorous fish Mullus barbatus barbatus was selected as a model species. The observed trends of responses to trawling in prey species confirmed the effectiveness of a non-trawled zone in sustaining higher levels of diet diversity (e.g. quantity and quality of ingested prey) …
Multiple stressors facilitate the spread of a non-indigenous bivalve in the Mediterranean Sea
Aim The introduction of non‐indigenous species (NIS) via man‐made corridors connecting previously disparate oceanic regions is increasing globally. However, the environmental and anthropogenic factors facilitating invasion dynamics and their interactions are still largely unknown. This study compiles and inputs available data for the NIS bivalve Brachidontes pharaonis across the invaded biogeographic range in the Mediterranean basin into a species distribution model to predict future spread under a range of marine scenarios. Location Mediterranean Sea. Methods A systematic review produced the largest presence database ever assembled to inform the selection of biological, chemical and physic…
Trawling disturbance effects on the trophic ecology of two co-generic Astropectinid species
Physical disturbance by trawling can have both negative and positive effects on populations of scavenging benthic organisms. In the present study the impact of fishing activity on feeding behaviour of the two Astropectinids, Astropecten bispinosus and A. irregularis , was assessed based on stomach contents analysis. The study was carried out along trawled seabed highlighting the positive response of the two facultative scavengers to carrion generated by trawl disturbance. Furthermore, there was greater food specialization in areas that were more heavily exploited by trawling. This specialisation could be linked to the availability of certain prey that results from the passage of fishing gea…
Biosurfactant production by hydrocarbon-degradingBrevibacteriumandVibrioisolates from the sea penPteroeides spinosum(Ellis, 1764)
Among filter-feeders, pennatulids are the most complex and polymorphic members of the cnidarian class Anthozoa. They display a wide distribution throughout all the oceans, constituting a significant component of the sessile megafauna from intertidal to abyssal depths. In this study, a total of 118 bacterial isolates from enrichment cultures, carried out with homogenates of the sea pen Pteroeides spinosum (Ellis, 1764), were screened for hydrocarbon utilization by using the 2,6-dichlorophenol indophenol assay. Among them, 83 hydrocarbon-oxidizing isolates were analyzed for biosurfactant production by standard screening tests (i.e., emulsifying activity, E24 detection, surface tension measure…