Search results for " Ecosystem"
showing 10 items of 633 documents
The ancient irrigation system of the Palermo Plain (Sicily, Italy) as a substitute ecosystem: preliminary investigations on its aquatic flora
2022
Many cities around the world are expanding, including in their perimeters green and blues spaces that could be crucial for the maintaining of biodiversity. Urban waterbodies are generally created to provide other services, but correctly managed they can provide also relevant ecosystem services. The Palermo Plain was characterized, in the past centuries, by several wetlands that were progressively destroyed (or “reclaimed”). The ancient irrigation system, probably set during the Arab domination (IX-XI century A.D.), became a substitute ecosystem able to host a significant biodiversity. Our research focused on the remains of this system, scattered in the relictual green areas of the Plain, an…
Agricoltura di qualità e rete natura 2000: “laboratori” del cambiamento
2011
Through the centuries, rural communities have managed their environment creating a rich landscape diversity. This represents an historical heritage both for the region and for humanity because the "world" itself represents the sum of widespread fragmentation processes following specific laws. The intense socio-economic changes of the last century, the rise of the "global" markets, in particular, have radically changed the landscape configuration and its natural quality across Europe. Natura 2000 network and the network of protected areas are currently the "open laboratories" to test a model of development that is compatible with the priceless treasure such as: species, habitats, landscape a…
The duality of ocean acidification as a resource and a stressor
2018
Ecologically dominant species often define ecosystem states, but as human disturbances intensify, their subordinate counterparts increasingly displace them. We consider the duality of disturbance by examining how environmental drivers can simultaneously act as a stressor to dominant species and as a resource to subordinates. Using a model ecosystem, we demonstrate that CO2-driven interactions between species can account for such reversals in dominance; i.e., the displacement of dominants (kelp forests) by subordinates (turf algae). We established that CO2 enrichment had a direct positive effect on productivity of turfs, but a negligible effect on kelp. CO2 enrichment further suppressed the …
The Status of Coastal Benthic Ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea: Evidence From Ecological Indicators
2020
The Mediterranean Sea is subject to multiple human pressures increasingly threatening its unique biodiversity. Spatially explicit information on the ecological status of marine ecosystems is therefore key to an effective maritime spatial planning and management, and to help the achievement of environmental targets. Here, we summarized scientific data on the ecological status of a selection of marine ecosystems based on a set of ecological indicators in more than 700 sites of the Mediterranean Sea. For Posidonia oceanica seagrass beds, rocky intertidal fringe, and coastal soft bottoms, more than 70% of investigated sites exhibited good to high ecological conditions. In contrast, about two-th…
Five key attributes can increase marine protected areas performance for small-scale fisheries management
2016
AbstractMarine protected areas (MPAs) have largely proven to be effective tools for conserving marine ecosystem, while socio-economic benefits generated by MPAs to fisheries are still under debate. Many MPAs embed a no-take zone, aiming to preserve natural populations and ecosystems, within a buffer zone where potentially sustainable activities are allowed. Small-scale fisheries (SSF) within buffer zones can be highly beneficial by promoting local socio-economies. However, guidelines to successfully manage SSFs within MPAs, ensuring both conservation and fisheries goals, and reaching a win-win scenario, are largely unavailable. From the peer-reviewed literature, grey-literature and intervie…
Ground-level predation on artificial caterpillars indicates no enemy-free time for lepidopteran larvae
2017
Lepidoptera is one of the most diverse orders of insects, their larvae are very abundant in many habitats, and frequent prey of various predators. To decrease predation risk, caterpillars developed several means of defence, among them timing their activity to avoid predators (seeking enemy-free time). Although the enemy-free time hypothesis is often invoked to explain caterpillar behaviour, empirical evidence for it is scarce. We tested whether such enemy-free time exists in a temperate forest by comparing predation pressure on artificial caterpillars during day and night on the ground in forest fragments in Denmark. We found a high predation rate, 23.9% d(-1), and higher predation rate at …
Integrating functional traits into correlative species distribution models to investigate the vulnerability of marine human activities to climate cha…
2021
Climate change and particularly warming are significantly impacting marine ecosystems and the services they provided. Temperature, as the main factor driving all biological processes, may influence ectotherms metabolism, thermal tolerance limits and distribution species patterns. The joining action of climate change and local stressors (including the increasing human marine use) may facilitate the spread of non-indigenous and native outbreak forming species, leading to associated economic consequences for marine coastal economies. Marine aquaculture is one among the most economic anthropogenic activities threatened by multiple stressors and in turn, by increasing hard artificial substrates …
Different invasibility of permanent and temporary waterbodies in a semiarid Mediterranean Island
2019
Nonindigenous species (NIS) represent a threat to aquatic biodiversity worldwide. However, freshwater ecosystems in drylands are potentially more prone to biological invasions than those located in temperate regions because of the higher number of artificial waterbodies generally occurring in these areas, which might act as invasion hubs for NIS. We review the available information about NIS in Sicilian waterbodies, discuss the role exerted by artificial lakes and ponds in facilitating the establishment of NIS in arid and semiarid areas, and compare the invasibility of permanent and temporary waterbodies in drylands. Artificial waterbodies increase the target-area effect for dispersers and …
Microplastics and the functional traits of fishes: A global meta‐analysis
2021
Over the years, concern about the effects of microplastics has grown. Here, we answered the main question “What are the impacts of microplastics on the functional traits of fish species?” through a meta-analysis. The general impact of microplastic exposure on the functional traits of fishes and specifically on eight variables, namely, behaviour, development, fecundity, feeding, growth, health, hatching and survival was explored. Subgroup analyses were performed to detect correlations between the impact of microplastics and the following factors: species, life stage, habitat, water column habitat, day of exposure to microplastics and microplastic size, type and shape. A meta-regression analy…
Cumulative climatic stressors strangles marine aquaculture: Ancillary effects of COVID 19 on Spanish mariculture
2021
9 pages, 8 figures