Search results for " MEDITERRANEAN SEA"

Mediterranean Great Conversation

2015

The exit from the Mediterranean emergency requires rethinking its identity in a new perspective. This means recognizing its legitimate role as a “Great Sea in Between”, as a cultural interface able to connect all the citizens that address to it, in everyday life and as individuals, involving them in a real “great conversation” based on the design disciplines. Design, Brand, Visual Identity, Packaging, Social Media, Fashion, Food, Architecture, Music may be powerful antidotes to the immobility of those who mourn a lost Mediterranean harmony and also a viable alternative to the ethnic closure led by the proponents of the Clash of Civilizations.

A SMALL INVADER CONQUERS SICILY: AMPHISTEGINA LOBIFERA (FORAMINIFERA: AMPHISTEGINIDAE)

2018

The highly invasive Amphistegina lobifera (Larsen, 1976), a benthic foraminiferal species native to the Red Sea, has colonized the Eastern Mediterranean through the Suez Canal and altered the native community structure. More recently, it has been reported from Malta and the Pelagian Islands within the Sicily channel. Here, we report new records from the southern coasts of Sicily, where we found it abundant both in the soft-bottom sediment and as epiphyt on algae. The occurrence of A. lobifera in Pantelleria and Favignana islands represents the Mediterranean westernmost record of this non-indigenous species.

Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The case study of the Aegadian Islands MPA (Sicily, Tyrrhenian Sea) and the Dwejra…

2018

The introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS) has been pointed out as a major threat to biodiversity. NIS may become invasive alien species (IAS) and may cause biodiversity loss and ecosystem service changes. In the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and surrounding islands, also including a high number of Marine Protected Area (MPAs), as a consequence of their geographic position and the intense maritime traffic, is a region particularly vulnerable and prone to NIS invasions. Since frontiers do not exist in the sea, biological invasions may severely affect MPAs, whose major aim is biodiversity conservation. Among the Sicilian MPAs, the Aegadian Islands MPA report the highest number of NIS (19). M…

Implication of the biofilm ageing for the settlement of the vermetid gastropod Dendropoma cristatum (Biondi 1857)

2016

Dendropoma cristatumreefs are key-intertidal habitats of the central Mediterranean. Knowledge onD. cristatumbiology is presently scant, particularly on its early life stage. The development of embryos occurs inside the maternal shell, and the crawling larvae settle on hard substrates shortly after hatching. Epilithic biofilm is known to have implications in the settlement of many marine invertebrates; however whether biofilm plays a role in driving the vermetid settlement is unknown. In this study the microbial assemblage ageing is tested as apotentialtriggerforD. cristatumsettlement. A field experiment was set-up to compare the larval settlement rate on removable limestone cubes (5x5x2 cm)…

Possible impacts of volcanic ash emissions of Mount Etna on the primary productivity in the oligotrophic Mediterranean Sea: Results from nutrient-rel…

2013

Atmospheric deposition of volcanic ash has recently been recognized as an important nutrient source into the surface ocean. Mount Etna (Italy), one of the world's most active volcanoes, is located in the oligotrophic Mediterranean Sea (MedSea). Despite the active volcanism on Mount Etna, the biogeochemical impacts of volcanic ash fallouts on the marine primary productivity (MPP) remain largely unknown. Here we present the results of seawater nutrient release experiments with volcanic ash samples from Mount Etna that have been collected during different eruptive episodes between 2001 and 2007. Our results show that volcanic ash from Mount Etna releases significant amounts of fixed-N (35-855 …

Settlement performance of the Mediterranean reef-builders Dendropoma cristatum (Biondi 1859) in response to natural bacterial films

2018

The gastropod Dendropoma cristatum is a biogenic engineer of the central Mediterranean, forming reefs along the lower rocky intertidal fringe with a remarkable ecological role. To understand whether reef-associated biofilm cultivable bacterial and biofilm ageing may trigger the settlement of the juvenile snails, a combination of laboratory techniques and field experiments was used. Reef-associated biofilm cultivable bacteria were isolated, and a settlement-choice experiment was performed in situ on artificial biofilms composed of i) a mixture of six biofilm-forming selected isolates, ii) all the cultivable bacteria, and iii) 13-, 23-, 32-day old biofilms formed under naturalconditions. Overall,sett…

Population structure of Brachidontes pharaonis (P. Fisher, 1870) (Bivalvia, Mytilidae) in the Mediterranean Sea, and evolution of a novel mtDNA polym…

2006

Abstract Brachidontes pharaonis (Fisher P, 1870) is an Indo-Pacific mussel that has colonized the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. Mussels may have migrated by natural dispersal of pelagic larvae, or they may have been transported on the hulls of ships, or in ballast water, or by some combination of these. Mitochondrial COI sequences (618 bp) from 101 mussels from six localities in the central and eastern Mediterranean Sea and from one site in the Red Sea were used to describe population structure. Analysis of molecular variance indicated that frequencies differed among populations, and that 92% of the variation resided within populations. The majority of haplotypes were private allele…

Seasonal variation in total phenolic content of Dictyopteris polypodioides (Dictyotaceae) and Cystoseira amentacea (Sargassaceae) from the Sicilian c…

2014

This study focuses on the differences in total phenolic content and its seasonal variations in two temperate brown algae, Cystoseira amentacea (C. Agardh) Bory and Dictyopteris polypodioides (A.P. De Candolle) J.V. Lamouroux, inhabiting respectively the infralittoral fringe and the upper infralittoral zone. Phenolic compounds are secondary metabolites, found in almost all brown algal orders, that function as defense against grazers, epiphytes and UV radiation. Total phenolic content was determined colorimetrically with the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. Results showed significant differences in total phenol content between D. polypodioides and C. amentacea with higher values observed in the first…

First detection of SARS-CoV-2 A.23.1 sub-lineage in migrants arriving to Italy via the Mediterranean Sea and public health implications

2021

Geochemical characterization of groundwater and submarine discharge in the south-eastern Sicily

2006

Abstract The main results of a hydrogeochemical survey carried out during 2002–2003 along the coast of the south-eastern Sicily, which aimed at geochemical characterization of both groundwater chemistry and submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) in the area are presented. A general frame of chemical processes affecting the studied groundwater and SGD point out that most samples fall within the calcite-anhydrite-dolomite field (CAD). The chemical composition of the samples within the CAD triangle is essentially controlled by calcite, dolomite and gypsum dissolution, which are the main minerals of the carbonate rocks hosting the aquifers. An additional process evidenced in this study is a mixi…