Search results for " Mediterranean Se"
showing 10 items of 247 documents
Life cycle and reproductive phenology of Ruppia cirrhosa (Petagna) Grande in a southern Mediterranean shallow system
2007
Along Mediterranean coasts, highly variable shallow systems with salinities higher than in marine environment, as saltworks basins or some marginal secondary shallow environments, are widespread; shallow waters function as a dynamic buffer system between open sea and land, and aquatic macrophytes represent key species regulating fluxes of energy and matter. In these systems Ruppia species are often the dominant macrophytes, and markedly colonise shallow habitats with extended beds. Ruppia cirrhosa (Petagna) Grande, mainly found in permanent lagoons, plays a crucial role in Mediterranean hyper-haline shallow waters, being a very important primary contributor to many food webs. In the context…
Genomic analysis and lineage identification of SARS-CoV-2 strains isolated from migrants travelling through the Libyan route
2021
Many African countries, representing the origin of the majority of refugees, asylum-seekers, and other migrants, toward regions bordering on the Mediterranean area, are experiencing sustained local transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Sicily is one of the main entry gates of migrants crossing into Europe. We conducted a pilot study, based on the full-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 strains isolated from migrants coming to Sicily by crossing the Mediterranean Sea, with the aim to investigate the viral genome polymorphism and to describe their genetic variations and the phylogenetic relationships. On June 21, a nongovernmental organization vessel rescu…
Sulfur cycling and methanogenesis primarily drive microbial colonization of the highly sulfidic Urania deep hypersaline basin
2009
Urania basin in the deep Mediterranean Sea houses a lake that is >100 m deep, devoid of oxygen, 6 times more saline than seawater, and has very high levels of methane and particularly sulfide (up to 16 mM), making it among the most sulfidic water bodies on Earth. Along the depth profile there are 2 chemoclines, a steep one with the overlying oxic seawater, and another between anoxic brines of different density, where gradients of salinity, electron donors and acceptors occur. To identify and differentiate the microbes and processes contributing to the turnover of organic matter and sulfide along the water column, these chemoclines were sampled at a high resolution. Bacterial cell numbers…
Physiological stress indicators in the plasma of Scyliorhinus canicula captured by botto trawling at two depths.
2022
The quantification of capture-related physiological stress is an important factor when assessing the potential for post-release survival in sharks that are incidentally captured. In the absence of these biological data and when the post-release fate is unknown, effective management plans cannot be formulated and may lead to highly susceptible shark populations being overfished. Here, we measured the levels of lactate, glucose, alanine amino transferase (ALT), aspartate amino transferase (AST), Ca2+, Na+ K+,Cl - Mg 2+ and Pi in the plasma of mature and immature lesser spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula, herein dogfish) which were incidentally captured at two depths (shallow: 50-200 m, an…
Vermetid reefs in the Mediterranean Sea as archives of sea-level and surface temperature changes
2011
Vermetid reefs are among the most important bioconstructions in the Mediterranean Sea, with a distribution restricted to the warmest part of the basin. Their structure, and vertical and geographical distribution make them good biological indicators of changes in sea level and sea-surface temperature over the last two millennia.
Source of calcium for pedogenic CaCO3 formation in benchmark soils of a Mediterranean semiarid environment
2004
Calcic and petrocalcic horizons (Bk and Bkm, respectively) commonly occur in soils of arid and semiarid regions. Studies carried out to investigate the source of calcium in CaCO3 formation have shown that dust and parent materials represent the main sources. The aim of this study was to investigate if gypsum may be a source of calcium for calcium carbonate formation and, eventually, to quantify it. Five soil pedons, developing on “Serie Gessoso- Solfifera”, were selected in a very representative forest Mediterranean ecosystem in Sicily (I). Pedons were opened, described in field and sampled according to the sequence of genetic horizons. Soil samples were analyzed to investigate 87/86Sr rati…
Alien macrophytes in the Mediterranean Sea: an overview
2019
The Mediterranean Sea, one of the most complex marine ecosystems, is inhabited by a rich and diverse biota which is disproportionate to its dimensions. Such high species richness makes the Mediterranean Sea a true hotspot of biodiversity. However, the Mediterranean Sea is amongst the most impacted regional sea areas, due to increasing levels of threats, mainly driven by human activities such as climate change and the introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS, i.e. organisms introduced outside of their natural, past or present, range and outside of their natural dispersal potential). NIS may in time become invasive (i.e. invasive alien species (IAS)) with severe impacts on biodiversity and…
ARE MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (MPAs) EFFECTIVE IN PROTECTING FROM INVASIVE SPECIES? THE CASE STUDY OF CAULERPA CYLINDRACEA SONDER (CAULERPALES, CHLOROPH…
2019
The main purpose of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is biodiversity conservation. The effects that invasive species have on MPAs, and vice versa, are still not completely known, even though their assessment is crucial for MPA management and conservation purposes. In this respect, monitoring plans are essential and the involvement of citizen scientists may be fundamental. Our experience of Caulerpa cylindracea Sonder 1845 monitoring within the Egadi Islands MPA highlighted that the alga is widespread within the MPA, mainly at Favignana Island, also threatening valuable habitats such as vermetid reef and coralligenous formations. Moreover, Favignana is the island of the Aegadian archipelago mos…
CAN HALOPHILA STIPULACEA OUTCOMPETE CYMODOCEA NODOSA? A CASE STUDY OF A MEDITERRANEAN SHALLOW WATER HABITAT
2022
The tropical seagrass Halophila stipulacea (Forsskål) Ascherson entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal more than 100 years ago. In the coastal-marine ecosystems the spatial niche of H. stipulacea is often overlapped with that of native Mediterranean Sea seagrasses and therefore it might out-compete them. On the basis of previous observations, we monitored for one year a Southern Mediterranean shallow water habitat (North-Western Sicily Island, Italy, Southern Mediterranean Sea), where H. stipulacea co-occurred with the native seagrass Cymodocea nodosa (Ucria) Ascherson. In this paper we compare sites with (impacted sites) and without H. stipulacea (non-impacted sites) to analy…