Search results for " Mediterranean sea."
showing 10 items of 201 documents
Statistical characterisation of heavy metal contents inParacentrotus lividusfrom Mediterranean Sea
2014
This work focuses on the estimation of Hg, As, Cr, Ni, Cu, V, Cd and Pb by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in 135 adult specimens of Paracentrotus lividus collected in different coastal areas of Sicily (Gela, Punta Secca, Ragusa (RG), Siracusa, Priolo, Catania, Messina, Milazzo, Brolo and Filicudi), in order to monitor the Mediterranean marine ecosystem by use of sea urchin as bioindicator. Moreover, the paper deals with the statistical classification of the tested samples according to the sampling area based on metal concentrations. The descriptive statistics findings were obtained and, a starting multivariate matrix was built. Data-sets were subjected to Kruskal-Wallis test t…
Citizen science projects for monitoring alien macrophytes
2016
To understand the invasive potential and the spread dynamics of an alien species, any newly colonized area needs to be quickly detected. Therefore, regular monitoring programs and public awareness campaigns are essential. Since intensive monitoring activities involving scientists are expensive, the occurrence and spread of marine species could remain undetected or could be detected only years after the initial colonization. Citizen Science initiatives, a potential solution to this problem providing supplemental information that would otherwise be lost, are able to involve different groups of volunteers: students, tourists, divers, underwater photographers, amateurs and fishermen. Volunteers…
Relative sea-level rise and potential submersion risk for 2100 on 16 coastal plains of the mediterranean sea
2020
The coasts of the Mediterranean Sea are dynamic habitats in which human activities have been conducted for centuries and which feature micro-tidal environments with about 0.40 m of range. For this reason, human settlements are still concentrated along a narrow coastline strip, where any change in the sea level and coastal dynamics may impact anthropic activities. In the frame of the RITMARE and the Copernicus Projects, we analyzed light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and Copernicus Earth Observation data to provide estimates of potential marine submersion for 2100 for 16 small-sized coastal plains located in the Italian peninsula and four Mediterranean countries (France, Spain, Tunisia, Cypr…
Uniqueness of Planktonic Ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea: The Response to Orbital- and Suborbital-Climatic Forcing over the Last 130,000 Years
2016
The Mediterranean Sea is an ideal location to test the response of organisms to hydrological transformations driven by climate change. Here we review studies carried out on planktonic foraminifera and coccolithophores during the late Quaternary and attempt the comparison of data scattered in time and space. We highlight the prompt response of surface water ecosystems to both orbital- and suborbital-climatic variations. A markedly different spatial response was observed in calcareous plankton assemblages, possibly due to the influence of the North Atlantic climatic system in the western, central and northern areas and of the monsoon system in the easternmost and southern sites. Orbital-induc…
Mediterranean bioconstructions along the Italian coast
2018
Marine bioconstructions are biodiversity-rich, three-dimensional biogenic structures, regulating key ecological functions of benthic ecosystems worldwide. Tropical coral reefs are outstanding for their beauty, diversity and complexity, but analogous types of bioconstructions are also present in temperate seas. The main bioconstructions in the Mediterranean Sea are represented by coralligenous formations, vermetid reefs, deep-sea cold-water corals, Lithophyllum byssoides trottoirs, coral banks formed by the shallow-water corals Cladocora caespitosa or Astroides calycularis, and sabellariid or serpulid worm reefs. Bioconstructions change the morphological and chemicophysical features of prima…
Mediterranean rocky reefs in the Anthropocene: Present status and future concerns
2021
Global change is striking harder and faster in the Mediterranean Sea than elsewhere, where high levels of human pressure and proneness to climate change interact in modifying the structure and disrupting regulative mechanisms of marine ecosystems. Rocky reefs are particularly exposed to such environmental changes with ongoing trends of degradation being impressive. Due to the variety of habitat types and associated marine biodiversity, rocky reefs are critical for the functioning of marine ecosystems, and their decline could profoundly affect the provision of essential goods and services which human populations in coastal areas rely upon. Here, we provide an up-to-date overview of the statu…
Italian marine reserve effectiveness: does enforcement matter?
2008
Marine protected areas (MPAs) have become popular tools worldwide for ecosystem conservation and fishery management. Fish assemblages can benefit from protection provided by MPAs, especially those that include fully no-take reserves. Fish response to protection can thus be used to evaluate the effectiveness of marine reserves. Most target fish are high-level predators and their overfishing may affect entire communities through trophic cascades. In the Mediterranean rocky sublittoral, marine reserves may allow fish predators of sea urchins to recover and thus whole communities to be restored from coralline barrens to macroalgae. Such direct and indirect reserve effects, however, are likely t…
A first snapshot of sandy-beach amphipod (Crustacea) assemblage in a Marine Protected Area, Favignana Island (central Mediterranean Sea)
2017
The aim of this study is to compile a preliminary first check-list of Amphipoda species from beaches of Favignana Island (Sicily, Italy), and contribute to the knowledge relating to the distribution of this taxon in the Mediterranean Sea. Five amphipod species, belonging to two families (Talitridae and Hyalidae), have been collect in the island. The supralittoral assemblage appears to contain three main biogeographical categories: Atlanto-Mediterranean species, Mediterranean endemic species and cosmopolitan species.
Desalination by sea wave in small islands: The case of study of Lampedusa (Italy)
2018
The paper analyses the theme of water energy nexus, investigating a specific industrial process: desalination. In particular, the paper reports a case of study, applied in the small island of Lampedusa, located at south of Sicily (Italy). As the many small islands in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Lampedusa presents a small electrical grid, not connected to the mainland. The electrical production is entrusted to old diesel engines, consuming fossil fuel, transported by boat from Sicily. Besides, the renewable energy sources are extremely underdeveloped in this territory, since the environmental constraints make complex the use of technologies, like wind turbines or photovoltaic panels…
Appunti sul design meridiano
2020
Italian design was a wonderful adventure. But, since some time, it seems that we got complacent. The social-economic contest of Country is not anymore what it used to be. Therefore, design must be renewed, if we want to contribute to the project of a better world. This process – because design is a process – cannot be realised outside our history and what we are. We need to leverage on the culture of project, on our better and yet effective traditions, in order to provide fresh vitality and energy. We cannot build on nothing. We must innovate, defile and evolve without prejudice. That is why we need a starting point, a solid point of reference, full of material culture: South