Search results for " Protected areas"
showing 10 items of 45 documents
A conceptual framework for the integral management of marine protected areas
2009
A general conceptual framework for the management of marine protected areas (MPAs) was developed. The driver-pressure-state-impacts-response (DPSIR) framework was used to determine the elements affecting MPAs. The developed evaluation framework helped to select an appropriate suite of indicators to support an ecosystem approach, an assessment of the MPAs functioning and policy decisions. Gaps derived from the management and policy responses in the MPAs were also outlined. It was concluded that the DPSIR framework can help to simplify the complexity of MPA management. This document is a tool for policy makers, scientists and general public on the relevance of indicators to monitor changes an…
Common Bottlenose Dolphin Protection and Sustainable Boating: Species Distribution Modeling for Effective Coastal Planning
2020
Indicators for preserving marine biodiversity include knowledge of how the spatial distribution and critical habitats of species overlap with human activities and impacts. Such indicators are key tools for marine spatial planning, a process that identifies and resolves conflicts between human uses and the conservation of marine environments. The common bottlenose dolphin in the Mediterranean Sea is considered a vulnerable species by the IUCN Red List and a priority species of the EU Habitat Directive. Here, we estimated spatio-temporal patterns of the species occurrence in the area around one Marine Protected Area (MPA) and two Sites of Community Importance (SCI) of the North western Sardin…
Assessing spillover from Marine Protected Areas and its drivers: a meta-analytical approach
2020
International audience; Overfishing may seriously impact fish populations and ecosystems. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are key tools for biodiversity conservation and fisheries management, yet the fisheries benefits remain debateable. Many MPAs include a fully protected area (FPA), restricting all activities, within a partially protected area (PPA) where potentially sustainable activities are permitted. An effective tool for biodiversity conservation, FPAs, can sustain local fisheries via spillover, that is the outward export of individuals from FPAs. Spillover refers to both: “ecological spillover”: outward net emigration of juveniles, subadults and/or adults from the FPA; and “fishery sp…
Characterization of Intertidal Macrofaunal Communities of Two Sandy Beaches under Different Anthropogenic Pressures
2022
The macrofauna in the intertidal zone of sandy beaches provides the trophic connectivity between land and sea, by linking microbiome, meiofauna, and megafauna, representing a food source for several terrestrial animals, including shorebirds and mammals. However, the macrozoobenthos in urbanised beaches is subjected to intense disturbances, such as breakwater barriers and tourism, which limit or impede the energy transfer from the marine to the terrestrial habitats. Because the information about diversity and abundance of the macrozoobenthos of the intertidal zone on the Mediterranean sandy coasts is scant, the main objective of this study is to increase the knowledge on the macrofauna livin…
Exotic insect pests: The impact of the Red Palm Weevil on natural and cultural heritage in Palermo (Italy)
2013
Abstract The impact of invasive exotic pests is increasingly recognised as a global issue. A global strategy to address the exotic pest problem is beginning to evolve, albeit slowly. The International Plant Protection Convention (FAO) has begun the process of harmonizing standards for pest risk analysis to minimise the spread of exotic pests without adversely impacting global trade. However if the impacts of insect invasive species on human health and on agriculture have attracted worldwide attention, researchers and policymakers address directly the connection between invasive species and damage to natural and cultural heritages. The cost of these losses is generally neglected or underesti…
Plant invasion risk inside and outside protected areas: Propagule pressure, abiotic and biotic factors definitively matter
2023
Invasive alien species are among the main global drivers of biodiversity loss posing major challenges to nature conservation and to managers of protected areas. The present study applied a methodological framework that combined invasive Species Distribution Models, based on propagule pressure, abiotic and biotic factors for 14 invasive alien plants of Union concern in Italy, with the local interpretable model-agnostic explanation analysis aiming to map, evaluate and analyse the risk of plant invasions across the country, inside and outside the network of protected areas. Using a hierarchical invasive Species Distribution Model, we explored the combined effect of propagule pressure, abiotic …
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…
Bryophyte diversity in some Sicilian protected areas
2017
The results of some investigations carried out in two Sicilian protected areas characterized by chalky reliefs are reported. These are the Serre di Ciminna and Monte Conca reserves. The Oriented Nature Reserve of Serre di Ciminna is located in northwestern Sicily, in the province of Palermo. Established in 1997 to protect the interesting karst phenomena in a vast macro-crystalline gypsum outcrop of the Messinian age, the series of "collapse valleys" and a swallowtail, the reserve falls within the Rocche di Ciminna, Site of Community Importance (SIC) (code ITA 020024). It includes some habitats of Community interest: pseudo-steppes with grasses and annuals of the Thero-Brachypodietea (code 6…
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…
Protected areas and species: the Mediterranean Basin
1995
Éste es un estudio de Derecho internacional sobre la protección de zonas y especies en el Mar Mediterráneo. En este trabajo examino los tratados internacionales relativos a zonas especialmente protegidas y a la diversidad biológica que son aplicables en el Mar Mediterráneo. Tras una breve introducción, en la sección II analizo aquellos tratados internacionales que en esta materia son aplicables al Mar Mediterráneo, aunque expresamente no se limitan sólo al mismo. En la sección III, realizo una mención especial al enfoque y a la evolución que, sobre estas materias, se contienen en los instrumentos mediterráneos de naturaleza tanto política como jurídica. This is an International Law study on…