Search results for " marine"
showing 10 items of 1338 documents
The environmental and zooplankton community changes in restored ponds over 4 years
2016
Common mechanisms for guidance efficiency of descending Atlantic salmon smolts in small and large hydroelectric power plants
2018
A finding at the Natural History Museum of Florence affords the holotype designation of Orchestia stephenseni Cecchini, 1928 (Crustacea: Amphipoda: T…
2017
The beach flea Orchestia stephenseni has been originally described by Cecchini twice (1928, 1929) from the La Spezia type locality (northern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy), and successively re-described by Karaman (1973) and Iaciofano & Lo Brutto (2016).
A new contribution to the alien macroalgal flora of the Ustica Island Marine Protected Area (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy)
2018
A second record of the non-indigenous species Botryocladia madagascariensis G. Feldmann (Rhodophyta) along the coasts of the “Ustica Island” Marine Protected Area (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) is reported. With this additional record for the Sicilian coasts, we provide a description of collected specimens of B. madagascariensis and habitat details. Numerous fertile female gametophytes with cystocarps immersed in vesicles were also observed, for the second time in the Mediterranean Sea, and described.
Dimensions of invasiveness: Links between local abundance, geographic range size, and habitat breadth in Europe's alien and native floras.
2021
Understanding drivers of success for alien species can inform on potential future invasions. Recent conceptual advances highlight that species may achieve invasiveness via performance along at least three distinct dimensions: 1) local abundance, 2) geographic range size, and 3) habitat breadth in naturalized distributions. Associations among these dimensions and the factors that determine success in each have yet to be assessed at large geographic scales. Here, we combine data from over one million vegetation plots covering the extent of Europe and its habitat diversity with databases on species' distributions, traits, and historical origins to provide a comprehensive assessment of invasive…
Ecological implications of purple sea urchin (Heliocidaris crassispina, Agassiz, 1864) enhancement on the coastal benthic food web: evidence from sta…
2020
A responsible approach to marine stock enhancement is an effective approach to restore fishery resources. While the release strategy of target species has been well investigated, the impacts on local ecological equilibrium and habitat qualities have only been poorly considered. In the present study, we evaluated how the macro-benthic food web in Daya Bay was affected by purple sea urchin (Heliocidaris crassispina (Agassiz, 1864) stock enhancement using stable isotope analyses (δ13C and δ15N). Our results indicated that the distribution of local species and trophic diversity were influenced to a certain degree by release of purple sea urchins and changes in the feeding habit of the urchins w…
Comparison of Bayesian and numerical optimization-based diet estimation on herbivorous zooplankton
2020
Consumer diet estimation with biotracer-based mixing models provides valuable information about trophic interactions and the dynamics of complex ecosystems. Here, we assessed the performance of four Bayesian and three numerical optimization-based diet estimation methods for estimating the diet composition of herbivorous zooplankton using consumer fatty acid (FA) profiles and resource library consisting of the results of homogeneous diet feeding experiments. The method performance was evaluated in terms of absolute errors, central probability interval checks, the success in identifying the primary resource in the diet, and the ability to detect the absence of resources in the diet. Despite …
Stable isotopes of fatty acids: current and future perspectives for advancing trophic ecology
2020
To understand consumer dietary requirements and resource use across ecosystems, researchers have employed a variety of methods, including bulk stable isotope and fatty acid composition analyses. Compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) of fatty acids combines both of these tools into an even more powerful method with the capacity to broaden our understanding of food web ecology and nutritional dynamics. Here, we provide an overview of the potential that CSIA studies hold and their constraints. We first review the use of fatty acid CSIA in ecology at the natural abundance level as well as enriched physiological tracers, and highlight the unique insights that CSIA of fatty acids can p…
Pelagic food webs of humic lakes show low short-term response to forest harvesting.
2018
Forest harvest in the boreal zone can increase the input of terrestrial materials such as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrate (NO3) into nearby aquatic ecosystems,with potential effects on phytoplankton growth through enhanced nutrient (i.e., positive) or reduced light availability (i.e., negative), which may affect ecosystem productivity and consumer resource use. Here, we conducted forest clear-cutting experiments in the catchments of four small, humic, and nitrogen-limited unproductive boreal lakes (two controls and two clear-cut, 18% and 44% of area cut) with one reference and two impact years. Our aim was to assess the effects of forest clear-cutting on pelagic biomass productio…
An optimised multi-host trematode life cycle: fishery discards enhance trophic parasite transmission to scavenging birds
2016
Overlapping distributions of hosts and parasites are critical for successful completion of multi-host parasite life cycles and even small environmental changes can impact on the parasite's presence in a host or habitat. The generalist Cardiocephaloides longicollis was used as a model for multi-host trematode life cycles in marine habitats. This parasite was studied to quantify parasite dispersion and transmission dynamics, effects of biological changes and anthropogenic impacts on life cycle completion. We compiled the largest host dataset to date, by analysing 3351 molluscs (24 species), 2108 fish (25 species) and 154 birds (17 species) and analysed the resultant data based on a number of …