Search results for "Fish"

Evaluation of a behavioural response of Mediterranean coastal fishes to novel recreational feeding situation

2011

Fish may learn to associate food with human presence through recreational hand-feeding, a popular tourist activity. The conditional learning-e. g. when an organism learns by continuous exposure to one stimulus-of different coastal fish species exposed to novel feeding situations was evaluated. The latencies of learning response to the initiation of supplementary feeding were rapid and species-specific. However differences in the learning response between different fishes decreased over time, demonstrating that associating with others might incur costs especially for small-sized species, likely due to increased competition for food. Nevertheless some other fish species did not acquire any sp…

New application of agro-industrial waste to prevent melanosis of Mediterranean pink shrimp

2014

DNA barcoding for species assignment: the case of Mediterranean marine fishes

2014

Background: DNA barcoding enhances the prospects for species-level identifications globally using a standardized and authenticated DNA-based approach. Reference libraries comprising validated DNA barcodes (COI) constitute robust datasets for testing query sequences, providing considerable utility to identify marine fish and other organisms. Here we test the feasibility of using DNA barcoding to assign species to tissue samples from fish collected in the central Mediterranean Sea, a major contributor to the European marine ichthyofaunal diversity. Methodology/Principal Findings: A dataset of 1278 DNA barcodes, representing 218 marine fish species, was used to test the utility of DNA barcodes…

Monitoring the habitat use of common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) using passive acoustics in a Mediterranean marine protected area

2014

The Mediterranean Tursiops truncatus subpopulation has been classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because of its decline. This species in coastal areas is exposed to a wide variety of threats: directed kills, bycatch, reduced prey availability caused by environmental degradation and overfishing, habitat degradation including disturbances from boat traffic and noise. Despite the increase in boat traffic in the Mediterranean Sea, the effect on T. truncatus’ habitat use has been studied in little detail and few data have been published. This study represents the first attempt to characterise spatial and temporal habitat use by T. truncatus and its relation to boat traffic in the Isole …

Effects of salinity and water temporality on zooplankton community in coastal Mediterranean ponds

2012

Abstract Some of the predicted effects of climate warming in Mediterranean climate are the increase of temperature, change of precipitation patterns and the rise in sea levels. This will have major consequences, mainly in coastal aquatic ecosystems, by the increase of salinity and the reduction of the flooding period, affecting the whole aquatic community. To assess on the possible consequences of the global change in the zooplankton community of Mediterranean coastal lakes, we analized the zooplankton diversity in a set of lakes with different salinity and water permanence time. The ponds were classified in four groups: permanent and temporary freshwater ponds, and permanent and temporary …

First GPS-tracking of Cory’s shearwater in the Mediterranean Sea.

2010

Abstract The behaviour and ecology of seabirds such as albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters have been the subject of numerous studies, often employing the most recent technologies to track birds during their foraging trips. Until now, however, large oceanic species have been preferred for tracking studies because of the dimensions and weight of the devices available. New light-weight GPS (Global Positioning System) loggers (< 9 g) were used to track foraging trips of a medium-sized species, the Cory's shearwater, for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea. The tracks obtained showed that Mediterranean Cory's shearwaters alternatively used one of two different fishing areas. Various explana…

Origin and dispersal routes of foreign green and Kemp’s ridley turtles in Spanish Atlantic and Mediterranean water

2014

The presence of the green and Kemp’s ridley turtles is rare at Atlantic and Mediterranean Spanish waters, but the records have increased during the last decades.We reported a new set of records and reviewed all the historical observations of these species. The analysis of a mitochondrial DNA fragment of the newest records provided insights about the origin of the individuals. The Kemp’s ridley turtles arrived from the western Atlantic nesting beaches, although the discovering of a new haplotype suggested the existence of an unknown or low sampled nesting area of origin. Furthermore, the genetic analysis was crucial for the species identification in one specimen, hence recommending the use o…

Long-term organic farming on a citrus plantation results in soil organic carbon recovery

2019

[ES] Se ha demostrado que el manejo del suelo bajo agricultura ecológica puede aumentar el contenido de carbono orgánico en el suelo moderando el incremento de los gases de efecto invernadero, pero hasta la fecha las evaluaciones cuantitativas basadas en mediciones a largo plazo han sido escasas, especialmente bajo condiciones mediterráneas. En esta investigación se examinaron los cambios en el contenido de carbono orgánico como respuesta a la agricultura ecológica con cobertura vegetal en una plantación de cítricos en el área mediterránea, utilizando una base de datos de 21 años. El incremento de contenido de carbono orgánico en el suelo fue más evidente tras cinco años desde el cambio del…

Patterns of variability in early life traits of a Mediterranean coastal fish

2013

Spawning dates and pelagic larval duration (PLD) are early life traits (ELT) crucial for understanding life cycles, properly assessing patterns of connectivity and gathering indications about patchiness or homogeneity of larval pools. Considering that little attention has been paid to spatial variability in these traits, we investigated variability of ELT from the analysis of otolith microstructure in the common two-banded sea bream Diplodus vulgaris. In the southwestern Adriatic Sea, along ~200 km of coast (∼1° in latitude, 41.2° to 40.2°N), variability of ELT was assessed at multiple spatial scales. Overall, PLD (ranging from 25 to 61 d) and spawning dates (October 2009 to February 2010) …

Effects of Nautical Traffic and Noise on Foraging Patterns of Mediterranean Damselfish (Chromis chromes)

2012

Chromis chromis is a key species in the Mediterranean marine coastal ecosystems where, in summer, recreational boating and its associated noise overlap. Anthropogenic noise could induce behavioural modifications in marine organisms, thereby affecting population dynamics. In the case of an important species for the ecosystem like C. chromis, this could rebound on the community structure. Here, we measured nautical traffic during the summer of 2007 in a Southern Mediterranean Marine Protected Area (MPA) and simultaneously the feeding behaviour of C. chromis was video-recorded, within both the no-take A-zone and the B-zone where recreational use is allowed. Feeding frequencies, escape reaction…