Search results for "Fish"
showing 10 items of 3164 documents
The marine Crustacea Decapoda of Sicily (central Mediterranean Sea): A checklist with remarks on their distribution
2003
A checklist of the Crustacea Decapoda of Sicily, based on pre viously published records and on original data, is presented. The Sicilian waters were divided into three sectors to account for the different habitats present along the northern and western (sector A), eastern (B) and southern (C) coasts, for the sake of a better interpretation of the species distribution. A total of 186 species was recorded between 0 and 800 m depth, 31 of which are re ported here for the first time. Sector A hosted 153 species, B 105 species, and C 117 species. The dissimilarities among the habitats present in the shallow waters of the three sectors accounted for the low co-occurrence of species: 30 species …
Influence of environmental factors on small cetacean distribution in the Spanish Mediterranean
2008
Habitat distribution models are one of the most up to date methods to study the habitat usage of wildlife populations. They allow animal distribution to be related to environmental features and also the prediction of the distribution of animals based on this relationship. Seasonal aerial surveys were conducted in central Spanish Mediterranean waters from June 2000 to March 2003 to obtain information on the distribution of cetacean species. Data from the three most common cetacean species (striped dolphin,Stenella coeruleoalba, bottlenose dolphin,Tursiops truncatus, and Risso's dolphin,Grampus griseus) were related, using generalized linear models, to local environmental features: depth, slo…
Cephalopods in the diet of the striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba from the western Mediterranean during an epizootic in 1990
1995
Fifteen cephalopod species from 28 stomach contents of striped dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba (Meyen, 1833), stranded during an epizootic on the western Mediterranean coast in summer 1990, were analysed. Albraliopsis pfefferi, Onychoteuthis banksii, Todarodes sagittatus and Brachioteuthis riisei are species showing higher relative importance indices. Composition and characteristics of cephalopod preys were discussed and compared to the scarce literature for this cetacean. The data showed a mixed diet of muscular and gelatinous body squids, mainly consisting of oceanic and pelagic or bathypelagic species.
An insight into the status of the striped dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba, of the southern Tyrrenian Sea
2007
Drift-nets are known to result in high incidental catches of some cetacean species. Despite a UN moratorium on their use in the high seas and a ban in the Mediterranean by all European Union countries, including Italy (EC Reg. 1239/98), some fisheries continue to operate illegally. In 2002 and 2003 three line-transect surveys were conducted in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea around the Aeolian archipelago. These transects were designed to assess the presence, distribution and population size of cetacean species likely to be affected by accidental captures in this area. Data were only sufficient to estimate abundance for the striped dolphin. The best estimate (and first such estimate for this ar…
SOIL QUALITY INDICATORS AS AFFECTED BY SHALLOW TILLAGE IN A VINEYARD GROWN IN A SEMIARID MEDITERRANEAN ENVIRONMENT
2016
Within the Mediterranean basin, soil tillage enhances the mineralisation of soil organic matter. We assessed the short-term impact of shallow tillage [field cultivator (FC), rotary tiller (RT) and spading machine (SM)] on some soil quality indicators [bulk density, water-stable aggregates, total and labile organic C pools (microbial biomass and extractable organic C), soil respiration and related eco-physiological indexes] in a Sicilian vineyard. Also no tillage was included. We hypothesized that (i) RT and FC worsened soil quality indicators more than SM, and (ii) within the same tillage system, labile C pools, soil respiration and eco-physiological indexes will respond more efficiently th…
Occurrence of Edwardsiella tarda in wild European eels Anguilla anguilla from Mediterranean Spain
2007
Pure cultures of Edwarsiella tarda were isolated from body ulcers and internal organs of wild European eels caught in a Mediterranean freshwater coastal lagoon (Albufera Lake, Valencia, Spain) over a 1 yr period. Overall, the E. tarda isolation rate from wild eels was 9%, but this increased to 22.8% in diseased individuals. All 22 E. tarda isolates belonged to the 'wild-type' biogroup of the species and were virulent for eels (lethal dose that kills 50% of exposed individuals [LD50 dose]: 10(4.85) to 10(6.83) CFU ind.(-1)), and therefore represented the aetiological agent of the haemorrhagic disease observed in wild European eels. The E. tarda isolates and E. tarda CECT 894T type strain wer…
Seasonal patterns of biodiversity in Mediterranean coastal lagoons
2019
Aim: Understanding and quantifying the seasonal patterns in biodiversity of phyto- benthos, macro-zoobenthos and fishes in Mediterranean coastal lagoons, and the species dependence upon environmental factors. Location: The study was carried out in the “Stagnone di Marsala e Saline di Trapani e Paceco,” the largest coastal lagoon system in the central Mediterranean Sea (Sicily, Italy), a Special Protection Area located along one of the central ecological corridors joining Africa and Europe. Methods: The coastal lagoon system was selected as a model ecosystem to investi- gate the seasonal variations in biodiversity indices and dominance–diversity relation- ships in phytobenthos, macro-zoobent…
Multi proxy analysis for reconstructing the late Holocene evolution of a Mediterranean Coastal Lagoon: Environmental variables within foraminiferal a…
2020
Abstract This study reconstructs the evolution of foraminiferal assemblages and the environmental variables (type of substrate, content in calcium carbonate and content in organic matter) in the Valencia lagoon (western Mediterranean) in response to changes in the late Holocene. In this area of low tidal range, several multiproxy analyses were carried out to determine which environmental variables influence the distribution of the fossil assemblage, and its association with global, regional or local climatic phenomena. The statistical results show that in environments with higher exposure to marine conditions, the calcium carbonate content is the dominant factor, whereas in more restricted …
Political and economic fisheries management in the Channel of Sicily
2006
Fishery activities in the Mediterranean Sea are characterized by a number of distinctive features which include relative extension of national to international waters, straddling and shared stocks, overall characteristics of fishing activities, availability of scientific information and the absence of a policy fisheries management in many coastal States. Therefore, the principal objective of this paper is to portray a framework on the politics of management of the fish resources in the Channel of Sicily, by examining both the CFP in the Mediterranean or the Italian–Tunisian relationship, and then to inspect the fishing effort of the Sicilians and Tunisian productive structures to carry out …
Comparing different methods to determine soil physical quality in a mediterranean forest and pasture land
2016
Soil physical quality (SPQ) can be assessed by different experimental methodologies and criteria and the optimal/critical values or ranges for SPQ indicators are still approximate. Sampling soils with minimal anthropic pressures should allow improvements in SPQ assessment. Different experimental methodologies and criteria were applied to sample a Mediterranean oak forest (Quercus ilex L.) and pasture land, in Sicily, with a varying degree of anthropic disturbance. Soil water retention was determined in the laboratory and the field, using the BEST (Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters) procedure of soil hydraulic characterization. Capacity-based indicators, the S index, and locatio…