Search results for "WATER"
showing 10 items of 9348 documents
Diet and trophic niche of the invasive signal crayfish in the first invaded Italian stream ecosystem.
2021
The occurrence of the signal crayfsh Pacifastacus leniusculus in the Valla Stream was the frst established population of this invasive species recorded in an Italian stream ecosystem. We evaluated the seasonality of diet and trophic niche of invasive signal crayfsh in order to estimate the ecological role and efects on native communities of the stream ecosystem. We studied the diferences in food source use between sexes, life stages and seasons using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses. To supplement stable isotope analyses, we evaluated food source usage using traditional stomach content analysis. We tested the hypothesis that juveniles have a diferent diet, showing diferent trophi…
Effectiveness of European Atlanto-Mediterranean MPAs: Do they accomplish the expected effects on populations, communities and ecosystems?
2008
The success of MPAs in conserving fishing resources and protecting marine biodiversity relies strongly on how well they meet their planned (or implicit) management goals. From a review of empirical studies aiming at assessing the ecological effects of Mediterranean and Macaronesian MPAs, we conclude that establishing an MPA is successful for (i) increasing the abundance/biomass, (ii) increasing the proportion of larger/older individuals, and (iii) enhancing the fecundity of commercially harvested populations; also, MPAs demonstrated to be effective for (iv) augmenting local fishery yields through biomass exportation from the protected area, and (v) inducing shifts in fish assemblage structu…
Multi-zone marine protected areas: Assessment of ecosystem and fisheries benefits using multiple ecosystem models
2020
12 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, 1 appendix supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2020.105232
Moving Toward a Strategy for Addressing Climate Displacement of Marine Resources: A Proof-of-Concept
2020
Realistic predictions of climate change effects on natural resources are central to adaptation policies that try to reduce these impacts. However, most current forecasting approaches do not incorporate species-specific, process-based biological information, which limits their ability to inform actionable strategies. Mechanistic approaches, incorporating quantitative information on functional traits, can potentially predict species- and population-specific responses that result from the cumulative impacts of small-scale processes acting at the organismal level, and can be used to infer population-level dynamics and inform natural resources management. Here we present a proof-of-concept study…
Predicting marine species distributions: complementarity of food-web and Bayesian hierarchical modelling approaches
2019
16 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables, 1 appendix
Extending full protection inside existing marine protected areas, or reducing fishing effort outside, can reconcile conservation and fisheries goals
2020
Most fish stocks world-wide are fished at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) or overfished, as many fisheries management strategies have failed to achieve sustainable fishing. Identifying effective fisheries management strategies has now become urgent. Here, we developed a spatially explicit metapopulation model accounting for population connectivity in the north-western Mediterranean Sea, and parameterized it for three ecologically and economically important coastal fish species: the white seabream Diplodus sargus, the two-banded seabream Diplodus vulgaris and the dusky grouper Epinephelus marginatus. We used the model to assess how stock biomass and catches respond to changes in fishing mort…
Spatial genetic structure in the saddled sea bream (Oblada melanura [Linnaeus, 1758]) suggests multi-scaled patterns of connectivity between protecte…
2016
Marine protected areas (MPAs) and networks of MPAs are advocated worldwide for the achievement of marine conservation objectives. Although the knowledge about population connectivity is considered fundamental for the optimal design of MPAs and networks, the amount of information available for the Mediterranean Sea is currently scarce. We investigated the genetic structure of the saddled sea bream (Oblada melanura) and the level of genetic connectivity between protected and unprotected locations, using a set of 11 microsatellite loci. Spatial patterns of population differentiation were assessed locally (50–100 km) and regionally (500–1000 km), considering three MPAs of the Western Mediterran…
Innovative alternative technologies to extract carotenoids from microalgae and seaweeds
2016
Marine microalgae and seaweeds (microalgae) represent a sustainable source of various bioactive natural carotenoids, including β-carotene, lutein, astaxanthin, zeaxanthin, violaxanthin and fucoxanthin. Recently, the large-scale production of carotenoids from algal sources has gained significant interest with respect to commercial and industrial applications for health, nutrition, and cosmetic applications. Although conventional processing technologies, based on solvent extraction, offer a simple approach to isolating carotenoids, they suffer several, inherent limitations, including low efficiency (extraction yield), selectivity (purity), high solvent consumption, and long treatment times, w…
Profiling Suspensions in Natural Water by a Simplified Dynamic Light Scattering Procedure and Sedimentation
2015
Abstract A coherent light scattering experiment was carried out. The samples were aqueous natural water suspensions picked from the same river. While sedimentation occurred in the samples, they were subjected to a dynamic light scattering (DLS) experiment and the time series was recorded at certain time intervals. For each recording, a program written for this purpose, performing at least square minimisation, computed the average diameter of the particles in suspension. The variation of the average diameter in time indicates the dominant type of suspensions in water.
Synergistic reduction of a native key herbivore performance by two non-indigenous invasive algae
2019
Abstract Native generalist grazers can control the populations of non-indigenous invasive algae (NIIA). Here, it was found that the simultaneous consumption of two co-occurring NIIA, Caulerpa cylindracea and C. taxifolia var. distichophylla, hinders the grazing ability of the main Mediterranean herbivorous, the native sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. The ingestion of any of the two NIIA alone did not produce any difference in sea urchin righting time with respect to usual algal diet. In contrast, the simultaneous consumption of both NIIA, which grow intermingled in nature and are consumed by P. lividus, retarded its righting behavior. Such result reveals substantial physiological stress in…