MONTEFALCONE M.

The intense human pressures in the Anthropocene epoch are causing an alarming decline in marine coastal ecosystems and an unprecedented loss of biodiversity. This situation underscores the urgency of making ecological restoration a global priority to recover degraded ecosystems. Meadows of the endemic Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica...

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The Mediterranean Sea supports high levels of biodiversity and complexity but is facing increasing human pressures, so that strategies to protect and recover its ecosystems must be a priority in environmental policies. Benthic cartography represents the first step of marine spatial planning for the proper management and protection of our sea....

Two severe heat waves triggered coral bleaching and mass mortality in the Maldives in 1998 and 2016. Analysis of live coral cover data from 1997 to 2019 in shallow (5 m depth) reefs of the Maldives showed that the 1998 heat wave caused more than 90% of coral mortality leaving only 6.8 ± 0.3% of survived corals in all the shallow reefs...

The intensification of dredging and infilling activities in lagoons and on coral reefs are common practices in the Maldivian archipelago, and these activities alter the biodiversity of the bioconstructors and the functioning of the ecosystem. The alteration of environmental factors can also affect inconspicuous fauna, such as free-living...

We investigated possible synergic effects on coral reefs of the local land reclamation activities in the Himmafushi Island (North Malè atoll, Maldives) and the global bleaching event that affected the Maldives in 2016. A BACI (Before-After Control-Impact) sampling design was adopted to contrast effects of dredging activities before and after...

Three species of the tropical hydrocoral genus Millepora were common and abundant in the Maldives before 1998, characterizing extensive shallow reef areas known as 'Millepora zones'. The 1998 heat wave resulted in mass mortality of all the Millepora species, the characteristic Millepora zones disappeared, and only a few observations of isolated...

The Ligurian Sea (NW Mediterranean) has been a focal point for numerous interventions aimed at restoring Posidonia oceanica meadows. The success of pioneer restoration actions in France during the 1970s stimulated similar initiatives across the Mediterranean Sea. Early attempts in the Ligurian Sea were implemented in 1993 and 1996 on limited...

Stylasterids belong to one of the few calcifying hydroid families that are commonly found in shallow tropical coral reefs. Although these corals are accurately described from a taxonomic point of view, information about their ecology is scarce. Distichopora violacea is one of the most common stylasterids of the Indo-Pacific region; however, no...

Structure and spatial variability of coralligenous assemblages of the Apulian continental shelf in the southern Adriatic Sea were investigated. The area consists of small coralligenous outcrops distributed between 30 and 100 m of depth on coarse detritic or muddy bottom. Photographic samples, obtained through a Remotely Operated Vehicle, were...

Shallow hydrothermal vents emit warm water, carbon dioxide, toxic chemicals, nutrients and reduced compounds that altogether mimic climate and human impacts, and are therefore considered as 'natural laboratories' at which can be investigated the effects of these stressors on marine ecosystems. One of the effects more thoroughly investigated is...

The Serpulidae are a large family of sedentary polychaetes, characterized by a calcareous habitation tube, which they cannot leave. The calcium carbonate tube is in the form of both aragonite and calcite, in fairly constant ratio for each taxon. Tubes are cemented firmly to any hard substrate (in only few species tubes are free). Although in...

Marine caves are unique and vulnerable habitats threatened by multiple global and local pressures. Changes in the sessile epibenthic community of the Grotta Azzurra of Capo Palinuro (Salerno, Italy) during the last 26 years have been evaluated using growth forms and trophic guilds as non-taxonomic descriptors, informative of the structure and...

Maldivian coral reefs have been experiencing significant degradation due to a combination of global climate change and local anthropogenic pressures. To enforce the conservation of coral reefs worldwide, coral restoration is becoming a popular tool to restore ecosystems actively. In the Maldives, restoration interventions are performed only...

1. Detailed knowledge about the distribution of species in need of protection is required for the management of Marine Protected Areas, a major tool to reduce marine biodiversity loss. Such knowledge is deficient for most marine invertebrates. 2. Axinella polypoides is a marine sponge included on the list of protected species by the Barcelona...

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Coastal urbanization and the consequent proliferation of artificial structures greatly impact rocky reef communities, productive and diverse marine environments that play a crucial role in the functioning of broader coastal ecosystems. This study, conducted along a 7 km stretch of coastline at increasing distance from the port of Genoa...