Wiser in a nutshell: WISER will support the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) by developing tools for the integrated assessment of the ecological status of European surface waters.

Unità coinvolte:

• Giorgio Mancinelli - ricercatore
• Maurizio Pinna - ricercatore
• Franca Sangiorgio - tecnico
• Fabio Vignes – tecnico
• Annita Fiocca – tecnico tempo determinato
• Federica Lugoli - assegnista
• Ilaria Rosati – assegnista

• Barbone, E., Rosati, I., Reizopoulou, S., Basset, A. (2011) Linking classification boundaries to sources of natural variability in transitional waters: a case study of benthic macroinvertebrates. Ecological Indicators published online
• Borja, A., Barbone, E., Basset, A., Borgersen, G., Brkljacic, M., Elliott, M., Garmendia, J.M., Marques, J.C., Mazik, K., Muxika, I., Neto, J.M., Norling, K., Rodríguez, J.G., Rosati, I., Rygg, B., Teixeira, H., Trayanova, A. Response of single benthic metrics and multi-metric methods to anthropogenic pressure gradients, in five distinct European coastal and transitional ecosystems (2011) Marine Pollution Bulletin, 62 (3), pp. 499-513. 
• Borja, A, Barbone, E, Basset, A, Borgersen, G, Brkljacic, M, Garmendia, JM, Marques, JC, Mazik, K Muxika, I, Neto, JM, Norling, K, Rodríguez, JG, Rosati, I, Rygg, B, Teixeira, H, Trayanova, A (2011) Manuscript on the responses of existing indicators to different pressures WISER D4.3-1
• Henriksen, P, Revilla, M, Lehtinen, S, Kauppila, P, Kaitala, S, Agusti, S, Icely, J, Basset, A, Moncheva, S, Sørensen, K (2011) Assessment of pigment data potential for multi-species and assemblage indices WISER Deliverable D4.1-2
• Barbone, E., Basset, A. Hydrological constraints to macrobenthic fauna biodiversity in transitional waters ecosystems (2010) Rendiconti Lincei, 21 (4), pp. 301-314.
• Basset, A. Aquatic science and the water framework directive: A still open challenge towards ecogovernance of aquatic ecosystems (2010) Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 20 (3), pp. 245-249.

This project involves 5 partners, three from contributing countries, Italy, France and Spain (Galicia), and two from other Mediterranean countries, that will be considered as subcontractors, Albania and Tunisia, respectively from Italy and France. The duration of the project is of 24 months. All partners are Public entities with strong skills in the ambit of transitional water biodiversity researches. The project fits very well with the needs of CIRCLE topic 1 “Adaptation Strategies in the Water Sector and Coastal Zones”. Here, it is proposed a research project to address directly the relationships between community and ecosystems properties of Mediterranean lagoon ecosystems and those temperature and salinity changes, which are going to be the immediate effects of climate changes on the environmental niche of Mediterranean lagoon ecosystems.
The project has three main aims: (1) to contribute to reinforce the theoretical background linking climate changes to community and ecosystem level responses in Mediterranean lagoons; (2) to test the expected relationships with already existing data; (3) to develop experimental protocols to evaluate the actual influence of climate changes on the Mediterranean lagoon ecology, in comparison with human activity induced changes.
The project is structured into three main actions, which reflects three main WPs. WP1 is Project coordination and management, the other WPs are:WP2 (Philosophy): Develop Dahlem-type workshops on the understanding of pure climate change influence on Mediterranean lagoon community and ecosystem ecology;WP3 (Organisation): Implement a Mediterranean data-base on the biodiversity of Mediterranean lagoons; particular attention will be given to phytoplankton and macrozoobenthos communities, fishery productivity and nursery areas changes.WP4 (Ecological Inference): Describe the existing relationships between temperature/salinity changes and structural and functional properties of Mediterranean lagoon ecosystems, using the space gradients as a proxy for the expected time gradient.WP3 and WP4 are supported by the conceptual models and scientific hypothesis developed as a result of WP2.Future exploitation of project results will be harmonization of biological indicators in transitional waters ecosystems, support in the implementation of Water Framework Directive and in ICZM at Mediterranean level.

Unità coinvolte:

• Giorgio Mancinelli - ricercatore
• Maurizio Pinna - ricercatore
• Franca Sangiorgio - tecnico
• Fabio Vignes - tecnico
• Nicola Fiore
• Ilaria Rosati
• Luigi Potenza

• Basset, A, Barbone, E, Elliott, M, Li, BL, Jorgensen, SE, Lucena-Moyá, P, Pardo, I, Mouillot, D (2011) A unifying approach to understanding transitional waters: fundamental properties emerging from ecotone ecosystems. ECSS submitted

1. an image analysis system, which represent a significant update of the existing systems in terms of accuracy of bio-volume quantification, by supplying automatically an identification key tool for the most common phytoplankton genus occurring in transitional and coastal waters and a guide for taking the biometric measurements according to the best approximation of the tri-dimensional model of cell bio-volume;
2. the methodological standardizations and the certification of ecological descriptors of aquatic ecosystem health based on the analysis of phytoplankton size spectra; and
3. a data analysis software for the statistical analysis of the collected data, the size spectra analysis and quantification of all phytoplankton descriptors, and the classification of the sample according to the requirements of the main national and international directives and laws.
The realisation of the project, where Lecce University will have the task to develop the scientific research for the ecological and information technology innovation required and shares with private partners the task of the development of the image analysis software, will have strong territorial follow up, supporting the development of private initiatives in the very promising niche sector of environmental software, reinforcing the monitoring system of Puglia region, on which tourist fruition relies, and promoting a further internationalisation of the Lecce University in the field of basic and applied ecology.

Unità coinvolte:

• Giorgio Mancinelli - ricercatore
• Maurizio Pinna - ricercatore
• Franca Sangiorgio - tecnico
• Fabio Vignes - tecnico
• Annita Fiocca
• Maria Cellamare
• Nicola Fiore
• Renata Pilkaityte
• Lea Roselli
• Angelica Semeraro
• Elena Stanca

If not managed appropriately, human activities can negatively affect the health of ecosystems, which is then reflected in a reduction of goods and services that the ecosystems provide to the human community. Health is a property of ecosystems whose components, i.e. vigour, organization and stability, are the result of various energy and thermodynamic aspects with behavioural consequences in terms of the relations between individuals and populations. Metabolic theory has recently provided the conceptual tools for the mechanistic decoding of both the thermodynamic and behavioural aspects pertaining to the components of ecosystem health in terms of the simple dependence of energetic and behaviours at the individual level on the body size of the individuals themselves. One of the central aspects of metabolic theory is interspecies coexistence, which is the key to understanding the functional link between the influence of body size on the energetics and behaviours of individuals, and processes and properties at the community and ecosystem levels. In this project, the UNISALENTO research unit proposes to investigate the role of body size in the organization of communities in transitional aquatic ecosystems and to evaluate the potential of individual body size as a tool for decoding the properties of vigour, organization and stability and for estimating ecosystem health. To this end, a research project is presented which includes laboratory studies designed to describe and quantify, in benthic detritivore species, the dependence on body size of energetic and the perception and use of space by individuals, and field studies to describe body size distribution models in detritivore corporations and to evaluate the influence of body size on population distribution and abundance and on energy use along the gradients of variation which are characteristic of ecosystems. The object of the field studies will be the benthic detritivore corporations in Acquatina, a non-tidal lagoon in the Salento peninsular, situated 13 km North-East of Lecce, whose distribution and energy use patterns will be compared with those of the phytoplankton and nektonic corporations of the same ecosystem and with those of the invertebrate detritivore corporations of two other non-tidal lagoons in southern Italy, the Marsala pool and the Santa Gilla pool near Cagliari, characterised by anthropogenic pressures and perturbation gradients (both internal and percolating from the catchment area) that are much greater than those recorded in Acquatina. The analysis at the individual level of the dependence of energetic and behaviours on individual size in co-variation with the gradients of temperature, salinity and nutrients in transitional ecosystems represents a tool for evaluating ecosystem-level thermodynamic components such as vigour and load-carrying capacity, quantifiable with reference to the (“upper bounds”) of the size-abundance and size-energy distributions, and for interpreting the relations between species described by models of the distribution of the numerical abundances of populations and energy use with individual body size. From the analysis of the role of individual body size in the relations between species, direct inferences may be drawn concerning ecosystem organisation, which also represents a component of the ecosystem property known as health. The role of non-taxonomic tools in the description of the state of health of aquatic ecosystems has recently become an issue of great interest in Europe in the wake of the publication of the Water Framework Directive. Of the non-taxonomic tools, those linked to body size are of particular interest because individual body size is relatively easy to quantify, it can easily be made the object of automated procedures, it allows for the inter-calibration of the results of different laboratories and, above all, there is a firm theoretical basis describing its influence at the individual, population, community and ecosystem levels. The UNISALENTO research unit has a strong track record of research into these issues. In this context, the results gathered will make it possible to evaluate the response of size-based descriptors of aquatic ecosystem health along gradients of stress – both internal and percolating from outside – and to provide the other research units interacting in the project with an independent estimate of the level of stress perceived by individuals along the potential perturbation gradients, on which experimental analyses will be performed in the field.

Unità coinvolte:

• Giorgio Mancinelli - ricercatore
• Maurizio Pinna - ricercatore
• Franca Sangiorgio - tecnico
• Fabio Vignes – tecnico
• Annita Fiocca – tecnico
• Elena Stanca - assegnista

• Sangiorgio F., Glazier D. S., Mancinelli G., Basset A. - 2010 How can habitat size influence leaf litter decomposition in five mid-Appalachian springs (USA)? The importance of the structure of the detritivorous guild. Hydrobiologia 654: 227-236
• Sangiorgio F., Dragan S., Rosati I., Teodorof L., Staras M., Georgescu L., Basset A. - 2008
  Decomposition of reed swamp detritus in the Danube Delta: a case study of four eutrophic systems. Transitional Waters Bulletin 2(4): 26-37 DOI Code: DOI 10.1285/i1825229Xv2n4p26

The project proposes support actions for the management of lagoons and transitional aquatic ecosystems of the coastal Adriatic space. Its primal goal is to overcome the current fragmentation of competences and knowledge, connecting within a common network the agencies appointed to monitoring the health state of aquatic ecosystems with academic/research institutions providing the eco-technological innovations and the professional training to human resources specialized in environmental monitoring. The project is fully consistent with the 1st Axis, 1.1 Measure, 1.1.1 Action (integrated management and development of coastal zones) of the INTERREG IIIA program. The project plan provides that the governance of the Adriatic coastal space will be supported by I) short-term actions, represented by the exchange of know-how and best practice, sharing of methodological protocols for the management of transitional coastal ecosystems, identification of tools for performance assessment of ecosystem management procedures and II) long-term actions, represented by the individuation and promotion of joint training protocols co-managed by administrations, agencies and academic institutions, eventually culminating in the institution and activation of a two-year study course which will train specialized personnel in the application of monitoring and managing procedures standardized across the whole Adriatic basin.

Objectives:
The implementation of a development politics conjugating conventional economical and social aspects with the protection of the environment and the sustainable exploitation of natural resources represents an issue of strategic importance for the future economical development of countries afferent to the Adriatic coastal space. In particular, it is to date apparent the need for integrated economical strategies explicitly considering within their action plans the protection and management of environmental marine resources at a transnational scale.
Assuming the environment among the crucial determinants of social and economical development implies the adoption of a renewed environmental politics shifting from an institutional management based on centralized actions of command and control to a de-centralized form, involving and making responsible the socio-economical operators and stakeholders at a local and transnational scale in terms of sustainable production, eco-compatible development and limitation of environmental costs. Transitional aquatic ecosystems are of pivotal importance within the Adriatic coastal space, as their integrity and functioning is historically impacted by direct - within the systems themselves - and indirect through the adjacent marine and terrestrial environments anthropogenic activities. The extended infrastructuration, the changes in settling strategies, the increase in human mobility, the widespread diffusion within the territory of industrial facilities and the transformation of agricultural productive processes are only a few examples of socio-economical phenomena which have increased and diversified the spectrum of human-originated perturbations over coastal aquatic transitional environments in the last decades.
Current rules of law for the protection of transitional coastal environments envisage recovery and reclamation actions limiting the utmost negative effects due to human perturbations and aiming at the recovery of an acceptable state of ecological quality within a general context of substantial equilibrium of the system. Yet, in practice the necessary methodological tools are still not completely available, and the professional expertises lack of standardization in the procedural protocols employed for the assessment of the quality state of transitional coastal ecosystems.
Only making use of personnel whose specialized technical skills have been based on a training programme shared at the scale of the Adriatic basin, the institutions will be able to accomplish an effective and integrated management of transitional environments and to implement common strategies pledging the sustainable exploitation of their biological and hydrological resources.
Additionally, institutional organisms will be able to define general criteria for the localization of productive facilities of ecoregional interest, recognizing at the same time the characteristics of vulnerability, weaknesses and potentiality of the transitional coastal ecosystems. This approach will allow to schedule and to establish effective actions for the protection and conservation of the environment, contrasting both unpremeditated and voluntary alterations of transitional coastal ecosystems.
The general aim of the Eco-Governance project is to increase, and if necessary to create, co-operative and networking relationships between environmental agencies and the academic and research institutions within a transnational framework. In particular, the project proposes to support the governance of the Adriatic coastal space through sharing actions culminating with the institution and activation of a two-year study course which will train specialized personnel in monitoring and managing procedures standardized for the whole Adriatic basin. The structure as well the outcomes of the training programme, in terms of condivision and co-management, will be guaranteed as completely consistent with the administrations’ needs starting from the selection of the students, which will be carried out by the administrations themselves.
The ultimate goal is to structurally compose and join the request of competences and specialized training at a transnational spatial scale. In particular, adopting the intervention typologies provided by the community Programme INTERREG IIIA Italy-Adriatic (i.e., pilot projects for the networking of environmental institutions and agencies, joint pilot studies for the management of the Adriatic ecosystem; environmental monitoring system and networking of institutions) the Eco-Governance project envisages the achievement of three main operative objectives:
- Creation and implementation of a transadriatic Technical-Scientific Table for the management and control of transitional aquatic ecosystems.
- Institution and activation of a two-year study course for 25 students.
- Accomplishment of pilot governance actions.

Unità coinvolte:

• Giorgio Mancinelli - ricercatore
• Maurizio Pinna - ricercatore
• Franca Sangiorgio - tecnico
• Fabio Vignes - tecnico

The project is designed to improve and reinforce conservation of natural heritage in  protected transitional ecosystems and to  enlarge their sustainable fruition. The  strategic objective are: (1) to ameliorate conservation of natural heritage health in protected transitional waters of  the CADSES area, by deepening knowledge, producing technological innovation, reinforcing regulation and overcoming fragmentation of expertise and competencies; (2) to reinforce territorial integration on environmental policy in the CADSES area; (3) to translate effort on conservation into sustainable development strategies, creation of new jobs opportunities and improvement of quality of life.
The project is organized into the following areas:  environmental,  socio-economic, and   networking-communication.
Environmental project area will promote studies and pilot actions on transitional protected areas, focusing on Ramsar and Nature 2000 sites, to address the following specific objectives: 1.  to measure anthropogenic pressures; 2. to define state variables relevant to monitor natural heritage safety; 3. to develop methodological and technological innovation in the field of ecological descriptors
Concrete results

• creation of an e-Centre, as project infrastructure, networking ecosystems, reducing knowledge fragmentation and improving conservation, translating conservation into sustainable development strategies and new jobs opportunities, ensuring the Project sustainability;
• quantification of external pressures on the protected transitional waters, including  Ramsar and Nature 2000 sites, producing GIS maps at regional, national and Eco-regional level (approx. 24 maps);
• development of new and innovative descriptors (6, listed in activity section) for effective monitoring and conservation of TW ecological status, particularly at Ramsar and Nature 2000 sites;
• proposal of new Nature 2000 sites;
• reinforcing of legal and institutional protection on transitional aquatic ecosystems through the elaboration of an handbook of regulation;

Unità coinvolte:

• Maurizio Pinna - ricercatore
• Franca Sangiorgio - tecnico
• Fabio Vignes – tecnico

• Basset A., L. Sabetta, F. Sangiorgio, M. Pinna, D. Migoni, F. Fanizzi, E. Barbone, N. Galuppo, S. Fonda Umani, S. Reizopoulou, A. Nicolaidou, C. Arvanitidis, S. Moncheva, A. Trajanova, L. Georgescu, S. Beqiraj – 2008 Biodiversity conservation in Mediterranean and Black Sea lagoons: a trait-oriented approach to benthic invertebrate guilds. Aquatic Conservation, Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems Special Issue 18S: 4-15
• Evagelopoulos A., Koutsoubas D., Basset A., Pinna M., Dimitriadis C., Sangiorgio F., Barbone E., Maidanou M., Koulouri P. and Dounas C. 2008. – Spatial and seasonal variability of the macrobenthic fauna in Mediterranean solar saltworks ecosystems. Aquatic Conservation, Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 18S1: 118-134.
• Orfanidis S., M. Pinna, L. Sabetta, N. Stamatis, K. Nakou 2008 – Variation of structural and functional metrics in macrophyte communities within two habitats of eastern Mediterranean coastal lagoons: natural versus human effects Aquatic Conservation Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, Special Issue 18S1: 45-61
• Ponti M., Pinna M., Basset A., Moncheva S., Trajanova A., Georgescu L. P., Beqiraj S., Orfanidis S. and Abbiati M., 2008. Quality assessment of Mediterranean and Black Sea transitional waters: comparing responses of benthic biotic indices. Aquatic Conservation Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, Special Issue 18S1: 62-75
• Sabetta L., M. R. Vadrucci, A. Fiocca, E. Stanca, C. Mazziotti, C. Ferrari, M. Cabrini, E. Kongjka, A. Basset – 2008 Phytoplankton size structure in transitional water ecosystems: a comparative analysis of descriptive tools . Aquatic Conservation, Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems Special Issue 18S: 76-87
• Sangiorgio F., Basset A., Pinna M., Sabetta L., Abbiati M., Ponti M., Minocci M., Orfanidis S., Nicolaidou A., Moncheva S., Trajanova A., Georgescu L., Dragan S., Beqiraj S., Koutsoubas D., Evagelopoulos A. and Reizopoulou S., 2008. Environmental factors affecting Phragmites australis litter decomposition in Mediterranean and Black Sea transitional waters. Aquatic Conservation, Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, Special Issue 18S1: 16-26
• Vadrucci M.R., L. Sabetta, A. Fiocca, C. Mazziotti, C. Silvestri, M. Cabrini, B. Guardiani, E. Konjka, A. Evangelopoulos, D. Koutsoubas, A. Basset 2008 – Statistical evaluation of differences in phytoplankton richness and abundance as constrained by environmental drivers in transitional waters of the Mediterranean basin . Aquatic Conservation, Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems Special Issue 18S: 88-104.
• Alemanno S., G. Mancinelli, A. Basset – 2007 A patch use behaviour approach to model leaf litter breakdown in aquatic environment. Transitional Waters Bulletin 1(2):47-57
• Basset A. TWRefernceNET: management and sustainable development of protected transitional waters – Transitional Waters Bulletin 1(3):1-2
• Beqirai S., M. Pinna, A. Basset, E. Nikleka, B. Fetahu, E. Doka, M. Ismailaj, E. Barbone, F. Sangiorgio, M. Fedele 2007 Preliminary data on the macrozoobenthos of the Albanian costal lagoons (lagoons of Patok,Karavasta,Natra) Transitional Waters Bulletin 1(3): 37-43
• Ponti M., M. Pinna, A. Trayanova, A. Basset, M. Abbiati 2007 Taxanomic benthic biotic indices in transitional waters: study cases from northern Adriatic and Black Sea Transitional Waters Bulletin 1(3): 29-32
• Sangiorgio F., A. Basset, M. Pinna, L. Sabetta, M. Abbiati, M. Ponti, M. Minocci, S. Orfanidis, A. Nicolaidou, S. Moncheva, A. Trayanova, L. Georgescu, S. Dragan, S. Beqiraj, D. Koutsoubas, A. Evagelopoulos, S. Reizopoulou 2007 - Ecosystem processes: litter breakdown patterns in Mediterranean and Black Sea transitional waters. Transitional Waters Bulletin 1(3): 51-55

Le coste del Mediterraneo sono punteggiate quasi in un continuum da una serie di ecosistemi acquatici, più o meno strettamente in contatto con il mare, caratterizzati dalle loro acque salmastre e da una ricca varietà di pesci, che ha sempre costituito una preziosa risorsa per le popolazioni locali. Questi ambienti comprendono le foci fluviali, le lagune propriamente dette e gli stagni costieri. Questi mbienti comprendono le foci fluviali, le lagune propriamente dette e gli stagni costieri. Anche la toponomastica sottolinea questa unitarietà delle acque salmastre mediterranee che vengono chiamate Stagno nell’Italia peninsulare, Stainu in Sardegna, Etang in Francia e Estanj in Catalogna.
Recentemente questa classificazione tradizionale delle acque salmastre mediterranee è stata modificata dall’entrata in vigore della Direttiva Comunitaria Acqua (WFD, 2000/60) che con un solo termine “Acque di transizione” ha raggruppato tutti gli ecosistemi salmastri europei. Le acque di transizione devono tutte le loro caratteristiche principali al fatto di essere sistemi in cui acqua dolce, acqua marina ed ecosistemi terrestri si incontrano. All’interfaccia con il mare le acque fluviali vengono frenate dalle masse marine, rallentano la propria corsa e quindi depositano gran parte dei materiali organici e inorganici che portano in sospensione. La stessa cosa succede all’acqua del mare dove correnti e moto ondoso sono frenati dall’acqua dolce in uscita e similmente rallentano.
Tutti gli ambienti lagunari condividono quindi alcune caratteristiche che li rendono tasselli preziosi nel mosaico ambientale costiero. Sono ecosistemi d’acqua interna poco profondi, ricchi di nutrienti e spesso di una abbondante e diversificata fauna ittica. Sia l’uomo e sia una grande varietà di uccelli migratori sfruttano da sempre queste caratteristiche degli ambienti lagunari. Per gli uccelli le lagune rappresentano “isole” di habitat lungo la rotta migratoria la cui ricchezza fornisce le energie necessarie per sostenere le fatiche di un lungo viaggio.
Gli ambienti lagunari forniscono anche altri servizi essenziali, anche se poco appariscenti, come sistema di supporto alla vita delle società umane nella biosfera. La composizione chimica dell’aria che respiriamo è in qualche modo mantenuta proprio da questo tipo di ecosistemi. Nelle acque di fondo all’interfaccia con i sedimenti, dove la respirazione degli organismi consuma tutto l’ossigeno presente, alcuni microrganismi del ciclo dell’azoto e dello zolfo ricavano l’energia per vivere da una reazione chimica: la denitrificazione, essenziale per la vita nella biosfera.
La ricchezza che caratterizza gli ecosistemi lagunari è soggetta alla minaccia di fenomeni che potremmo chiamare di inquinamento, di cui non sempre l’uomo è la causa, ma che certo sono resi più intensi e frequenti dall’enorme apporto di materiali fertilizzanti e pesticidi utilizzati dall’uomo e che tramite la rete di canali e corsi d’acqua giungono in tutti gli ecosistemi acquatici. Per questo motivo è necessario sviluppare una attenzione per quelle caratteristiche degli ecosistemi lagunari che forse sono meno appariscenti ma risultano essenziali nel determinare il loro funzionamento. Su questi aspetti il mondo scientifico, le agenzie, le amministrazioni stanno lavorando attivamente per sviluppare tutti quegli strumenti eco-tecnologici di controllo che ci consentano di capire prontamente quando lo stato ecologico delle nostre lagune inizia a peggiorare.

Il Laboratorio di Ecologia ha coordinato il monitoraggio delle acque di transizione in Puglia rendendo visibili i risultati al sito www.transitionalwaters.unile.it

Unità coinvolte:

• Fabio Vignes -tecnico
• Annita Fiocca - tecnico
• Ilaria Rosati – assegnista di ricerca
• Elena Stanca – borsista post-doc

• Vignes F., Barbone E., Breber P., D’Adamo R., Roselli L., Ungaro N., Focardi S., Renza M., Basset A., (2009). Spatial and temporal description of the dystrophic crisis in Lesina lagoon during summer 2008. Transitional Waters Bulletin; 3(2): 47-62
• Vadrucci M.R., Fiocca A.,  Vignes F., Fabbrocini A. , Roselli L. , D’Adamo R., Ungaro N., Basset A. (2009). Dynamics of phytoplankton guilds under dystrophic pressures in Lesina lagoon. Transitional Waters Bulletin; 3(2): 33-46
• Specchiulli A., D’Adamo R., Renzi M., Vignes F., Fabbrocini A., Scirocco T., Cilenti L., Florio M., Breber P., Basset A., (2009) Fluctuations of physicochemical characteristics in sediments and overlying water during an anoxic event: a case study from Lesina lagoon (SE Italy). Transitional Waters Bulletin; 3(2): 15-32
• Cilenti L., Scirocco T., Florio M., Specchiulli A., Barbone E., Rosati  I., Vignes F., Renzi M., Basset A., Breber P. (2009). Renewal time in a population of Abra segmentum (Mollusca, Bivalvia): a case of marked r strategy. Transitional Waters Bulletin; 3(2): 1-14

This project addressed the study of submerged marine caves. A priority habitat present within three MPAs sited on Italian shores. The aim of the project is providing useful tools, potentially exportable to other MPAs, that should be used to support decision processes to define strategies for future management of this habitat. The project received the collaboration of seven Local Research Units (ULR): University of Salento, Sassari, Genova, Catania, Ancona, Napoli and Palermo.  Each ULR on the basis of specific competences provided contributions to the development of four main research topics: i) Biodiversity inventory; ii) Impact assessment of touristic frequentation; iii) Vulnerability quantification; iv) Social and economical aspects. The four topics were identified in order to provide guidelines for setting activities of experimental monitoring and mitigation in the caves of the three MPAs (potentially also for the MPAs not included in the project). A secondary aspect dealt with the inclusion of the Capo Caccia and Punta Campanella MPAs in the list of Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI).

Unità coinvolte:

• Giuseppe Guarnieri
• Stanislao Bevilacqua

• Fraschetti S., Guarnieri G., Bevilacqua, S., Terlizzi A., Claudet J., Russo G.F., Boero. 2011. Conservation of Mediterranean habitats and biodiversity countdowns: What information do we really need? Aquatic Conserv: Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst, 21: 299–306
• Guarnieri G., Terlizzi A., Bevilacqua, S., Fraschetti S., Submitted Submarine caves: a common habitat with unique features deserving conservation priorities. Biological Conservation.

Marine reserves must be managed using an ecosystem-based approach. However, there is almost no practical application of this opportunity at relevant spatial scales, and no systematic method to implement it. A cost-effective method to determine the ecosystem status of marine reserves has been developed, to evaluate the efficacy of particular management measures, and hence to determine the need for additional management to fulfill conservation goals at the ecosystem level.These tools can be used by marine reserve managers and decision makers for establishing conservation priorities at different spatial scales, for supporting adaptive management to fulfill reserve goals, and most important, to accelerate the recovery and ensure the conservation of coastal ecosystems. This method has been applyed in Mediterranean rocky habitats, although the method can be adapted to other marine ecoregions.

Unità coinvolte:

• Fiorenza Micheli
• Eric Sala
• Giuseppe Guarnieri
• Stanislao Bevilacqua

• Fraschetti S., Terlizzi A., Boero F., (2008) How many habitat are there in the sea (and where)? Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 10.1016/j.jembe.2008.07.015. John Gray JEMBE Special Issue 366: 109–115
• Fraschetti S., D’Ambrosio P., Micheli F., Pizzolante F., Bussotti S., Terlizzi A. (2009) Planning Marine Protected Areas in a human-dominated seascape. Marine Ecology Progress Series 375: 13–24
• Claudet J., Fraschetti S. (2010). Human-driven impacts on marine habitats: a regional meta-analysis in the Mediterranean Sea. Biolological Conservation. Biological Conservation: 143 (9): 2195-2206
• Fraschetti S., Pizzolante F., D’Ambrosio P., Maiorano P., Beqiraj S.,Boero F. (2011) Effects of unplanned development on marine biodiversity: a lesson from Albania (central Mediterranean Sea. Journal of Coastal Research, 58:106-115

The intensification of human activities along coastlines in combination with large-scale climate events are causing major changes to marine and terrestrialbiodiversity. To develop adequate policies that guarantee the sustainable use of coastal resources, it is necessary to determine how ecological functions and services can be maintained in the face of increasing environmental uncertainty. The traditional approach to examine the effects of anthropogenic disturbances on biodiversità is to focus on specific drivers of change - e.g. point-source pollution. This approach is unlikely to capture the full range of environmental pressures that impinge on coastal organisms. An alternative strategy to cope with this complexity is to focus on the fundamental difference between large-scale and local processes in terms of the underlying patterns of variability. Whilst large-scale processes are characterised by large variability at low frequencies, localized processes that change abruptly in space or time display large variability at high frequencies. Thus, the response of biodiversity to the simultaneous influence of local and global environmental changes can be assessed by altering the patterns of variability of environmental drivers of change. In this project we will examine the synergistic effects of global vs. local disturbances on the ability of two key coastal systems - subtidal rocky reefs and coastal dunes - to resist to and to recover from perturbations. Using a combination of correlative and experimental approaches we will establish quantitative relationships between the resistance/resilience of these ecosystems and the degree of variability of environmental driving forces. Marine and terrestrial assemblages will be exposed to series of spatially autocorrelated and spatially independent disturbances to reflect large-scale (low frequency) disturbances and abrupt (high frequency) environmental changes, respectively. In doing so, we expert to identify general principles that govern the response of assemblages to increasing environmental fluctuations, independently of the identity of the environmental drivers of change. This project is expected to originate the necessary scientific understanding to anticipate the consequences of environmental variation on biodiversity, to provide managers with better tools to halt species extinctions and to guarantee long-term ecosystem functioning in the face of increasing climate variability.

Responsabile di progetto Prof. Benedetti-Cecchi, Responsabile Locale dell’Unità di Ricerca Prof. Simonetta. Fraschetti

Unità coinvolte:

• Joachim Claudet
• Laura Airoldi
• Giuseppe Guarnieri
• Stanislao Bevilacqua

• K. Iken, B. Konar, L. Benedetti-Cecchi, J. J. Cruz-Motta, A. Knowlton, G. Pohle, A. Mead, P. Miloslavich, M. Wong, T. Trott, N. Mieszkowska, R. Riosmena-Rodriguez, L. Airoldi, E. Kimani, Y. Shirayama, S. Fraschetti, M.l Ortiz Touzet, A. Silva (2010) Large-scale spatial distribution patterns of echinoderms in nearshore rocky habitats. Submitted
• L. Benedetti-Cecchi, L. Tamburello, C. Mora, H. K. Lotze, K. Iken, B. Worm, J. J. Cruz-Motta, B. Konar, I. Bertocci, A.L. Schmidt, L. Airoldi, C. Blanchette, B. Best, M. Burrows, S. Fraschetti, P. Raimondi, J. Roberts, D. Schiel, A. Terlizzi, K. I. Ugland, E. Wieters (2010) Environmental drivers of beta diversity in marine ecosystems. Poster presentato al congresso "A Decade of Discovery - Census of Marine Life 2010", 4-6 October 2010, London, England
• Vandepitte, L., Vanhoorne, B., Kraberg A., Anisimova N., Antoniadou C., Araújo R., Bartsch I., Beker B., Benedetti-Cecchi L., Cochrane S., Cooper K., Craeymeersch J., Crisp D.J., Christou E., Dahle S., de Boissier M., de Kluijver M., Denisenko S., De Vito D., Duineveld G., Escaravage V., Fleischer D., Fraschetti S., e altri 36 autori (2010). Data integration for European marine biodiversity research: creating a database on benthos and plankton to study large-scale patterns and long-term changes. Hydrobiologia 644, 1-13.
• Bevilacqua S., Fraschetti S., Musco L., Terlizzi A. (2009) Taxonomic sufficiency in the detection of natural and human-induced variations in marine assemblages: habitats and taxonomic groups compared. Mar. Poll. 58: 1850–1859
• Guarnieri G., Terlizzi T., Bevilacqua S., Fraschetti S. (2009) Local vs. regional effects of substrate on early colonization stages of sessile assemblages. Biofouling 25, 7:593-604
• Bevilacqua S., Fraschetti S., Terlizzi A., Boero F., (2009) The use of taxonomic distinctness indices in assessing patterns of biodiversity in modular organisms. Marine Ecology – An evolutionary Perspective 1–13
• Terlizzi A., Anderson MJ, Bevilacqua S., Fraschetti S., Wodarska-Kowalczuk M., Ellingsen KE. (2009) Beta diversity and taxonomic sufficiency: Do higher-level taxa reflect heterogeneity in species composition? Diversity and Distribution, 15 (3): 450-458