Campaign: Habitat Protection

Abstract Limited research effort in the Central Mediterranean deep sea has reported a lower species diversity in this area than in adjacent regions. With the recent advent of remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs), the deep sea has become more accessible to surveys, especially rocky benthic areas such as canyons and escarpments. The aim of the … Read more

Abstract Benthic habitats, as well as their associated biota, have been studied in the Alboran Sea since the nineteenth century, with a very significant increase of knowledge in the last five decades. The geographical location of the Alboran Sea between three different biogeographical regions, the complex oceanography and the heterogeneous seafloor promote the coexistence of … Read more

Abstract:This study reports the occurrence of a forest of the whip coral Ellisella flagellum at Aeolian Archipelago. The population structure of the species was assessed by image analysis. A new method to estimate colonies’height based on their width is presented. Access to the text (Via IEE Xplore)

Abstract The analysis of samples and in-vivo underwater images of two sea urchin species, Cidaris cidaris and Stylocidaris affinis, allowed to collect biometric parameters, such as diameter of the dermal skeleton and length of the primary spines. The ratio between the two measures proved to be a useful tool for the discrimination and specific identification … Read more

Abstract Physical damage caused by the mechanical impact of bottom fishing gears on epibenthic community can reduce the biomass and coverage of habitat-forming species as well as the richness and diversity of the rest of the associated community. A practical development of a methodology for spatially assessing the potential degree of disturbance that benthic habitats … Read more