Browsing by Author "Cebrian E."

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Modeling macroalgal forest distribution at mediterranean scale: Present status, drivers of changes and insights for conservation and management
    (Frontiers Media S.A., 2020) Fabbrizzi E.; Scardi M.; Ballesteros E.; Benedetti-Cecchi L.; Cebrian E.; Ceccherelli G.; De Leo F.; Deidun A.; Guarnieri G.; Falace A.; Fraissinet S.; Giommi C.; Mačić V.; Mangialajo L.; Mannino A.M.; Piazzi L.; Ramdani M.; Rilov G.; Rindi L.; Rizzo L.; Sarà G.; Souissi J.B.; Taskin E.; Fraschetti S.
    Macroalgal forests are one of the most productive and valuable marine ecosystems, but yet strongly exposed to fragmentation and loss. Detailed large-scale information on their distribution is largely lacking, hindering conservation initiatives. In this study, a systematic effort to combine spatial data on Cystoseira C. Agardh canopies (Fucales, Phaeophyta) was carried out to develop a Habitat Suitability Model (HSM) at Mediterranean scale, providing critical tools to improve site prioritization for their management, restoration and protection. A georeferenced database on the occurrence of 20 Cystoseira species was produced collecting all the available information from published and grey literature, web data portals and co-authors personal data. Data were associated to 55 predictor variable layers in the (ASCII) raster format and were used in order to develop the HSM by means of a Random Forest, a very effective Machine Learning technique. Knowledge about the distribution of Cystoseira canopies was available for about the 14% of the Mediterranean coastline. Absence data were available only for the 2% of the basin. Despite these gaps, our HSM showed high accuracy levels in reproducing Cystoseira distribution so that the first continuous maps of the habitat across the entire basin was produced. Misclassification errors mainly occurred in the eastern and southern part of the basin, where large gaps of knowledge emerged. The most relevant drivers were the geomorphological ones, followed by anthropogenic variables proxies of pollution and urbanization. Our model shows the importance of data sharing to combine a large number of spatial and environmental data, allowing to individuate areas with high probability of Cystoseira occurrence as suitable for its presence. This approach encourages the use of this modeling tool for the prediction of Cystoseira distribution and for supporting and planning conservation and management initiatives. The step forward is to refine the spatial information of presence-absence data about Cystoseira canopies and of environmental predictors in order to address species-specific assessments. © 2020 Fabbrizzi, Scardi, Ballesteros, Benedetti-Cecchi, Cebrian, Ceccherelli, De Leo, Deidun, Guarnieri, Falace, Fraissinet, Giommi, Mačić, Mangialajo, Mannino, Piazzi, Ramdani, Rilov, Rindi, Rizzo, Sarà, Souissi, Taskin and Fraschetti.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Unpublished mediterranean records of marine alien and cryptogenic species
    (Regional Euro-Asian Biological Invasions Centre, 2020) Katsanevakis S.; Poursanidis D.; Hoffman R.; Rizgalla J.; Rothman S.B.-S.; Levitt-Barmats Y.; Hadjioannou L.; Trkov D.; Garmendia J.M.; Rizzo M.; Bartolo A.G.; Bariche M.; Tomas F.; Kleitou P.; Schembri P.J.; Kletou D.; Tiralongo F.; Pergent C.; Pergent G.; Azzurro E.; Bilecenoglu M.; Lodola A.; Ballesteros E.; Gerovasileiou V.; Verlaque M.; Occhipinti-Ambrogi A.; Kytinou E.; Dailianis T.; Ferrario J.; Crocetta F.; Jimenez C.; Evans J.; Ragkousis M.; Lipej L.; Borg J.A.; Dimitriadis C.; Chatzigeorgiou G.; Albano P.G.; Kalogirou S.; Bazairi H.; Espinosa F.; Ben Souissi J.; Tsiamis K.; Badalamenti F.; Langeneck J.; Noel P.; Deidun A.; Marchini A.; Skouradakis G.; Royo L.; Sini M.; Bianchi C.N.; Sghaier Y.-R.; Ghanem R.; Doumpas N.; Zaouali J.; Tsirintanis K.; Papadakis O.; Morri C.; Çinar M.E.; Terrados J.; Insacco G.; Zava B.; Soufi-Kechaou E.; Piazzi L.; Ben Amor K.O.; Andriotis E.; Gambi M.C.; Ben Amor M.M.; Garrabou J.; Linares C.; Fortič A.; Digenis M.; Cebrian E.; Fourt M.; Zotou M.; Castriota L.; Di Martino V.; Rosso A.; Pipitone C.; Falautano M.; García M.; Zakhama-Sraieb R.; Khamassi F.; Mannino A.M.; Ktari M.H.; Kosma I.; Rifi M.; Karachle P.K.; Yapıcı S.; Bos A.R.; Balistreri P.; Esplá A.A.R.; Tempesti J.; Inglese O.; Giovos I.; Damalas D.; Benhissoune S.; Huseyinoglu M.F.; Rjiba-Bahri W.; Santamaría J.; Orlando-Bonaca M.; Izquierdo A.; Stamouli C.; Montefalcone M.; Cerim H.; Golo R.; Tsioli S.; Orfanidis S.; Michailidis N.; Gaglioti M.; Taşkın E.; Mancuso E.; Žunec A.; Cvitković I.; Filiz H.; Sanfilippo R.; Siapatis A.; Mavrič B.; Karaa S.; Türker A.; Monniot F.; Verdura J.; El Ouamari N.; Selfati M.; Zenetos A.
    Good datasets of geo-referenced records of alien species are a prerequisite for assessing the spatio-temporal dynamics of biological invasions, their invasive potential, and the magnitude of their impacts. However, with the exception of first records on a country level or wider regions, observations of species presence tend to remain unpublished, buried in scattered repositories or in the personal databases of experts. Through an initiative to collect, harmonize and make such unpublished data for marine alien and cryptogenic species in the Mediterranean Sea available, a large dataset comprising 5376 records was created. It includes records of 239 alien or cryptogenic taxa (192 Animalia, 24 Plantae, 23 Chromista) from 19 countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. In terms of records, the most reported Phyla in descending order were Chordata, Mollusca, Chlorophyta, Arthropoda, and Rhodophyta. The most recorded species was Caulerpa cylindracea, followed by Siganus luridus, Magallana sp. (cf. gigas or angulata) and Pterois miles. The dataset includes records from 1972 to 2020, with the highest number of records observed in 2018. Among the records of the dataset, Dictyota acutiloba is a first record for the Mediterranean Sea. Nine first country records are also included: the alga Caulerpa taxifolia var. distichophylla, the cube boxfish Ostracion cubicus, and the cleaner shrimp Urocaridella pulchella from Israel; the sponge Paraleucilla magna from Libya and Slovenia; the lumpfish Cyclopterus lumpus from Cyprus; the bryozoan Celleporaria vermiformis and the polychaetes Prionospio depauperata and Notomastus aberans from Malta. © Katsanevakis et al.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Effects of Natural and Anthropogenic Stressors on Fucalean Brown Seaweeds Across Different Spatial Scales in the Mediterranean Sea
    (Frontiers Media S.A., 2021) Orfanidis S.; Rindi F.; Cebrian E.; Fraschetti S.; Nasto I.; Taskin E.; Bianchelli S.; Papathanasiou V.; Kosmidou M.; Caragnano A.; Tsioli S.; Ratti S.; Fabbrizzi E.; Verdura J.; Tamburello L.; Beqiraj S.; Kashta L.; Sota D.; Papadimitriou A.; Mahmoudi E.; Kiçaj H.; Georgiadis K.; Hannachi A.; Danovaro R.
    Algal habitat-forming forests composed of fucalean brown seaweeds (Cystoseira, Ericaria, and Gongolaria) have severely declined along the Mediterranean coasts, endangering the maintenance of essential ecosystem services. Numerous factors determine the loss of these assemblages and operate at different spatial scales, which must be identified to plan conservation and restoration actions. To explore the critical stressors (natural and anthropogenic) that may cause habitat degradation, we investigated (a) the patterns of variability of fucalean forests in percentage cover (abundance) at three spatial scales (location, forest, transect) by visual estimates and or photographic sampling to identify relevant spatial scales of variation, (b) the correlation between semi-quantitative anthropogenic stressors, individually or cumulatively (MA-LUSI index), including natural stressors (confinement, sea urchin grazing), and percentage cover of functional groups (perennial, semi-perennial) at forest spatial scale. The results showed that impacts from mariculture and urbanization seem to be the main stressors affecting habitat-forming species. In particular, while mariculture, urbanization, and cumulative anthropogenic stress negatively correlated with the percentage cover of perennial fucalean species, the same stressors were positively correlated with the percentage cover of the semi-perennial Cystoseira compressa and C. compressa subsp. pustulata. Our results indicate that human impacts can determine spatial patterns in these fragmented and heterogeneous marine habitats, thus stressing the need of carefully considering scale-dependent ecological processes to support conservation and restoration. © Copyright © 2021 Orfanidis, Rindi, Cebrian, Fraschetti, Nasto, Taskin, Bianchelli, Papathanasiou, Kosmidou, Caragnano, Tsioli, Ratti, Fabbrizzi, Verdura, Tamburello, Beqiraj, Kashta, Sota, Papadimitriou, Mahmoudi, Kiçaj, Georgiadis, Hannachi and Danovaro.