VII Incontro Dottorandi in Ecologia e Scienze dei Sistemi Acquatici, Roma, 27 Febbraio-1 Marzo 2012

1. Giulia Gatti, Fiorenza Roghi, Valeriano Parravicini, Monica Montefalcone, Alessio
Rovere, Carla Morri, Andrea Peirano, Eva Salvati, Marco Firpo,
Giancarlo Albertelli, Carlo Nike Bianchi
VII Incontro dei Dottorandi in Ecologia
e Scienze dei Sistemi Acquatici
Roma, 27 Febbraio - 1 Marzo 2012

2. MARINE COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS ARE DEEPLY
INFLUENCED BY GLOBAL CHANGE
COMBINATION OF NATURAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC
EFFECTS
HOW CAN WE EVALUATE LONG TERM VARIATION
OF BENTHIC COMMUNITIES?
HISTORICAL DATA-SETS

3. PUNTA MESCO (CINQUE TERRE, LIGURIAN SEA)
ROCKY REEF SESSILE ASSEMBLAGES
20 m TO 45 m DEPTH

5. GROSS MORPHOLOGY OF THE PUNTA MESCO SHOAL

6. WHY PUNTA MESCO?
•PRIORITY HABITAT UNDER EC DIRECTIVE (‘REEF’)
•DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES SINCE 1937
•DISCONTINUOUS QUANTITATIVE DATA SINCE 1961
THANKS TO UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHIC SURVEYS
POSSIBILITY OF RECONSTRUCTING
EVOLUTION OVER THE LAST 50 YEARS

7. YEAR AUTHOR(S) INFORMATION
1937 Tortonese and Faraggiana 1937 qualitative
qualitative
1959 Rossi 1961
(anthozoans)
1961 Rossi 1965a qualitative
1961 Rossi 1965b quantitative
1975 Parmasub 1978 qualitative
1978 Andreoli et al. 1979 qualitative
1985 Relini et al. 1986 qualitative
quantitative
1988 Peirano and Tunesi 1989
(anthozoans)
qualitative
1989 Tunesi et al. 1989
(anthozoans)
1990 Peirano and Sassarini 1990 quantitative
1996 Peirano et al. 2000, Bianchi et al. 2001, Morri & Bianchi 2001 quantitative
2008 PRESENT WORK quantitative

8. Savalia savaglia
80s DISAPPEARS, Eunicella singularis
AND Paramuricea clavata
DIMINISH
DRASTIC CHANGE IN THE
90s UNDERSTOREY ASSEMBLAGES
(SPONGES, BRYOZOANS)
1999, 2003 DIE-OFFS OF Paramuricea clavata

9. FEGINA (MONTEROSSO AL MARE)

10. 1990 2008
1961
1996
MEAN AIR TEMPERATURE IN GENOA.
THE VARIABLE LINE REPRESENTS MEAN ANNUAL VALUES, THE
CONTINUOUS LINE REPRESENTS THE GENERAL TREND.

11. 1961
LUCIA ROSSI, GIANNI ROGHI
PHOTOGRAPHIC SURVEYS
(SQUARED FRAMES OF 1 m2)
FIRST QUANTITATIVE WORK Gianni Roghi (1927-1967)
www.gianniroghi.it

12. • COVER INDEX FROM 0.5 TO 5 FOR EACH SPECIES
• 8 DIFFERENT ASSEMBLAGES BASED ON SLOPE AND
DEPTH OF THE SUBSTRATE

13. SUCCESSIVE SURVEYS
 PEIRANO AND SASSARINI 1990
 ENEA (MARINE ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH
CENTRE, LA SPEZIA) AND UNIVERSITY OF ROME
1996
 UNIVERSITY OF GENOA 2008

14. 6 OUT OF THE 8 ASSEMBLAGES DESCRIBED
BY L. ROSSI
3 PHOTOS FOR EACH SURVEY

15. !!!
THE DATA-SETS DIFFER FOR:
PHOTOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUE
TAXONOMIC RESOLUTION
SAMPLING DESIGN

16. RECONSTRUCTING THE
HISTORY OF EACH
ASSEMBLAGE...
 PCO ANALYSIS
 FREQUENCY-RANK DIAGRAMS

17. INCREASING
SEDIMENTATION

18. INCREASING
SEDIMENTATION
RISING
TEMPERATURE

23. REDUCTION OF THE
UNDERSTOREY

24. REDUCTION OF THE
UNDERSTOREY
LITTLE INFLUENCE
OF TEMPERATURE

28. ASSEMBLAGES MAINLY INFLUENCED BY
THE INCREASE IN:
 WATER COLUMN TURBIDITY
 SEDIMENTATION RATE (TURF)
 SURFACE WATER TEMPERATURE
MAJOR CHANGES IN THE 1990S
(ARRIVAL OF Womersleyella setacea?)

29. SURFACE WATER WARMING AND
LOWERING OF THE THERMOCLINE
CAUSED
MASS MORTALITY OF
Paramuricea clavata
FAVOURED APPEARANCE OF
Caulerpa racemosa

30. STRESSED NATIVE SPECIES FAIL TO RESIST
THE SPREAD OF ALIEN SPECIES
Caulerpa racemosa OVERGROWTHS THE NATIVE CORAL
Cladocora caespitosa AT PUNTA MESCO, SEPTEMBER 2008

31. THE ROCKY REEF ECOSYSTEM OF PUNTA
MESCO SHOAL IS STILL EVOLVING
THIS PRECIOUS LONG TERM
STUDY HAS TO BE CONTINUED!

32. THANK YOU