8 results on '"Morri, Carla"'
Search Results
2. Legal protection is not enough: Posidonia oceanica meadows in marine protected areas are not healthier than those in unprotected areas of the northwest Mediterranean Sea
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Montefalcone, Monica, Albertelli, Giancarlo, Morri, Carla, Parravicini, Valeriano, and Bianchi, Carlo Nike
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POSIDONIA oceanica ,MARINE parks & reserves ,SEAGRASSES ,MARINE ecology ,METROPOLITAN areas ,TURBIDITY - Abstract
Using the Conservation Index, which measures the proportional amount of dead matte relative to live Posidonia oceanica, we assessed the health of 15 P. oceanica meadows at a regional scale along the coast of Liguria (NW Mediterranean). These areas were characterized by different degrees of anthropization, from highly urbanized sites to marine protected areas. Two different scenarios were identified according to depth: in shallow zones, the health of P. oceanica meadows was related to the degree of anthropization along the coastline. In contrast, in deep zones, most meadows exhibited poor health, independent of both the degree of disturbance and the legal measures protecting the area. Working synergistically with the regional impact of increased water turbidity, local impacts from the coast were recognized as the main causes of the severe regression of most Ligurian P. oceanica meadows. We conclude that marine protected areas alone are not sufficient to guarantee the protection of P. oceanica meadows. We emphasize the need for a management network involving the Sites of Community Interest (SCIs) containing P. oceanica meadows. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2009
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3. BACI design reveals the decline of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica induced by anchoring
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Montefalcone, Monica, Chiantore, Mariachiara, Lanzone, Alessio, Morri, Carla, Albertelli, Giancarlo, and Bianchi, Carlo Nike
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ECOLOGICAL disturbances ,MOORING of ships ,KEYSTONE species ,POSIDONIA oceanica ,ENVIRONMENTAL impact analysis ,PLANT phenology - Abstract
The key species Posidonia oceanica is the dominant endemic seagrass in the Mediterranean Sea and its meadows are considered as one of the most important and productive ecosystems in coastal waters. Covering the seabed from the surface down to about 40m, meadows of P. oceanica are often affected by mechanical direct damages caused by boat anchoring and mooring activities. Negative effects of these activities have been shown to be recorded by P. oceanica at two different levels: the individual level (phenology of the plant) and the population level (structure of the meadow). We investigated the effect of an anchoring chain system on the P. oceanica meadow of Prelo cove (NW Mediterranean Sea) at two different depths (shallow, deep) and at three different situations of P. oceanica bottom cover (high, medium, low). Several standardized descriptors of the meadow health, working either at the individual or at the population level, were analysed in order to quantify the impact of the deployment of the chain system. A symmetrical BACI design was adopted to detect the impact, where multiple disturbed sites were contrasted with multiple controls in two distinct times, i.e. right few days after the chain settling (early) and 4 months later the disturbance (late). The anchoring chain system has been shown to strongly affect the meadow in terms of shoot density decline and rhizome baring, especially in the deep portions and where the cover of the meadow was low. All descriptors working at the population level proved effective in detecting the impact of the anchoring system. In contrast, descriptors working at the individual level did not show a consistent response to the impact. Our results pointed out the imperative necessity to proper regulate the boat anchoring and mooring activities on the P. oceanica meadows and the adoption of seagrass friendly mooring technology is thus recommended. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
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- 2008
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4. The exergy of a phase shift: Ecosystem functioning loss in seagrass meadows of the Mediterranean Sea.
- Author
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Montefalcone, Monica, Vassallo, Paolo, Gatti, Giulia, Parravicini, Valeriano, Paoli, Chiara, Morri, Carla, and Bianchi, Carlo Nike
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EXERGY , *ECOSYSTEM dynamics , *BIODIVERSITY , *HABITATS - Abstract
Sustained functioning of ecosystems is predicted to depend upon the maintenance of their biodiversity, structure and integrity. The large consensus achieved in this regard, however, faces to the objective difficulty of finding appropriate metrics to measure ecosystem functioning. Here, we aim at evaluating functional consequence of the phase shift occurring in meadows of the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica , a priority habitat that is undergoing regression in many coastal areas due to multiple human pressures. Structural degradation of the P. oceanica ecosystem, consequent to increasing coastal exploitation and climate change, may result in the progressive replacement of this seagrass by opportunistic macrophytes, either native or alien. Reviewing published information and our personal records, we measured changes in biological habitat provisioning, species richness and biomass associated to each of the alternative states characterizing the phase shift. Then, ecosystem functioning was assessed by computing the exergy associated to each state, exergy being a state variable that measures the ecosystem capacity to produce work. Phase shift was consistently shown to imply loss in habitat provision, species richness, and biomass; structural and compositional loss was parallelled by a reduction of exergy content, thus providing for the first time an objective and integrative measure of the loss of ecosystem functioning following the degradation of healthy seagrass meadows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
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5. Hydrodynamic constraints to the seaward development of Posidonia oceanica meadows
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Vacchi, Matteo, Montefalcone, Monica, Bianchi, Carlo N., Morri, Carla, and Ferrari, Marco
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POSIDONIA oceanica , *MEADOWS , *ATTENUATION of light , *STORM surges , *SEAGRASSES - Abstract
Abstract: Posidonia oceanica, the most important and abundant seagrass in the Mediterranean Sea, forms large meadows from the sea surface down to 40 m. The depth of the lower limit of the meadows marks the boundary between the infralittoral and the circalittoral zone, and is said to be normally set by light attenuation underwater, while the role of water movement has been little explored. In this paper, the position (i.e. distance from the shoreline and depth) of P. oceanica meadow lower limits along the whole Ligurian coastline (about 350 km) was related to the annual storm wave base. This depth represents the limit of interaction between waves and seafloor and corresponds to L 0/2, where L 0 is the annual offshore wave length. In all meadows, the lower limit has never been found deeper than the annual storm wave base, and its depth (Zc ) showed related to L0 according to the equation Zc = 0.32∙L 0 + 5.62. In the coastal tracts affected by the least intense waves, the reduction of water movement with depth represents the most important constraint to the seaward development of the meadow, whereas light availability plays a major role in meadows affected by the most intense waves. The present study represents the first attempt at understanding the role of hydrodynamic factors in setting the depth limit of seagrass meadows. If corroborated by future research at other sites, this will have important implications for both basic and applied science, as it would imply rethinking about the relative importance of water movement and light in seagrass depth distribution, and could allow for a better estimate of the extent of meadow regression in anthropized areas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
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- 2012
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6. Much damage for little advantage: Field studies and morphodynamic modelling highlight the environmental impact of an apparently minor coastal mismanagement
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Lasagna, Roberta, Montefalcone, Monica, Albertelli, Giancarlo, Corradi, Nicola, Ferrari, Marco, Morri, Carla, and Bianchi, Carlo Nike
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COASTAL zone management , *ENVIRONMENTAL impact analysis , *MARINE ecosystem management , *MARINE ecosystem health , *HYDRODYNAMICS , *POSIDONIA oceanica , *SEAGRASSES - Abstract
Abstract: While coastal management activities have long been known to exert a strong influence on the health of marine ecosystems, neither scientists nor administrators have realized that small interventions may lead to disproportionately larger impacts. This study investigated the broad and long-lasting environmental consequences of the construction of an ill-planned, although small (only 12 m long) jetty for pleasure crafts on the hydrodynamic conditions and on the meadow of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica of an embayed cove in the Ligurian Sea (NW Mediterranean). There, P. oceanica used to develop on a high (>1.5 m) matte (a lignified terrace causing seafloor elevation) in which the leaves reach the surface and form a compact natural barrier to waves in front of the beach. Such a so-called ‘fringing reef’ of P. oceanica is today recognized of high ecological value and specific conservation efforts are required. The construction of the jetty implied the cutting of the matte, which directly destroyed part of the fringing reef. In addition, meadow mapping and sedimentological analyses coupled with morphodynamic modelling showed that the ecosystem of the whole cove had been greatly altered by the jetty. We used the geometric planform approach, a proper tool in the study of headland-controlled embayment, both to characterise the present situation of Prelo cove and to simulate the original one, before the jetty was built. In the long term, such a small jetty completely altered the configuration and the hydrodynamic conditions of the whole cove, splitting the original pocket beach into two smaller ones and creating strong rip-currents flowing seaward along the jetty. These rip-currents enhanced erosion of residual shallow portions of the meadow and further modified the sedimentary fluxes in shallow waters. A century after the construction of the jetty, an irreversible environmental damage has occurred, as the slow growing rate of P. oceanica implies that the high matte terrace and the fringing reef will hardly form again, even after the removal of the jetty. The lesson learnt from this study is that even such small, and therefore reputed intrinsically ‘innocent’, interventions on the coastal zone require accurate planning based on interdisciplinary studies to understand and respect the delicate interplay among morphological, hydrodynamic and ecological components. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2011
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7. Phenology of the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile: Medium and long-term cycles and climate inferences
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Peirano, Andrea, Cocito, Silvia, Banfi, Valeria, Cupido, Roberta, Damasso, Valentina, Farina, Gianfranco, Lombardi, Chiara, Mauro, Roberta, Morri, Carla, Roncarolo, Ingrid, Saldaña, Sarahi, Savini, Dario, Sgorbini, Sergio, Silvestri, Cecilia, Stoppelli, Nicola, Torricelli, Leonardo, and Bianchi, Carlo Nike
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POSIDONIA oceanica , *PLANT phenology , *SEAGRASSES , *MARINE parks & reserves , *MEADOWS , *PLANT shoots , *EPIPHYTES , *CLIMATE change - Abstract
Abstract: The results of 15 years of monitoring of Posidonia oceanica in the “Cinque Terre” Marine Protected Area (NW Mediterranean) are presented. Seasonal data on meadow characteristics (cover and shoot density), plant phenology (leaf number, leaf length and width, leaf brown portion, undamaged leaves), lepidochronology, leaf epiphyte cover and herbivore pressure collected from three stations at 5, 10 and 17m depth were compared. Time-series analyses showed both medium-term (5
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- 2011
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8. Human influence on seagrass habitat fragmentation in NW Mediterranean Sea
- Author
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Montefalcone, Monica, Parravicini, Valeriano, Vacchi, Matteo, Albertelli, Giancarlo, Ferrari, Marco, Morri, Carla, and Bianchi, Carlo Nike
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SEAGRASSES , *HABITATS , *FRAGMENTED landscapes , *ENVIRONMENTAL indicators , *POSIDONIA oceanica , *MEADOWS , *COASTAL ecology , *SUBMARINE topography - Abstract
Abstract: Habitat fragmentation in meadows of Posidonia oceanica, the most important and abundant seagrass in the Mediterranean Sea, was investigated at a region-wide spatial scale using a synthetic ecological index, the Patchiness Index (PI). We tested the hypothesis that human impacts are the major factor responsible for habitat fragmentation in P. oceanica meadows contrasting fragmentation of meadows located in “anthropized” areas with that of meadows located in areas with low anthropization and considered as virtually “natural”. We also related fragmentation of meadow with the morphodynamic state of the submerged beach (i.e. distinctive types of beach produced by the topography, the wave climate and the sediment composition) in order to investigate the influence of one natural component on the seagrass meadow seascape. Results demonstrated that fragmentation in the P. oceanica meadows is strongly influenced by the human component, being lower in natural meadows than in anthropized ones, and that it is little influenced by the morphodynamic state of the coast. The use of landscape approaches to discriminate natural disturbance from human impacts that affect seagrass meadows is thus recommended for the proper management of coastal zones. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2010
- Full Text
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