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The Eastern Mediterranean Sea is an exceptional habitat. Its relative isolation and distinct characteristics create a unique ecosystem recognized as a marine biodiversity hot spot, where one-fifth of the species are endemic. Yet, native Mediterranean biodiversity is under increasing threat, mainly due to massive alien species invasions of Indo-Pacific origin. To date, more than 800 non-indigenous species have been reported in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, justifying its reputation as one of the most severely affected habitats in the world in terms of marine biological invasions. Here we summarized the Mediterranean invasion dynamics of the long-spined echinoid Diadema setosum (Leske, 1778), one of the most ubiquitous Indo-Pacific sea urchin species. We show an alarming exponential population growth of D. setosum throughout the Eastern Mediterranean since 2018, following more than a decade of ‘invasion lag’ since its first detection in 2006. Molecular analyses illustrate the presence of a single genetic D. setosum clade in the Mediterranean Sea – corresponding to the Arabian Peninsula clade of this species, reinforcing the notion of a Red Sea origin. Our data support the current working hypothesis that the initial introduction of D. setosum occurred in the Northern Levantine Basin from which it gradually expanded in both north-west and south-east trajectories – in contrast to a stepping-stone hypothesis of gradual advancement from the opening of the Suez Canal. Demographic data of D. setosum along the Israeli Mediterranean coastline reveals a well-established population of broad size distributions, from juveniles to adult individuals of remarkably large size. Additionally, we provide evidence of the reproductive capacity of D. setosum in its new environment. Due to the magnitude of Diadema’s ecological footprint, it poses a severe threat to the entire Eastern Mediterranean Sea, including the Levantine Basin and South Aegean Sea, calling for rapid and coordinated action at both national and regional scales.

The northern coasts of Cyprus island in the Eastern Mediterranean, are polluted by activities such as growing maritime transportation, recreational usage and tourism activities, conseutively deteriorating marine habitats and disturbing ecosystems. With the enforcement of MARPOL Convention in 1983, a reduction of marine pollution has been observed in all seas and ports of the countries that have accepted it. However, due to the increasing number of ships and growing maritime trade, number of negligences grew, so there was an increase in marine pollution again. Prevention of marine pollution is one of the most important goals of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) which is the enforcing body of MARPOL. The aim of this paper is to investigate and quantify the preventions and precautions practiced in the northern coasts of the Cyprus island. Rules and regulations on marine pollution related subjects, which the ships are held responsible are studied and a questionnaire which covers all relevant and correspondent MARPOL rules is applied to all ships using the northern ports. Results revealed that despite most of the ship practices are satisfactory; many improvements can still be made.

Dietary studies provide key insights into threats and changes within ecosystems and subsequent impacts on focal species. Diet is particularly challenging to study within marine environments and therefore is often poorly understood. Here, we examined the diet of stranded and bycaught loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in North Cyprus (35.33° N, 33.47° E) between 2011 and 2019. A total of 129 taxa were recorded in the diet of loggerhead turtles (n = 45), which were predominantly carnivorous (on average 72.1% of dietary biomass), foraging on a large variety of invertebrates, macroalgae, seagrasses and bony fish in low frequencies. Despite this opportunistic foraging strategy, one species was particularly dominant, the sponge Chondrosia reniformis (21.5%). Consumption of this sponge decreased with increasing turtle size. A greater degree of herbivory was found in green turtles (n = 40) which predominantly consumed seagrasses and macroalgae (88.8%) with a total of 101 taxa recorded. The most dominant species was a Lessepsian invasive seagrass, Halophila stipulacea (31.1%). This is the highest percentage recorded for this species in green turtle diet in the Mediterranean thus far. With increasing turtle size, the percentage of seagrass consumed increased with a concomitant decrease in macroalgae. Seagrass was consumed year-round. Omnivory occurred in all green turtle size classes but reduced in larger turtles (> 75 cm CCL) suggesting a slow ontogenetic dietary shift. Macroplastic ingestion was more common in green (31.6% of individuals) than loggerhead turtles (5.7%). This study provides the most complete dietary list for marine turtles in the eastern Mediterranean.

Capital of several empires through centuries, Istanbul has been a populated city in history. However, the population has increased by a factor of 13.3 over the last seven decades, which in turn has made this megacity a hotspot of domestic and industrial pollution. Marine biodiversity around Istanbul suffered from the increased pressures due to overfishing, extensive recreational usage, extreme habitat destruction and introduction of alien species via heavy maritime traffic. 70 years before, Muzaffer Demir published a colossal marine biodiversity study in 1952. We used the organization of this publication, and particularly employed it as a methodology, combined with Underwater Visual Census for a later study between 1997–1999 which involved more than 100 scuba dives. Our study investigated the abundance status of benthic species living mainly on rocky reefs as deep as 50 meters. The investigated species represented four phyla: Cnidaria, Echinodermata, Mollusca and Porifera. Approximately 40% of cnidarians, 40% of echinoderms, 65% of molluscs, and 80% of sponges recorded in the 1950s, were not recorded during our study, particularly due to methodological differences and population collapses or local extinctions. This paper aims to analyze and compare the temporal aspects of marine biodiversity in the Prince’s Islands and Bosphorus region using several time domains; historical records, Demir’s compendium in 1952, our field study in the closing of the previous millennium, combined efforts of the Turkish Journal of Zoology in 2014 of Turkey biodiversity checklists, and the most recent literature after that.

The invasive alien lionfish, Pterois miles is a ray-finned fish from the Scorpaenidae family, which has twelve accepted species from the genus Pterois. It was recorded in May 2014 at the Pina Reef, 2.28 miles off Kas harbour (southwestern coasts of Turkey) for the first time, and showed a very rapid establishment in the rocky habitats throughout Kas-Kekova Special Environmental Protected Area (SEPA). During the summer of 2014 only three individuals were recorded at two different locations, however as of 2017, regular observations could be made at each diving spot, which is indicative of an increasing trend. The temporal perspective of this study increases the understanding on the progression of expected range expansion of P. miles within a relatively small region, covering the period of 2014–2019. Fish count observations from underwater visual census surveys in addition to records from citizen science approach were evaluated based on spatio-temporal analysis. Resulting visualizations were prepared to present annual dynamics of spatio-temporal distribution within and outside the SEPA. Rapid expansion, up to 22 individuals per 500 m linear transects of an estimated area of 15.000 m2 each, and the increases in the numbers of fish are quantified in this study, which can be used as a baseline to develop conservation strategy for native species. Efforts to cull and create consumption demand to decrease the population trend of the lionfish have already started in the region.

The recent invasion of the lionfish Pterois miles to the Mediterranean draws major concerns to the fate of the indigenous ecosystem, based on previous knowledge of the species' detrimental capabilities as an introduced species in the Western Atlantic Ocean. In order to determine invasive patterns in the Eastern Mediterranean, we compared the genetic divergence of two mtDNA markers, the COI and D-loop, between and within the introduced Levantine and native range Red Sea populations of the lionfish. COI region presented a remarkably shallow genealogy, and both genes have failed to show a definite geographic population structure, with non-significant AMOVA and low pairwise FST values. A shared haplotype across all localities in the D-loop provided probable confirmation for the Red Sea origin of the invasive population, and a number of introduced haplotypes indicated that the Mediterranean populations are a product of multiple invasion events. Finally, we observed large haplotype diversity in the Red Sea samples that were absent from the introduced localities, implying a possible future enforcement to the invasive genetic pool in the Mediterranean Sea.

Crystals of the layered chalcogenide semiconductor gallium selenide (GaSe) were studied with fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy in the frequency domain, the excitation source being a cw frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser modulated between 25 and 50 MHz. The non-zero photoluminescence (PL) lifetime leads to a change of the relative modulation amplitude (m) and a phase lag (phi) of the luminescence with respect to the excitation. The data were analyzed with the polar-plot (or phasor) approach by plotting m sin phi versus m cos phi. Data points of different spots on the sample show strong inhomogeneities and form looping structures in the polar plot. Moreover, they extend distinctly outside the characteristic semi-circle. The latter point is due to the nearly quadratic variation of the PL signal with excitation intensity, whereas the looping structures indicate the presence of energy transfer processes between (at least) two different emitting states. The analysis of the data shows that the same exciton state(s) are involved in both absorption and PL emission of GaSe. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Since the emergence of laser and henceforth laser remote sensing in the 1960's, lidar (light detecting and ranging) technology has became a significant tool for the detection of various phenomena like wind direction and intensity, atmospheric temperature, urban and rural topography, forest fires, ocean planktonic development, and detection of various constituants such as tropospheric aerosols, stratospheric ozone, trace chemicals and etc. In 2009, a homemade multiwavelength Raman aerosol lidar (named MRC K09) was designed, developed and installed in the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) Marmara Research Center (MRC), and since 21 February 2011, it has been accepted to EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network). Since 2009, aerosol spatio-temporal distribution and microphysical properties have been investigated in the extremely industrialized vicinity [1,2]. MRC K09 lidar uses a Quantel Brilliant B Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm) with the second and third optical harmonics at 532 and 355 nm, and a homemade Newtonian 40 cm aperture 120 cm focal length telescope. It has 7 channel spectrum analyzer detecting: parallel and perpendicular polarizations at 355 nm, elastic signals at 532 and 1064 nm, Raman signal of molecular nitrogen at 387 nm and Raman signal of water vapor at 408 nm (excited with 355 laser line), and Raman signal for molecular nitrogen at 608 nm (excited with 532 nm laser line). In Spring 2010, preliminary applications for the determination of forest tree species and of forest health in the Black Sea Area using an aeroborne lidar in collaboration with Bartin University, Bartin, Turkey have been made. In early 2011, a fluorescence module utilizing a Princeton Instruments PI-MAX3 1024x256 resolution CCD camera with a Princeton Instruments Acton SP 2500 0.500 m Imaging Triple Grating Monochromator/Spectograph was connected to the MRC K09 lidar system, and the first remote measurements of chlorophyll from different types of trees were made. Figure 1 demonstrates the results of these measurements, which must be considered as preliminary and in the future, the measurements can be carried out by the lidar mounted on an aircraft to cover large spatial areas. One of the most important reasons for biodiversity loss, habitat loss and fragmentation can be monitored in large areas by aeroborne lidars and therefore the extent of the situation can be accessed precisely, faster and more efficiently. This paper aims to give a brief overview to show the possibility of detecting the detailed situations of the habitats on terrain surfaces using lidar technology by summarizing the successful examples which have been realized thus far in different types of ecosystems like savannas, forest and grasslands.