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Fish assemblages associated with 14 marine caves and adjacent external rocky reefs were investigated at four Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) along the coasts of Italy. Within the caves sampling was carried out in different sub-habitats: walls, ceilings, bottoms and ends of caves. On the whole, 38 species were recorded inside the 14 caves investigated. Eighteen species were exclusively found inside the caves: they were mainly represented by speleophilic (i.e. species preferentially or exclusively inhabiting caves) gobids (e.g. Didogobius splechtnai) and nocturnal species (e.g. Conger conger). Forty-one species were censused outside, 20 of which were shared with cave habitats. Apogon imberbis was the most common fish found in all 14 caves investigated, followed by Thorogobius ephippiatus (recorded in 13 caves), and Diplodus vulgaris and Scorpaena notata (both censused in 12 caves). Distinct fish assemblages were found between external rocky reefs and the different cave sub-habitats. New data on the distribution of some speleophilic gobids were collected, showing the existence of a pool of species shared by marine caves on a large scale (i.e. hundreds of km). Considering the uniqueness of cave fishes (18 exclusive species and different assemblage structures), the inclusion of marine caves among the habitats routinely investigated for fish biodiversity monitoring could facilitate the achievement of more comprehensive inventories. Due to their contribution to local species diversity and the shelter they provide to species valuable for conservation, marine caves should be prioritized for their inclusion not only within future MPAs through the Mediterranean Sea, but also into larger management spatial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A theoretical model of structure and functioning was constructed for the Mediterranean undersea cave ecosystem. This model integrates almost all representative components of the cave ecosystem and gives an idea of their faunal compositions, characteristics and related interactions. This model constitutes the basis of the Ecosystem-Based Quality Index (EBQI) of the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which aims at evaluating the ecological quality of an ecosystem. It is based on four crucial complementary elements: (i) each component was weighted in accordance with its importance in determining the structure and functioning of the cave ecosystem; (ii) a suite of relevant parameters were defined to assess the ecological state of each component of the cave ecosystem; (iii) these parameters were aggregated into one relevant index, the Cave EBQI (CavEBQI), to summarize the quality evaluation for each cave site; (iv) each value of ecological state is accompanied by a Confidence Index as a measure of its reliability. The CavEBQI was used on 22 Mediterranean undersea caves of France and Italy. Disparities of ecological quality were found among caves but most of them ranged from moderate to high ecological quality. For some caves, no conclusion can be drawn when our method predicts a poor reliability of the evaluation of their ecological quality. This ecosystem-based evaluation of the quality of undersea caves seems to be a powerful tool, with the advantage of being based on almost all its components, rather than just on a few species. It is accompanied by a measure of its reliability, hence it provides a reliable idea of the ecological state of the entire ecosystem at each cave site. Monitoring the ecological state of caves and the effects of disturbances over large geographic and temporal scales is made possible with CavEBQI. Applying the same method to other ecosystems, can provide an integrated view of a marine region, which is essential when addressing questions about protection, conservation and restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are aimed at managing and protecting marine environments. Their design, however, often disregards both a thorough knowledge of the distribution of habitats and assemblages and the use of proper experimental evaluations of the efficacy of MPAs by comparing protected vs. unprotected zones. About 200 MPAs have been recently instituted in the Mediterranean area, but the evidence of their efficacy is scant. The MPA of Torre Guaceto (Southern Adriatic Sea, Italy) is one of the rare cases of effective protection enforcement. The reserve was instituted more than 10 years ago, a period currently considered as sufficient to show responses by organisms to protection. The MPA is divided into a C zone, the general reserve, where many activities are permitted, a B zone, the partial reserve where restrictions increase and two A zones, the integral reserve where access is prohibited. The goals of the paper were to map the distribution of benthic assemblages to assess if they were properly represented in the differently protected zones, and to test the efficacy of protection by quantifying possible differences between the assemblages in two control areas and in the two A zones, where human impact is completely excluded. The analysis of habitat and assemblage distribution within the MPA showed that the zones with total protection do not include most valuable environmental types. Most of the considered variables (i.e. cover of substratum, number of taxa, and average abundance of the most common taxa) were not significantly different in and out of the A zones, at each time of sampling. Results, however, suggested a possible effect of protection in modifying patterns of abundance of sponges under Cystoseira canopy (more abundant in the fully protected zone). In the subtidal habitat, differences were found in the structure of the whole assemblage and in the abundance of encrusting coralline red algae (more abundant outside the fully protected area). Notwithstanding the correct general methodology employed in the study, a lack of statistical power could have a role in preventing the detection of ecologically relevant effects of protection. In some instances, data pooling allowed a discrimination between cases where there was clearly no effect of protection and cases where there might be. On this basis, the optimization of this experimental design should be considered in further studies. In any case, if the goals of MPAs have not been clearly stated, efficacy of protection might prove very difficult to test even with the use of sound experimental designs.