GIS-based integration of marine data for assessment and management of a highly anthropized coastal area.

Monitoring coastal marine environments by evaluating and comparing their chemical, physical, biological, and anthropogenic components is essential for ecological assessment and socio-economic development. In this study, we conducted an integrated multivariate analysis to assess the descriptors of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive at a regional scale in the Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy), with a specific focus on the densely populated coastal zone of the Campania region. Physical, chemical, and biological data were collected and analyzed in 22 sampling sites during three oceanographic surveys in the Gulf of Gaeta (GoG), Naples (GoN), and Salerno (GoS) in autumn 2020.

Encapsulated in sediments: eDNA deciphers the ecosystem history of one of the most polluted European marine sites.

The Anthropocene is characterized by dramatic ecosystem changes driven by human activities. The impact of these activities can be assessed by different geochemical and paleontological proxies. However, each of these proxies provides only a fragmentary insight into the effects of anthropogenic impacts.

Homeostatic swimming of zooplankton upon crowding: the case of the copepod .

Crowding has a major impact on the dynamics of many material and biological systems, inducing effects as diverse as glassy dynamics and swarming. While this issue has been deeply investigated for a variety of living organisms, more research remains to be done on the effect of crowding on the behaviour of copepods, the most abundant metazoans on Earth. To this aim, we experimentally investigate the swimming behaviour, used as a dynamic proxy of animal adaptations, of males and females of the calanoid copepod at different densities of individuals (10, 50 and 100 ind.

Do plankton reflect the environmental quality status? The case of a post-industrial Mediterranean Bay.

While the effects of industrial contamination in coastal areas may persist for years in benthos communities, plankton should not show permanent impairments because of their high spatial dynamics, fast turnover times and pronounced seasonality. To test this hypothesis, in 2019 we conducted five surveys in the Bay of Pozzuoli (Gulf of Naples, Mediterranean Sea), in front of a dismissed steel factory and in the adjacent inshore coastal waters. High seasonal variability was observed for bacteria, phytoplankton and mesozooplankton, whereas plankton spatial gradients were relatively smooth during each survey.

Into the bloom: Molecular response of pelagic tunicates to fluctuating food availability.

The planktonic tunicates appendicularians and thaliaceans are highly efficient filter feeders on a wide range of prey size including bacteria and have shorter generation times than any other marine grazers. These traits allow some tunicate species to reach high population densities and ensure their success in a favourable environment. However, there are still few studies focusing on which genes and gene pathways are associated with responses of pelagic tunicates to environmental variability.

Distinctive diffusive properties of swimming planktonic copepods in different environmental conditions.

Suspensions of small planktonic copepods represent a special category in the realm of active matter, as their size falls within the range of colloids, while their motion is so complex that it cannot be rationalized according to basic models of self-propelled particles. Indeed, the wide range of individual variability and swimming patterns resemble the behaviour of much larger animals. By analysing hundreds of three-dimensional trajectories of the planktonic copepod Clausocalanus furcatus, we investigate the possibility of detecting how the motion of this species is affected by different external conditions, such as the presence of food and the effect of gravity.

Insights on the drivers of genetic divergence in the European anchovy.

Anchovies represent the largest world's marine fish catches and the current threats on their populations impose a sustainable exploitment based on sound scientific information. In the European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), the existence of several populations has been proposed but a global view is missing. Using a multidisciplinary approach, here we assessed the divergence among different ecotypes and its possible causes.

Molecular phylogeny of Oncaeidae (Copepoda) using nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS rDNA).

Copepods belonging to the Oncaeidae family are commonly and abundantly found in marine zooplankton. In the Mediterranean Sea, forty-seven oncaeid species occur, of which eleven in the Gulf of Naples. In this Gulf, several Oncaea species were morphologically analysed and described at the end of the XIX century by W.

Analysis of self-overlap reveals trade-offs in plankton swimming trajectories.

Movement is a fundamental behaviour of organisms that not only brings about beneficial encounters with resources and mates, but also at the same time exposes the organism to dangerous encounters with predators. The movement patterns adopted by organisms should reflect a balance between these contrasting processes. This trade-off can be hypothesized as being evident in the behaviour of plankton, which inhabit a dilute three-dimensional environment with few refuges or orienting landmarks.

Unexpected Regularity in Swimming Behavior of Clausocalanus furcatus Revealed by a Telecentric 3D Computer Vision System.

Planktonic copepods display a large repertoire of motion behaviors in a three-dimensional environment. Two-dimensional video observations demonstrated that the small copepod Clausocalanus furcatus, one the most widely distributed calanoids at low to medium latitudes, presented a unique swimming behavior that was continuous and fast and followed notably convoluted trajectories. Furthermore, previous observations indicated that the motion of C.