946SV - CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF MARINE ECOSYSTEMS 2022
Section outline
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The importance of the ocean. Depth. The benthic and pelagic domains. Zonation. Sediments. Sea surface and bottom temperature. Thermocline. Salinity. Sea water density and properties. pH. Organic matter. Oxygen. Global patterns in main abiotic variables. The Mediterranean Sea. Depth profiles of oxygen, carbon dioxide and nutrients. Light extinction. Sound in sea water. Deep water formation and the great conveyor belt. Main surface currents. Vertical circulation. Tides. Biogeographic regions. Zonation of the intertidal and subtidal zones.
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Adaptations File PDF
Size of marine organisms. Tissue density. Body shape. Buoyancy. Movements. Sessile organisms. defense structures. Temperature and salinity ranges. Adaptations to extreme environments. Oxygen ranges. Adaptations to air exposure. Osmoregulation. Catadromous, anandromous and diadromous species. Differences between land and sea.
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Species diversity in the sea. Global patterns of distribution. Factors and processes affecting marine biodiversity distribution.
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The diversity of benthos. Definitions and classification based on size and relationships with the substrate. Colonial and solitary animals. Body structure, reproduction, feeding strategies and ecological role: porifera, cnidaria, annelida, mollusca, arthropoda, echinodermata, bryozoa, tunicata, fish. Other phyla. Meiofauna. Main benthic habitats. Methods for benthic habitats mapping.
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The diversity of pelagos. The pelagic environment. Plankton: size e categories. Cyanobacteria. Eucaryotic phytoplankton. Prasinophyceae. Coccolithophorids. Diatoms. Silicon balance. Dinoflagellates. Algal bloom. Phytoplankton productivity in the ocean. Foraminifera. Radiolaria. Zooplankton: copepods. Eufasiacea. other groups: Chaetognata, gelatinous zooplankton. Ichthyoplankton. Seasonal cycle of plankton. Nekton. Common traits across taxa. Cephalopods. Fish. Reptiles and marine mammals.
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Disturbance File PDF
Concept of disturbance. Perturbations. The nature of disturbance: physical-chemical, biological. Types of disturbance. Intensity and frequency. Spatial variability. Temporal variance. The effect of disturbance: intensity and variance interactions. Case studies. Intermediate disturbance hypothesis. Patch dynamic. Recovery after disturbance. Interactions between environmental and biological disturbance.
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The theory of island biogeography. Stepping stones. Artificial structures as stepping stones. Supply-side ecology. Processes affecting larval supply. Dispersal potential in marine organisms. Metapopulations and metacommunities. Models of marine community assembly: patch dynamics, species sorting, mass effect, neutral models. Beta-diversity: concepts. The role of beta-diversity in marine ecology. Beta-diversity and ecological connectivity. Distance-decay of similarity in marine communities. Case studies and implications for conservation. Analyzing beta-diversity in environmental studies. Examples in environmental impact assessment. Homogeneity and heterogeneity due to human impacts. Nestedness and turnover.
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Logic of experiments. Manipulative and meansurative experiments. Factors and response variables. Fixed and random factors. Crossed and nested factors. Multifactorial experimental designs. Examples from marine studies. Confounded designs. BACI designs and environmental impact assessment in the marine environment. Sampling units. Common assessments. Biomass, cover, frequency, density. Sampling methods: destructive and non-destructive methods. Examples. Sample processing. Photographic sampling, belt transects, box-corers, grabs, dredging. Data matrices.
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Diversity indices. Dominance curves. Taxonomic diversity indices. Case studies. The use of taxonomic surrogates for species. New approaches to species surrogacy. Case studies in impact assessment in marine communities.
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Marine ecosystem functions. State of art for marine ecosystems. Functional traits of marine organisms. Functional diversity: methods. Relationships between taxonomic and functional diversity. Redundancy. Processes linking biodiversity and functioning: facilitation, complementarity, sampling effect, portfolio effect. Biodiversity-functioning models. Case studies on primary and secondary productivity, stability and resistance to invasion.
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Complexity and emergent properties of ecosytems. Resilience. Recovery and resistance. Mechanisms of stability. Tipping points. Hysteresis. The architecture of fragility and response to disturbance. Early-warning signals of critical transitions. Regime shift, drivers, and consequences on ecosystem services: examples from polar systems, seagrass and mangroves. Management and conservation strategies: examples from coral reefs. Planetary boundaries.
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Trophic nets and detritus: concepts and definitions. Non-living organic matter in the ocean: POM and DOM, types, origin, composition. Bioavailable and recalcitrant organic matter. The role of the ocean in carbon cycle. Biological pump, microbial loop and microbial pump, viral shunt. Brief outline on N and S cycles. Trophic nets and energy flux in the ocean. Differences between land and sea. Examples from mediterranean coastal areas, coral reefs, mangroves, kelp forests. Keystone species and trophic nets. Top-down e bottom-up controls. Examples of trophic cascades: top predator and mesopredators. Study cases. Bentho-pelagic coupling.
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Ecosystem functions and goods/services. Regulative functions, production functions, information functions. Examples: carbon sequestration, fisheries and global food supply, bioactive compounds, cultural services. Quantification of natural capital. Study cases: coral reefs tourism, fishery. Economic approaches. The economic value of main marine ecosystems. Problems in the economic approach. Brief outline of emergetic approach.
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Climate change and global change. Paleoclimate of oceans. Greenhouse gas emissions and effects. Thermal expansion of the oceans. Atmospheric effects. Sea level rise. ENSO. Thermal anomalies and heat waves. Mass mortalities of benthic organisms. Ocean acidification and saturation point of aragonite. Effects of global warming on marine food webs. Climate and biological invasions.
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Human population growth and drivers of pressure. Organic and inorganic pollution. Effects of urban wastewater discharges. Eutrophication. Synthetic pollutants and effects on the marine biota. Emerging contaminants. Heavy metals. Bioaccumulation and magnification. Oil spills. Plastics and marine litter. Physical alterations: radioactive compounds, thermal, acoustic, and light pollution. Artificial structures and alteration of the coastline. Pathogens and alien species. Study cases. Fishing and aquaculture. Overexploitation of natural stocks. Cumulative pressure and estimates of expected impacts. Loss of marine biodiversity and consequences. Impact assessment and monitoring.
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Environmental features of the tidal environment. Fucoid algae fringes. Bioconstructions: trottoir, vermetid reefs. Rocky subtidal algal forests: Cystoseira sensu lato and Sargassum. Subtidal rocky reefs and associated macrobenthos. Submerged cave environments. The fish fauna of rocky environments. Main human threats. Ecological status in the Mediterranean Sea. Ecological indicators. Recent regime shifts. The role of climate change.
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Coralligenous outcrops and other Mediterranean bioconstructions. Reefs of Astroides calycularis. Biostalactites. Coralligenous: characteristics, types of bioconstructions, biodiversity, the nature of the substrate, typical species. Coralligenous distribution. Maerl habitats and their distribution in the Mediterranean Sea. Main human threats to coralligenous: fishing, pollution, climate change, mass mortality.
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Kelp: origins, distribution and diversity. The three-dimensional structure of kelp forests. Distribution and factors influencing forests. Biodiversity associated with kelp. Ecological functions, associated ecosystem goods and services. Productivity and food webs in kelp forests. Human impacts and exploitation. Regime shift of kelp forests related to resource exploitation and climate change.
Soft corals and hard corals. Reef-building corals: characteristics, biology and global distribution. Symbiosis in corals. Reproduction. Skeletogenesis. madreporarians of the Mediterranean Sea. Three-dimensional structure of corals in relation to environmental drivers. Types of coral reefs. Formation of the atolls. Factors affecting the distribution of coral reefs. Biodiversity and food webs. Productivity. Ecosystem functions. Associated goods and services. Human threats. Bleaching. Acidification. Overexploitation and regime shift: the example of the Caribbean.
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Seagrasses: origin, ecological features, diversity and distribution. The seagrasses of the Mediterranean. Posidonia oceanica: distribution, structural characteristics, growth and reproduction. Environmental factors affecting the density of seagrass meadows. Matte. Banquettes. The ecological role of seagrass meadows. Primary productivity and carbon sequestration. Associated biodiversity and food webs. Anthropogenic impacts: anchoring, ports, fishing, sedimentation and coastal artificialisation. Indices of ecological status of seagrass beds. Effect of organic enrichment. Introduction of alien species. Effect of climate change. State of the seagrass beds in the Mediterranean Sea.
Mangroves: characteristics, biology and global distribution. Types of mangroves. Root systems and adaptation to submersion conditions and high salinity. Reproduction. Ecological role. Carbon sequestration and productivity. Coastal protection. Habitat formation for marine and terrestrial species. Associated biodiversity. The importance of mangroves for fishing and tourism in tropical areas. Anthropogenic impacts and effects of climate change. Shrimp aquaculture and mangrove decline in Southeast Asia: socio-ecological consequences.
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Deep sea environments: summary and environmental features. Organic matter flows. Biodiversity and species adaptations. Typical species. Abyssal gigantism. Transient deep-sea ecosystems: carcasses, hydrothermal vents, cold seeps. Potential effects of climate change on deep-sea ecosystems.
Polar marine systems. Arctic and Antarctic ocenas: differences, environmental features and biodiversity. Fish, sea birds and marine mammals. Adaptations to cold temperature. Migrations. Ice and life. Primary productivity. Krill and polar trophic nets. Main human threats: pollution, overexploitation of marine resources, climate change. Protection regimes in polar oceans.
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Historical trend in marine conservation. Evolution of the concept of marine conservation. Differences between terrestrial and marine conservation strategies. Conservation targets. SLOSS debate. Size of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and conservation targets. Protection and environmental risk. Shape of MPAs. Spacing. Environmental context and socio-economic constraints. Zonation withtin MPAs and protection regimes. Main factors affecting MPAs implementation. MPAs in the global ocean: distribution and features. Conservation in the Mediterranean Sea and Italy. Regulation. Monitoring the effectiveness of protection. Workflow of monitoring plans. Effects of protection on marine assemblages: sheltering, buffering, trophic cascades. Size of MPAs and effectiveness. Human frequentation. MPAs and resilience of protected communities. Beta diversity, connectivity and MPA networks. Enforcement e paper reserves. Socio-economic-effects of protection. Conservation costs. Compliance.
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Main international, European and national agreements and regulation for the protection of marine biodiversity. EU Directives. Water Framework Directive: aims and prescriptions. EU Habitat Directive: objectives, Natura 2000 network, Sites of Community Importance, marine habitats and speceis in the annexes. Habitat and species protected in the Mediterranean Sea. SPAMI Protocol. EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive: monitoring, descriptors, GES. Objectives, targets, and indicators of the marine strategy in Italy.
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