Adaptive Response to Gillnets Bycatch in a North Sardinia Mediterranean Shag () Population.

Mediterranean Shag () is a seabird endemic to the Mediterranean and Black Seas, recently included in the IUCN list of threatened Species. Most of the reproductive colonies are hosted in Sardinia and surrounding islets. Bycatch in fishing nets is one of the most significant threats for this population.

A spatially explicit risk assessment approach: Cetaceans and marine traffic in the Pelagos Sanctuary (Mediterranean Sea).

Spatially explicit risk assessment is an essential component of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), which provides a comprehensive framework for managing multiple uses of the marine environment, minimizing environmental impacts and conflicts among users. In this study, we assessed the risk of the exposure to high intensity vessel traffic areas for the three most abundant cetacean species (Stenella coeruleoalba, Tursiops truncatus and Balaenoptera physalus) in the southern area of the Pelagos Sanctuary, which is the only pelagic Marine Protected Area (MPA) for marine mammals in the Mediterranean Sea. In particular, we modeled the occurrence of the three cetacean species as a function of habitat variables in June by using hierarchical Bayesian spatial-temporal models.

First Gammaherpesvirus detection in a free-living Mediterranean bottlenose dolphin.

Recently, herpes viruses have been detected in different cetacean species from the Atlantic and in Mediterranean striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba). While pathogens such as cetacean morbillivirus have been widely studied following recent epizootics, herpesvirus (HV) distribution and pathogenic effects in cetaceans are still understudied. This study reports the first molecular identification of a Gammaherpesvirus in the genital mucosa of a free-living Mediterranean bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) stranded off the coast of central Italy.

Ejaculate collection efficiency and post-thaw semen quality in wild-caught Griffon vultures from the Sardinian population.

This study aimed to test the feasibility of a programme of semen collection and cryopreservation in Griffon vultures. Four wild-caught individuals kept in captivity because of unrecoverable traumas were used. Semen collection attempts were made twice a week during three consecutive reproductive seasons (December - March) using the abdominal massage method.

Molecular evidence for the occurrence of Contracaecum rudolphii A (Nematoda: Anisakidae) in shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis (Linnaeus) (Aves: Phalacrocoracidae) from Sardinia (western Mediterranean Sea).

Specimens of Contracaecum rudolphii Hartwich, 1964 (Nematoda: Anisakidae) from Phalacrocorax aristotelis (Linnaeus) from the Archipelago of La Maddalena (Sardinia, western Mediterranean Sea) were characterised genetically and compared with C. rudolphii A sensu D'Amelio et al. 1990 and C.