Publications by authors named "Porzia Maiorano"
Article Synopsis
- The bamboo-coral Isidella elongata is crucial for deep Mediterranean ecosystems and is considered critically endangered due to the negative effects of bottom trawling.
- A modeling approach was used to map the coral's habitat suitability and assess the impacts of climate change and fishing practices, predicting a significant loss of suitable habitats (60% by 2100).
- The study identifies critical areas for conservation efforts in the Mediterranean, linking them to EU biodiversity strategies and emphasizing the need to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems from fishing activities.
Article Synopsis
- * About 40% of deep-water species caught in the Mediterranean come from its central basin, showing significant changes in abundance related to factors like sea-bottom temperature and fishing effort.
- * The findings highlight the importance of biodiversity conservation and fishery resource management, particularly around sensitive habitats and geomorphological features in the central Mediterranean.
The ecosystem functioning of two marine food webs covering the north-eastern (Salento) and south-western (Calabria) sectors of the North-Western Ionian Sea (NWIS) (Central Mediterranean Sea) was investigated through a food-web model. Data inputs covered a wide set of ecological information applied to 58 functional groups (FGs). The sum of consumption and the mean predation mortality rate were calculated for benthic, demersal, and pelagic subsystems indicating the predator and prey roles of the FGs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBlackbelly rosefish Helicolenus dactylopterus is a zygoparous fish whose males are equipped with the copulating organ named urogenital papilla (UP). This study deals with the morphology and the glycoconjugate pattern of the UP epidermis, which is the male tissue interacting with the female internal body during copulation. The carbohydrate content was studied by means of conventional and lectin histochemistry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpecies diversity is widely recognized as an important trait of ecosystems' functioning and resilience. Understanding the causes of diversity patterns and their interaction with the environmental conditions is essential in order to effectively assess and preserve existing diversity. While diversity patterns of most recurrent groups such as fish are commonly studied, other important taxa such as cephalopods have received less attention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAristeus antennatus is an ecologically and economically important deep-water species in the Mediterranean Sea. In this study we investigated the genetic variability of A. antennatus sampled from 10 sampling stations in the Western and Central Mediterranean.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Large-scale studies of fish diversity in the northern Mediterranean Sea are limited and typically rely on a few diversity indices from varied local data.
- Researchers analyzed 1454 standardized trawl hauls to explore multiple diversity indices and their relationships.
- The findings challenge traditional views on fish diversity patterns, indicating that the distribution of species richness and other diversity components doesn't consistently follow expected bathymetric trends and may require new monitoring methods and criteria for conservation.
Two experimental longline surveys were carried out in the Santa Maria di Leuca (SML) cold-water coral province (Mediterranean Sea) during May-June and September-October 2010 to investigate the effect of corals on fish assemblages. Two types of "megahabitat" characterized by the virtual absence of fishing were explored. One was characterized by complex topography including mesohabitats with carbonate mounds and corals.
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