Towards microplastic hotspots detection: A comparative analysis of in-situ sampling and sea surface currents derived by HF radars.

Marine plastic pollution is a global issue affecting ecosystems and various aspects of human life. The scientific community is exploring new monitoring and containment approaches. Because in-situ sampling campaigns are time and resource demanding, there is a focus on integrating different approaches for marine litter monitoring.

A Morphometric Approach to Understand Prokaryoplankton: A Study in the Sicily Channel (Central Mediterranean Sea).

A new understanding of plankton ecology has been obtained by studying the phenotypic traits of free-living prokaryotes in the Sicily Channel (Central Mediterranean Sea), an area characterised by oligotrophic conditions. During three cruises carried out in July 2012, January 2013 and July 2013, the volume and morphology of prokaryotic cells were assessed microscopically using image analysis in relation to environmental conditions. The study found significant differences in cell morphologies among cruises.

New Evaluation of Postovulatory Follicle Degeneration at High-Temperature Regimes Refines Criteria for the Identification of Spawning Cohorts in the European Anchovy ().

Accurate stock assessment estimates of fish resources are essential in fishery management. Wide fluctuations in abundance arising from variations in reproductive success are characteristic of many marine fish populations, including multiple spawner species. The proportion of females spawning per day is crucial in the application of egg production methods for spawning biomass evaluation and, usually, is assessed by postovulatory follicle (POF) method.

First annulus formation in the European anchovy; a two-stage approach for robust validation.

The age determination in fast-growing short-living species, such as European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), has been widely recognized as a difficult task and bias introduced by readers leads to bias in reconstructing the population age structure. In this context, it is worth to note that age structure of fish population represents key information in fishery ecology and for stock assessment models. The uncertainty in estimating the age of the European anchovy by otolith reading is linked to the number of false-growth increments (checks) laid down before the annulus formation.

Liver melanomacrophage centres and CYP1A expression as response biomarkers to environmental pollution in European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) from the western Mediterranean Sea.

The goal of the present study was to verify the suitability of using melanomacrophage centres (MMCs) as response biomarkers of marine pollution in European anchovy, which are short-lived, migratory, small pelagic fish. This suitability was verified by analysing the MMC density and cytochrome P450 monooxygenase 1A (CYP1A) expression in livers of anchovies from four areas of southern Italy. Age 2 anchovies sampled from three areas exposed to pollutants of industrial/agricultural origin (Gulf of Gela, Mazara del Vallo and Gulf of Naples) showed liver areas occupied by MMCs and numbers of MMCs that were significantly higher than those in the anchovies from Pozzallo, which is a marine area not subjected to any source of pollution.

Spatio-temporal dynamics of a planktonic system and chlorophyll distribution in a 2D spatial domain: matching model and data.

Field data on chlorophyll distribution are investigated in a two-dimensional spatial domain of the Mediterranean Sea by using for phytoplankton abundances an advection-diffusion-reaction model, which includes real values for physical and biological variables. The study exploits indeed hydrological and nutrients data acquired in situ, and includes intraspecific competition for limiting factors, i.e.

Yolked Oocyte Dynamics Support Agreement between Determinate- and Indeterminate-Method Estimates of Annual Fecundity for a Northeastern United States Population of American Shad.

Reports of American shad fecundity identify two important themes regarding egg production in fishes. First, geographic variation occurs and is biologically meaningful. Shad annual fecundity decreases with increasing latitude, but predicted lifetime fecundity does not, because of a counter-gradient of survival probability, all of which can explain the adaptive significance of natal homing.

Habitat selection response of small pelagic fish in different environments. Two examples from the oligotrophic Mediterranean Sea.

A number of scientific papers in the last few years singled out the influence of environmental conditions on the spatial distribution of fish species, highlighting the need for the fisheries scientific community to investigate, besides biomass estimates, also the habitat selection of commercially important fish species. The Mediterranean Sea, although generally oligotrophic, is characterized by high habitat variability and represents an ideal study area to investigate the adaptive behavior of small pelagics under different environmental conditions. In this study the habitat selection of European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus and European sardine Sardina pilchardus is analyzed in two areas of the Mediterranean Sea that largely differentiate in terms of environmental regimes: the Strait of Sicily and the North Aegean Sea.