Antonietta Rosso

University of Catania | UNICT · Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BIOMLG)

An investigation aimed at recording NIS settlement by the employment of a bare artificial substratum constituted by caged lightweight expanded clay (EC) has been carried out in a confined marine basin. Packaged substratum, submitted to different organic treatments and a control was positioned in spring both in the water column and into the bottom s...

Al meglio delle fonti documentarie a disposizione, sono state ricostruite le tappe migratorie delle collezioni paleontologiche del Museo di Paleontologia dell’Università di Catania. In aggiunta è stata ricostruita la storia personale dei curatori che hanno assistito e diretto, con maggiore responsabilità e professionalità, il continuo riassetto dei...

ABSTRACT - In the Mediterranean Sea, crustose coralline algae form mesophotic reefs referred to as Coralligenous. They act as a sediment trap and may be considered as a potential source of geological information. Two coralligenous build-ups collected during the project FISR “CRESCIBLUREEF” at 36 and 37 m water depth off the coast of south-eastern S...

This study examines the taxonomic composition of biofouling communities in two fishing ports of Kalloni Gulf (Lesvos Island, Greece), focusing on the detection of alien and cryptogenic species. Using PVC plates for biofouling monitoring, we identified 14 benthic species, including three alien and three cryptogenic species. Monitoring involved bi-we...

The introduction of Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) in the Mediterranean Sea is one of the main threats to biodiversity and its increasing frequency could bring a significant ecological impact on native species. However, knowledge of marine bioinvasions, the spreading patterns of NIS and their possible pathways of dispersion is still limited, especial...

The coralligenous build-ups located on the Mediterranean shelf in front of Marzamemi (SE Sicily, Italy) represent useful natural examples to use in studying the relationship between skeletal organisms and non-skeletal components in marine bioconstructions. Coralligenous build-ups are formed in open marine systems, and their comparison with coeval b...

The coralligenous build-ups located in Mediterranean shelf in front of Marzamemi (SE – Sicily, Italy) represent useful natural examples to study the relationship between skeletal organisms and non-skeletal components in marine bioconstructions. Coralligenous build-ups are formed in open marine systems and their comparison with coeval bioconstructio...

This paper provides an update on Mediterranean bryozoan diversity since the annotated checklist of Rosso & Di Martino (2016), following the publication of numerous papers describing new taxa and new species, and the addition of new records of non-indigenous species. Some of the 32 new species described after the previous checklist (plus one only fi...

The long-established difference between the bryozoan genera Hemicyclopora Norman, 1894 and Escharella Gray, 1848 is the occurrence of a lyrula in the autozooidal orifices of Escharella species. The examination of abundant material from the Mediterranean and NE Atlantic using re-assessed specific criteria revealed an unexpected diversity involving s...

MARINE ALIEN SPECIES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN CROSSROAD: A CRITICAL REVIEW AROUND SICILY Marine Alien Species in the Mediterraneana crossroad: a critical review around Sicily

Lunulites are a polyphyletic group of marine bryozoans that have been a conspicuous element of marine shelf faunas since the Late Cretaceous into the present day. They are easily recognizable by their domed colony form and free-living mode of life on sea floor sediments. Here we explore the waxing and waning of the major lunulitiform groups and the...

Citation: Rosso, A.; Donato, G.; Sanfilippo, R.; Serio, D.; Sciuto, F.; D'Alpa, F.; Bracchi, V.A.; Negri, M.P.; Basso, D. The Bryozoan Margaretta cereoides as Habitat-Former in the Abstract: Although several bryozoans are considered habitat-former species, allowing colonisation by epibionts and promoting biodiversity, studies dealt so far with only...

The start-up, build-up and demise of cold-water coral mounds are governed by environmental changes at global, regional and local scales. Whilst the formation of cold-water coral mounds across the globe is widely documented to follow interglacial-glacial cycles, less is known about their response to local environmental fluctuations during short time...

Coralligenous (C) include calcareous build-ups of biogenic origin, formed since the Holocene transgression. Peculiar columnar-shaped C outcrops were documented offshore Marzamemi village (SE Sicily, Ionian Sea), although the actual extension and distribution were not assessed. Project ‘CRESCIBLUREEF’ produced a new, 17 km² high-resolution bathymetr...

To enrich spatio-temporal information on the distribution of alien, cryptogenic, and neonative species in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, a collective effort by 173 marine scientists was made to provide unpublished records and make them open access to the scientific community. Through this effort, we collected and harmonized a dataset of 12,64...

The minute bivalve Gregariella semigranata (Reeve, 1858) was first reported from the coralligenous algal reefs off of Marzamemi in southeastern Sicily. The species has a cryptic, nestling lifestyle within convolutions of calcareous algae and crevices, occurring also under the canopy of fleshy algae and inside the soft tissues of sponges. A peculiar...

The Atlantic‐Mediterranean polychaete Sabellaria spinulosa (Leuckart, 1849) lives in agglutinated tubes forming discrete reef‐like bioconstructions on shallow‐water bottoms beaten by waves where sediment particles are constantly resuspended. Tubes are built with sand grains glued by a proteinaceous cement. Analyses of a S. spinulosa reef sample of...

This study provides a detailed reconstruction of cold-water coral mound build-up within the East Melilla Coral Province (southeastern Alboran Sea), more precisely at the northern part of Brittlestar Ridge I, over the last 300 kyr. The multiproxy investigation of core MD13-3462G reveals that mound build-up took place during both interglacial and gla...

In 1878, Arthur Waters described a bryozoan fauna from a Pleistocene (Calabrian) outcrop, at that time considered as Pliocene, located near the town of Brucoli in southeast Sicily (Italy). Waters' work on bryozoans was based on the material collected four years earlier by Theodor Fuchs, curator of the Imperial-Royal Mineralogical Court-Cabinet in V...

Biological invasions have become a defining feature of marine Mediterranean ecosystems with significant impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human health. We systematically reviewed the current knowledge on the impacts of marine biological invasions in the Mediterranean Sea. We screened relevant literature and applied a standardised fra...

Along the Mediterranean Sea shelf, algal reefs made of crustose coralline algae and Peyssonneliales are known as Coralligenous. It ranks among the most important ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea because of its extent, complexity, and heterogeneity, supporting very high levels of biodiversity. Descriptive approaches for monitoring purposes are of...

The distinctive features and fossil content of some caves from eastern Sicily (San Teodoro, Donnavilla, Fulco, Taormina, Tremilia, Spinagallo), altogether spanning from the middle Pleistocene until the beginning of the Holocene, are discussed. Although dating on vertebrate and/or invertebrate remains is available in few instances, coastal notches a...

The dark and confined conditions of submarine caves allow the development of cryptic bioconstructions. They have been named “biostalactites” due to their distinctive growth from the ceiling and walls. Biostalactites resemble small scale “build-up” and have received increasing attention in recent years since they allow geobiological studies that cou...

Biogenic habitats often form hot spots of biodiversity. However, the role of epibiosis and the ‘habitat cascades’ phenomenon in enhancing structural heterogeneity and biodiversity in biogenic habitats in remote and difficult-to-access areas is little known. In this work, we provide the first insight by exploring epibiosis across remote habitats tha...

This study provides a detailed reconstruction of cold-water coral mound build-up within the East Melilla Coral Province (Southeast Alboran Sea) over the last 300 ky. Based on benthic foraminiferal assemblages, macrofaunal quantification, grain size analysis, sediment geochemistry, and foraminiferal stable isotope compositions, a reconstruction of e...

The shallow-water reef building polychaete Sabellaria alveolata is recorded from a new locality in the southeastern corner of Sicily, off Portopalo di Capo Passero. Here, a particular habitat is formed on upper infralittoral rocky bottoms beaten by waves, with S. alveolata developing as veneer-like bioconstructions interspersed/covered with a dense...

The 1-m-tall dwarf elephant Palaeoloxodon falconeri from the Pleistocene of Sicily (Italy) is an extreme example of insular dwarfism and epitomizes the Island Rule. Based on scaling of life-history (LH) traits with body mass, P. falconeri is widely considered to be ‘r-selected’ by truncation of the growth period, associated with an early onset of r...

The Mediterranean specimens of the genus Microporella collected from shallow water habitats during several surveys and cruises undertaken mostly off the Italian coast are revised. As a result of the disentanglement of the M. ciliata complex and the examination of new material, three new species, M. bicollaris sp. nov., M. ichnusae sp. nov., and M....

Plio-Pleistocene cirripeds from eastern Sicily and a review of Mediterranean Cainozoic species

Cainozoic Mediterranean cirripedes

This article includes twenty (20) new records of alien and cryptogenic species in the Mediterranean Sea, belonging to six (6) Phyla (Rhodophyta, Tracheophyta, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Bryozoa, and Chordata) distributed from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Sea of Alboran. The records are reported from nine (9) countries and can be classified into two...

In 2015, the Strait of Sicily, which includes several banks, was candidate as a future Specially Protected Area of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI) by the Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention. In this context, the present study aims to provide the first biological and ecological characterisation of this poorly known area, focusing on hab...

Cribrilinid bryozoans originating from Pleistocene deep-water sediments from two localities near Messina (Sicily, Italy)—Capo Milazzo (Gelasian) and Scoppo (Calabrian)—were examined. Five cribrilinid species were found, three in each locality and time interval, with only one species shared. Three species, Cribrilaria profunda n. sp., Glabrilaria tr...

Metazoan/microbial bioconstructions, or biostalactites (BSTs), discovered in submarine caves of Apulia c. 20 years ago—and later found in several shallow-water Mediterranean caves—are receiving increasing attention in the last years. Examination of a single BST from the “lu Lampiùne” cave (Apulia), at the limit between the Adriatic and the Ionian s...

An update of the geographical distribution of the sabellariid polychaete Sabellaria alveolata (Linnaeus, 1767) within the Mediterranean Sea is provided after checking the known literature. This shallow-water, reef-forming species is first recorded from new sites in southeastern Sicily, both along the Sicily Straits and the Ionian Sea, from where S....

An update of the geographical distribution of the sabellariid polychaete Sabellaria alveolata (Linnaeus, 1767) within the Mediterranean Sea is provided after checking the known literature. This shallow-water, reef-forming species is first recorded from new sites in southeastern Sicily, both along the Sicily Straits and the Ionian Sea, from where S....

Investigation of bryozoan faunas collected in two submarine caves in Lesvos Island, Aegean Sea revealed a great number of colonies of three species currently assigned to the cheilostome family Onychocellidae: Onychocella marioni Jullien, 1882, O. vibraculifera Neviani, 1895, and Smittipora disjuncta Canu & Bassler, 1930. All species were first desc...

Climate change is increasing the frequency, magnitude, and socio-economic costs of unprecedented extreme weather events and disasters. An exceptional stranding event of benthic species, mainly represented by the ecosystem engineer Porifera (Demospongiae) Geodia cydonium (Linnaeus, 1767) was observed in the Gulf of Oristano (Sardinia, Italy, Western...

The lithobiont community encrusting an early Pleistocene palaeocliff cropping out north of Augusta (SE Sicily, Italy) was investigated based on field observations and laboratory inspection of two rocky samples. Bryozoans, serpulids, brachiopods and bivalves encrusted part of the exposed surfaces that were bored mostly by clionaid sponges. Bryozoans...

This study provides a detailed reconstruction of climatic events affecting a cold-water coral mound located within the East Melilla Coral Province (Southeast Alboran Sea) over the last 300 ky. Based on benthic foraminiferal assemblages, macrofaunal quantification, grain size analysis, sediment geochemistry, and foraminiferal stable isotope composit...

Good datasets of geo-referenced records of alien species are a prerequisite for assessing the spatio-temporal dynamics of biological invasions, their invasive potential, and the magnitude of their impacts. However, with the exception of first records on a country level or wider regions, observations of species presence tend to remain unpublished, b...

The study aimed at contributing to the knowledge of alternative stable states by evaluating the differences of mobile and sessile macro-zoobenthic assemblages between sea urchin barrens and macroalgal forests in coastal Mediterranean systems considering a large spatial scale. Six sites (100 s km apart) were selected: Croatia, Montenegro, Sicily (It...

The genus Setosella included to date six species. After revision, only four of these species were retained, i.e. S. vulnerata, S. cavernicola, S. folini and S. spiralis. The remaining two species were tentatively placed in Woodipora, W.? antilleana n. comb., and Andreella, A.? fragilis n. comb. On the other hand, scanning electron microscopy examin...

In dark zones of submarine caves, photosynthesis-related production and water movement can be negligible or absent. This situation induces sessile animals like Porifera and Bryozoa to reduce their presence, shifting from massive to tiny encrusting morphologies. Notwithstanding this general rule, true engineer organisms can develop forming three-dim...

The Atlantic‐Mediterranean polychaete Sabellaria alveolata lives in agglutinated tubes adjoined to each other to form discrete reef‐like bioconstructions in shallow‐water settings characterised by high hydrodynamic energy where sediment particles are constantly resuspended. Tubes are built with sand grains glued by proteinaceous secretions. Analyse...

This dataset aims at illustrating the relationships between Metazoa and Bacteria in confined environments. For this purpose, the biotic crusts inside two submarine caves of the Aegean Sea were examined in order to characterize organisms involved in their formation. The present manuscript provides additional data and information to our research arti...

This paper describes a series of actions and projects based on a collaborative school-university effort, to achieve student orientation, to sharpen interest in geosciences by high school students and to consolidate knowledge on these disciplines by teachers through practical experiences. Proposed actions contributed to build teacher’s practical and...

Submarine caves constitute “natural laboratories” for studying biodiversity, community structure and inter-specific relationship in cryptic habitats. These unique systems are of strategic importance to reconstruct the complex biotic processes developed in cavities of skeletal frameworks through geologic time. In this study, the biogenic crusts in t...