Eliana Ferretti

• Master of Science
• PhD Student at University of Auckland

Recreational diving is an important activity in reef environments worldwide, providing income and employment for coastal communities and connecting visiting divers to these ecosystems promoting conservation and stewardship. However, if poorly managed, diving has the potential to cause detrimental effects on benthic communities via mechanical damage...

Marine soft sediments play crucial roles in global biogeochemical cycles and biodiversity. Yet, with organisms often hidden in the sediment, they pose challenges for effective monitoring and management. This study introduces a novel approach utilizing sediment microtopography as a proxy for ecosystem functioning and biodiversity. Combining field sa...

Marine ecotourism is a multifaceted social-ecological activity that seeks to balance economic benefits with support for sustainability and positive ecosystem impacts. Successful marine ecotourism relies upon ecosystem health and has the potential to restore or regenerate nature. Restoration efforts of marine habitats aim to foster social and ecolog...

The accurate delimitation of species boundaries in nonbilaterian marine taxa is notoriously difficult, with consequences for many studies in ecology and evolution. Anthozoans are a diverse group of key structural organisms worldwide, but the lack of reliable morphological characters and informative genetic markers hampers our ability to understand...

Understanding the factors and processes that shape intra-specific sensitivity to heat stress is fundamental to better predicting the vulnerability of benthic species to climate change. Here, we investigate the response of a habitat-forming Mediterranean octocoral, the red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826) to thermal stress at multiple bio...

The accurate delimitation of species boundaries in non-bilaterian marine taxa is notoriously difficult, with consequences for many studies in ecology and evolution. Anthozoans are a diverse group of key structural organisms worldwide, but the lack of reliable morphological characters and informative genetic markers hampers our ability to understand...

Non-tropical marine protected areas (MPAs) are likely to experience growing demand from scuba diving tourism, given the pressures on their tropical counterparts. The vulnerability of non-tropical MPAs to the impacts of diving tourism calls for monitoring and sustainable management of diving activities to ensure conservation. This study contributes...

Stakeholder engagement is a critical component of marine protected area (MPA) management. Education and capacity-building initiatives, in particular, have the potential to empower stakeholders, promote collaboration, create a culture of marine stewardship and encourage alternative and sustainable livelihoods. Empirical evidence on the impacts of th...

The temperate coralligenous bioconcretions are mainly built by the accumulation of encrusting coralline algae growing at low irradiance levels. They harbour approximately 10% of marine Mediterranean species (about 1600 species), including long-lived algae and invertebrates. Enhanced by climate change, several pressures affect coralligenous assembla...

The temperate coralligenous bioconcretions are mainly built by the accumulation of encrusting coralline algae growing at low irradiance levels. They harbour approximately 10% of marine Mediterranean species (about 1600 species), including long-lived algae and invertebrates. Enhanced by climate change, several pressures affect coralligenous assembla...