Giulia Gatti

Septentrion Environnement

In the last ten years, European Directives stressed the necessity to assess the ecological status of marine habitats by means of ecosystem or landscape indicators, rather than just species or chemical ones. In this paper, the seascape approach to characterise and assess the ecological quality of coralligenous rocky shoals of Vado Ligure (Savona, It...

A rapid visual assessment (RVA) approach for the characterization and assessment of the integrity of coralligenous reefs was applied in 21 stations subjected to different levels of anthropogenic pressure, along the French Mediterranean coasts. The reefs were characterized from both the geomorphologic and bionomic (biotic cover,conspicuous species r...

Understanding the effects of environmental change on ecosystems requires the identification of baselines that may act as reference conditions. However, the continuous change of these references challenges our ability to define the true natural status of ecosystems. The so-called sliding baseline syndrome can be overcome through the analysis of quan...

Les habitats biogéniques dit « coralligènes » sont principalement construits sur les substrats rocheux par des algues rouges calcaires, en condition de luminosité réduite. Leur grande complexité structurale abrite de nombreuses espèces benthiques, faisant de ces habitats un « hotspot » de biodiversité en mer Méditerranée. Néanmoins, les connaissanc...

Climate change is currently impacting and threatening the entire bio-sphere, especially coastal marine ecosystems (Harley et al., 2006). In particular, climate change has been identified as a major driver of loss in coastal marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning linked to the increase in the frequency and the intensity of marine heatwaves (M...

The genesis and distribution of marine notches around the microtidal Mediterranean basin has been widely debated in recent years. Here we provide new climate and geomorphological insights into the factors controlling notch formation based on the bathymetric distribution of marine notches found in Marseille Bay (NW Mediterranean). In this area, the...

This paper aims at collating and reviewing all data collected using the ESCA (Ecological Status of Coralligenous Assemblages) index from 2009 to 2018 during different local applications, in order to evaluate at large spatial scale its effectiveness and temporal variability. To this scope, the large-scale response of ESCA to anthropogenic disturbanc...

Biotic homogenization is an expected effect of biological invasions. Invasive alien species typically show great adaptability to a wide range of environmental conditions and may expand into different habitats, thus reducing the dissimilarity among the recipient communities. We tested this assumption by analyzing a comprehensive database (78 species...

Hard bottom Sessile macrobenthos Algal cover Infralittoral rocky reefs Mediterranean sea A B S T R A C T Unlike the soft bottom meiofauna, meiofauna associated to hard substrata is poorly studied, despite its ecological relevance. Since communities of hard substrata are usually characterized by species with different life cycles and strategies from...

Resilience is the ability of the ecosystem to recover after a perturbation. Assessing the resilience of marine ecosystems in the face of the increasing disturbance regime has become a major concern for their conservation. Among marine ecosystems, animal forests are expectedly little resilient. Their recovery may take long, increasing the risk of hy...

1. This study compared the results obtained through the concurrent use of the two indices ESCA (Ecological Status of Coralligenous Assemblages) and COARSE (COralligenous Assessment by ReefScape Estimate) to define the ecological status of coralligenous reefs. 2. The study evaluated: i) the effectiveness of the two indices at a regional spatial scal...

Background Over the last decade, inventorying and monitoring of marine biodiversity has significantly benefited from the active engagement of volunteers. Although several Citizen Science projects concern tropical reef ecosystems worldwide, none of the existing initiatives has yet specifically focused on their Mediterranean equivalents. Mediterranea...

Background Over the last decade, inventorying and monitoring of marine biodiversity has significantly benefited from the active engagement of volunteers. Although several Citizen Science projects concern tropical reef ecosystems worldwide, none of the existing initiatives has yet specifically focused on their Mediterranean equivalents. Mediterranea...

CIGESMED για δύτες, πολίτες-επιστήμονες για το πρόγραμμα παρακολούθησης των κοραλλιγενών οικοτόπων

CIGESMED for divers – Citizen Science for CIGESMED

CIGESMED pour les plongeurs – Les sciences participatives pour CIGESMED

CIGESMED per i subacquei - Citizen science per CIGESMED

CIGESMED for divers – Citizen Science for CIGESMED

Dalgıçlar için CIGESMED – CIGESMED için Vatandaş Bilimi

Dalgıçlar için CIGESMED – CIGESMED için Vatandaş Bilimi

CIGESMED για δύτες, πολίτες-επιστήμονες για το πρόγραμμα παρακολούθησης των κοραλλιγενών οικοτόπων

CIGESMED pour les plongeurs – Les sciences participatives pour CIGESMED

CIGESMED per i subacquei - Citizen science per CIGESMED

The dearth of long-time series hampers the measurement of the ecosystem change that followed the global marine climate shift of the 1980–90s. The sessile communities of Portofino Promontory reefs (Ligurian Sea, NW Mediterranean) have been discontinuously studied since the 1950s. Collating information from various sources, three periods of investiga...

Mediterranean coralline reefs, known as " coralligenous " , are bioherms built by calcifying rhodophytes on hard substrates in dim-light conditions. They are hotspots of biodiversity, harbouring rich assemblages and valuable biological resources. The assemblages they host are popular among SCUBA divers due to their complex structure, conspicuous bi...

Mediterranean coralline reefs, known as " coralligenous " , are bioherms built by calcifying rhodophytes on hard substrates in dim-light conditions. They are hotspots of biodiversity, harbouring rich assemblages and valuable biological resources. The assemblages they host are popular among SCUBA divers due to their complex structure, conspicuous bi...

What is " coralligenous " ? What is commonly called coralligenous is, actually, a complex seascape (i.e. a submerged landscape) developing in dim light conditions, which is present exclusively in the Mediterranean Sea. Coralligenous habitat is mainly created by calcified red algae, which are constructing reef-like structures for thousands of years...

Resilience is the ability of the ecosystem to recover after a perturbation. Assessing the resilience of marine ecosystems in the face of the increasing disturbance regime has become a major concern for their conservation. Among marine ecosystems, animal forests are expectedly little resilient. Their recovery may take long, increasing the risk of hy...

Coralligenous reefs are one of the most important biodiversity hotspots of the Mediterranean Sea. The development and the application of management and protection measures aimed at reaching a Good Environmental Status of coastal ecosystems (MSFD, 2008/56/EC) require a deep knowledge about the distribution, the composition, the functioning of the ha...

Marine coastal ecosystems are among the most affected by global change and human impacts. The study of historical data is one of the main approaches allowing the identification of pristine (or at least less impacted) conditions to which refer for the evaluation of changes occurred in the communities. In the NW Mediterranean Sea, the rocky bottoms o...

Coralligenous outcrops represent a "hotspot" of Mediterranean marine biodiversity. Algae and sessile invertebrate taxa (mainly sponges, cnidarians, bryozoans and tunicates) structure the associated benthic assemblages and constitute remarkable seascapes. Nevertheless, this fragile habitat is submitted to a wide array of human impacts such as sewage...

Coralligenous outcrops represent a "hotspot" of Mediterranean marine biodiversity. Algae and sessile invertebrate taxa (mainly sponges, cnidarians, bryozoans and tunicates) structure the associated benthic assemblages and constitute remarkable seascapes. Nevertheless, this fragile habitat is submitted to a wide array of human impacts such as sewage...

This paper aims at evaluating the effectiveness of some descriptors obtained from photographic methods and visual assessment techniques to detect changes in ecological quality of coralligenous habitat. From the photographic methods we obtained the following descriptors: i) mean number of the main taxa/morphological groups, ii) mean cover of the mai...

Fifteen sites with coralligenous reefs have been identified along the coast of Liguria. Side scan sonar and/or multibeam data exist for 11 (73%) sites, whereas biological data are available for 13 (86%) sites. Urgent effort is needed to complete and update present knowledge.

The Mediterranean Sea is hosting almost 10% of the total marine biodiversity in spite of representing less than 1% of the global ocean surface. This regional sea experiences high anthropogenic pressures, such as growing human population density along the coasts, urbanization, (over)harvesting of living and raw resources, extensive maritime traffic,...

Coralligenous assemblages include algae and invertebrates growing on a secondary hard substrate, generated mainly by the concretion of encrusting calcified red algae. This structurally complex bioconstruction develops only in the Mediterranean Sea and is protected under the European Directive 92/43/EC. The European Marine Strategy Framework Directi...

Fifteen sites with coralligenous reefs have been identified along the coast of Liguria. Side scan sonar and/or multibeam data exist for 11 (73%) sites, whereas biological data are available for 13 (86%) sites. Urgent effort is needed to complete and update present knowledge.

Marine coastal ecosystems are among the most affected by global change and human impacts. In the last twenty years, the European Community tried to convince the member states to pay more attention to their marine habitats; the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD, 2008/56/EEC) requires to preserve the seafloor integrity and to achieve a “good...

Fifteen sites with coralligenous reefs have been identified along the coast of Liguria. Side scan sonar and/or multibeam data exist for 11 (73%) sites, whereas biological data are available for 13 (86%) sites. Urgent effort is needed to complete and update present knowledge.

The Rapid Visual Assessment (RVA) method, proposed for the evaluation of coralligenous quality, was applied on assemblages differently affected by human pressures. Result showed that RVA is able to reveal the health status of the assemblages. Future activities will compare the RVA with an index under development (INDEX-COR).

It is a common belief that biodiversity is an important descriptor of ecosystems and that sustained functioning of the latter depends on the former. However, research in the last decades did not reach a general consensus about the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and this might in part derive from the difficulty of findin...

The recognition of reference conditions is mandatory to assess status and evolution over time of seagrass meadows. Reference conditions can be defined from: i) historical cartographies, when available and reliable, which is not always the case; ii) data collected in pristine areas, actually very scarce worldwide; iii) modelling. This contribution t...

Marine coastal ecosystems are among the most vulnerable to global change. A way to evaluate their long-term variation is monitoring sites where long-time series are available, but data sets encompassing time scales longer than a few decades are scarce, especially for Mediterranean rocky reef communities. It might be possible to reconstruct the ecol...

Coralligenous assemblages include algae and invertebrates growing on a secondary hard substrate, generated mainly by the concretion of encrusting calcified red algae. This structurally complex bioconstruction develops only in the Mediterranean Sea and is protected under the European Directive 92/43/CE. Because of the operational restrictions impose...

Information on the distribution and abundance of species is often the sole basis for ecological studies that support management decisions. However, different techniques have different ability in revealing the spatio-temporal variation in species distribution and the adoption of the most appropriate sampling method (and sampling unit) is therefore e...

Differences between two visual sampling methods, Point Intercept Transects (PITs) and Visual Quadrats, were investigated on hard bottom subtidal benthic assemblages in the "Isola di Bergeggi" MPA (Ligurian Sea). Results showed that PITs detect differences among sites better than quadrats.