Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi

Università di Pisa | UNIPI · Department of Biology

The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies. Hundr...

Understanding how multifactorial fluctuating environments affect species and communities remains one of the major challenges in ecology. Here, we use field experiments and simulations to assess the influence of nonlinear effects and spatial covariation of two important climate variables – warming and sediment deposition – on the biomass and photosy...

Complex spatial patterns are common in coastal marine systems, but mechanisms underlying their formation are disputed. Most empirical work has focused on exogenous spatially structured disturbances as the leading cause of pattern formation in species assemblages. However, theoretical and observational studies suggest that complex spatial patterns,...

Red mark syndrome (RMS) is a disease of farmed rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum, 1792), one of the most widespread freshwater farmed species in Europe. The disease emerges at water temperatures below 16 °C and consists of one or more bright red skin lesions on the fish body. Mortality due to RMS is reportedly rare, but the disease leads...

Understanding how marine heatwaves (MHWs) unfold in space and time under anthropogenic climate change is key to anticipate future impacts on ecosystems and society. Yet, our knowledge of the spatiotemporal dynamics of MHWs is very limited. Here, I combine network theory with topological data analysis and event synchronization to high-resolution sat...

Rocky shore ecology has been studied for a long time, starting with qualitative descriptions and becoming more quantitative and experimental over time. Some of the earliest manipulative experimental ecological studies were undertaken on rocky shores. Many, over time, have made considerable contributions to ecological theory, especially highlighting...

Complex spatial patterns are common in coastal marine systems, but mechanisms underlying their formation are disputed. Most empirical work has focused on exogeneous spatially structured disturbances as the leading cause of pattern formation in species assemblages. However, theoretical and observational studies suggest that complex spatial patterns,...

Artificial light at night (ALAN) has been recently recognized as a threat for aquatic systems, but a comprehensive knowledge of its effects is still lacking. A fundamental question is whether and how ALAN might affect temporal variability of communities, thus undermining the stability of mature assemblages or influencing the colonization process. H...

Macroalgal forests are one of the most productive and valuable marine ecosystems, but yet strongly exposed to fragmentation and loss. Detailed large-scale information on their distribution is largely lacking, hindering conservation initiatives. In this study, a systematic effort to combine spatial data on Cystoseira C. Agardh canopies (Fucales, Pha...

1.Artificial light at night (ALAN) is one of the most recently recognized sources of anthropogenic disturbance, with potentially severe effects on biological systems that are still to be fully explored. Among marine ecosystems, high shore habitats are those more likely to be impacted by ALAN, due to a more intense exposition to outdoor nocturnal li...

In the Anthropocene, marine ecosystems are rapidly shifting to new ecological states. Achieving effective conservation of marine biodiversity has become a fast‐moving target because of both global climate change and continuous shifts in marine policies. How prepared are we to deal with this crisis? We examined EU Member States Programs of Measures...

Interactions in the Marine Benthos - edited by Stephen J. Hawkins August 2019

Development of global ocean observing capacity for the biological EOVs is on the cusp of a step-change. Current capacity to automate data collection and processing and to integrate the resulting data streams with complementary data, openly available as FAIR data, is certain to dramatically increase the amount and quality of information and knowledg...

Maritime economy, ecosystem-based management and climate change adaptation and mitigation raise emerging needs on coastal ocean and biological observations. Integrated ocean observing aims at optimizing sampling strategies and cost-efficiency, sharing data and best practices, and maximizing the value of the observations for multiple purposes. Recen...

In coastal waters around the world, the dominant primary producers are benthic macrophytes, including seagrasses and macroalgae, that provide habitat structure and food for diverse and abundant biological communities and drive ecosystem processes. Seagrass meadows and macroalgal forests play key roles for coastal societies, contributing to fishery...

Restricting human activities through Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is assumed to create more resilient biological communities with a greater capacity to resist and recover following climate events. Here we review the evidence linking protection from local pressures (e.g., fishing and habitat destruction) with increased resilience. Despite strong th...

Aim Marine bioconstructions such as coralligenous formations are hotspot of biodiversity and play a relevant ecological role in the preservation of biodiversity by providing carbon regulation, protection and nursery areas for several marine species. For this reason, the European Union Habitat Directive included them among priority habitats to be pr...

Marine protected areas (MPAs) represent the main tool for halting the loss of marine biodiversity. However, there is increasing evidence concerning their limited capacity to reduce or eliminate some threats even within their own boundaries. Here, we analysed a Europe-wide dataset comprising 31,579 threats recorded in 1692 sites of the European Unio...

Marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are facing unprecedented pressures in the Anthropocene, with climate change being a primary stressor. To understand the biological response mechanisms along coastlines, the international scientific community requires coordinated action, integrating obervations through observatory networks and spatially...

Understanding how increasing human domination of the biosphere affects life on earth is a critical research challenge. This task is facilitated by the increasing availability of open‐source data repositories, which allow ecologists to address scientific questions at unprecedented spatial and temporal scales. Large datasets are mostly observational,...

Planning the Implementation of a Global Long-Term Observing and Data Sharing Strategy for Macroalgal Communities; Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 24–26 September 2018

Research on regime shifts has focused primarily on how changes in the intensity and duration of press disturbances precipitate natural systems into undesirable, alternative states. By contrast, the role of recurrent pulse perturbations, such as extreme climatic events, has been largely neglected, hindering our understanding of how historical proces...

Marine bioconstructions are biodiversity-rich, three-dimensional biogenic structures, regulating key ecological functions of benthic ecosystems worldwide. Tropical coral reefs are outstanding for their beauty, diversity and complexity, but analogous types of bioconstructions are also present in temperate seas. The main bioconstructions in the Medit...

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a widespread phenomenon along coastal areas. Despite increasing evidence of pervasive effects of ALAN on patterns of species distribution and abundance, the potential of this emerging threat to alter ecological processes in marine ecosystems has remained largely unexplored. Here we show how exposure to white LED...

Developing enduring capacity to monitor ocean life requires investing in people and their institutions to build infrastructure, ownership, and long-term support networks. International initiatives can enhance access to scientific data, tools and methodologies, and develop local expertise to use them, but without ongoing engagement may fail to have...

Habitat-forming species sustain biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in harsh environments through the amelioration of physical stress. Nonetheless, their role in shaping patterns of species distribution under future climate scenarios is generally overlooked. Focusing on coastal systems, we assess how habitat-forming species can influence the abi...

Europe lacks a multi-purpose integrated biological ocean observing system. The Future Science Brief recommends building an integrated biological ocean observation system, while supporting current capacity. Europe needs a strategic vision to increase the relevant biological ocean observation capacity. We also need to bring together key stakeholders,...

Loss of algal canopies can result in a shift towards a turf-dominated state, where variability in species life-history traits can determine new mechanisms of feedback, and influence the degraded system under variable regimes of disturbance. By focusing on rockpools dominated by Cystoseira brachycarpa, we tested the hypothesis that the alga Dictyopt...

Marine bioconstructions are biodiversity-rich, three-dimensional biogenic structures, regulating key ecological functions of benthic ecosystems worldwide. Tropical coral reefs are outstanding for their beauty, diversity and complexity, but analogous types of bioconstructions are also present in temperate seas. The main bioconstructions in the Medit...

Measurements of the status and trends of key indicators for the ocean and marine life are required to inform policy and management in the context of growing human uses of marine resources, coastal development, and climate change. Two synergistic efforts identify specific priority variables for monitoring: Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) through th...

Motivation: The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time se...

The documented and worldwide loss of seagrasses calls for effective measures to anticipate their decline and improve conservation. It has been suggested that seagrass response to increasing stress can be often non linear and show sudden decline. Ecological theory also proposes that systems close to decline become more stochastic and slow in recover...

Motivation: The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time se...

Motivation: The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community led open-source database of biodiversity time se...

Developing early warning signals to predict regime shifts in ecosystems is a central issue in current ecological research. While there are many studies addressing temporal early warning indicators, research into spatial indicators is far behind, with field experiments even more rare. Here, we tested the performance of spatial early warning signals...

Sustained observations of marine biodiversity and ecosystems focused on specific conservation and management problems are needed around the world to effectively mitigate or manage changes resulting from anthropogenic pressures. These observations, while complex and expensive, are required by the international scientific, governance and policy commu...

Motivation: The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time se...

There is increasing evidence that the severity of the ecological impact of non-native species does not necessarily scale linearly with their abundance in the introduced range. Nonetheless, the potential of low abundance invaders to alter the resilience of native communities to disturbance has been poorly explored. On Mediterranean rocky reefs, we t...

Knowledge of spatio-temporal variability of assemblages is the first step for identifying key factors affecting abundance and distribution of organisms. Despite a long history of ecological investigations, rocky intertidal habitats still lack a basic knowledge of their microphytobenthic components. We investigated spatio-temporal variability of mic...

Ecosystems can experience catastrophic transitions to alternative states, yet recent results have suggested that slowing down in rates of recovery after a perturbation may provide advance warning that a critical transition is approaching. Perturbation experiments with microbial populations have supported this hypothesis under controlled laboratory...

This volume contains the main results of the EC FP7 “The Ocean of Tomorrow” Project CoCoNet, divided in two sections: 1) a set of guidelines to design networks of Marine Protected Areas in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas; 2) a smart wind chart that will allow evaluating the possibility of installing Offshore Wind Farms in both seas. The concep...

Understanding how historical processes modulate the response of ecosystems to perturbations is becoming increasingly important. In contrast to the growing interest in projecting biodiversity and ecosystem functioning under future climate scenarios, how legacy effects originating from historical conditions drive change in ecosystems remains largely...

In the frame of the COST ACTION ‘EMBOS’ (Development and implementation of a pan-European Marine Biodiversity Observatory System), coverage of intertidal macroalgae was estimated at a range of marine stations along the European coastline (Subarctic, Baltic, Atlantic, Mediterranean). Based on these data, we tested whether patterns in macroalgal dive...

Examining how variability in population abundance and distribution is allotted among different spatial scales can inform of processes that are likely to generate that variability. Results of studies dealing with scale issues in marine benthic communities suggest that variability is concentrated at small spatial scales (from tens of centimetres to f...

Background Organisms are facing increasing levels of environmental stress under climate change that may severely affect the functioning of biological systems at different levels of organization. Growing evidence suggests that reduction in body size is a universal response of organisms to global warming. However, a clear understanding of whether ext...

Coastal ecosystems are highly complex and driven by multiple environmental factors. To date we lack scientific evidence for the relative contribution of natural and anthropogenic drivers for the majority of marine habitats in order to adequately assess the role of different stressors across the European seas. Such relationship can be investigated b...

Within the COST action EMBOS (European Marine Biodiversity Observatory System) the degree and variation of the diversity and densities of soft-bottom communities from the lower intertidal or the shallow subtidal was measured at 28 marine sites along the European coastline (Baltic, Atlantic, Mediterranean) using jointly agreed and harmonized protoco...

Ecological connectivity is important for effective marine planning and biodiversity conservation. Our aim was to identify factors important in influencing variation in benthic community structure on shallow rocky reefs in 2 regions of the Mediterranean Sea with contrasting oceanographic regimes. We assessed beta (β) diversity at 146 sites in the li...

Ecological connectivity is important for effective marine planning and biodiversity conservation. Our aim was to identify factors important in influencing variation in benthic community structure on shallow rocky reefs in 2 regions of the Mediterranean Sea with contrasting oceanographic regimes. We assessed beta (β) diversity at 146 sites in the li...

In the Mediterranean biogenic habitat built by coralline algae (orders Corallinales, Hapalidiales and Sporolithales) show a great diversity and a large bathymetric extent. The genus Lithophyllum is the most species-diverse coralline genus and plays a key role in the formation of extensive bioconstructions, as the coralligenous concretions in the ci...

Supplemental material to Current Biology 25:1867-1872

The difficulty in teasing apart the effects of biological invasions from those of other anthropogenic perturbations has hampered our understanding of the mechanisms underpinning the global biodiversity crisis. The recent elaboration of global-scale maps of cumulative human impacts provides a unique opportunity to assess how the impact of invaders v...

ANOVA on the response of canopy-forming macroalgae to experimental treatments. Table S2–ANOVA on the effects of Site (3 levels, random), Assemblage (control versus cleared; fixed) and C. cylindracea (present versus removed; fixed) on the percentage cover of canopy-forming species. Pooling procedures were used, according to Winer et al. (1991).

Dataset of extant assemblages.

Dataset of recovering assemblages.

Table S1–Influence of an outlier on the analysis of species richness in developing assemblages. Linear-mixed models assessing the effects of C. cylindracea, land-based- and sea-based cumulative human impacts on the species richness of developing assemblages after the exclusion of a potential outlier. Coefficients, standard errors (SE) and p-values...

Biological invasions threaten biodiversity worldwide. Nonetheless, a unified theory linking disturbance and resistance to invasion through a mechanistic understanding of the changes caused to biodiversity is elusive. Building on different forms of the disturbance-biodiversity relationship and on the Biotic ResistanceHypothesis (BRH), we constructed...

Appendix S1. Description of thallus morphology of the different species of Cystoseira.

Appendix S3. ANOVA assessing the effects of disturbance, canopy species richness and composition on Caulerpa.

Appendix S4. Relationships between Caulerpa and Cystoseira spp. cover in fall 2010.