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Publications (158)
Geometric morphometry is effective in distinguishing bivalve species and populations, including the economically and environmentally important Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis. Although widely distributed, shell shape variation in M. galloprovincialis along the eastern Adriatic Sea has been infrequently studied. Farming practices and...
Besides the zonation of the Marine Protected Area of Karaburun-Sazani, the first marine national park in Albania, this protected area is situated close to a very dynamic urbanistic, touristic and important fishing area, making it a very important one to be managed by the pre-identified stakeholder earlier in the process. With the integration of loc...
As a result of the increasing threats posed by non-native species invasions, there has been a rise in the demand for decision support tools that can more efficiently identify those non-native species likely to become invasive. As part of the risk screening (first) step in the environmental risk analysis process, three multilingual decision support...
Chondrichthyans represent a diverse group of cartilaginous fishes that includes sharks, skates, rays, and chimaeras. The conservation of Mediterranean chondrichthyans faces challenges not only from the fishery industry itself, but also from the significant unreliability of official catch data. The species in this group often occupy upper trophic le...
Summary of threats to Chondrichthyans (Sharks, Rays & Chimaeras), including underlying drivers, key threats of overfishing, habitat loss & degradation, climate change; threats to freshwater & euryhaline species; emerging threats and an extensive box on Bycatch and Bycatch mitigation
Living in extreme environments, marine organisms face constant exposure to a range of stressors, such as high radiation levels, fluctuations in temperature, and oxidative stress. Understanding extremophile fishes is crucial because it gives us valuable insights into the biochemical, physiological, and developmental processes that govern life, by ob...
Living in extreme environments, marine organisms face constant exposure to a range of stressors, such as high radiation levels, fluctuations in temperature, and oxidative stress. Understanding extremophile fishes is crucial because it gives us valuable insights into the biochemical, physiological, and developmental processes that govern life, by ob...
This bibliographic study addresses key aspects related to fishing, product safety, and climate change in the Adriatic Sea region. The examination of product safety focuses on the assessment of contaminants originating from human activities such as industry, mining, agriculture, and household waste disposal. The contamination of the aquatic environm...
The North America fish species, commonly known as pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus), represents a small-bodied, warm-water fish that has been introduced firstly in Europe as an ornamental fish in the 19th century from North America, while in Albania, it was introduced in 1994. The aim of the study is not only to add another country to the long list of...
This paper presents additional historical records of Carcharodon carcharias in the eastern Adriatic and provides an updated list of the species’ occurrence in this area from 1868 onwards. Since the publication of the last list in 2002, 10 new records have been added based on newly available information. Out of these, 8 records
date back to the 19th...
This bibliographic study addresses key aspects related to fishing, product safety, and climate change in the Adriatic Sea region. The examination of product safety focuses on the assessment of contaminants originating from human activities such as industry, mining, agriculture, and household waste disposal. The contamination of the aquatic environm...
Devil firefish Pterois miles is an invasive alien species which has severely impacted biodiversity and ecological processes in invaded areas of the Mediterranean. In recent years, its presence has been documented in several countries of the Adriatic Sea. Based on the negative ecological and socio-economic impacts in other areas of the Mediterranean...
Under the increasing threat to native ecosystems posed by non-native species invasions, there is an urgent need for decision support tools that can more effectively identify non-native species likely to become invasive. As part of the screening (first step) component in non-native species risk analysis, decision support tools have been developed fo...
This collective article presents new information about 15 introduced taxa belonging to five phyla: one Rhodophyta, one Chlorophyta, one Mollusca, one Annelida, two Arthropoda, and nine Chordata (one Ascidiacea and eight Osteichthyes). The records refer to eight Mediterranean countries and extend from the Alboran Sea to the Levantine Sea as follows:...
The growing levels of contaminants associated with human activity such as industry, mining, agriculture, and household waste production create pollution of the aquatic environment worldwide. Fish, as aquatic organisms, accumulate pollutants directly from contaminated water and indirectly via the food chain. Potentially harmful substances (heavy met...
Introduction
Rotaviruses are non-enveloped viruses that each consist of 11 double-stranded RNA molecules. These viruses are able to persist in the environment, and therefore play a fundamental role in the epidemiology of gastroenteritis and severe diarrhoea in children worldwide. While mussels have been primarily used as indicators of chemical poll...
The current study provides valuable insight into the trawl fishery operating in southern Albanian waters via an integrated approach based on high-frequency onboard monitoring trawl vessels and on-site interviews with local fishers. Multivariate analyses of the composition of species landings or economic revenue revealed groups that, depending on th...
The Mediterranean Sea is a hotspot for shark and ray extinctions and is home to the following three angelshark species: sawback angelshark Squatina aculeata, smoothback angelshark Squatina oculata, and common angelshark Squatina squatina. We conducted a questionnaire-based survey in four coastal regions of Albania, Shëngjin (Lezhë), Vlorë, Himarë (...
This Collective Article presents new information about the occurrence of 23 marine taxa that belong to five Phyla: two Chlorophyta,
one Annelida, six Mollusca, three Arthropoda, eleven Chordata (one Ascidiacea, one Elasmobranchii and nine Teleostei)
and extending from the Western Mediterranean to the Levantine Sea. All these records were reported f...
A number of natural and anthropogenic processes emit toxic elements into the ocean and cause hazards to humans, animals, plants, and the environment.
Since the majority of human populations live or develop their anthropogenic activities (including aquaculture, fisheries, and aquatic biotechnologies)
in marine and coastal areas, aquatic environmen...
Population genetic analysis of variation at five neutral microsatellite loci for Mediterranean mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) from 18 sites along the eastern Adriatic Sea revealed little or no spatial variation. In contrast, seascape genetics analysis revealed a pronounced locus-specific gradient in allelic and genotypic frequencies across the...
Fishermen from 9 countries distributed throughout the Mediterranean Sea were interviewed between May and December 2019 with the aim of compiling information about the current impact of fisheries on a large deepwater shark species, the bluntnose sixgill shark (Hexanchus griseus). A total of 382 professional fishermen belonging to 6 different gears (...
In Albania, the most produced species by the aquaculture sectors are represented (at a decreasing order) by gilthead seabream, European seabass, rainbow trout, carp species and Mediterranean mussels. The production of gilthead seabream and European seabass is realized by using the marine cage production systems along the south Adriatic and Ionian c...
Biodiversity is the measure of the variation of lifeforms in a given ecological system. Biodiversity provides ecosystems with the robustness, stability, and resilience that sustains them. This is ultimately essential for our survival because we depend on the services that natural ecosystems provide (food, fresh water, air, climate, and medicine). D...
Fresh water ecosystems in the Balkan region are well recognized by high level of endemism and therefore could be very sensitive to the negative impact of invasive fish species. These impacts are due to interaction among native and non-native fauna. Generally, the most obvious and common ones are competition for food and space resources as well as t...
Pumpkinseed fish is considered to be highly invasive; it has demonstrated great variability in its environmental biology in response to environmental conditions, since its first appearance in the European waters this species has established populations in at least 28 European countries. In Albania, pumpkinseed, was introduced in 1994, even though t...
Climate change has triggered heterogenous pattern of changes in abundance, survival, growth, reproduction phelogeny and distribution of different aquatic communities. The Mediterranean Sea has been identified as one of the most vulnerable regions, and it is expected to become warmer and drier with an increase in inter-annual variability due to extr...
One shark was landed at the Naval Base Pasha Liman, Bay of Vlore, Albania, the Adriatic Sea. Photographic records only enabled the specimen to be placed in family Odontaspididae or Carchariidae. Later examination of the preserved head, dry jaw and dentition identified the specimen as Odontaspis ferox . This is a rare record and the northernmost Med...
Metallothioneins (MTs) are low-molecular weight sulfur-rich proteins, widely distributed in nature. They play a homeostatic role in the control and detoxification of metal ions. Previous studies indicated that MTs also have the capacity to scavenge reactive oxygen species. This study aimed to investigate the evolution of the protein in the notothen...
Metal bioaccumulation and metallothionein (MT) expression were investigated in the gills and liver of the red-blooded Antarctic teleost Trematomus hansoni to evaluate the possibility for this species to face, with adequate physiological responses, an increase of copper and cadmium concentrations in its tissues. Specimens of this Antarctic fish were...
The present study uses fisher knowledge to outline the basic socioeconomic framework of Albanian lagoon fisheries based on on-the-spot interviews conducted with fishers operating in the most important Albanian lagoons. The results indicated that Albanian lagoon fisheries were family-based, with spatial differences observed in vessels from the north...
Electronic decision-support tools are becoming an essential component of government strategies to tackle non-native species invasions. This study describes the development and application of a multilingual electronic decision-support tool for screening terrestrial animals under current and future climate conditions: the Terrestrial Animal Species I...
Metal bioaccumulation and metallothionein (MT) expression were investigated in gills and liver of the red-blooded Antarctic teleost Trematomus hansoni with the aim to evaluate the possibility for this species to face, with adequate physiological responses, an increase of copper or cadmium concentrations in the environment. Specimens of this Antarct...
Simple Summary
Present and past information on endangered species distribution, biology and ecology is essential to implement conservation measures. The first documented use of habitat by the Mediterranean monk seal along the coasts of Albania is here presented. This was confirmed through the use of infrared camera traps and by the findings of a se...
Alongside climate change, the introduction of non-native species (NNS) is widely recognized as one of the main threats to aquatic biodiversity and human well-being. Non-native species and biodiversity are generally low priority issues on the political agendas of many countries, particularly in European countries outside the European Union (EU). The...
Although several attempts to establish a database on non-native species in Western Balkans have been done through previous EU projects, the database on non-native species still is not complete nor available online. Hence, literature search of introduced freshwater and marine organisms were performed for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegr...
The RiskMan Project was built with the main aim to strengthen the Educational Capacity for Risk Management of Non Native Aquatic Species in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro by promoting the education of stakeholders and higher education students and stimulate cooperation among the target countries. To achieve this aim, a specific working...
Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit (AS-ISK) v.2.3 was used to assess the risk of invasiveness of some aquatic non-native (NN) species in Western Balkans. Species from each of the three Partner Countries (Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro) and for the Program Balkans Countries (Croatia and North Macedonia) were selected. For the a...
In the framework of the implemented activities of the RiskMan project in the Western Balkan countries, interviews with fisheries and aquaculture industry representatives were accomplished with the aim to collect more detailed information about the status of non-native species (NNS) in Balkans. Sample surveys and interviews were used to collect the...
Fisheries constitute a major threat to marine mammals globally. To evaluate the impact of small-scale fisheries (SSF) on regional under-studied marine mammal populations, we tested a novel and cost-effective approach at three data-limited locations of the central and eastern Mediterranean Sea. Using off-the-shelf GPS loggers to track SSF activities...
Metal bioaccumulation and metallothionein (MT) expression were investigated in gills and liver of the red-blooded Antarctic teleost Trematomus hansoni with the aim to evaluate the possibility for this species to face, with adequate physiological responses, an increase of copper or cadmium concentrations in the environment. Specimens of this Antarct...
Community science (also often referred to as citizen science) provides a unique opportunity to address questions beyond the scope of other research methods whilst simultaneously engaging communities in the scientific process. This leads to broad educational benefits, empowers people, and can increase public awareness of societally relevant issues s...
The lack of reliable fisheries statistics hampers full assessment of the status of marine resources. Central to this problem are data-poor fisheries such as the Albanian seas and in particular the SSF sector. The present study aims to portray the small-scale fishery of south Albanian waters based on daily onboard monitoring of fisheries species cat...
Evidence from the last two centuries has identified changes in the biodiversity of the Mediterranean basin triggered by the arrival of new species. Compared to the central and northern areas, the southern part of the Adriatic Sea, specifically the Albanian coast, has been less studied. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of new/non-...
Typical 2-Cys peroxiredoxins (2-Cys Prdxs) are proteins with antioxidant properties belonging to the thioredoxin peroxidase family. With their peroxidase activity, they contribute to the homeostatic control of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and, therefore, participate in various physiological functions, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, a...
The COVID-19 global pandemic has had severe, unpredictable and synchronous impacts on all levels of perishable food supply chains (PFSC), across multiple sectors and spatial scales. Aquaculture plays a vital and rapidly expanding role in food security, in some cases overtaking wild caught fisheries in the production of high-quality animal protein i...
Typical 2-Cys peroxiredoxins (2-Cys Prdxs) are proteins with antioxidant properties belonging to the thioredoxin peroxidase family. With their peroxidase activity, they contribute to the homeostatic control of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and, therefore, participate in various physiological functions such as cell proliferation, differentiation, an...
Fishery is one of the most important sectors of our country`s economy. Fishing is divided into several categories as: sea fishing, coastal fishing, lagoon fishing, inland fishing, aquaculture and mollusc fishing. The aim of this study was to provide a clear overview of fish production during the last 6 years for marine, coastal and lagoon water cat...
Fishery is one of the most important sectors of our country`s economy. Fishing is divided into several categories as: sea fishing, coastal fishing, lagoon fishing, inland fishing, aquaculture and mollusc fishing. The aim of this study was to provide a clear overview of fish production during the last 6 years for marine, coastal and lagoon water cat...
This Collective Article includes records of 29 alien and cryptogenic species in the Mediterranean Sea, belonging to eight Phyla (Rhodophyta, Ochrophyta, Cnidaria, Annelida, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, and Chordata) and coming from 11 countries. Notes published here can be divided into three different categories: occupancy estimation for wi...
Fishermen from 9 countries distributed throughout the Mediterranean Sea were interviewed between March and November 2019 with the aim of compiling information about the current impact of fisheries on a large deep-water shark species, the bluntnose sixgill shark (Hexanchus griseus).
A total of 382 professional fishermen belonging to 6 different ge...
This Collective Article presents information about 27 taxa belonging to five Phyla (one Ochrophyta, one Cnidaria, three Arthropoda,
two Mollusca and twenty Chordata) and extending from the Western Mediterranean Sea to the Levantine Sea and the
Black Sea (Sea of Marmara). The new records were reported from 11 countries as follows: Algeria: occurrenc...
This paper presents an updated checklist of marine fishes of Albania and the first one published in the English language. The checklist contains 262 species compiled from published literature and personal surveys.
Mediterranean monk seal populations were heavily reduced in time all over its entire ancient distribution. In Albania, the species was reported to be present in the past in spite of the lack of references on specific locations, reproductive activities and numbers of individuals. It is nowadays considered to be extinct. Nonetheless, several sighting...
Alongside climate change, the introduction of non-native species (NNS) is widely recognized as one of the main threats to aquatic biodiversity and human well‐being. Non-native species and biodiversity are generally low priority issues on the political agendas of many countries, particularly in European countries outside the European Union (EU). The...
This paper presents an updated checklist of marine fishes of Albania and the first one published in the English language. The checklist contains 262 species compiled from published literature and personal surveys.
Climate change has triggered heterogenous pattern of changes in abundance, survival, growth, reproduction phelogeny and distribution of different aquatic communities. The Mediterranean Sea has been identified as one of the most vulnerable regions, and in absence of management plans the status of fishery resources is likely to deteriorate. This pape...
Elasmobranchs, mainly represented by sharks and rays, account for 0.8% of bottom trawl total landings in the South Adriatic Sea. The thornback ray (Raja clavata, Linnaeus, 1758) represents one of the most important species in terms of landing in the Mediterranean basin. Several studies have shown that k-selected species, like elasmobranchs, with lo...
Riverine systems act as converging pathways for discarded litter within drainage basins, becoming key elements in gauging the transfer of mismanaged waste into the ocean. However, riverine litter data are scarce and biased towards microplastics, generally lacking information about larger items. Based on the first ever database of riverine floating...
The threat posed by invasive non-native species worldwide requires a global approach to identify which introduced species are likely to pose an elevated risk of impact to native species and ecosystems. To inform policy, stakeholders and management decisions on global threats to aquatic ecosystems, 195 assessors representing 120 risk assessment area...
The rapid, global spread of COVID-19, and the measures intended to limit or slow its propagation , are having major impacts on diverse sectors of society. Notably, these impacts are occurring in the context of other anthropogenic-driven threats including global climate change. Both anthropogenic stressors and the COVID-19 pandemic represent signifi...
The rapid, global spread of COVID-19, and the measures intended to limit or slow its propagation, are having major impacts on diverse sectors of society. Notably, these impacts are occurring in the context of other anthropogenic-driven threats including global climate change. Both anthropogenic stressors and the COVID-19 pandemic represent signific...
The aim of this paper is to present the first documented record of the kitefin shark, Dalatias Licha, in Albanian waters. Although Albania is situated at the confluence of two seas and has an Adriatic as well as an Ionian coastline, D. Licha was not recorded previously as present in Albanian waters, in either its Adriatic or Ionian parts. The kitef...
Stress granules are non-membranous cytoplasmic foci, composed of non-translating messenger ribonucleoproteins, translational initiation factors and other additional proteins. They represent a primary mechanism to rapidly modulate gene expression when cells are subjected to adverse environmental conditions. Very few works have been devoted to study...
The European hake (Merluccius merluccius) and red mullet (Mullus barbatus), due to their abundance and high market value, represent important resources to the industrial fishery in the costal countries of the Adriatic Sea. Data on biology and population dynamic in the south-eastern part of the Adriatic are almost absent while in other parts of the...
Environmental changes due to non-native species introductions and translocations are a global concern. Whilst understanding the causes of bioinvasions is important, there is need for decision-support tools that facilitate effective communication of the potential risks of invasive non-native species to stakeholders. Decision-support tools have been...
Environmental changes due to non-native species introductions and translocations are a global concern. Whilst understanding the causes of bioinvasions is important, there is need for decision-support tools that facilitate effective communication of the potential risks of invasive non-native species to stakeholders. Decision-support tools have been...
Glutathione peroxidases (GPxs) form a broad family of antioxidant proteins essential for maintaining redox homeostasis in eukaryotic cells. In this study, we used an integrative approach that combines bioinformatics, molecular biology, and biochemistry to investigate the role of GPxs in reactive oxygen species detoxification in the unicellular euka...
Harmonization of monitoring protocols and analytical methods is a crucial issue for transnational marine environmental status assessment, yet not the only one. Coherent data management and quality control become very relevant when environmental status is assessed at regional or subregional scale (e.g., for the Mediterranean or the Adriatic Sea), th...
Glutathione peroxidases (GPxs) form a broad family of antioxidant proteins essential for maintaining redox homeostasis in eukaryotic cells. In this study, we used an integrative approach that combines bioinformatics, molecular biology, and biochemistry to investigate the role of GPxs in reactive oxygen species detoxification in the unicellular euka...
Simple Summary
The European Union Water Framework Directive has set the objective to develop a good status for water bodies and showed the importance of promoting the sustainable use of water resources in inland anthropic activities, such as freshwater aquaculture, performed in strict accordance with natural waters. In aquafeed, two elements have m...
In the present study, we describe the purification and molecular characterization of Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD) from Chionodraco hamatus, an Antarctic teleost widely distributed in many areas of the Ross Sea that plays a pivotal role in the Antarctic food chain. The primary sequence was obtained using biochemical and molecular biology approac...
The Sava river is the third longest Danube tributary, and the largest by discharge. The length of the Sava River from its main source in the western Slovenian mountains to its mouth into the Danube in Belgrade is about 944 km (ISBRC 2009). It runs through four countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia), and connects three of...
Rapid economic development and an increasing human population are creating unprecedented pressures on the natural resources in the Mediterranean Basin, where 135 million people live (7% of the world’s population) and 220 million tourists visit each year (32% of the world’s international tourism). This results in huge pressures from both residents a...
The original marine fisheries catch reconstructions for all countries and territories (or islands) surrounding the Mediterranean Sea for the years 1950 to 2010 were here updated for most entities to 2015, 2016 or 2017, then carried forward to 2018 using statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The exception...
Introduction
The delineation of critical habitats forms an important step in the implementation of marine protected areas (MPAs). Whilst MPAs have been shown to be an effective conservation strategy, they cover just 5% of the Adriatic, with no MPAs in Montenegro and a single MPA, Karaburun Sazani, in Albania. The Adriatic Sea has been identified a...
Peroxiredoxins are antioxidant enzymes that use redox active Cys residues to reduce H2O2 and various organic hydroperoxides to less reactive products, and thereby protect cells against oxidative stress. In yeasts and mammals, the Prx1 proteins are sensitive to hyperoxidation and consequent loss of their peroxidase activity whereas in most bacteria...
The delineation of critical habitats forms an important step in the implementation of marine protected areas (MPAs). Whilst MPAs are known as one of the strongest conservation strategies, they cover only 6% of the Adriatic with a single MPA of KaraburunSazaniin the Southern Adriatic.
Similarly, only 4% of Turkish waters have been designated MPAs. T...
Aquaculture is representing one of the most attractive sectors in the Blue Economy sectors in Europe, recently. Globally, it is considered as a priority sector and the fastest growing socioeconomic development branch of Agriculture. In Albania, the most profitable sub-sector of Aquaculture is represented by growing the European seabass (Dicentrarch...
In the present study we describe the molecular characterization of the two paralogous mitochondrial peroxiredoxins from Trematomus bernacchii, a teleost that plays a pivotal role in the Antarctic food chain. The two putative amino acid sequences were compared with orthologs from other fish, highlighting a high percentage of identity and similarity...
The Collective Article on “New Mediterranean Biodiversity Records” offers the means to publish biodiversity records in the Mediterranean
Sea. The current article presents new biodiversity data information on 18 taxa (14 alien, 3 native and 1 cryptogenic species)
belonging to 5 Phyla that are reported for 11 different countries listed according to t...
Critical habitats form the essential base for the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) implementation. While MPAs known as the strongest conservation strategies, they cover almost 6% of the Adriatic with a single MPA of Karaburun Sazani in Southern Adriatic. The Adriatic Sea, identified as a cetacean hotspot, is under the pressure of human activities, fro...
