Elasmobranchs represent important components of marine ecosystems, but they can be vulnerable to overexploitation. This has driven investigations into the population genetic structure of large-bodied pelagic sharks, but relatively little is known of population structure in smaller demersal taxa, which are perhaps more representative of the biodiversity of the group. This study explores spatial ...

Understanding the impact of climate change on zooplankton populations is of major importance, as they represent the basis for higher trophic levels in the marine food web. In this study we analyze the 36-year copepod abundance time series in the Gulf of Trieste, northern Adriatic, to investigate its interannual variability, with particular attention to species trends and phenology. Following th...

Atyaephyra de Brito Capello, 1867 was described from the Mediterranean region almost 200 years ago. Since then, the genus has been recorded from various freshwater habitats in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Despite its long history, the taxonomic status of Atyaephyra species remains confusing and uncertain. Consequently numerous specimens from the known range of Atyaephyra were analy...

We collected and mapped epigeous fruitbodies of both ectomycorrhizal (ECM) and saprobic fungi in an oldgrowth Quercus ilex L. Mediterranean forest within a permanent transect of 6400 m2 over three consecutive fruiting seasons. Out of 5382 fruitbodies, a total of 234 species were found, including 166 and 68 ECM and saprobic taxa, respectively. Both communities were mainly composed of rare specie...

The recent upsurge of interest in the role of floral nectar as a habitat for microorganisms has led to some detailed analyses of nectarivorous yeasts. In contrast, very little is known on the occurrence and diversity of nectar-dwelling bacteria, and bacterial-fungal interactions within nectar remain unexplored. In this work, we studied both the culturable bacteria and microfungi found in the fl...

1 SUMMARY Fishes in Mediterranean climates are adapted to thrive in streams with dynamic environmental conditions such as strong seasonality in flows. However, anthropogenic threats to species viability, in combination with climate change, can alter habitats beyond native species’ environmental tolerances and may result in extirpation. Although the effects of a Mediterranean climate on aquatic...

Hard substrates host globally a rich biodiversity, orders of magnitude higher in species number than that in surrounding soft substrates. Among them, marine caves support unique biodiversity and fragile communities but suffer lack of quantitative data on their structure and function, hindering their conservation status assessment. A first approach to the non-destructive ecological monitoring of...

Over the last two centuries, the marine life of the Eastern Mediterranean has been influenced by two major factors: one is beneficial, and concerns species migration, such as the opening of the Suez Canal, which enriched the impoverished eastern Mediterranean Sea with over 300 species of fish and invertebrates of Red Sea origin; while the other, a negative and possibly wider-reaching factor, is...

Although the mesophotic zone of the Mediterranean Sea has been poorly investigated, there is an increasing awareness about its ecological importance for its biodiversity, as fish nursery and for the recruitment of shallow water species. Along with coastal rocky cliffs, isolated coralligenous concretions emerging from muddy bottoms are typical structures of the Mediterranean Sea mesophotic zone....

The East Mediterranean species of Orthomus Chaudoir, 1838 are revised. The type series of Feronia longula Reiche & Saulcy, 1855, F. berytensis Reiche & Saulcy, 1855, F. proelonga Reiche & Saulcy, 1855, Orthomus longior Chaudoir, 1873, O. sidonicus Chaudoir, 1873, and O. berytensis akbensis Mateu, 1955 were studied and lectotypes for the first four are designated. Also, the following nomenclatur...