Experimental marine ecology – Community Ecology for Coastal management actions

Research Activities

The Experimental marine ecology Group – Community Ecology for Coastal management actions - is broadly interested in the biological and physical processes that generate patterns in natural communities in order to inform conservation and management of both natural and human-impacted systems.

The approach consists primarily of manipulative field experiments, supplemented with long term surveys and spatial analysis techniques.

Di seguito sono elencate le principali linee di ricerca attive: Restoration of seagrass meadows and coralligenous reefs Species adaptability to sea temperature rise, thermocline deepening and ocean acidification Sustainability to harvesting of biological resources Protection effectiveness Soudscape ecology

Members (Permanent Staff)

GIULIA CECCHERELLI (ceccherelli@uniss.it), Professore ordinario, BIO/07, orcid 0000-0002-9832-9677

GABRIELLA LA MANNA (glamanna@uniss.it) Ricercatore RTDa, BIO/07, orcid 0000-0002-0057-9142

Collaborators

ARIANNA PANSINI assegnista di ricerca (fondi di ricerca Prin OCABEF), BIO/07

FABIO MENNA assegnista di ricerca (fondi di ricerca Prin POSEIDON), ICAR/06

ALESSANDRA PUCCINI studente di dottorato POR ALESSIA CROBU borsista BIO/07

SABRINA ZAPPU borsista BIO/07

Relevant Publications

1. G LA MANNA, ARROSTUTO N, MORO MORELLA M, STIPCICH P, FOIS N, SARÀ G, CECCHERELLI G (2024) Towards a sustainable fisher-dolphin coexistence: understanding depredation, assessing economic damage and evaluating management options. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT. 351, 119797.

2. A PANSINI, DEROMA M, GUALA I, MONNIER B, PERGENT-MARTINI C, PIAZZI L, STIPCICH P, G CECCHERELLI (2024) The resilience of transplanted seagrass traits encourages detection of restoration success. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT. 357, 120744.

3. STIPCICH P, RESAIKOS V, CECCHERELLI G (2023) Experimental thermocline deepening highlights the resilience of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica: an opportunity to investigate shoot adaptability. MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN. 189:114824.

4.PANSINI A, BOSCH-BELMAR M, BERLINO M, SARA’ G, CECCHERELLI G (2022) Collating evidence on the restoration efforts of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica: current knowledge and gaps. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 851:158320.

5. STIPCICH P, E T APOSTOLAKI, N CHARTOSIA, PT EFTHYMIADIS, CEJIMENEZ, G LA MANNA, A PANSINI, E PRINCIPATO, V RESAIKOS, G CECCHERELLI (2022) Assessment of Posidonia oceanica traits along a temperature gradient in the Mediterranean Sea

Research Projects

MUrFor Managing sustainable sea URchin fishery and marine FORest conservation, Giulia Ceccherelli, Progetto di Ricerca Europeo finanziato dal MUR (fondi FIRST21) e co-finanziato da UE partnership Biodiversa-plus (bando 2021) (UNISS 114294 euro) https://www.biodiversa.eu/2023/04/19/murfor/

OCean Acidification effects on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning relationships across gradients of habitat complexity OCABEF, Giulia Ceccherelli, PRIN2022 MUR (UNISS 110276 euro)  https://prin.unica.it/ocabef/

MultitemPOral SEagrass mapping and monitoring of posIDONia meadows and banquettes for blue carbon conservation POSEIDON, Giulia Ceccherelli, PRINPNRR2022 MUR (UNISS 64745 euro)

NBFC, Giulia Ceccherelli, Centro Nazionale della Biodiversità PNRR MUR (UNISS 438489 euro) https://www.nbfc.it/en

“RENOVATE”. PROGETTO ESECUTIVO delle Azioni di Compensazione e Mitigazione degli Habitat 1120* e 1170 e delle azioni volte alla protezione e conservazione delle specie Corallium rubrum Pinna nobilis. Relazione delle attività sperimentali e modellistiche svolte per la sua predisposizione. Accordo con l'Autorità Portuale di Civitavecchia (2022-2023) - Conto terzi. https://www.renovate-project.it/

Blu forest - An International Project for Protection and Restoration of Marine Forests. Ripristino di Posidonia oceanica a Cala di Volpe. Accordo di ricerca con One Ocean Foundation (Dic 2024 - Dic 2027) https://www.1ocean.org/posidonia/blue-forest

Progetto di monitoraggio degli stock di riccio di mare (Paracentrotus lividus) Accordo di collaborazione con AGRIS (Dic 2024 - Dic 2026)

Progetto Ichnusa Wind Power 

Progetto Sicily South and Sardinia North Accordi di ricerca per la valutazione dell'impatto eolico su pesca, specie ittiche e mammiferi marini.

Thesis/internship topics

  • Eco-acoustic analyses of marine environments
  • Image analysis of coralligenous habitats to study spatial and temporal variability
  • Morphological analysis of marine plants to highlight the influence of climate change or acidification
  • Assessment of Posidonia oceanica restoration success