Browsing by Author "Coro, Gianpaolo"

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    Forecasting the ongoing invasion of Lagocephalus sceleratus in the Mediterranean Sea
    (Elsevier, 2018-02-12) Coro, Gianpaolo; Gonzalez Vilas, Luis; Magliozzi, Chiara; Ellenbroek, Anton; Scarponi, Paolo; Pagano, Pasquale
    Invasive species from the Suez Canal, also named “Lessepsian species”, often have an ecological and financial impact on marine life, fisheries, human well-being and health in the Mediterranean Sea. Among these, the silver-cheeked toad-fish Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) has rapidly colonised the eastern Mediterranean basin and is currently moving westwards. This pufferfish has a highly opportunistic behaviour, it attacks fish captured in nets and lines and seriously damages fishing gears and catch. It is a highly-toxic species with no immediate economic value for the Mediterranean market, although it currently represents 4% of the weight of the total artisanal catches. Consequently, the possible effects on Mediterranean fisheries and health require to enhance our understanding about the future geographical distribution of this pufferfish in the whole basin. In this paper, an overall habitat suitability map and an effective geographical spread map for L. sceleratus at Mediterranean scale are produced by using cloud computing-based algorithms to merge seven machine learning approaches. Further, the potential impact of the species is estimated for several Mediterranean Sea subdivisions: The major fishing areas of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Economic Exclusive Zones, and the subdivisions of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean Sea. Our results suggest that without an intervention, L. sceleratus will continue its rapid spread and will likely have a high impact on fisheries. The presented method is generic and can be applied to other invasive species. It is based on an Open Science approach and all processes are freely available as Web services.
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    A multiscale statistical method to identify potential areas of hyporheic exchange for river restoration planning
    (Elsevier, 2018-08-19) Magliozzi, Chiara; Coro, Gianpaolo; Grabowski, Robert C.; Packman, Aaron I.; Krause, Stefan
    The hyporheic zone (HZ) is an area of interaction between surface and ground waters present in and around river beds. Bidirectional mixing within the HZ, termed hyporheic exchange flow (HEF), plays significant roles in nutrient transport, organic matter and biogeochemical processing in rivers. The functional importance of the HZ in river ecology and hydrology suggests that river managers should consider the HZ in their planning to help compromised systems recover. However, current river restoration planning tools do not take into account the HZ. This paper describes a novel multiscale, transferable method that combines existing environmental information at different spatial scales to identify areas with potentially significant HEF for use in restoration prioritization and planning. It uses a deductive approach that is suited for data-poor case studies, which is common for most rivers, given the very limited data on the spatial occurrence of areas of hyporheic exchange. Results on nine contrasting European rivers, demonstrate its potential to inform river management.
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    Quantifying coral reef composition of recreational diving sites: a structure from motion approach at seascape scale
    (MDPI, 2019-12-16) Palma, Marco; Magliozzi, Chiara; Rivas Casado, Monica; Pantaleo, Ubaldo; Fernandes, João; Coro, Gianpaolo; Cerrano, Carlo; Leinster, Paul
    Recreational diving is known to have both direct and indirect impacts on coral habitats. Direct impacts include increasing sedimentation, breaks and diseases that lead to a decrease in the richness and abundances of hard corals. Indirect impacts include urban development, land management and sewage disposal. The ecological effects of scuba diving on the spatial composition metrics of reef benthic communities are less well studied, and they have not been investigated at seascape scale. In this study, we combine orthomosaics derived from Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry and data-mining techniques to study the spatial composition of reef benthic communities of recreational diving sites at seascape scale (>25 m 22 ). The study focuses on the case study area of Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve (Mozambique). Results showed that scuba-diving resistant taxa (i.e., sponges and algae) were abundant at small (>850 m 22 ) and highly dived sites (>3000 dives yr −1−1 ), characterized by low diversity and density, and big organisms with complex shapes. Fragile taxa (i.e., Acropora spp.) were abundant at low (365 dives yr −1−1 ) and moderately dived sites (1000–3000 dives yr −1−1 ) where the greater depth and wider coral reef surfaces attenuate the abrasive effect of waves and re-suspended sediments. Highest taxa diversity and density, and lowest abundance of resistant taxa were recorded at large >2000 m 22 ) and rarely dived sites. This study highlights the potential applications for a photogrammetric approach to support monitoring programs at Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve (Mozambique), and provides some insight to understand the influence of scuba diving on benthic communities.