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  • 1
    Publication Date: 2024-04-24
    Description: Groundwater is a vital resource for humans, non-human species, and ecosystems. It has allowed the development of human evolution and civilizations throughout history (e.g., Wittfogel 1956, Tempelhoff et al. 2009, Cuthbert and Ashley 2014, Roberts 2014). However, it faces multiple potential threats that make it vulnerable and fragile. Climate change and human activities are the primary causes that have led to water cycle disruptions, particularly a decline in groundwater quality and quantity (e.g., Gleeson et al. 2020, Chaminé et al. 2022, Richardson et al. 2023). Climate variability has induced droughts, floods, and other extreme weather conditions, significantly impacting groundwater in many regions. Meanwhile, human activities such as over-abstraction, ground contamination, deforestation, land-use change, and other anthropogenic pressures have further compromised groundwater status. Nonetheless, groundwater continues to fulfill water demands in many regions or during specific periods. Therefore, concerted efforts are imperative to ensure its sustainability. So, conservation practices and nature-based solutions must be adopted to efficiently manage groundwater and shield it from additional potential hazards or risks (e.g., contamination, pollution, or over-abstraction). Failure to act quickly can result in the loss of this critical resource, with severe consequences for the economy, society, and ecosystems. From this perspective, it is imperative to prioritize actions underscored by technical-scientific integrity, environmental responsibility, societal sensitivity, and ethical practices.
    Description: Published
    Description: 97
    Description: OS: Terza missione
    Description: OSA5: Energia e georisorse
    Description: JCR Journal
    Keywords: groundwater ; resource management ; sustainability ; hydrogeoethics ; geoethics ; societal well-being ; 05.03. Educational, History of Science, Public Issues ; 03.02. Hydrology ; 04.04. Geology ; 05.09. Miscellaneous
    Repository Name: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
    Type: article
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2024-03-18
    Description: Interest in deep-sea mining for polymetallic nodules as an alternative source to onshore mines for various high-technology metals has risen in recent years, as demands and costs have increased. The need for studies to assess its short- and long-term consequences on polymetallic nodule ecosystems is therefore also increasingly prescient. Recent image-based expedition studies have described the temporal impacts on epi-/megafauna seafloor communities across these ecosystems at particular points in time. However, these studies have failed to capture information on large infauna within the sediments or give information on potential transient and temporally limited users of these areas, such as mobile surface deposit feeders or fauna responding to bloom events or food fall depositions. This study uses data from the Peru Basin polymetallic nodule province, where the seafloor was previously disturbed with a plough harrow in 1989 and with an epibenthic sled (EBS) in 2015, to simulate two contrasting possible impact forms of mining disturbance. To try and address the shortfall on information on transient epifauna and infauna use of these various disturbed and undisturbed areas of nodule-rich seafloor, images collected 6 months after the 2015 disturbance event were inspected and all Lebensspuren, 'traces of life', were characterized by type (epi- or infauna tracemakers, as well as forming fauna species where possible), along with whether they occurred on undisturbed seafloor or regions disturbed in 1989 or 2015. The results show that epi- and endobenthic Lebensspuren were at least 50% less abundant across both the ploughed and EBS disturbed seafloors. This indicates that even 26 years after disturbance, sediment use by fauna may remain depressed across these areas.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 3
    Publication Date: 2024-02-07
    Description: Environmental factors shape the structure and functioning of benthic communities. In coastal zones of the southwestern Baltic Sea, boulder fields represent one of the most productive habitats, supporting diverse benthic communities that provide many ecosystem services. In this study, the influence of the geological characteristics of boulder fields on the biodiversity of associated hard-bottom communities was investigated at two different spatial scales (few kilometers and tens of kilometers). The analyses on overall richness (taxonomic and functional) and community composition revealed how: (i) locally the size of boulders and (ii) regionally site-specific factors like the boulder density distribution and the sediment distribution can act as environmental driving forces. The overall richness of assemblages was shown to increase with increasing surface area of boulders, by up to 60% for species and up to 40% for functional richness. At both investigated scales, differences in compositional variability (β diversity) of the communities were detected. Locally, smallest boulders hosted more variable communities (β diversity up to 2 times higher), while at the regional level, indications of a larger habitat heterogeneity featuring the highest β diversity were observed. This study exemplifies how geological habitat characteristics shape the biodiversity of boulder field communities. The obtained information could be considered in assessment strategies, in order to avoid misclassifications of habitats naturally limited in biodiversity, making a step forward to the desired objective of protecting, conserving, and managing boulder field communities in the study area and at other comparable sites.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 4
    Publication Date: 2024-02-07
    Description: To date the study of ocean acidification on fish otolith formation has been mainly focused on larval and juvenile stages. In the present pilot study, wild-captured adult Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) were exposed to two different levels of pCO2, 422µatm (ambient, low pCO2) or 1091µatm (high pCO2), for a period of 30 weeks (from mid-October to early April 2014–2015) in order to study the effects on otolith size, shape and CaCO3 crystallization amongst other biological parameters. We found that otoliths from cod exposed to high pCO2 were slightly smaller (− 3.4% in length; − 3.3% in perimeter), rounder (− 2.9% circularity and + 4% roundness) but heavier (+ 5%) than the low pCO2 group. Interestingly, there were different effects in males and females; for instance, male cods exposed to high pCO2 exhibited significant changes in circularity (− 3%) and roundness (+ 4%) compared to the low pCO2 males, but without significant changes on otolith dimensions, while females exposed to high pCO2 had smaller otoliths as shown for length (− 5.6%), width (− 2%), perimeter (− 3.5%) and area (− 4.8%). Furthermore, while the majority of the otoliths analysed showed normal aragonite deposition, 10% of fish exposed to 1091µatm of pCO2 had an abnormal accretion of calcite, suggesting a shift on calcium carbonate polymorph crystallization in some individuals under high pCO2 conditions. Our preliminary results indicate that high levels of pCO2 in adult Atlantic cod might affect otolith growth in a gender-specific way. Our findings reveal that otoliths from adult cod are affected by ocean acidification, and we believe that the present study will prompt further research into this currently under-explored area.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed , info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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  • 5
    Publication Date: 2024-02-07
    Description: Biodiversity is declining on a global scale and the spread of invasive alien species (IAS) is a major driver, particularly through predatory impacts. Thus, effective means of assessing and predicting the consequences of IAS predation on native prey population stability remains a vital goal for conservation. Here, we applied two classic ecological concepts, consumer functional response (FR) and prey switching, to predict and understand the ecological impacts of juveniles of the lionfish (Pterois volitans), a notorious and widespread marine invader. Functional responses and prey switching propensities were quantified towards three representative prey species: Artemia salina, Palaemonetes varians, and Gammarus oceanicus. Lionfish exhibited potentially destabilising Type II FRs towards individual prey species, owing to high consumption rates at low prey densities, whilst FR magnitudes differed among prey species. Functional response attack rates (a) were highest, and handling times (h) lowest, towards A. salina, followed by P. varians and then G. oceanicus. Maximum feeding rates (1/h) and functional response ratios (FRR; a/h) also followed this impact gradient for the three prey species. Lionfish, however, displayed a potentially population stabilising prey switching propensity (i.e. frequency-dependent predation) when multiple prey species were presented simultaneously, where disproportionately less of rare prey, and more of abundant prey, were consumed. Whilst FR and FRR magnitudes indicate marked per capita lionfish predatory impacts towards prey species, a strong prey switching propensity may reduce in-field impacts by offering low density prey refuge in biodiverse communities. Our results thus corroborate field patterns documenting variable impacts of lionfish, with prey extirpations less likely in diverse communities owing to frequency-dependent predation.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 6
    Publication Date: 2024-02-05
    Description: Seamounts are thought to function as hotspots of megafauna diversity due to their topology and environmental characteristics. However, assessments of megafauna communities inhabiting seamounts, including diversity and density, are scarce. In this study, we provide megafauna diversity and density estimates for a recently discovered, not yet characterized seamount region (Boetius seamounts) west of Cape Verde (N17° 16′, W29° 26′). We investigated the distribution of epibenthic megafauna over a large depth gradient from the seamount’s summit at 1400 m down to 3200 m water depth and provided qualitative and quantitative analyses based on quantified video data. In utilizing an ocean floor observation system (OFOS), calibrated videos were taken as a horizontal transect from the north-eastern flank of the seamount, differentiating between an upper, coral-rich region (−1354/−2358 m) and a deeper, sponge-rich region (−2358/−3218 m). Taxa were morphologically distinguished, and their diversity and densities were estimated and related to substrate types. Both the upper and deeper seamount region hosted unique communities with significantly higher megafauna richness at the seamount’s summit. Megafauna densities differed significantly between the upper (0.297 ± 0.167 Ind./m 2 ) and deeper community (0.112 ± 0.114 Ind./m). The seamount showed a vertical zonation with dense aggregations of deep-sea corals dominating the seamount’s upper region and colonies of the glass sponges Poliopogon amadou dominating the deeper region. The results are discussed in light of detected substrate preferences and co-occurrence of species and are compared with findings from other Atlantic seamounts.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 7
    Publication Date: 2024-02-07
    Description: Suppression of established populations of invasive alien species can be a complex and expensive process, which is frequently unsuccessful. The Asian clam, Corbicula fluminea (Müller, 1774), is considered a high impact invader that can adversely alter freshwater ecosystems and decrease their socioeconomic value. To date, C. fluminea continues to spread and persist within freshwater environments worldwide, despite repeated management attempts to prevent dispersal and suppress established populations. As extensive C. fluminea beds can often become exposed during low-water conditions, the direct application of hot or cold thermal shock treatments has been proposed as suitable mechanism for their control. Further, mechanical substrate disturbance may enhance the efficacy of thermal shock treatments by facilitating exposures to multiple layers of buried clams. In the present study, we advanced these methods by assessing combined applications of both hot and cold thermal shock treatments for control of C. fluminea, using steam spray (≥100 °C; 350 kPa), low- or high-intensity open-flame burns (~1000 °C) and dry ice (−78 °C). In a direct comparison of raking combined with hot thermal shock applications, both steam and high-intensity open-flame treatments tended to be most effective, especially following multiple applications. In addition, when hot thermal treatments are followed by a final cold shock (i.e. dry ice), steam treatments tended to be most effective. Further, when dry ice was applied either alone or prior to an application of a hot shock treatment, substantial if not complete C. fluminea mortality was observed. Overall, this study demonstrated that combined applications of hot and cold thermal shock treatments, applied following the disruption of the substrate, can substantially increase C. fluminea mortality compared to separate hot or cold treatments.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 8
    Publication Date: 2024-04-05
    Description: Current global warming results in rising sea-water temperatures, and the loss of sea ice in arctic and subarctic oceans impacts the community composition of primary producers with cascading effects on the food web and potentially on carbon export rates. This study analyzes metagenomic shotgun and diatom rbcL amplicon-sequencing data from sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) of the subarctic western Bering Sea that records phyto- and zooplankton community changes over the last glacial–interglacial cycle, including the last interglacial period (Eemian). Our data show that interglacial and glacial plankton communities differ, with distinct Eemian and Holocene plankton communities. The generally warm Holocene period is dominated by pico-sized cyanobacteria and bacteria-feeding heterotrophic protists, while the Eemian period is dominated by eukaryotic pico-sized chlorophytes and Triparmaceae. In contrast, the glacial period is characterized by micro-sized phototrophic protists, including sea-ice associated diatoms in the family Bacillariaceae and co-occurring diatom-feeding crustaceous zooplankton. Our deep-time record of plankton community changes reveals a long-term decrease in phytoplankton cell size coeval with increasing temperatures, and resembling community changes in the currently warming Bering Sea. The phytoplankton community in the warmer-than-present Eemian period is distinct from modern communities and limits the use of the Eemian as an analog for future climate scenarios. However, under enhanced future warming, the expected shift towards the dominance of small-sized phytoplankton and heterotrophic protists might result in an increased productivity, whereas the community’s potential of carbon export will be decreased, thereby weakening the subarctic Bering Sea’s function as an effective carbon sink.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed , info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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  • 9
    Publication Date: 2024-02-07
    Description: For many coastal areas including the Baltic Sea, ambitious nutrient abatement goals have been set to curb eutrophication, but benefits of such measures were normally not studied in light of anticipated climate change. To project the likely responses of nutrient abatement on eelgrass (Zostera marina), we coupled a species distribution model with a biogeochemical model, obtaining future water turbidity, and a wave model for predicting the future hydrodynamics in the coastal area. Using this, eelgrass distribution was modeled for different combinations of nutrient scenarios and future wind fields. We are the first to demonstrate that while under a business as usual scenario overall eelgrass area will not recover, nutrient reductions that fulfill the Helsinki Commission’s Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) are likely to lead to a substantial areal expansion of eelgrass coverage, primarily at the current distribution’s lower depth limits, thereby overcompensating losses in shallow areas caused by a stormier climate.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 10
    Publication Date: 2024-02-07
    Description: Species invasions often occur on coasts and estuaries where abiotic conditions vary, e.g. salinity, temperature, runoff etc. Successful establishment and dispersal of non-indigenous species in many such systems are poorly understood, partially since the species tend to show genetic and ecological plasticity at population level towards many abiotic conditions, including salinity tolerance. Plasticity may be driven by shifting expression of heat shock proteins such as Hsp70, which is widely recognized as indicator of physical stress. In this study, we developed a qPCR assay for expression of the hsp70 gene in the invasive round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) and tested the expression response of fish collected from a brackish environment in the western Baltic Sea to three different salinities, 0, 10 and 30. hsp70 expression was highest in fresh water, indicating higher stress, and lower at brackish (ambient condition for the sampled population) and oceanic salinities, suggestive of low stress response to salinities above the population’s current distribution. The highest stress in fresh water was surprising since populations in fresh water exist, e.g. large European rivers and Laurentian Great Lakes. The results have implications to predictions for the species’ plasticity potential and possible range expansion of the species into other salinity regimes.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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