Latitude versus local effects on echinoderm assemblages along the Victoria Land coast, Ross Sea, Antarctica

Data from two new cruises is used to assess whether latitude plays any role in influencing broad-scale spatial patterns in echinoderm assemblage composition along the Victoria Land coast and the Balleny Islands as a contribution to the Latitudinal Gradient Project. Our results indicate that a latitudinal gradient is influencing assemblage structure in subtle and non-linear ways. The Balleny Islands system is different from the Victoria Land coast, probably because of a different biogeographic origin and current oceanographic conditions. Along the Victoria Land coast, latitude related differences arise when taking into account benthic biodiversity at different spatial scales. Alpha diversity increases from north to south, but beta diversity shows the opposite trend, although not linearly, suggesting the different importance of the iceberg disturbance along the northern Victoria Land coast

Winter roosts of great cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis in Campania region: distribution and multiyear analysis of the population, from 1998 to 2022

The great cormorants' (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis) habit of gathering in roosts in winter makes it easier to monitor the wintering populations. In Campania region (Southern Italy) winter roosts have been counted since the 1980s. However,since January 1998 the monitoring has been standardized and made constant over the years. Therefore, there is a 25-year historical series on which analyzes were carried out on the trend, periodicity, nature of the various roosts monitored in the considered period, and the geographical origins of the wintering specimens. A moderate increasing trend emerged, also confirmed by the comparison of the median number of animals present in the decade 2003-2012 with those of thedecade 2013-2022. No periodicity phenomenon was found.L’abitudine dei cormorani (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis) di radunarsi in inverno in dormitori rende più semplice il monitoraggio delle popolazioni svernanti. In Campania (Italia meridionale) si effettuano conteggi ai dormitori invernali dagli anni ’80 del XX secolo. A partire dal gennaio 1998 però il monitoraggio è stato standardizzato e reso costante negli anni. Si dispone oggi quindi di una serie storica di 25 anni sulla quale si sono effettuate analisi sull’andamento, la periodicità, la natura dei vari dormitori monitorati nel periodo preso in esame, e le origini geografiche degli esemplari svernanti. Ne è emersa una tendenza moderata all’incremento, confermata anche dal confronto del numero mediano di animali presenti neldecennio 2003-2012 con quelli del decennio 2013-2022. Non si è riscontrato un fenomeno di periodicità