Precisions geològiques i paleoecològiques sobre el jaciment del Barranc de la Torre Folch (el Forcall, els Ports, Serralada Ibèrica)

S’ha alçat la columna estratigràfica del jaciment cretaci del Barranc de la Torre Folch (el Forcall), dins la conca sedimentaria del Maestrat. L’aflorament s’atribueix a la formació Argiles de Morella. La fauna marina descrita s’ha trobat a la meitat superior. Es correspon amb l’inici del cicle trasgressiu. L’edat assignada és del Bedulià inferior, sense descartar que també inclogués una part del Barremià superior. Es relaciona aquest aflorament amb el jaciment del Toll de Valentí (Cervera del Maestrat, Conca del Maestrat) de la Fm. Margues de Cervera del Maestrat. Geology and paleoecology precisions on the outcrop Barranc de la Torre Folch (el Forcall, Iberian Range) The stratigraphic column of the site of the Torre Folch ravine (el Forcall) was raised, placed within the Cretaceous sedimentary Maestrat basin. The outcrop is attributed to the Morella Clays formation. The marine faune has been found in the upper half which is related with the beginning of the marine transgression cycle. The assigned age is lower Bedulian, but could not be ruled out that some proportion belongs to upper Barremian. This outcrop is related to the site of the Toll de Valentí (Maestrat basin) from Marls of Cervera from Maestrat formation

What are you doing here? Investigating on an unexpected association in shallow Mediterranean dark caves sheds new light on the diet of Marionia blainvillea (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Nudibranchia)

In a shallow dark cave along the coast of Capo Palinuro (Campania, Italy), the finding of an unusual aggregation of individuals belonging to Marionia blainvillea (Gastropoda, Nudibranchia) has allowed to identify a population of Cervera atlantica (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Alcyonacea) and to add this latter to the list of the hosts preyed by this tritoniid nudibranch. This association was confirmed by a second observation in a dark shallow cave in the Island of San Pietro (Sardinia, Italy). Moreover, a subsequent internet data mining shed light on the diet of M. blainvillea adding useful ecological notes on the scarcely known trophism characterizing Marionia species. Cervera atlantica is reported for the first time along the continental coast of Italy

Heterobranch sea slugs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Ascension Island, South Atlantic Ocean

The small volcanic island of Ascension is situated in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, more than 1500 km from the coast of Africa, its nearest continental area. To date, eight 'opisthobranch' species were reported from the island. As a result of a recent survey, 10 species were found. Seven species are new records from Ascension: Platydoris angustipes (Morch, 1863), Diaulula sp., Dolabrifera dolabrifera (Rang, 1828), Aplysia parvula Guilding in Morch, 1863 and Caliphylla mediterranea A. Costa, 1867, and two new species: Phidiana mimica sp. nov.; and Felimida atlantica sp. nov. Half of the species found have a wide geographical distribution, being not restricted to the Atlantic Ocean. However, traditional taxonomy based on few characters is probably masking complexes of species.Darwin Initiative (EIDCF012); CNPq-Brazil; DAAD-Germany; DFG [SCHR667/9,13]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Two seas for one great diversity: Checklist of the marine heterobranchia (Mollusca; Gastropoda) from the Salento Peninsula (South-East Italy)

The Salento peninsula is a portion of the Italian mainland separating two distinct Mediterranean basins, the Ionian and the Adriatic seas. Several authors have studied the marine Heterobranchia (Mollusca, Gastropoda) fauna composition living in the Ionian Sea, but to date further knowledge regarding this interesting group of mollusks is still needed. Recent studies have corroborated the peculiarity of the Mediterranean Sea showing high levels of endemism and cryptic diversity. On the other hand, marine sea slugs have been revealed to be important indicators of the marine ecosystem's health, due to their species-specific diet that consist of a vast variety of sessile and benthic invertebrates. A baseline study of the marine Heterobranchia diversity is therefore a necessary step to reveal the hidden diversity and to monitor the possible presence of alien species. The present study shows results from approximately 600 scientific dives carried out during a nine-year period in all of the main submarine habitats of the studied area, while accounting for the marine Heterobranchia from both the Ionian and Adriatic Seas. With this contribution, the list of marine Heterobranchia inhabiting the Salento Peninsula rises to 160. Furthermore, it also reports, for the first time, the presence of one alien species and three new records for Italian waters. Ecological notes and geographical distribution for each added species are provided together with animal iconography, consisting mainly of in situ photographs, for species identification

Transboundary cooperation and mechanisms for Maritime Spatial Planning implementation SIMNORAT project

Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) is gaining importance as a new process for the governance of seas and oceans, as maritime nations exercise greater management over their territorial waters and, in many cases, over exclusive economic zones that span a larger area. The purpose of this planning is to reverse the environmental degradation of the seas and facilitate the sustainable use of marine resources, both for mature uses such as fishing and navigation, and for emergent uses, including renewable energies and mariculture. In Europe, the Directive 2014/89/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning oblige coastal Member States to develop maritime spatial plans at the latest by 31st March 2021. To help in that process, countries have at their disposal a set of existing instruments, including research projects, supporting guidelines, recommendations and sets of tools and data, as the SIMNORAT project, co-funded by the EC – DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE). This paper presents best practices developed in this project on technical, scientific, and social aspects of MSP to overcome barriers of MSPD implementation testing effective cooperation on transboundary areas and providing a set of cross-cutting MSP related recommendations to foster collaborative efforts and to improve the overall transboundary dimension of the MSP Directive.En prensa1,86

The Hierarchic treatment of marine ecological information from spatial networks of benthic platforms

Measuring biodiversity simultaneously in different locations, at different temporal scales, and over wide spatial scales is of strategic importance for the improvement of our understanding of the functioning of marine ecosystems and for the conservation of their biodiversity. Monitoring networks of cabled observatories, along with other docked autonomous systems (e.g., Remotely Operated Vehicles [ROVs], Autonomous Underwater Vehicles [AUVs], and crawlers), are being conceived and established at a spatial scale capable of tracking energy fluxes across benthic and pelagic compartments, as well as across geographic ecotones. At the same time, optoacoustic imaging is sustaining an unprecedented expansion in marine ecological monitoring, enabling the acquisition of new biological and environmental data at an appropriate spatiotemporal scale. At this stage, one of the main problems for an effective application of these technologies is the processing, storage, and treatment of the acquired complex ecological information. Here, we provide a conceptual overview on the technological developments in the multiparametric generation, storage, and automated hierarchic treatment of biological and environmental information required to capture the spatiotemporal complexity of a marine ecosystem. In doing so, we present a pipeline of ecological data acquisition and processing in different steps and prone to automation. We also give an example of population biomass, community richness and biodiversity data computation (as indicators for ecosystem functionality) with an Internet Operated Vehicle (a mobile crawler). Finally, we discuss the software requirements for that automated data processing at the level of cyber-infrastructures with sensor calibration and control, data banking, and ingestion into large data portals.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Seven invertebrates new for the marine fauna of Madeira Archipelago

Ocaña and den Hartog (2002) recorded 18 species of sea anemones from Madeira archipelago. During SCUBA dives along the coasts of Madeira and Porto Santo, the present author encountered a further three sea anemone species and several other marine invertebrates not yet recorded for the marine fauna of Madeira Island. Similar to previous publications (e.g. Wirtz 1998, Wirtz 2007, Ocaña & Wirtz 2009), these findings are reported here.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

On some interesting opisthobranchs (Mollusca, Gastropoda) from the Azores

The nudibranch Eubranchus farrani Alder and Hancock, 1844 is recorded from the Azores for the first time. The presence of the sacoglossan Placida cremoniana (Trinchese, 1892) in the Azores is confirmed. Pleurobranchus sp. from the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands is compared with P. garciagomesi Cervera et al. 1996; it probably is an undescribed species.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Phyllidia flava Aradas, 1847 (Mollusca Opisthobranchia), new record for the Azores

Cervera et al. (2006) listed 113 opisthobranch species from the Azores. Since then, several additional coastal opisthobranchs have been reported from the Azores, e.g. Malaquias et al. (2011), Pedro et al. (2011), Cordeiro et al. (2013). We here report yet another previously unrecorded opisthobranch species from the Azores. The observations were made while SCUBA diving at Pico Island, Azores. Two specimens were deposited in the Zoologische Staatssammlung, München, Germany

Data comparison between three acoustic doppler current profilers deployed in OBSEA platform in north-western Mediterranean

Three different Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) have been deployed in OBSEA platform, a 20 meters depth underwater observatory cabled with a 4 km mixt cable to Vilanova i la Geltru’s coast. Two months of continuous data have been collected in order to confirm their proper operation and long term North current characteristic from the areaPeer ReviewedPostprint (published version