Bright spots as climate‐smart marine spatial planning tools for conservation and blue growth

Marine spatial planning that addresses ocean climate-driven change (‘climate-smart MSP’) is a global aspiration to support economic growth, food security and ecosystem sustainability. Ocean climate change (‘CC’) modelling may become a key decision-support tool for MSP, but traditional modelling analysis and communication challenges prevent their broad uptake. We employed MSP-specific ocean climate modelling analyses to inform a real-life MSP process; addressing how nature conservation and fisheries could be adapted to CC. We found that the currently planned distribution of these activities may become unsustainable during the policy's implementation due to CC, leading to a shortfall in its sustainability and blue growth targets. Significant, climate-driven ecosystem-level shifts in ocean components underpinning designated sites and fishing activity were estimated, reflecting different magnitudes of shifts in benthic versus pelagic, and inshore versus offshore habitats. Supporting adaptation, we then identified: CC refugia (areas where the ecosystem remains within the boundaries of its present state); CC hotspots (where climate drives the ecosystem towards a new state, inconsistent with each sectors’ present use distribution); and for the first time, identified bright spots (areas where oceanographic processes drive range expansion opportunities that may support sustainable growth in the medium term). We thus create the means to: identify where sector-relevant ecosystem change is attributable to CC; incorporate resilient delivery of conservation and sustainable ecosystem management aims into MSP; and to harness opportunities for blue growth where they exist. Capturing CC bright spots alongside refugia within protected areas may present important opportunities to meet sustainability targets while helping support the fishing sector in a changing climate. By capitalizing on the natural distribution of climate resilience within ocean ecosystems, such climate-adaptive spatial management strategies could be seen as nature-based solutions to limit the impact of CC on ocean ecosystems and dependent blue economy sectors, paving the way for climate-smart MSP

Barrier crossings and winds shape daily travel schedules and speeds of a flight generalist

External factors such as geography and weather strongly affect bird migration influencing daily travel schedules and flight speeds. For strictly thermal-soaring migrants, weather explains most seasonal and regional differences in speed. Flight generalists, which alternate between soaring and flapping flight, are expected to be less dependent on weather, and daily travel schedules are likely to be strongly influenced by geography and internal factors such as sex. We GPS-tracked the migration of 70 lesser kestrels (Falco naumanni) to estimate the relative importance of external factors (wind, geography), internal factors (sex) and season, and the extent to which they explain variation in travel speed, distance, and duration. Our results show that geography and tailwind are important factors in explaining variation in daily travel schedules and speeds. We found that wind explained most of the seasonal differences in travel speed. In both seasons, lesser kestrels sprinted across ecological barriers and frequently migrated during the day and night. Conversely, they travelled at a slower pace and mainly during the day over non-barriers. Our results highlighted that external factors far outweighed internal factors and season in explaining variation in migratory behaviour of a flight generalist, despite its ability to switch between flight modes.Peer reviewe

Boat traffic in Lampedusa waters (Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea) and its relation to the coastal distribution of common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)

The volume of boat traffic and its potential connection to the coastal distribution of the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) was evaluated off Lampedusa Island (Strait of Sicily). From July to September 2006 daily surveys were carried out at eight sites along the coast, three times a day, to assess the number, type, and size of boats moving, fishing, or stationed in Lampedusa waters. The study area was divided into four geographic areas: northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast. Data were analyzed to determine the difference in the number of boats among the areas, sampling months, and times of day. The presence of dolphins was monitored by standardized land-based observations. Dolphins (n = 139) from 38 sightings were observed throughout the study period (90 days). In order to compare the presence of dolphins among areas, a relative abundance index was used: A-EH (number of sighted specimens per effort hour). Common bottlenose dolphins appeared to be broadly distributed around Lampedusa, although this study highlighted a possible overlap between their habitat, boat traffic, and fishery, especially in the southwest.

Life on the edge: Adaptations of Posidonia oceanica to hypersaline conditions in a Mediterranean lagoon system

Hypersaline stress is a major stressor in semi-enclosed coastal lagoons, affecting the distribution and survival of key foundation species. In this study, we investigated how Posidonia oceanica meadows responded physiologically and morphologically to different salinity concentrations both in-situ, across a natural saline gradient occurring inside the lagoon system, and in a mesocosm experiment. Leaf water relations, organic osmolytes, photosynthesis, respiration, Chlorophyll-a fluorescence, pigments content, and leaf growth were studied in P. oceanica from three different sites within the Stagnone of Marsala lagoon, as well as after exposing P. oceanica to a salinity level of 46 psu in a 30-day mesocosm experiment. Overall, we show that P. oceanica has evolved osmolar regulatory strategies and photosynthetic plasticity, allowing these meadows to cope with large salinity fluctuations (38 – 51.45 PSU). Our findings contribute to a better understanding of seagrass ecophysiological adaptation to extreme environmental conditions, as well as the importance of these populations serving as an experimental model at the Mediterranean scale for more comprehensive forecasting and management of environmental stress in these marine foundation species in an era of rapid environmental change.This study was carried out within Projects: PON Tetide, RETURN Extended Partnership Investment 1.3 – D.D. 1243 2/8/2022, PE0000005, PhD in "Earth and Sea Sciences" XXX Cycle D.i.S.T.e.M. University of Palerm

GPS migratory tracking data from 70 adults lesser kestrels from Spain and Italy

This GPS tracking data set includes migratory trajectories of 70 adults lesser kestrels (Falco naumanni) (40 females and 30 males). These birds provided 75 post-breeding and 66 pre-breeding migratory trips. We re-sampled all data to 1-hourly intervals (with deviations of 20 minutes). After re-sampling, we analysed 31,012 hourly segments. Birds were captured on 33 breeding sites across Spain (n= 58) and Italy (n=12) between 2014 and 2019 by different teams: SEO/BirdLife Spain, GREFA, LIFE ZEPA-URBAN, KESTRELS-MOVE, LIFE+Natura project “Un falco per amico”. The data were used for the first PhD thesis chapter of Lina López Ricaurte Y-5977410-T, framed under the KESTRELS-MOVE project directed by Dr Javier Bustamante. This chapter was entitled “Barrier crossings and winds shape daily travel schedules and speeds of a flight generalist” and was published in Scientific Reports, June 8 2021, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91378-x. It is recommended to use R software to read the data (also available on Movebank under the study name: (SP-IT) Lesser Kestrel migration). The data matrix contains the following fields: "LON"← longitude "LAT" ← latitude "ID” ← device code (6 characters) "HEIGHT" ← altitude (when available) "POP” ← country of origin, it/sp "sex" ← m/f "date” ← YYYY-MM-DD "season" ← spring/autumn "year" "cycle"← combination of “season” and “year” "daynight" ← day/night "desert" ← criterion for selectin positions over the desert, 1/NA "sea" ← criterion for selectin positions over the sea, 1/NA "date_time” ← YYYY-MM-DD HH-MIN-SEC "Vwind" ← v-component of the wind vector (positive values towards east, negative towards west) “BLH” ← proxy for the availability and strength of thermal uplifts "Uwind" ← u-component of the wind vector (positive values towards east, negative towards west) "trip” ← combination of “ID”, “year” and “season” (s1 = spring, s2 = autumn) "w" ← wind strength "alfa" ← wind direction (in degrees relative to north) "sidewind" ← km/h "tailwind" ← km/h "dis" ← the distance between point i and i-1 "duration" "speed" ← the speed between point i and i-1 "day2" ← bird-day from sunrise to sunset "migrate” ← classify travel days (> 5 km/h) and rest days (< 5 km/h) "barrier" ← classify barrier=1 vs non-barrier= 0 "cov.type" ← categorical variable with three levels to classify among Desert, Land, Sea.External factors such as geography and weather strongly affect bird migration influencing daily travel schedules and flight speeds. For strictly thermal‑soaring migrants, weather explains most seasonal and regional differences in speed. Flight generalists, which alternate between soaring and flapping flight, are expected to be less dependent on weather, and daily travel schedules are likely to be strongly influenced by geography and internal factors such as sex. We GPS‑tracked the migration of 70 lesser kestrels (Falco naumanni) to estimate the relative importance of external factors (wind, geography), internal factors (sex) and season, and the extent to which they explain variation in travel speed, distance, and duration. Our results show that geography and tailwind are important factors in explaining variation in daily travel schedules and speeds. We found that wind explained most of the seasonal differences in travel speed. In both seasons, lesser kestrels sprinted across ecological barriers and frequently migrated during the day and night. Conversely, they travelled at a slower pace and mainly during the day over non‑barriers. Our results highlighted that external factors far outweighed internal factors and season in explaining variation in migratory behaviour of a flight generalist, despite its ability to switch between flight modes.Peer reviewe

The Synergistic Impacts of Anthropogenic Stressors and COVID-19 on Aquaculture: A Current Global Perspective

The rapid, global spread of COVID-19, and the measures intended to limit or slow its propagation, are having major impacts on diverse sectors of society. Notably, these impacts are occurring in the context of other anthropogenic-driven threats including global climate change. Both anthropogenic stressors and the COVID-19 pandemic represent significant economic challenges to aquaculture systems across the globe, threatening the supply chain of one of the most important sources of animal protein, with potential disproportionate impacts on vulnerable communities. A web survey was conducted in 47 countries in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic to assess how aquaculture activities have been affected by the pandemic, and to explore how these impacts compare to those from climate change. A positive correlation between the effects of the two categories of drivers was detected, but analysis suggests that the pandemic and the anthropogenic stressors affect different parts of the supply chain. The immediate measurable reported losses varied with aquaculture typology (land vs. marine, and intensive vs. extensive). A comparably lower impact on farmers reporting the use of integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) methods suggests that IMTA might enhance resilience to multiple stressors by providing different market options under the COVID-19 pandemic. Results emphasize the importance of assessing detrimental effects of COVID-19 under a multiple stressor lens, focusing on areas that have already locally experienced economic loss due to anthropogenic stressors in the last decade. Holistic policies that simultaneously address other ongoing anthropogenic stressors, rather than focusing solely on the acute impacts of COVID-19, are needed to maximize the long-term resilience of the aquaculture sector.publishedVersio