State of the knowledge on European marine habitat mapping and degraded habitats

During the last decades, several EU Directives and other international legislations have generated a large number of national initiatives (e.g. marine atlases) and EU programmes on habitat mapping. Nevertheless, the outcomes of these initiatives are fragmented and, to our best knowledge, to date there is no systematic assessment regarding the nature, quality and availability of information across the European seas. One of the main goals of the MERCES project (www.merces-project.eu) is to produce a census of available maps of European key marine habitats, along with their degradation status and restoration potential in the European Seas, providing a potential basis for future discussion on restoration activities. MERCES is producing a census of European marine key habitat maps, degraded habitat maps and investigating key habitat restoration potential. To do this MERCES has i. reviewed known existing habitat maps of European regional seas and provided source citations for all of the information ii. reviewed degraded habitat map resources by regional sea and habitat type (e.g. seagrass, macroalgae, coral gardens, sponge aggregations, seamounts, vents), associated habitat deterioration (e.g. extent of decline), the most common human activities and pressures reported, and the recovery and restoration potential of these habitats iii. reviewed 6 key habitats (including kelp and macroalgal forests, seagrass meadows, coralligenous assemblages, coral gardens and deep-sea bottom communities) and linked 6 major habitat features, such as dynamics, connectivity, structural complexity and vulnerability, to consequences for restoration and the likelihood of restoration succes

Collaborative Database to Track Mass Mortality Events in the Mediterranean Sea

Anthropogenic climate change, and global warming in particular, has strong and increasing impacts on marine ecosystems (Poloczanska et al., 2013; Halpern et al., 2015; Smale et al., 2019). The Mediterranean Sea is considered a marine biodiversity hot-spot contributing to more than 7% of world's marine biodiversity including a high percentage of endemic species (Coll et al., 2010). The Mediterranean region is a climate change hotspot, where the respective impacts of warming are very pronounced and relatively well documented (Cramer et al., 2018). One of the major impacts of sea surface temperature rise in the marine coastal ecosystems is the occurrence of mass mortality events (MMEs). The first evidences of this phenomenon dated from the first half of'80 years affecting the Western Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea (Harmelin, 1984; Bavestrello and Boero, 1986; Gaino and Pronzato, 1989; Voultsiadou et al., 2011). The most impressive phenomenon happened in 1999 when an unprecedented large scale MME impacted populations of more than 30 species from different phyla along the French and Italian coasts (Cerrano et al., 2000; Perez et al., 2000). Following this event, several other large scale MMEs have been reported, along with numerous other minor ones, which are usually more restricted in geographic extend and/or number of affected species (Garrabou et al., 2009; Rivetti et al., 2014; Marbà et al., 2015; Rubio-Portillo et al., 2016, authors' personal observations). These events have generally been associated with strong and recurrent marine heat waves (Crisci et al., 2011; Kersting et al., 2013; Turicchia et al., 2018; Bensoussan et al., 2019) which are becoming more frequent globally (Smale et al., 2019). Both field observations and future projections using Regional Coupled Models (Adloff et al., 2015; Darmaraki et al., 2019) show the increase in Mediterranean sea surface temperature, with more frequent occurrence of extreme ocean warming events. As a result, new MMEs are expected during the coming years. To date, despite the efforts, neither updated nor comprehensive information can support scientific analysis of mortality events at a Mediterranean regional scale. Such information is vital to guide management and conservation strategies that can then inform adaptive management schemes that aim to face the impacts of climate change.MV-L was supported by a postdoctoral contract Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación (IJCI-2016-29329) of Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. AI was supported by a Technical staff contract (PTA2015-10829-I) Ayudas Personal Técnico de Apoyo of Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (2015). Interreg Med Programme (grant number Project MPA-Adapt 1MED15_3.2_M2_337) 85% cofunded by the European Regional Development Fund, the MIMOSA project funded by the Foundation Prince Albert II Monaco and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 689518 (MERCES). DG-G was supported by an FPU grant (FPU15/05457) from the Spanish Ministry of Education. J-BL was partially supported by the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2013 through national funds provided by FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in the framework of the programme PT2020

MOLECULAR AND MORPHOLOGICAL IDENTIFICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF CYSTOSEIRA C. AGARDH, 1820 SPECIES IN NORTHERN MEDITERRANEAN COASTS OF TURKEY

WOS: 000439087100003The brown algae species, Cystoseira spp., forms an important habitat for many marine species. Changes in ecological conditions as salinity, seawater temperature and other factors such as urbanization, costal development, domestic and chemical pollutions effect the distribution and existence of these species. To protect and maintain their existence it is needed to identify and monitor Cystoseira spp. accurately. For this reason the distribution of the Cystoseira species in Northern Aegean Turkish Coasts were compared with previous data. The species were identified by both morphologically and phylogenetically. 35 Cystoseira samples were collected from 20 stations. Morphological features were used to identify 29 samples out of 35. From these species 10 of them gave appropriate results with sequence analysis. The genus Cystoseira has been identified as a potential indicator of water quality in Mediterranean waters, and our preliminary results suggest that Cystoseira species may also be good bioindicators for ecological conditions.Ege University, Faculty of Science, Scientific Research Project [2007/FEN/025]This study was funded by Ege University, Faculty of Science, Scientific Research Project # 2007/FEN/025

Identification complexity of critically endangered Squatina squatina (Linnaeus, 1758) and Squatina aculeata Cuvier, 1829 in the Mediterranean Sea (Turkey)

Sharks and rays, besides their economic importance, are ecologically important organisms with a diverse group. After a pregnant Squatina sp. was captured as by-catch, Akyol et al. (2015) published this species as Squatina squatina while the COI and 16S rDNA analysis demonstrated that the species is S. aculeata. This complexity revealed that utilizing morphologic identification solely might not be enough to distinguish these two Squatina species accurately. We aim to compare morphologic and molecular techniques during species identification of critically endangered S. squatina and S. aculeata. Two different gene regions were used for molecular identification of 3 Squatina specimens obtained from the Aegean coasts of Turkey. Sequence analysis of two gene regions was conducted after PCR analysis. An aligned data set was used for creating phylogenetic trees. The results demonstrated that the previously identified S. squatina specimen was revealed as S. aculeata after molecular analysis. Two other specimens which were morphologically identified as S. squatina demonstrated the same results both with molecular and morphological analysis. Our results suggest that adopting morphological identification as the only tool is not enough to accurately determine the Squatina species; both morphological and molecular tools should be used for taxonomical identification of shark species, especially the endangered ones, to assure their conservation status

Lophosiphonia obscura and Polysiphonia sukatarii sp. nov. (Rhodomelaceae, Rhodophyta) from mesohaline Lake Bafa, Turkey

Species discovery is facilitated by the application of molecular tools and the exploration of poorly studied habitats. Recent surveys in Bafa Lake, Turkey, which experienced a transition from oligo- to mesohaline conditions during the last 40 years, led to the finding of two species of the genera Lophosiphonia and Polysiphonia. Our molecular and morphological study showed that one of the species corresponded to L. obscura, while the other differs from previously described Polysiphonia species and is proposed as P. sukatarii sp. nov. The new species differs from related congeners by a rbcL sequence divergence >= 5.8% and is morphologically distinguished by having four pericentral cells and trichoblasts arranged several segments apart. Lophosiphonia obscura, and its closely related species L. hemisphaerica comb. nov. and L. boldii comb. nov., have been previously found in similar habitats in Europe and Atlantic North America. Along with its record from Bafa Lake, P. sukatarii sp. nov. has been discovered in open shore algal turfs from the Canary Islands, suggesting that it is a euryhaline species with probably a wide distribution. Our work highlights that poorly studied habitats still harbour undiscovered species and additional surveys are necessary to acquire a more comprehensive understanding of the macroalgal diversity.Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) [114Y249]; Xunta de Galicia 'Axudas de apoio a etapa de formacion posdoutoral' [ED481D/ 2017/011]; Xunta de Galicia 'Talento Senior' [03IN858A2019-1630129]This research was supported by Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) [Project no: 114Y249]. PDT was supported by Xunta de Galicia 'Axudas de apoio a etapa de formacion posdoutoral' [grant ED481D/ 2017/011]; and 'Talento Senior' [grant 03IN858A2019-1630129]

Assessment of the ecological and trophic status of Lake Bafa (Turkey) based on phytoplankton

Phytoplankton groups are one of the major quality element to be used in the evaluation of the trophic and ecological state of freshwater ecosystems according to the EU Water Framework Directive. This research was made to assess the trophic and ecological status of Lake Bafa in Turkey, on the basis of phytoplankton communities. Buyuk Menderes River is one of the most important factor that carries pollutants to Lake Bafa. The eight sampling station were assigned to evaluate the ecological and trophic state of the lake. Phytoplankton species were collected monthly for 2 years study period. Most commonly used phtoplankton indices Q index and Carlson's Trophic State Index (TSI), and different versions of diversity indices were used to estimate trophic and ecological state of the lake. Similarities between the sampling stations were clustured by using the unweighted pair group method using arithmetic average (UPGMA), based on phytoplankton communities. Correlations between the applied indices were determined by using Pearson Correlation. After the identification of collected phytoplanktons, total of 63 taxa which belong to classis of Cyanophyceae (11.2%), Bacillariophyceae (49.2%), Chlorophyceae (23.8%), Xanthophyceae (1.5%), Euglenophyceae (11.2%) and Dinophyceae (3.1%) were detected. The 1st and 2nd stations were the most similar stations to each other (88%) according to phytoplankton communities. Secchi disc depth (SD) and TP played an important role in the distribution of phytoplankton species in Lake Bafa. The highest significant positive correlation was determined between Q and TSI (r = 0.987, p0.01). Considering the TDI values in the phytoplankton composition of the lake, it can be said that although the productivity status of the studied lake is still mesotrophic, it has a tendency towards eutrophic state. According to the Q values, the first five stations reflect the moderate ecological state, while the 6th, 7th and 8th stations represent the poor ecological state.This research was supported by Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK, Project no: 114Y249)Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) [114Y249