Priorities for Mediterranean marine turtle conservation and management in the face of climate change

As climate-related impacts threaten marine biodiversity globally, it is important to adjust conservation efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. Translating scientific knowledge into practical management, however, is often complicated due to resource, economic and policy constraints, generating a knowledge-action gap. To develop potential solutions for marine turtle conservation, we explored the perceptions of key actors across 18 countries in the Mediterranean. These actors evaluated their perceived relative importance of 19 adaptation and mitigation measures that could safeguard marine turtles from climate change. Of importance, despite differences in expertise, experience and focal country, the perceptions of researchers and management practitioners largely converged with respect to prioritizing adaptation and mitigation measures. Climate change was considered to have the greatest impacts on offspring sex ratios and suitable nesting sites. The most viable adaptation/mitigation measures were considered to be reducing other pressures that act in parallel to climate change. Ecological effectiveness represented a key determinant for implementing proposed measures, followed by practical applicability, financial cost, and societal cost. This convergence in opinions across actors likely reflects long-standing initiatives in the Mediterranean region towards supporting knowledge exchange in marine turtle conservation. Our results provide important guidance on how to prioritize measures that incorporate climate change in decision-making processes related to the current and future management and protection of marine turtles at the ocean-basin scale, and could be used to guide decisions in other regions globally. Importantly, this study demonstrates a successful example of how interactive processes can be used to fill the knowledge-action gap between research and management.This work was conducted under FutureMares EU project that received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 869300. The Mediterranean Marine Turtle Working Group was established in 2017 and is continuously supported by MedPAN and the National Marine Park of Zakynthos. The work of AC was supported by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.) under the “First Call for H.F.R.I. Research Projects to support Faculty members and Researchers and the procurement of high-cost research equipment grant” (Project Number: 2340).Peer reviewe

Spatial analysis of orchids diversity unveils hot-spots: The case of Zante Island, Greece

The current study aims to analyze the ecological niche and mapping the distribution of species belonging to Orchidaceae family, in Zante Island and to determine hotspots at sites of high species richness. 967 observations were recorded into 110 tracks in 2015 and 120 tracks in 2016, where 47orchid species were identified belonging to 9 genera. Using Maxent, the ecological niche of each species was analyzed and habitat suitability map was created using 12 environmental parameters. The suitability maps were transformed into a binary format according to the threshold “10th percentile training presence” and the transformed maps used to compute hot-spot regions by applying the SMD toolbox using the software ArcGIS.Zante Island is characterized by remarkably high orchid species richness since the synthetic model indicates presence of at least 10 species for the 53.2% of the island area. Topography, geology and landscape openness are determining factors for orchids’ diversity conservation. Altitude is the determining factor of differentiation in species distribution. Hydro-lithology was the following most significant interpreting parameter. The mapping analysis of species abundance units revealed that 12.5% of the island surface could be characterized as hotspots of high value for the conservation of orchid diversity