Swimming behaviour and prey perception in the calanoid copepod Clausocalanus furcatus.

Small planktonic copepods (The aim of this PhD thesis was to investigate some aspects of the swimming behaviour of C. furcatus adult female that could shed light on its small-scale interactions with the surrounding environment. In particular, the work was focused on the mechanisms regulating the perception and capture of prey items, in order to understand the success of this species in oligotrophic regions. To this purpose, four different approaches have been utilised: - the numerical characterization of the trajectories performed by freely swimming C. furcatus adult females in presence of dinoflagellate cells and in association with capture events; - the reconstruction of the perception area and of the mechanisms involved in the capture of prey items; - the morphological investigation of the sensory structures present on the first antennae, which bear mechano- and chemo-sensors involved in the perception of external cues; - the evaluation of the sensory performance of the mechanoreceptors on the first antennae by means of electrophysiological experiments. The results of these investigations concur in depicting a coherent scenario. In C. furcatus, the modalities of detecting and capturing prey seem to be forged to efficiently exploit food particles when they are grouped in small patches, and are aimed at maximising the success of C. furcatus in oligotrophic environments

Ecophysiological and behavioural responses to salinity and temperature stress in cyclopoid copepod Oithona davisae with comments on gender differences

The gender differences in reaction to salinity (3-50) and temperature (6-26°C) stress were studied in the thermophilic cyclopoid copepod Oithona davisae, introduced in the brackish temperate Black Sea since 2001. Both females and males possessed similar salinity tolerance ranges (6–40) irrespective of the salinity change rate, and females displayed a striking osmotic control upon sharp (18-40 and 40-18) salinity shocks. By contrast, the temperature response of males and females were different. Torpidity was recorded at a temperature below 10°C in males collected both in warm and cold seasons, as well as in summer-autumn females whilst in females grown up at the beginning of winter the locomotor parameters were high even at 6°С. The total metabolic rate of summer-autumn and winter females was determined by the level of basal metabolic rate and energy expenditures due to motor activity. In winter females that maintained high activity at low temperature, the total and basal metabolic rates, differing by 2.3 times at all temperatures within the range of 8–28°C, varied in accordance with the temperature coefficient Q10 of about 2, whereas in summer-autumn females at low temperatures total metabolic rate decreased to the basal level. The plasticity of both males and female to wide ranges in abiotic conditions provide an adaptive strategy to sustain the spreading of O. davisae in diverse environments

Distinctive diffusive properties of swimming planktonic copepods in different environmental conditions

Suspensions of small planktonic copepods represent a special category in the realm of active matter, as their size falls within the range of colloids, while their motion is so complex that it cannot be rationalized according to basic models of self-propelled particles. Indeed, the wide range of individual variability and swimming patterns resemble the behaviour of much larger animals. By analysing hundreds of three-dimensional trajectories of the planktonic copepod Clausocalanus furcatus, we investigate the possibility of detecting how the motion of this species is affected by different external conditions, such as the presence of food and the effect of gravity. While this goal is hardly achievable by direct inspection of single organism trajectories, we show that this is possible by focussing on simple average metrics commonly used to characterize colloidal suspensions, such as the mean square displacement and the dynamic correlation functions. We find that the presence of food leads to the onset of a clear localization that separates a short-time ballistic from a long-time diffusive regime. Such a benchmark reflects the tendency of C. furcatus to remain temporally feeding in a limited space and disappears when food is absent. Localization is clearly evident in the horizontal plane, but is negligible in the vertical direction, due to the effect of gravity. Our results suggest that simple average descriptors may provide concise and useful information on the swimming properties of planktonic copepods, even though single organism behaviour is strongly heterogeneous

"Pseudodiaptomus Marinus" Sato, 1913, a New Invasive Copepod in Lake Faro (Sicily): Observations on the Swimming Behaviour and the Sex-Dependent Responses to Food

Background: The calanoid copepod Pseudodiaptomus marinus Sato, 1913 is an estuarine-coastal species, living in shallow eutrophic inshore waters. It is native of the Indo-Pacific region, but in the last 50 years, it has successfully colonized new areas worldwide. P. marinus, first recorded in Lake Faro (Messina, Italy) in October 2008, is now a stable component of the zooplankton assemblage of the lake. By means of video recordings, for the first time, the swimming behaviour of males and non-ovigerous and ovigerous females of P. marinus has been studied. The individuals were filmed in the presence and absence of food to evaluate how the presence of prey might affect the swimming behaviour. Results: The swimming motion showed marked sex-dependent features and responses to the presence of food. Mechanisms through which behaviour might influence the outcome of a new colonization were analysed. The behaviour of P. marinus was then compared with that of the congeneric Pseudodiaptomus annandalei showing the typical behaviour displayed by the representatives of the genus Pseudodiaptomus of living in proximity of the bottom. Conclusions: Environmental and hydrological conditions in Lake Faro have likely provided the newly introduced P. marinus a suitable environment for settling, although normally the presence of an anoxic deep layer would be detrimental for a demersal species. In this case, the plasticity in the behaviour of P. marinus enhanced its capacity for colonising new environments. Switching from demersal to pelagic habitat or being fully planktonic allowed it to express its large individual variability in motion strategies and thus to successfully colonize the lake

Sea Storm Analysis: Evaluation of Multiannual Wave Parameters Retrieved from HF Radar and Wave Model

Intense atmospheric disturbances, which impact directly on the sea surface causing a significant increase in wave height and sometimes strong storm surges, have become increasingly frequent in recent years in the Mediterranean Sea, producing extreme concern in highly populated coastal areas, such as the Gulf of Naples (Western Mediterranean Sea, Central Tyrrhenian Sea). In this work, fifty-six months of wave parameters retrieved by an HF radar network are integrated with numerical outputs to analyze the seasonality of extreme events in the study area and to investigate the performance of HF radars while increasing their distances from the coast. The model employed is the MWM (Mediterranean Wind-Wave Model), providing a wind-wave dataset based on numerical models (the hindcast approach) and implemented in the study area with a 0.03° spatial resolution. The integration and comparison with the MWM dataset, carried out using wave parameters and spectral information, allowed us to analyze the availability and accuracy of HF sampling during the investigated period. The statistical comparisons highlight agreement between the model and the HF radars during episodes of sea storms. The results confirm the potential of HF radar systems as long-term monitoring observation platforms, and allow us to give further indications on the seasonality of sea storms under different meteorological conditions and on their energy content in semi-enclosed coastal areas, such as the Gulf of Naples

Wind Direction Data from a Coastal HF Radar System in the Gulf of Naples (Central Mediterranean Sea)

Results on the accuracy of SeaSonde High Frequency (HF) radar wind direction measurements in the Gulf of Naples (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Central Mediterranean Sea) are here presented. The investigation was carried out for a winter period (2 February–6 March) and for one summer month (August) of the reference year 2009. HF radar measurements were compared with in situ recordings from a weather station and with model data, with the aim of resolving both small scale and large scale dynamics. The analysis of the overall performance of the HF radar system in the Gulf of Naples shows that the data are reliable when the wind speed exceeds a 5 m/s threshold. Despite such a limitation, this study confirms the potentialities of these systems as monitoring platforms in coastal areas and suggests further efforts towards their improvement

Coastal high-frequency radars in the Mediterranean ??? Part 1: Status of operations and a framework for future development

Due to the semi-enclosed nature of the Mediterranean Sea, natural disasters and anthropogenic activities impose stronger pressures on its coastal ecosystems than in any other sea of the world.With the aim of responding adequately to science priorities and societal challenges, littoral waters must be effectively monitored with high-frequency radar (HFR) systems. This land-based remote sensing technology can provide, in near-real time, fine-resolution maps of the surface circulation over broad coastal areas, along with reliable directional wave and wind information. The main goal of this work is to showcase the current status of the Mediterranean HFR network and the future roadmap for orchestrated actions. Ongoing collaborative efforts and recent progress of this regional alliance are not only described but also connected with other European initiatives and global frameworks, highlighting the advantages of this cost-effective instrument for the multi-parameter monitoring of the sea state. Coordinated endeavors between HFR operators from different multi-disciplinary institutions are mandatory to reach a mature stage at both national and regional levels, striving to do the following: (i) harmonize deployment and maintenance practices; (ii) standardize data, metadata, and quality control procedures; (iii) centralize data management, visualization, and access platforms; and (iv) develop practical applications of societal benefit that can be used for strategic planning and informed decision-making in the Mediterranean marine environment. Such fit-for-purpose applications can serve for search and rescue operations, safe vessel navigation, tracking of marine pollutants, the monitoring of extreme events, the investigation of transport processes, and the connectivity between offshore waters and coastal ecosystems. Finally, future prospects within the Mediterranean framework are discussed along with a wealth of socioeconomic, technical, and scientific challenges to be faced during the implementatio

Coastal high-frequency radars in the Mediterranean ??? Part 2: Applications in support of science priorities and societal needs

International audienceThe Mediterranean Sea is a prominent climate-change hot spot, with many socioeconomically vital coastal areas being the most vulnerable targets for maritime safety, diverse met-ocean hazards and marine pollution. Providing an unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution at wide coastal areas, high-frequency radars (HFRs) have been steadily gaining recognition as an effective land-based remote sensing technology for continuous monitoring of the surface circulation, increasingly waves and occasionally winds. HFR measurements have boosted the thorough scientific knowledge of coastal processes, also fostering a broad range of applications, which has promoted their integration in coastal ocean observing systems worldwide, with more than half of the European sites located in the Mediterranean coastal areas. In this work, we present a review of existing HFR data multidisciplinary science-based applications in the Mediterranean Sea, primarily focused on meeting end-user and science-driven requirements, addressing regional challenges in three main topics: (i) maritime safety, (ii) extreme hazards and (iii) environmental transport process. Additionally, the HFR observing and monitoring regional capabilities in the Mediterranean coastal areas required to underpin the underlying science and the further development of applications are also analyzed. The outcome of this assessment has allowed us to provide a set of recommendations for future improvement prospects to maximize the contribution to extending science-based HFR products into societally relevant downstream services to support blue growth in the Mediterranean coastal areas, helping to meet the UN's Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and the EU's Green Deal goals

Editorial for Special Issue "Radar Technology for Coastal Areas and Open Sea Monitoring"

The sea has always played a fundamental role in the social and economic development, as well as in the shaping and functioning of natural ecosystems and services [...