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

Numerical Modelling of Soil Erosion on Cephalonia Island, Greece Using Geographical Information Systems and the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE)

Soil erosion on Cephalonia Island, Greece has been identified as a predominating land degradation process and a major threat to the sustainability of the agricultural sector. In the present work, the evolution of soil erosion on the island was estimated for the years 2000 and 2012. A simple empirical model, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) for modeling soil erosion, was applied in a Geographical Information System (GIS). The results indicate that the mean annual soil erosion was estimated to be 12.78 t/ha for the year 2000 and 12.28 t/ha for the year 2012. Further, 38.24% of the area of Cephalonia demonstrated moderate to significantly high soil erosion in the year 2012 compared to 40.55% in year 2000. We can assume that during the period 2000–2012, despite influences on the natural environment including forest fires and overgrazing, the combination of vegetation and other protective soil factors contributed to reducing soil erosion

Numerical Modelling of Soil Erosion on Cephalonia Island, Greece Using Geographical Information Systems and the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE)

Soil erosion on Cephalonia Island, Greece has been identified as a predominating land degradation process and a major threat to the sustainability of the agricultural sector. In the present work, the evolution of soil erosion on the island was estimated for the years 2000 and 2012. A simple empirical model, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) for modeling soil erosion, was applied in a Geographical Information System (GIS). The results indicate that the mean annual soil erosion was estimated to be 12.78 t/ha for the year 2000 and 12.28 t/ha for the year 2012. Further, 38.24% of the area of Cephalonia demonstrated moderate to significantly high soil erosion in the year 2012 compared to 40.55% in year 2000. We can assume that during the period 2000–2012, despite influences on the natural environment including forest fires and overgrazing, the combination of vegetation and other protective soil factors contributed to reducing soil erosion

Prediction of Soil Loss in a Reservoir Watershed Using an Erosion Model and Modern Technological Tools: A Case Study of Marathon Lake, Attica in Greece

Marathon Lake is an artificial reservoir with great environmental, ecological, social, and economic significance because it was the main source of water for Athens, the capital of Greece, for many years. The present study details the first attempt to map sedimentation in Marathon Lake in detail, using bathymetric mapping and soil erosion field surveying of the torrent watershed areas. First, the results of a bathymetric survey carried out in 2011 were compared with topographic maps that pre-date the construction of the dam. Based on this comparison, an estimated 8.34 hm3 of sediment have been deposited in the 80 years since the dam’s construction. In the current survey, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) was used to estimate soil loss in the watershed area of the streams that end in Marathon Lake. The estimated value from the RUSLE was substantially lower (3.02 hm3) than that calculated in the bathymetric survey