Evaluating Coastal Inundation in a Climate Change Scenario: the Case of the Marche Region

Insights into a patchy meadow of the little Neptune grass Cymodocea nodosa and its epiphytic macroalgal community in the Central Adriatic Sea

Seagrass meadows are recognized as biodiversity hotspots and valuable coastal communities due to the ecosystem services and goods they provide (Orth et al., 2006). In recent years, interest in their monitoring has increased, driven both by their ecological role and by the severe global decline observed over the past decades as a result of human activities (Waycott et al., 2009). For these reasons, restoration efforts are becoming crucial, especially in the face of future environmental challen...

Assessing temporal and spatial variation in communities associated with Gongolaria barbata forests in the Conero Riviera (Ancona) using molecular approaches

Fucalean brown algae are key foundation species in the Mediterranean Sea, where they form macroalgal forests that structure coastal habitats and provide essential ecosystem services. Within this group, Cystoseira sensu lato forests are experiencing a marked decline, often leading to biodiversity loss and shifts towards barren grounds or algal turfs. The algal and bacterial communities associated with these ecosystems represent an important component of habitat complexity, and their compositio...

Italian macroalgal herbaria in the 21st century: new roles in modern phycological research

In Europe, marine macroalgae have been collected and preserved since the late 17th century. This practice became popular in the two subsequent centuries, when several early naturalists with interest in algae produced some of the largest algal herbaria still available today (Carl Adolf Agardh and Jacob Georg Agardh, Pierre-Louis Crouan and Hippolyte-Marie Crouan, Friedrich Traugott Kützing, William Henry Harvey). As result, approximately one million and seven hundred thousand specimens are now...