title: Biodiversity conservation: an example of a multidisciplinary approach to marine dispersal.
abstract: The general aim of this paper is to present a possible multidisciplinary approach to the problem of connectivity among marine protected areas (MPAs) describing some of the mechanisms and vectors that control the dispersal of propagules among spatially distributed marine communities of MPAs in the Southern Adriatic Sea. A joint approach is described that focuses on (a) measurements of surface water current and model data integrated with a dedicated software (LAVA, LAgrangian Variational Analysis), (b) measurements of rafting objects and their evaluation as an alternative way to species dispersal, and (c) a tool to automatically monitor propagules and plankton species in the water column. Studies on the dynamics of water currents demonstrated that the Gargano area has the potential to supply dispersal propagules to the Southern Adriatic both along the Italian coastline and offshore across the basin, thus providing important services to the dispersal processes and the connectivity routes among MPAs. The natural dispersion is however enhanced by floating objects, on which entire marine communities are living and travelling. The number of these objects has greatly increased with the introduction of human litter: in the Adriatic, man-made litter composes nowadays the majority (79 %) of all floating objects, with this corresponding to an almost fourfold increase in the abundance of floating objects since pre-industrial times. Such enhanced dispersion may benefit transmission of propagules from MPAs along biodiversity corridors, but may also enhance the arrival of invasive species. The direct observation of organisms can provide information on the species distribution and mobility. New technology (GUARD-1 system) has been developed to automatically identify spatial or temporal distributions of selected species in the water column by image analysis. The system has so far successfully detected blooms of ctenophores in the water column and is now being tested for identification of other zooplankton groups, such as copepods, as well as marine litter. This low-cost, long-lasting imaging system can be hosted on mobile devices such as drifters, which makes it very suitable for biological dispersal studies.
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council of Italy), Forte S. Teresa, 19032 Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aliani
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council of Italy), Forte S. Teresa, 19032 Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP Italy.
authors.forename: Maristella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berta
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council of Italy), Forte S. Teresa, 19032 Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP Italy.
authors.forename: Mireno
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borghini
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council of Italy), Forte S. Teresa, 19032 Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP Italy.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council of Italy), Forte S. Teresa, 19032 Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP Italy ; Centre for Marine and Coastal Policy Research, Marine Institute, Plymouth University, Plymouth, PL4 8AA UK.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Conversi
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council of Italy), Forte S. Teresa, 19032 Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP Italy.
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Corgnati
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council of Italy), Forte S. Teresa, 19032 Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP Italy.
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Griffa
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council of Italy), Forte S. Teresa, 19032 Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP Italy.
authors.forename: Marcello Gatimu
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Magaldi
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council of Italy), Forte S. Teresa, 19032 Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mantovani
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council of Italy), Forte S. Teresa, 19032 Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP Italy.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marini
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council of Italy), Forte S. Teresa, 19032 Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mazzei
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council of Italy), Forte S. Teresa, 19032 Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Suaria
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council of Italy), Forte S. Teresa, 19032 Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vetrano
keywords: Biodiversity; Connectivity; Marine protected areas; Ocean model and measurements; Physical–biological coupling