Patella 2.docx Traduzione PDF

Preview

Summary

Progetto per la salvaguardia di una specie protetta in estinzione : La patella ferruginea...

Description

DEfense Actions, Reintroduction and ribbed Mediterranean limpet’s (Patella ferruginea, Gmelin 1791) support of reproductive events in Sicilian coasts and in Maltese archipelago DEAR PATELLAS

Asse 3.1 e 3.2 30 months Partner: Italia: CORERAS (leader) EPR, CNR EPM, Green Future PMI Malta: Marsaxlokk Malta Center for Fisheries science headquarter EPR, Malta fish Farm PMI

Brief introduction about the specie The ribbed Mediterranean limpet, endemic to the Mediterranean, is the most marine specie at risk in the 92/43/CEE directive, concerning nature, habitat and fauna and flora’s preservation (Ramos, 1998), declared at severe risk of extinction (Laborel-Deguen and Laborel, 1991a; Templado and Moreno, 1997). It is also included in the attachment II of Barcelona’s SPA/BIO protocol, in the attachment II of Berna’s convention and in the attachment IV of Habitat directive. It has a bad evaluation of the preservation state with a decreasing trend. In Italy, the distribution area is pointlike and confined to restricted areas of the western pond due to illegal drawing and anthropic impact on the coastal marine ecosystem. The greatest threat’s the drawing with collecting and feeding purposes. Studies on this species are currently focused on the specie’s reproductive biology, as pointed out by Templado (2001), in order to carry out adequate strategies of management and preservation. Former researches about the specie’s reproductive biology have been carried out by Frenkiel (1975) on Algerian populations, with following observation by Laborel-Deguen and Laborel (1990, 1991a). A key factor which contributes to this specie’s disappearance is the peculiar reproductive biology. It shows, in fact, a protandric hermaphroditism (male at first, female afterwards). The withdrawal actions that focus on the larger size individuals, depauperate the female population, causing evident negative effects on the population mentioned above. According to Frenkiel (1975), the reproductive season of P. ferruginea it is limited to the period between September and December. In September was observed the gonads maturation in both sexes and spermatozoa are released in November-December, shortly before the oocytes release. Some studies show a concomitance of gametes’ release with particular climatic conditions (strong hydrodynamism). Larvae remain in the pelagic form for a period of time between 7 and 12 days. Temperature and food availability play a primary role in shorting and prolonging stay times of larvae in their pelagic form and in determining survival. Indeed, young who aren’t near rocky walls during the period of passage from the pelagic form to the benthic one, are not intended to survive. This knowledge is crucial to intervene on weak spots of the reproductive cycle and implement strategies aimed at the specie’s preservation.

The higher density of P. ferruginea (with greater concentration in the world) was detected in Ceuta’s harbour (Guerra-Garcìa and others, 2004), Spanish locality neighbouring Morocco. Conditions which contributed to this phenomenon are the impossibility of withdrawing from men (harbour area with docks difficult to access and controlled by port security), preservation of chemical-physical factors from massive tidal currents that characterise the Strait of Gibraltar.

Brief purpose The aim of the project will be to soften the biodiversity loss thanks to the establishment of a stock of P. ferruginea breeders, extracting a minimum quantity of mature organisms, in the identified areas thanks to the project’s preliminary stages. Follow their reproduction in controlled environment, get some youth and then implant the latter in those sites that have oceanographic features suitable for the specie, but above all locations in which is ensured a specific surveillance from acts of poaching of the implanted specimens. This’ll allow the activation of actions for the environmental Protection within Natura2000 areas (Malta to be evaluated) The establishment of this new hot spot for the specie, will contribute to support the wild population with natural reproductive events. To this end were identified two areas with oceanographic features similar to Ceuta harbour, in which for other reasons already exist a h24 surveillance of the cliff. On top of the above, in close proximity of the two selected point, there are structures active in marine science’s field, and that dispose of laboratories and necessary equipment to accomplish all the planned actions by the project. Of the chosen areas, one is located in western Sicily, by the harbour of refuge of the CNR-IAS’ seat, the other in the Marsaxlokk’s gulf, seat of the Malta Centre for Fisheries science, southeast of Malta island.

Porto CNR-IAS Capo Granitola

Golfo di Marsaxlokk

At both chosen sites, it has been documented the presence of the P. ferruginea in the past, thus guaranteeing a suitable habitat to host again this specie. The knowledge of the superficial water masses’ dynamics of the Strait of Sicily, has also played a central role in choosing the two areas. In fact, both are located at the centre of nutrient rich upwelling system, tangential streams, and complex systems of circulation that create optimal conditions for the creation of nursery areas for hundreds of pelagic specie. The specimens that will be used to start the cultivations will be withdrawn in the marine protected area of the Aegadian Islands, taking advantage of the withdrawn and transport’s systems already tested for protection initiatives of this specie (Re-Life). One of the strengths will be an improved survival of larvae in a controlled environment compared to open sea. In conjunction with direct action at the improvement of the reproductive performances, a tech work will take place aiming to the creation of a monitoring system to install a chip to insert in limpets both in experimental plant in the laboratory and the plant seated at the sea, which allows to track the environmental and oceanographic factors of the areas in which the organisms settle. Thus, the limpets themselves will provide relevant information about their favourite natural habitat, all key factors to ensure a successful replanting. This information will prove to be of great importance also for the second- face expected in real marine conditions, when the limpets will be transferred at the two natural repopulation centres. It will be studying the degree of growth of the limpet in relation to the state of cleanliness and marine dynamics. It’s important for the study of growth phases of the ribbed limpets to register with suitable weather sensors some environmental parameters and put them in relations with the growth of the limpets. For these purposes it is expected the realization of a homogeneous network of four meteorological stations, located at the two identified marine areas (Port CNR-IAS Capo Granitola and Marsaxlokk’s gulf) and the others at the two growth laboratories. All with the same hardware configuration, that will acquire and display in graphical tabular form some parameters, to monitoring the different climate conditions existing on the various sites chosen as case study. The individual weather stations, transmitting data remotely from a central server allowing the control of atmospheric conditions in real time from a PC, tablet or smartphone, with the possibility to receive instant alarms when the present thresholds are exceeded. The optimal configuration of the unit requires the installation of the following sensors:

    

Thermohygrometer Anemometer Rain Gauge Barometer Solar Radiation

Such sensors will allow the direct the temperature acquisition and the external area humidity where it will be located the station; The Barometer allow to obtain also the trend of the atmospheric pressure, while the direction of wind it’s also returned in sexagesimal degrees on the wind rose with the possibility of having the value of instantaneous and average wind speed. The radiation sensor will measure the global radiation as the sum of the components on the horizontal plane in W/m2. In the section rainfall is planned the registration of the specific amount of rain (mm/hour), total daily, monthly and annual total over the evapotranspiration (ET) which is the water quantity (referred to the time unit) that from the ground passes to the air as vapour due to the combined effect of perspiration, through plants, evaporation, directly from the ground. Finally, the stations will also return a weather forecast for the next 12/24h hours. Below a summary of data of an example station and the main characteristics of the derived variables.

Use of data The portal dedicated to project activities as well as containing all the project documents, the various phases of intervention in 30 months of expected duration and the data of the sensors immersed in the water, it will contain in the section dedicated to hosting the data acquired in real time also from the single control units and the display of the relative historical series. The access will occur through multi-level logins (administrator, guest, etc) and with a simple click on the name of the site that will open the weather station, they can be viewed meteorological data updated in real time. The system will also record the historical series of weather data for all the stations, download in CSV format. The same functionality will be applied to an APP iOS/Android

which will allow viewing on smartphones and tablet as well as to the data also alarms above or under threshold, properly programmed.

Work Packadges description WP1 Involvement of protected areas and project stakeholders. Networking with similar initiatives (month: 0-3– CORERAS It) WP2 Preliminary surveys and mapping (month: 2-5. CNR It, Malta Center) Mapping of the presence of the patella in the two areas. In Malta a survey will be carried out to monitor the coast and the area of the cliffs by sea and by land where possible; in Sicily we will use the monitoring data initiated by ARPA as part of the Marine strategy (please specify the two cross border shore’s common interest and sustainability). Marine Special Protected Areas will involve. WP3 Implementation of structures and creation of dedicated sensors (month: 3-9. GF, CNR It, Malta Farm) Breeding and housing tanks for limpets, existing in different countries, will be implemented. The molluscs’ continuous monitoring system will be specifically designed and be able to provide the parameters essential to the clam’s survival. In this context, for each parameter will be established threshold value beyond which alarms and implementing protocols will be activated to avoid the specimens’ suffering. This system will be implemented on local platform and reserved web area, with alert conveyed by e-mail so that the personnel can get a H24 control of the events that will occur in the lab, intervene as fast as possible e, in this way, increase the specimens’ rate of survival. Software. In terms of software, the system will be developed in Windows and Android environment and will use the corresponding graphical environment that as it is known allow the activation of several simultaneous processes and the use of the entire world standard software available for that environment. Besides locally, it is expected a control system even remotely, through Internet connection. Data will travel via Wi-Fi from the group of sensors of each tank and/or from the sea station, directly displayed on the tool for learning’s panel but either the possibility of being read also on tablet/smartphone Android using the dedicated App. The broadcast, collecting and saving of data will be autonomous via wi-fi on a designed web server. It will host a customized synoptic graphic that will allow the visualisation of the plant of the farm with functions of alarms’ management with automatic accommodation (this allows to highlight close sequential alarms) and of storage of all the measured quantities with the possibility of analysing in a graphic form afterwards. Sensors. The monitoring system’ project includes the choice of suitable sensors for the measurement of temperatures, acidity, salinity and oxygenation of the farming waters both at the chosen lab and the monitoring of the waters of the sites in chosen seas. For the measurement of the water acidity the system includes the use of digital Ph probes with an internal processor that executes linearization of the measurement and the temperature compensation.

Also for the measure of the water salinity the system provides the use of a digital salinity probe with an internal processor that executes linearization of the measurement and the temperature compensation. The activity growth of the P. ferruginea implanted within the two marine protected areas will be, also, constantly observed through action-cam placed near the zone to highlight possible disturbing elements (presence of predators, little growth of nourishing algae, etc.) that could arise. At the same time, we will study the sites that will host the weather stations with the relative sensors. The stations will have homogeneous hardware and the measurement will be synchronized with each other and between the monitoring part in the laboratory and at sea. In this way it will be possible to study aspects of statistical correlation between meteoclimatic phenomena and the optimal growth parameters in natural conditions. WP4 Development of experimental protocols (month: 3-12. CNR It, Malta Farm, Malta Center) WP5 Capture of wild animals: genetic analysis and characterization, housing / reproduction (month: 12-20. CNR It, GF, Malta Center) Some wild animals identified in the previous phases will be taken. These animals, after being genetically characterized, will be used after housing for reproduction in a controlled and constantly monitored environment LABO. The checks and measures will concern temperature, acidity, salinity and oxygenation control of the water of each tank provided for breeding. With 10 minutes scanning time the WiFi system of the laboratory will send the data read by the sensors to the control panel display and on tablet/smartphone Android by using the dedicating App. In this way the operators will have alert readiness and measures to prevent outrange cases. The data and alert will be collected on a cloud that through a dedicated portal will allow a series of useful functions useful for the statistical analysis: the alert analysis in relation with the other measured parameters, analysis of the acquired historical series, growth analysis based on marine weather conditions, correlation of missing value, etc. WP6 planting of the limpets obtained and continuous monitoring (month: 20-30. CNR It, GF, Malta Center) The limpets obtained will be planted in the Maltese and Sicilian coasts at the selected controlled sites. Growth activity of the ribbed Mediterranean limpet implanted in the two marine protected areas will be always observed through underwater video cameras located near the area in a way that to highlight any disturbing elements (like presence of predators, little growth nourishment algae, etc) that may arise. The main oceanographic parameters that will characterize the chosen sowing areas will also be measured. The information thus collected will give important information on their habitat and behaviour in the natural environment. WP7 set up of breeding protocols (month: 20-26. Malta Farm, Malta Center) After having received indications on the monitored parameters and the experimental tests conducted, the most suitable protocols for rearing in the farm by the farm will be developed.

WP8 communication and development of new specific tools (month: 18-30. CORERAS) WP9 habitat mapping (month: 26-28. CORERAS) WP10 territorial marketing (month: 24-30. CORERAS) One of the most important WPs of the project will consist in a conspicuous communicative activity, which will be carried out with different objectives and towards different target groups, for the period of the project duration (30 months). In fact, carrying out actions for repopulation of this specie it’s not enough. In the same time, specific actions are needed to raise awareness of existing rules and laws for the protection of the ribbed limpet and its ecological importance for the Mediterranean coastal landscape. OBJECTIVES - The objectives of communication will therefore consist in increasing the awareness of this marine species and the importance of its protection, as well as the serious risk of extinction. Furthermore we will propose to promote positive attitudes and behavioural patterns, for example the promotion of word of mouth, the reporting of the presence of this species or environmental situations that could accelerate its extinction, such as pollution or collection for food purposes. TARGET GROUPS - We will therefore work in an integrated manner, both in Sicily and in Malta, towards: • opinion leaders / influencers, in particular food bloggers, travel bloggers and scientific advisers • individuals / families live or vacation in the distribution area of the species • science teachers of all levels • scholars and researchers. Therefore, for the achievement of the communication objectives, in a first phase an in-depth analysis of the scientific topic and of the critical points will be carried out, in relation to the different target groups, for example a desk analysis of the reputation of this species will be implemented, through the occurrences of the single keywords "Patella", "patella ferruginea", "limpet", "ribbed limpet" etc. Particular attention will be focused on the recipes that can still be found on the web, which promote preparations in which the patella appears as a succulent ingredient. The purpose of this analysis is to formulate a cognitive framework on the treatment, on the web, of the theme that constitutes the focus of the project. Later on we will work to spread more correct information through integrated activities on above and below the line media. In addition to the classic institutional activities, such as the construction of a website and the opening of pages and channels in all the main social media, specific awareness-raising actions will be held towards all identified target groups, through direct marketing. Scientific communications, intended for scholars and influencers, should be combined with simpler communications accessible to families and the very young people. In fact, particular attention will focus on the new generations, with the production of a meme aimed at the viral and positive diffusion of messages and a cartoon starring a patella, aimed at creating an aura of sympathy towards this species.

The last part of the communication activity will consist in the dissemination of the project results. Gant

WP

TRIMESTRI...