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Climate change and biological invasions are rapidly reshuffling species distribution, restructuring the biological communities of many ecosystems worldwide. Tracking these transformations in the marine environment is crucial, but our understanding of climate change effects and invasive species dynamics is often hampered by the practical challenge of surveying large geographical areas. Here, we focus on the Mediterranean Sea, a hot spot for climate change and biological invasions to investigate recent spatiotemporal changes in fish abundances and distribution. To this end, we accessed the local ecological knowledge (LEK) of small‐scale and recreational fishers, reconstructing the dynamics of fish perceived as “new” or increasing in different fishing areas. Over 500 fishers across 95 locations and nine different countries were interviewed, and semiquantitative information on yearly changes in species abundance was collected. Overall, 75 species were mentioned by the respondents, mostly warm‐adapted species of both native and exotic origin. Respondents belonging to the same biogeographic sectors described coherent spatial and temporal patterns, and gradients along latitudinal and longitudinal axes were revealed. This information provides a more complete understanding of the shifting distribution of Mediterranean fishes and it also demonstrates that adequately structured LEK methodology might be applied successfully beyond the local scale, across national borders and jurisdictions. Acknowledging this potential through macroregional coordination could pave the way for future large‐scale aggregations of individual observations, increasing our potential for integrated monitoring and conservation planning at the regional or even global level. This might help local communities to better understand, manage, and adapt to the ongoing biotic transformations driven by climate change and biological invaders.

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Summary:Species composition and abundance of octocoral assemblages were investigated in the Sea of Marmara, which forms the connection between the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, two semi-enclosed seas with peculiar oceanographic conditions. Fourteen octocoral species were collected in the saline layer of the Marmara Sea (20-40 m), with a mean coral abundance of 5.21±5.11 colonies m -2 (mean ± SD) calculated from a total of 1390 colonies counted in transects. In spite of severe anthropogenic disturbances, dense assemblages of corals/gorgonians were observed during this study. The coralligenous communities-one of the most valuable structures of the Mediterranean Sea-harbored either Eunicella cavolini or Paramuricea macrospina as the dominant gorgonian in the Marmara Sea. Furthermore, the gorgonian assemblages of the Marmara Sea differed from those of the Mediterranean in their high abundance of P. macrospina and Spinimuricea klavereni, two species rarely encountered in the Mediterranean Sea at the studied depth range. The factors behind the observed differences are discussed in regard to the particular oceanographic conditions of the Marmara Sea. Finally, we revised the main threats to corals/gorgonians in the Marmara Sea and provided some insights on management recommendations for coral conservation in this area.

PERSEUS project aims to identify the most relevant pressures exerted on the ecosystems of the Southern European Seas (SES), highlighting knowledge and data gaps that endanger the achievement of SES Good Environmental Status (GES) as mandated by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). A complementary approach has been adopted, by a meta-analysis of existing literature on pressure/impact/knowledge gaps summarized in tables related to the MSFD descriptors, discriminating open waters from coastal areas. A comparative assessment of the Initial Assessments (IAs) for five SES countries has been also independently performed. The comparison between meta-analysis results and IAs shows similarities for coastal areas only. Major knowledge gaps have been detected for the biodiversity, marine food web, marine litter and underwater noise descriptors. The meta-analysis also allowed the identification of additional research themes targeting research topics that are requested to the achievement of GES.

Accumulation of marine litter is a worldwide growing problem of pollution in seas. Although it is recognized as one of the major pollution types for the Black Sea, very few studies can provide quantitative data and there are no data at all on solid wastes of the Black Sea seabed. This study was therefore aimed at investigating the abundance and composition of solid wastes in the southwestern Black Sea. Litter items were collected by trawling in October 2007, and in February and April 2008, at depths ranging from 25 m to 100 m. The solid waste concentration on the seabed showed a large variability (with zones ranging from 128–1320 items km– 2 and 8–217 kg km-2). Marine litter concentrations were higher than in the Mediterranean Sea, consisting mainly of plastic materials. Most items were fragmented, which indicated that they had spent a long time at sea, and this made their identification difficult. Only 8 items had legible labels, 2 of them being Turkish and 6 foreign. This suggested that marine litter is a trans-boundary problem, not only in the oceans, but also for enclosed seas like the Black Sea. The situation needs to be monitored all over the basin using standardised methods in order to develop regionally valid and effective solutions.

A. (2017). Fuzzy species limits in Mediterranean gorgonians (Cnidaria, Octocorallia): inferences on speciation processes. -Zoologica Scripta, 46, 767-778. The study of the interplay between speciation and hybridization is of primary importance in evolutionary biology. Octocorals are ecologically important species whose shallow phylogenetic relationships often remain to be studied. In the Mediterranean Sea, three congeneric octocorals can be observed in sympatry: Eunicella verrucosa, Eunicella cavolini and Eunicella singularis. They display morphological differences and E. singularis hosts photosynthetic Symbiodinium, contrary to the two other species. Two nuclear sequence markers were used to study speciation and gene flow between these species, through network analysis and Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC). Shared sequences indicated the possibility of hybridization or incomplete lineage sorting. According to ABC, a scenario of gene flow through secondary contact was the best model to explain these results. At the intraspecific level, neither geographical nor ecological isolation corresponded to distinct genetic lineages in E. cavolini. These results are discussed in the light of the potential role of ecology and genetic incompatibilities in the persistence of species limits.