Preprint volume - SIBM
Preprint volume - SIBM
Preprint volume - SIBM
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Pre-print Volume - Oral presentations<br />
Topic 1: BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION SCIENCE: CONTRIBUTING TO MANAGEMENT<br />
been recently developed, including: the CEM project (Coastal Environment Monitoring<br />
Protocol), involving recreational scuba divers in monitoring activity all along the<br />
whole Italian littoral (www.progettomac.it); Seawatching Volunteer Monitoring<br />
Programme (SVMP) promoted by Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre<br />
(http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/) and the newly promoted project ‘For-Mare:<br />
training and research in marine protected areas’ (www.for-mare.eu) for university<br />
students, school teachers and citizens. Started in 2007, SVMP is the result of interest<br />
showed by the participants who took part to snorkelling week-ends for tourists and<br />
residents proposed by the Seawatching group. The regular participation of the same<br />
people for several years and their enthusiasm in learning about marine life gave birth to<br />
data-gathering activity involving volunteers who spend week-ends doing snorkelling<br />
and collecting data on habitat and species that characterize the MPA of ‘Cinque Terre’.<br />
For-Mare started in summer 2009 as a pilot project which involved students from the<br />
University of Pavia who took part to a summer stage in marine ecology and geobotany<br />
and developed scientifically relevant studies on population ecology of marine species<br />
(Raineri and Savini, 2010) and terrestrial flora (Di Silvestro, unpublished data) in the<br />
MPA of Isole Pelagie, AG. The aim of this paper is to report the experiences and<br />
preliminary results obtained from these last two mentioned projects (SVMP; For-Mare)<br />
by arguing their future development in the light of valuable scientific data collection.<br />
Materials and methods – (1) SVMP was conducted in ‘Cinque Terre’ MPA from July<br />
to September 2007, 2008 and 2009. Volunteers were organized to work in couple and<br />
each couple received an underwater board, pencil, waterproof-sheets for recognizing<br />
Mediterranean marine organisms (fishes, benthic organisms, algae and plants) and for<br />
evaluating cover (for benthic organism) and size (for fishes) classes. For each<br />
investigated site, couples reported the name of the site, locality, maximum depth,<br />
duration of the survey, visibility and seawater temperature. Habitats such as<br />
supralittoral, rocky shore, Posidonia oceanica meadow and cave were investigated and<br />
from 1 to 3 habitats were monitored during each survey. Data on both benthic and<br />
pelagic species for each habitat were collected. For benthic organisms, species’ names<br />
were reported and data of abundance (number of individuals) or cover range (%) were<br />
given using a quadrat (50×50 cm). Regarding pelagic species, visual-census techniques<br />
were applied: couple of volunteers looked at different directions and monitored an area<br />
of 5 m 2 for 5 minutes. 3 replicates were made by each couple. Name of the species,<br />
number of individuals and size classes (cm) were reported. For planktonic organisms<br />
(Ctenophora and Scyphoza) number of individuals and distances among them were<br />
recorded. (2) For-Mare pilot stage was conducted in June 2009. Nineteen participants<br />
followed a one-week summer course in Linosa Island- Isole Pelagie. Training was<br />
provided by a marine biologist, a geobotanist and a scuba diving instructor. The stages<br />
provided fundamental knowledge in marine biology and geobotany (taught courses),<br />
followed by field work activity (snorkeling and trekking). The first halve of the week<br />
students followed demonstrations concerning commonly non-destructive methods used<br />
for marine (bionomic transect, quadrats) and terrestrial (floristic surveys, morphometric<br />
analysis) census in population ecology studies. The second halve of the week students<br />
were requested to perform an original study by organising them in four working<br />
groups. Each groups developed experimental design, data collection, interpretation and<br />
presentation of results under teachers’ supervision. At the end of the stage the four<br />
41 st S.I.B.M. CONGRESS Rapallo (GE), 7-11 June 2010<br />
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