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Insects are a natural component of animal diets. They contain a high amount of digestible protein and fat and are also rich in micronutrients such as copper, iron, magnesium, selenium and zinc, as well as riboflavin, pantothenic acid and biotin. In addition, insects contain bioactive and immunostimulatory constituents such as lauric acid, antimicrobial peptides and chitin. These nutritional and functional properties make insects a promising feed ingredient to replace conventional feed ingredients and as such sustainability in animal production may be improved. In the European Union (EU), since 2017 eight insect species are authorized for aquafeed. Recent relaxation of the EU feed ban rules and animal by-products legislation on September 7, 2021, also allowed the use of insect proteins in poultry and pig diets. Among the authorized insect species, some are more promising for feed purposes as they can be theoretically mass produced. More-over, these species apply the circular economy concept by bioconverting organic substrates, which find minor applications for other purposes. Advances in the development of the European insect industry are often associated with more favourable sustainability potentials of insects, compared to traditional protein sources. For the EU there is a significant overlap in ingredient use in diets for pigs and poultry. Despite multiple studies on economic feasibility, social acceptance and environmental impact, many open questions are left for the industry to deal with. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), relying on a modular modelling approach to cover the complete spectrum of insect production and processing parameters, is a methodology which can provide viable answers and recommendations on envi-ronmental sustainability performance. For different livestock animal species, the current animal production systems, volumes of feed and composition of conven-tional diets are presented. The digestibility of insect meals and effects of their use on growth performance, product quality and health at different dietary inclusion levels are reviewed. Finally, the contribution of dietary inclusion of insect protein in animal production systems to sustainability is discussed.

Current policies of habitat conservation, recovery, and management are strongly biased in favour of terrestrial systems, being poorly applicable to marine environments. A sound habitat classification, leading to spatially explicit accounts on the distribution of marine habitats and communities, is a prerequisite to identify conservation priorities, based on appropriate methods for assessing habitat sensitivity to human disturbance, aimed at preventing habitat loss. The ten major European marine habitat classifications, recognizing a total of 1121 marine habitats, have been here revised, and their major differences have been formally tested in terms of multivariate dissimilarity. Mediterranean-based classifications resulted rather uniform, their habitats forming a separate cluster from the rest of European ones; these differences might be due to either distinct ecological features, or to divergences in the way habitats are classified. Either too vague or too detailed classifications, leading to cumbersome appreciations of biodiversity at habitat level, fail to provide proper tools for the conservation and management of marine environments. Different species assemblages can inhabit the same habitat type, representing the well-know natural variability that, at large scale, should not affect the appreciation of habitat distribution. Intra-habitat natural variability, in fact, causes a misleading qualitative interpretation of small-scale biodiversity distribution. Mediterranean classifications have been integrated and simplified by identifying habitats according to explicit criteria: level on the shore, type of primary substrate, presence of bioconstructors, presence of habitat formers, presence of ecosystem engineers. The motivating idea is to limit the current emphasis on spatial dominance as the only criteria for the introduction of species, assemblages, and habitats in the lists, towards a clearer recognition of the structural and functional role of biodiversity. The reduction of previous classifications to a list of 94 Mediterranean marine habitat types represents an initial attempt at providing a simple and flexible tool for the evaluation of biodiversity at habitat level, leading to more feasible conservation measures, potentially extendable at European scale. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Current policies of habitat conservation, recovery, and management are strongly biased in favour of terrestrial systems, being poorly applicable to marine environments. A sound habitat classification, leading to spatially explicit accounts on the distribution of marine habitats and communities, is a prerequisite to identify conservation priorities, based on appropriate methods for assessing habitat sensitivity to human disturbance, aimed at preventing habitat loss. The ten major European marine habitat classifications, recognizing a total of 1121 marine habitats, have been here revised, and their major differences have been formally tested in terms of multivariate dissimilarity. Mediterranean-based classifications resulted rather uniform, their habitats forming a separate cluster from the rest of European ones; these differences might be due to either distinct ecological features, or to divergences in the way habitats are classified. Either too vague or too detailed classifications, leading to cumbersome appreciations of biodiversity at habitat level, fail to provide proper tools for the conservation and management of marine environments. Different species assemblages can inhabit the same habitat type, representing the well-know natural variability that, at large scale, should not affect the appreciation of habitat distribution. Intra-habitat natural variability, in fact, causes a misleading qualitative interpretation of small-scale biodiversity distribution. Mediterranean classifications have been integrated and simplified by identifying habitats according to explicit criteria: level on the shore, type of primary substrate, presence of bioconstructors, presence of habitat formers, presence of ecosystem engineers. The motivating idea is to limit the current emphasis on spatial dominance as the only criteria for the introduction of species, assemblages, and habitats in the lists, towards a clearer recognition of the structural and functional role of biodiversity. The reduction of previous classifications to a list of 94 Mediterranean marine habitat types represents an initial attempt at providing a simple and flexible tool for the evaluation of biodiversity at habitat level, leading to more feasible conservation measures, potentially extendable at European scale.

The majority of Hydrozoa is represented by not readily noticeable, small species. In recent decades, however, taxonomic knowledge of the group has increased worldwide, with a significant number of investigations focused on the Mediterranean Sea. Over more than two decades, 115 species of hydrozoans were recorded from coastal waters along nearly 300 km of the Salento Peninsula (Apulia, Italy). For each species, records from different collections were merged into single sheets of a general database. For each species, the following information is reported: description, cnidome, biology, occurrence in Salento, worldwide distribution, and bibliography. Descriptions refer to the benthic hydroid stage and, when present, also to the planktonic medusa stage. The 115 species of Hydrozoa, recorded along the Salento coastline, represent 25% of the Mediterranean Hydrozoa fauna (totaling 461 species), and nearly 3% of 3,702 world's known species covered in a recent monograph. Four species are non-indigenous, three of them with invasive behavior (Clytia hummelincki, Clytia linearis, and Eudendrium carneum), and one species now very common (Eudendrium merulum) in Salento. The complete life cycle of Clytia paulensis (Vanhöffen, 1910) is described for the first time. 

Coating electroaccretion on galvanized iron and aluminum 1100 under cathodic polarization in artificial and natural seawaterwas investigated through electrochemical tests and optical imaging techniques. Biofilm affects the current density and the morphologies of gas evolution, particularly the maximum size of the gas bubbles and the interaction between gas evolution and calcareous deposit. Coating mineral composition is related to the type of metallic material and can be different according to growth in natural or artificial seawater. On galvanized iron in ASTM and natural seawater at potential -1.2V versus Ag/AgCl. Coatings grown on aluminum 1100 are different from those on galvanized iron. In ASTM seawater, the coating on aluminum 1100 is composed of aluminum oxide and Mg4Al2(OH)14·2H2O; in natural seawater, only of aluminum oxide. On specimens coupled with magnesium anode, the coating does not contain brucite and is composed of aragonite with Mg6Al2(OH)18·4H2O islands.

AbstractThe availability of genomic data for an increasing number of species makes it possible to incorporate evolutionary processes into conservation plans. Recent studies show how genetic data can inform spatial conservation prioritization (SCP), but they focus on metrics of diversity and distinctness derived primarily from neutral genetic data sets. Identifying adaptive genetic markers can provide important information regarding the capacity for populations to adapt to environmental change. Yet, the effect of including metrics based on adaptive genomic data into SCP in comparison to more widely used neutral genetic metrics has not been explored. We used existing genomic data on a commercially exploited species, the giant California sea cucumber (Parastichopus californicus), to perform SCP for the coastal region of British Columbia (BC), Canada. Using a RAD‐seq data set for 717P. californicusindividuals across 24 sampling locations, we identified putatively adaptive (i.e., candidate) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) based on genotype–environment associations with seafloor temperature. We calculated various metrics for both neutral and candidate SNPs and compared SCP outcomes with independent metrics and combinations of metrics. Priority areas varied depending on whether neutral or candidate SNPs were used and on the specific metric used. For example, targeting sites with a high frequency of warm‐temperature‐associated alleles to support persistence under future warming prioritized areas in the southern coastal region. In contrast, targeting sites with high expected heterozygosity at candidate loci to support persistence under future environmental uncertainty prioritized areas in the north. When combining metrics, all scenarios generated intermediate solutions, protecting sites that span latitudinal and thermal gradients. Our results demonstrate that distinguishing between neutral and adaptive markers can affect conservation solutions and emphasize the importance of defining objectives when choosing among various genomic metrics for SCP.

AbstractAimThe development of approaches to predict the distribution and potential expansion of invasive species is still an open challenge. Here our goal is to improve the modelling procedure for marine invaders by coupling Species Distribution Models (SDMs) with an analysis of their univariate niche dynamics. In particular, we tested for the first time whether choosing model predictors among the stable niche dimensions was effective in improving predictions of invasive species expansion.LocationMediterranean Sea.TaxonDusky spinefoot, Siganus luridus.MethodsWe analysed the univariate niche dynamics for S. luridus across its native and invaded ranges, by applying a standardized framework that allowed the identification of cases of niche stability or shift. We compared inter‐range transferability of SDMs fitted with different combinations of labile or stable predictors. Finally, we evaluated interactions in SDM settings (calibration area, model technique and predictors set) on models’ predictive ability, using independent data from the most recent phase of invasion.ResultsWe detected a pattern of niche stability for several variables, especially salinity and bathymetry, which positively influenced model inter‐ranges transferability: when the models calibrated in the native range include only stable niche axes, predictive ability is improved. We also identified a shift towards lower surface temperatures in the introduced range, which were almost never experienced by the species before invasion. The model calibrated within the combined ranges was the most ecologically congruent. Also, models calibrated in the invaded range allowed a correct prediction of range expansion, with the predicted suitable areas only slightly underestimated.Main conclusionsWe provide the first evidence that using conserved predictors in SDMs improves inter‐range projections of expanding invasive species. Variable selection, calibration area and modelling technique all matter when modelling invasive species, with important interaction effects. We provide guidelines on how to improve SDMs applications in biological invasion research.

Abstract Climate change is now evident also in Antarctica, with impacts both on the abiotic and the biotic components of ecosystems, particularly on permafrost, active layer thickness, vegetation, and soil properties. Permafrost ecosystems are recognized to be sensitive to the influences of the changing climate, which may activate, through complex mechanisms, both positive and negative feedbacks relating to CO2 fluxes. For this reason we analysed, through a data set collected over a complete year, the thermal regime of the active layer at four sites with different vegetation (bare ground, lichen vegetation with Usnea aurantiaco-atra, moss vegetation with Sanionia uncinata, grass vegetation with Deschampsia antarctica) but with similar topographic and geomorphological conditions at Signy Island (Maritime Antarctica). Except for the Deschampsia site, the other three sites are the same formerly studied by Chambers in the 1960s. The three sites show significant differences of the mean annual ground surface temperature (MAGST), ranging from − 1.9 (Usnea) to − 2.6 °C (Sanionia). Despite the clear differences in MAGST at the investigated sites, the mean annual ground temperature at 30 cm is virtually identical. Our results confirm that mosses play an important role in cooling the ground. The results of our study allow us to suggest also that the thawing degree days should be used instead of the growing degree days as a more suitable measure of the favourable conditions for the growth of the Antarctic cryptogam vegetation. Comparing our data with those of Chambers [Chambers, M.J.G., 1966b. Investigations on patterned ground at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands: II. Temperature regimes in the active layer. British Antarctic Survey Bulletin, 10: 71–83.], we can stress that the thermal conditions favourable to the frost heave is actually even more limited in depth (30 cm vs 40 cm in Chambers). Moreover, the freeze–thaw days near the surface appeared to be more frequent in the vegetated sites than in the bare ground.