ALBERT

Description: Background: Biological invasions threaten the functioning of ecosystems, biodiversity, and human well-being by degrading ecosystem services and eliciting massive economic costs. The European Union has historically been a hub for cultural development and global trade, and thus, has extensive opportunities for the introduction and spread of alien species. While reported costs of biological invasions to some member states have been recently assessed, ongoing knowledge gaps in taxonomic and spatio-temporal data suggest that these costs were considerably underestimated. Results: We used the latest available cost data in InvaCost (v4.1)—the most comprehensive database on the costs of biological invasions—to assess the magnitude of this underestimation within the European Union via projections of current and future invasion costs. We used macroeconomic scaling and temporal modelling approaches to project available cost information over gaps in taxa, space, and time, thereby producing a more complete estimate for the European Union economy. We identified that only 259 out of 13,331 (~ 1%) known invasive alien species have reported costs in the European Union. Using a conservative subset of highly reliable, observed, country-level cost entries from 49 species (totalling US$4.7 billion; 2017 value), combined with the establishment data of alien species within European Union member states, we projected unreported cost data for all member states. Conclusions: Our corrected estimate of observed costs was potentially 501% higher (US$28.0 billion) than currently recorded. Using future projections of current estimates, we also identified a substantial increase in costs and costly species (US$148.2 billion) by 2040. We urge that cost reporting be improved to clarify the economic impacts of greatest concern, concomitant with coordinated international action to prevent and mitigate the impacts of invasive alien species in the European Union and globally.

Description: Significance Assessing change in Southern Ocean ecosystems is challenging due to its remoteness. Large-scale datasets that allow comparison between present-day conditions and those prior to large-scale ecosystem disturbances caused by humans (e.g., fishing/whaling) are rare. We infer the contemporary offshore foraging distribution of a marine predator, southern right whales (n = 1,002), using a customized stable isotope-based assignment approach based on biogeochemical models of the Southern Ocean. We then compare the contemporary distributions during the late austral summer and autumn to whaling catch data representing historical distributions during the same seasons. We show remarkable consistency of mid-latitude distribution across four centuries but shifts in foraging grounds in the past 30 y, particularly in the high latitudes that are likely driven by climate-associated alterations in prey availability. Abstract Assessing environmental changes in Southern Ocean ecosystems is difficult due to its remoteness and data sparsity. Monitoring marine predators that respond rapidly to environmental variation may enable us to track anthropogenic effects on ecosystems. Yet, many long-term datasets of marine predators are incomplete because they are spatially constrained and/or track ecosystems already modified by industrial fishing and whaling in the latter half of the 20th century. Here, we assess the contemporary offshore distribution of a wide-ranging marine predator, the southern right whale (SRW, Eubalaena australis), that forages on copepods and krill from ~30°S to the Antarctic ice edge (〉60°S). We analyzed carbon and nitrogen isotope values of 1,002 skin samples from six genetically distinct SRW populations using a customized assignment approach that accounts for temporal and spatial variation in the Southern Ocean phytoplankton isoscape. Over the past three decades, SRWs increased their use of mid-latitude foraging grounds in the south Atlantic and southwest (SW) Indian oceans in the late austral summer and autumn and slightly increased their use of high-latitude (〉60°S) foraging grounds in the SW Pacific, coincident with observed changes in prey distribution and abundance on a circumpolar scale. Comparing foraging assignments with whaling records since the 18th century showed remarkable stability in use of mid-latitude foraging areas. We attribute this consistency across four centuries to the physical stability of ocean fronts and resulting productivity in mid-latitude ecosystems of the Southern Ocean compared with polar regions that may be more influenced by recent climate change.

Description: Europe has experienced a substantial increase in non-indigenous crayfish species (NICS) since the mid-20th century due to their extensive use in fisheries, aquaculture and, more recently, pet trade. Despite relatively long invasion histories of some NICS and negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, large spatio-temporal analyses of their occurrences are lacking. Here, we used a large freshwater macroinvertebrate database to evaluate what information on NICS can be obtained from widely applied biomonitoring approaches and how usable such data is for descriptions of trends in identified NICS species. We found 160 time-series containing NICS between 1983 and 2019, to infer temporal patterns and environmental drivers of species and region-specific trends. Using a combination of meta-regression and generalized linear models, we found no significant temporal trend for the abundance of any species (Procambarus clarkii, Pacifastacus leniusculus or Faxonius limosus) at the European scale, but identified species-specific predictors of abundances. While analysis of the spatial range expansion of NICS was positive (i.e. increasing spread) in England and negative (significant retreat) in northern Spain, no trend was detected in Hungary and the Dutch-German-Luxembourg region. The average invasion velocity varied among countries, ranging from 30 km/year in England to 90 km/year in Hungary. The average invasion velocity gradually decreased over time in the long term, with declines being fastest in the Dutch-German-Luxembourg region, and much slower in England. Considering that NICS pose a substantial threat to aquatic biodiversity across Europe, our study highlights the utility and importance of collecting high resolution (i.e. annual) biomonitoring data using a sampling protocol that is able to estimate crayfish abundance, enabling a more profound understanding of NICS impacts on biodiversity.

Description: The Cotentin Peninsula (Normandy, France) displays sequences of marine terraces and rasas, the latter being wide Late Cenozoic coastal erosion surfaces, that are typical of Western European coasts in Portugal, Spain, France and southern England. Remote sensing imagery and field mapping enabled reappraisal of the Cotentin coastal sequences. From bottom to top, the N Cotentin sequence includes four previously recognized Pleistocene marine terraces (T1 to T4) at elevations 〈 40 m as well as four higher and older rasas (R1 to R4) reaching 200 ± 5 m in elevation. Low-standing marine terraces are not observed in the central part of the Peninsula and a limited number of terraces are described to the south. The high-standing rasas are widespread all over the peninsula. Such strandline distributions reveal major changes during the Late Cenozoic. Progressive uplift of an irregular sea-floor led to subaerial exposure of bathymetric highs that were carved into rocky platforms, rasas and marine terraces. Eventually, five main islands coalesced and connected to the mainland to the south to form the Cotentin Peninsula. On the basis of previous dating of the last interglacial maximum terrace (i.e. Marine Isotopic Stage, MIS 5e), sequential morphostratigraphy and modelling, we have reappraised uplift rates and derived: (i) mean Upper Pleistocene (i.e. since MIS 5e ~ 122 +/− 6 ka, i.e. kilo annum) apparent uplift rates of 0.04 ± 0.01 mm/yr, (ii) mean Middle Pleistocene eustasy-corrected uplift rates of 0.09 ± 0.03 mm/yr, and (iii) low mean Pleistocene uplift rates of 0.01 mm/yr. Extrapolations of these slow rates combined with geological evidence implies that the formation of the sequences from the Cotentin Peninsula occurred between 3 Ma (Pliocene) and 15 Ma (Miocene), which cannot be narrowed down further without additional research. Along the coasts of Western Europe, sequences of marine terraces and rasas are widespread (169 preserve the MIS 5e benchmark). In Spain, Portugal, S England and other parts of western France, the sequences morphostratigraphy is very similar to that of Cotentin. The onset of such Western European sequences occurred during the Miocene (e.g. Spain) or Pliocene (e.g. Portugal). We interpret this Neogene-Quaternary coastal uplift as a symptom of the increasing lithospheric compression that accompanies Cenozoic orogenies.

Description: Published

Description: 338-356

Description: 2T. Deformazione crostale attiva

Description: JCR Journal

Description: The EU Center of Excellence for Exascale in Solid Earth (ChEESE) develops exascale transition capabilities in the domain of Solid Earth, an area of geophysics rich in computational challenges embracing different approaches to exascale (capability, capacity, and urgent computing). The first implementation phase of the project (ChEESE-1P; 2018–2022) addressed scientific and technical computational challenges in seismology, tsunami science, volcanology, and magnetohydrodynamics, in order to understand the phenomena, anticipate the impact of natural disasters, and contribute to risk management. The project initiated the optimisation of 10 community flagship codes for the upcoming exascale systems and implemented 12 Pilot Demonstrators that combine the flagship codes with dedicated workflows in order to address the underlying capability and capacity computational challenges. Pilot Demonstrators reaching more mature Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) were further enabled in operational service environments on critical aspects of geohazards such as long-term and short-term probabilistic hazard assessment, urgent computing, and early warning and probabilistic forecasting. Partnership and service co-design with members of the project Industry and User Board (IUB) leveraged the uptake of results across multiple research institutions, academia, industry, and public governance bodies (e.g. civil protection agencies). This article summarises the implementation strategy and the results from ChEESE-1P, outlining also the underpinning concepts and the roadmap for the on-going second project implementation phase (ChEESE-2P; 2023–2026).

Description: EU

Description: Published

Description: 47-61

Description: OSV1: Verso la previsione dei fenomeni vulcanici pericolosi

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Excess nutrient supply by the rivers and the atmosphere are considered as the major causes for the persistently poor ecological status of the Baltic Sea. More than 97% of the Baltic Sea still suffers from eutrophication due to past and present inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus. One of the poorly quantified nutrient sources in the Baltic Sea is submarine groundwater discharge (SGD). Through seepage meter deployments and a radium mass balance model, a widespread occurrence of SGD along the coastline of Eckernförde Bay was detected. Mean SGD was 21.6 cm d −1 with a calculated freshwater fraction of 17%. Where SGD was detected, pore water sampled by a piezometer revealed a wide range of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN: 0.05–1.722 µmol L −1 ) and phosphate (PO 4 3− : 0.03–70.5 µmol L −1 ) concentrations. Mean DIN and PO 4 3− concentrations in non-saline (salinity 〈 1) pore waters were 59 ± 68 µmol L −1 and 1.2 ± 1.9 µmol L −1 , respectively; whereas pore water with salinities 〉 1 revealed higher values, 113 ± 207 µmol L −1 and 6 ± 12 µmol L −1 for DIN and PO 4 3− , respectively. The nutrient concentrations along the salinity gradient do not suggest that land-derived groundwater is the definitive source of nutrients in the Baltic Sea. Still, SGD may contribute to a major autochthonous nutrient source, resulting from remineralization or dissolution processes of organic matter in the sediments. The DIN and PO 4 3− fluxes derived from SGD rates through seepage meters are 7.9 ± 9.2 mmol m −2 d −1 and 0.5 ± 0.4 mmol m −2 d −1 , lower by a factor of ~ 2 and ~ 5 when compared to the fluxes derived with the radium mass balance model (mean DIN: 19 ± 28 mmol m −2 d −1 ; mean PO 4 3− : 1.5 ± 2.7 mmol m −2 d −1 ). Assuming that these mean radium-based nutrient fluxes are representative for the coastline of Eckernförde Bay, we arrive at SGD-borne nutrient fluxes of about 1 t km −1 y −1 of nitrogen and 0.2 t km −1 y −1 of phosphorous. These fluxes are lower for DIN and in the same range for phosphorus as compared to the riverine nutrient supply (DIN: 6.3 t km −1 y −1 , P: 0.2 km −1 y −1 ) to the German Baltic Sea identifying SGD-borne nutrients as a secondary nutrient source to the Baltic Sea.

Description: As alien invasive species are a key driver of biodiversity loss, understanding patterns of rapidly changing global species compositions depends upon knowledge of invasive species population dynamics and trends at large scales. Within this context, the Ponto-Caspian region is among the most notable donor regions for aquatic invasive species in Europe. Using macroinvertebrate time series collected over 52 years (1968–2020) at 265 sites across 11 central and western European countries, we examined the occurrences, invasion rates, and abundances of freshwater Ponto-Caspian fauna. We examined whether: (i) successive Ponto-Caspian invasions follow a consistent pattern of composition pioneered by the same species, and (ii) Ponto-Caspian invasion accelerates subsequent invasion rates. In our dataset, Ponto-Caspian macroinvertebrates increased from two species in 1972 to 29 species in 2012. This trend was parallelled by a non-significant increasing trend in the abundances of Ponto-Caspian taxa. Trends in Ponto-Caspian invader richness increased significantly over time. We found a relatively uniform distribution of Ponto-Caspian macroinvertebrates across Europe without any relation to the distance to their native region. The Ponto-Caspian species that arrived first were often bivalves (46.5% of cases), particularly Dreissena polymorpha, followed secondarily by amphipods (83.8%; primarily Chelicorophium curvispinum and Dikerogammarus villosus). The time between consecutive invasions decreased significantly at our coarse regional scale, suggesting that previous alien establishments may facilitate invasions of subsequent taxa. Should alien species continue to translocate from the Ponto-Caspian region, our results suggest a high potential for their future invasion success highly connected central and western European waters. However, each species’ population may decline after an initial ‘boom’ phase or after the arrival of new invasive species, resulting in different alien species dominating over time.

Description: Highlights: • Higher representation of picophytoplankton in land-terminating glacier fjord. • Smaller phytoplankton cells associated with glacial retreat. • Intermediate baroclinic circulation influences phytoplankton distribution. • Glacial retreat likely to have major implications for summer productivity. Abstract: Along Greenland's coastline, the magnitude and timing of primary production in fjords is influenced by meltwater release from marine-terminating glaciers. How local ecosystems will adapt as these glaciers retreat onto land, forcing fundamental changes in hydrography, remains an open question. To further our understanding of this transition, we examine how marine- and land-terminating glaciers respectively influence fjord bloom phenology. Between spring and autumn 2019, we conducted along-fjord transects of hydrographic variables, biogeochemical properties and pico- and nanophytoplankton counts to illustrate the contrasting seasonal bloom dynamics in the fjords Nuup Kangerlua and Ameralik. These fjords are in the same climatic region of west Greenland but influenced by different glacial structures. Nuup Kangerlua, a predominantly marine-terminating system, was differentiated by its sustained second summer bloom and high Chl a fluorescence in summer and autumn. In Ameralik, influenced by a land-terminating glacier, we found higher abundances of pico- and nanophytoplankton, and high cyanobacteria growth in autumn. The summer bloom in Nuup Kangerlua is known to be coincident with subglacial freshwater discharge sustaining renewed nutrient supply to the fjord. We observe here that the intermediate baroclinic circulation, which creates an inflow at subsurface depths, also plays an important role in increasing nutrient availability at shallower depths and potentially explains the distribution of primary producers. Our observations suggest that the retreat of marine-terminating glaciers onto land, with consequent increases in surface water temperature and stratification, and reduced light availability, may alter the magnitude, composition, and distribution of summer productivity.

Description: Background: The microbiota of multicellular organisms undergoes considerable changes during host ontogeny but the general mechanisms that control community assembly and succession are poorly understood. Here, we use bacterial recolonization experiments in Nematostella vectensis as a model to understand general mechanisms determining bacterial establishment and succession. We compared the dynamic establishment of the microbiome on the germfree host and on inert silicone tubes. Results: Following the dynamic reconstruction of microbial communities on both substrates, we show that the initial colonization events are strongly influenced by the host but not by the silicone tube, while the subsequent bacteria-bacteria interactions are the main driver of bacterial succession. Interestingly, the recolonization pattern on adult hosts resembles the ontogenetic colonization succession. This process occurs independently of the bacterial composition of the inoculum and can be followed at the level of individual bacteria. To identify potential metabolic traits associated with initial colonization success and potential metabolic interactions among bacteria associated with bacterial succession, we reconstructed the metabolic networks of bacterial colonizers based on their genomes. These analyses revealed that bacterial metabolic capabilities reflect the recolonization pattern, and the degradation of chitin might be a selection factor during early recolonization of the animal. Concurrently, transcriptomic analyses revealed that Nematostella possesses two chitin synthase genes, one of which is upregulated during early recolonization. Conclusions: Our results show that early recolonization events are strongly controlled by the host while subsequent colonization depends on metabolic bacteria-bacteria interactions largely independent of host ontogeny.

Description: Dissolved (〈0.2 μm) trace metals (dTMs) including iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and cobalt (Co) are micronutrients that (co-) limit phytoplankton growth in many ocean regions. Here, we present the spatial and seasonal distributions of dFe, dMn, and dCo on the Northeast Atlantic continental margin (Celtic Sea), along a transect across the shelf and two off-shelf transects along a canyon and a spur. Waters on the continental shelf showed much higher dTM concentrations (dFe 0.07–6.50 nmol L−1, average 1.41 ± 0.96 nmol L−1, n = 138; dMn 0.868–14.8 nmol L−1, 2.75 ± 2.37 nmol L−1, n = 148; dCo 54.8–217 pmol L−1, 109 ± 32 pmol L−1, n = 144) than on the slope (dFe 0.03–1.90 nmol L−1, 0.65 ± 0.43 nmol L−1, n = 454; dMn 0.223–1.14 nmol L−1, 0.58 ± 0.20 nmol L−1, n = 458; dCo 27.3–122 pmol L−1, 71.7 ± 11.7 pmol L−1, n = 441), attributed to strong dTM contributions from a low-salinity endmember, i.e., riverine discharge. Benthic sedimentary input via reductive dissolution (especially for dFe and dMn), delineated by short-lived radium (Ra) isotopic activities (223Raxs and 224Raxs), was only prominent at a station (Site A) characterized by fine sediments. On the continental slope, dMn levels at depth were mainly determined by the formation of insoluble Mn oxides and the intrusion of Mediterranean Outflow Waters. In contrast, dFe and dCo concentrations at depth were balanced by the regeneration from remineralization of sinking organic particles and scavenging removal. In addition, bottom and intermediate nepheloid layers along the slope illustrated both elevated dTM concentrations and Ra isotopic activities. The presence of nepheloid layers is especially significant along the canyon transect relative to the spur transect, demonstrating the importance of slope topography on the off-shelf transport of dTMs into the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. As a seasonal stratified shelf sea, dTMs and nutrients showed synchronized seasonal variations on the shelf, indicating the influence of biological processes in addition to source effects. Surface dFe and dCo were depleted in summer due to enhanced biological uptake, while sub-surface dFe and dCo were elevated in summer and autumn ascribed to the remineralization of sinking organic particles. In contrast, surface dMn levels were predominantly controlled by the seasonal variations in photoreduction, while sub-surface dMn concentrations were relatively constant throughout the year. The combined effects of fluvial and benthic sources, topographical controls, and biological processes shape the seasonal variations of dTM distributions. Such seasonal variations in dTMs and biological activities can affect the biological carbon pump on the Northeast Atlantic continental margin, and may further influence the carbon cycle in the Atlantic Ocean via the dynamic dTM exchange between continental margins and the open ocean.