Ph.D. Program in Biodiversity and Evolution
Loss and conservation of marine biodiversity
Research line A: Habitat loss and marine biodiversity. Habitat loss is one of the single greatest threats facing biodiversity on Earth and is accelerated by human activities, but has not been as much a focus of marine science and conservation as in terrestrial environments. Our research is bringing to attention evidence of the dramatic losses of complex marine habitats in temperate marine systems, in Europe and globally. In particular we focus on forests of canopy-forming macroalgae, which are clearly becoming rarer at local, regional and global scales at alarming rates. In Europe, conspicuous declines, sometimes to local extinction, have been reported in many regions. Those forests that remain are under continued threat, and the overall benefits of current protection measures have been low. We aim to produce the scientific knowledge, technology, and public outreach needed to understand, guide and motivate conservation actions to halt the loss and promote the recovery of algal forests in the Mediterranean sea. We integrate historical data, laboratory- and field-based experimental research to: 1) understand how multiple threats act in concert to drive the progressive degradation, fragmentation and loss of forests at local, regional and global scales; 2) identify indicators of healthy status and early signals of stress that can be used as predictive indicators of loss; 3) identify the factors that facilitate or inhibit the natural recovery of forests; 4) develop cost-effective technologies to guide restoration of damaged forests, and 5) develop models of sustainability under contemporary and forecast scenarios of environmental and anthropogenic changes and management strategies.
Research line B: Ecology of marine urban environments. Urban environments
are expanding at accelerated rates in coastal marine areas, globally, but
so far have been surprisingly overlooked compared to e.g. terrestrial urban
environments. Our research focus on critical ecological impacts of coastal
urbanization related to the introduction of human made habitats and associated
assemblages and their effects on the structure and function of native ecosystems
(i.e. nutrient cycling, food production, provision of habitat/refugia, disturbance
regulation, control of water quality), the removal of isolating barriers
to species distributions, the spread of non-native species and large-scale
losses in habitat distributions. We also work on developing practical solutions
to promote a more sustainable model of marine urban development. This activity
is carried out within national and international multidisciplinary projects
(e.g. EU project “MarUrbe-Sustainable Urban Development: solutions to promote
the biological and conservation value of marine urban structures” (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF),
and in the past has produced an integrated test of the engineering, ecological
and socio-economic performance of coastal defence structures, and guidelines
for their optimal design (published by Elsevier)
Recent Publications
Irving AD, Balata D, Colosio F, Ferrando GE, Airoldi L. 2009 -Light, sediment, temperature, and the early life-history of the habitat-forming alga Cystoseira barbata. Mar Biol. 156:1223-1231.
Airoldi L., Balata D., Beck M.W. 2008 - The Gray Zone: relationships between habitat loss and marine diversity and their applications in conservation. J. Exp. Mar Biol. Ecol. 366: 8-15.
Perkol-Finkel S., Miloh T., Zilman G., Sella I., Benayahu Y. 2008 - Floating and fixed artificial habitats: spatial and temporal patterns of benthic communities in a coral reef environment. Est Coast Shelf Sci, 77:491-500.
Fontana, G.; Ugland, K. I.; Gray, J. S.; Willis, T. J., and Abbiati, M. 2008 - Influence of rare species on Beta diversity estimates in marine benthic assemblages J. Exp. Mar Biol. Ecol. 366:104-108.
Airoldi L., Beck, M.W., 2007 - Loss, status and trends for coastal marine
habitats of Europe. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Annu. Rev.,45: 345-405
Research Group
Laura Airoldi (Researcher; laura.airoldi@unibo.it)
Shimrit Perkol-Finkel (Marie Curie Post-doc fellow)
Giovanni Fontana (Post-doc Fellow)
Giulio Franzitta (PhD student)
Filippo Ferrario (Researcher asistant)
Location
Laboratory of Experimental Ecology,
Via S. Alberto 163, 48123, Ravenna
