Posidonia oceanica is an endemic Mediterranean seagrass used as a ‘biological quality element’ in monitoring programmes of the EU Water Framework Directive, providing information about coastal ecosystems status. The regression of P. oceanica meadows caused a growing interest among policy makers to assess the value of seagrasses and to increase their protection. An evaluation of P. oceanica meadows located in the Ligurian-Provençal basin (NW Mediterranean) through a biophysical approach is here developed. Six meadows located in Liguria (Italy) and Corsica (France) were investigated by applying the emergy analysis to assess the natural capital (NC) stocked by leaves and rhizomes components. Results highlighted the importance of carrying out an analysis of the variations in the NC value in both components: rhizomes defined the growth stage and the capacity to store NC over time; leaves provided information on the variability due to disturbances in the water column. Emergy analysis allows defining the NC, in terms of resources needed to maintain the meadows and to provide services to coastal communities. This research is inserted into the effort of incorporating the NC evaluation into marine planning and decision making to achieve nature conservation goals, while ensuring the sustainable exploitation of marine resources.

The deep shoal of Punta del Faro (Ligurian Sea, Mediterranean Sea) is a mesophotic rocky elevation hosting complex animal forests threatened by fishing activities. To identify appropriate conservation measures and set a reference example for similar cases, we present a detailed characterization of its megabenthic communities and a quantification of the fishing pressure. The results highlight the high natural value of the area, presenting high biodiversity (111 megabenthic and demersal species) and diverse types of animal forest, predominantly dominated by cnidarians. The tridimensional seascape is among the most complex in the eastern Ligurian Sea, but the long-term evaluation of its environmental status suggested consistent affects due to the high abundance of lost fishing gear (0.65 items m⁻²) directly entangled with structuring cnidarians. The artisanal and recreational fishing pressure are currently moderate. However, the use of bottom-contact fishing gear causes significant modifications to the seafloor’s integrity. This study emphasizes the high conservation value and vulnerability of the shoal, highlighting the importance of its protection through its inclusion in the Portofino MPA, whose external perimeter is 200 m from the study area. A critical discussion of the advantages and disadvantages is provided with a map of the possible extension of the MPA boundaries.

Forest ecosystems are important providers of ecosystem functions and services belonging to four categories: supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services. Forest management, generally focused on timber production, has consequences on the ability of the system to keep providing services. Silviculture, in fact, may affect the ecological structures and processes from which services arise. In particular, the removal of biomass causes a radical change in the stocks and flows of energy characterizing the system. Aiming at the assessment of differences in stored natural capital and ecosystem functions and services provision, three differently managed temperate forests of common beech (Fagus sylvatica) were considered: (1) a forest in semi-natural condition, (2) a forest carefully managed to get timber in a sustainable way and (3) a forest exploited without management. Natural capital and ecosystem functions and services are here accounted in biophysical terms. Specifically, all the resources used up to create the biomass (stock) and maintain the production (flow) of the different components of the forest system were calculated. Both stored emergy and empower decrease with increasing human pressure on the forest, resulting in a loss of natural capital and a diminished ability of the natural system to contribute to human well-being in terms of ecosystem services provision.

Cystoseira sensu lato marine forests, which are among the most productive and diverse systems in rocky intertidal and subtidal habitats of the Mediterranean Sea, are experiencing a widespread decline throughout the basin due to increasing human pressures. Yet it is still unclear whether Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) may represent effective tools for conservation of these important habitat formers and their associated assemblages. Here, we compared the biomass of intertidal stands of Ericaria amentacea (C. Agardh) Molinari and Guiry and their understory assemblages between the no-take zone and control sites in two Mediterranean MPAs. We did not find evidence supporting a significant effect of full protection in increasing the biomass of E. amentacea stands and associated assemblages, except for macroalgae of the understory in one of the investigated MPAs, raising concerns on the potential effectiveness of MPAs in mitigating human impacts on these marine forests. Such findings call for major efforts to implement long-term monitoring programs of protected Cystoseira s.l. forests in order to inform an adaptive management of conservation measures within MPAs and eventually to set active interventions of restoration.