Adriatic ‘opisthobranchs’ (Gastropoda,Heterobranchia): shedding light on biodiversity issues

We herein review the Adriatic opisthobranch fauna, provide an updated checklist of 223 species and assess their distribution at regional and country levels. New Adriatic records are provided for 67 opisthobranch taxa, adding three new records for the Italian coastline, five new records for Albania, eight for Croatia and 15 for Montenegro. The presence of Hermaea bifida (Montagu, 1815), Hermaea variopicta (Costa A., 1869) and Facelina annulicornis (Chamisso & Eysenhardt, 1821) is reported for the first time from anywhere in the Adriatic Sea. Including the new findings, our inventory includes 28 species from Albania, 163 from Croatia, 178 from the Italian coastline of the Adriatic, 41 from Montenegro and 74 from Slovenia. No records were available from Bosnia and Hercegovina. Ninety species (40.4%) are widespread, and were recorded from all three main divisions (Northern, Western and Eastern Adriatic), whilst 79 species (35.4%) were reported from only one of them. At sub‐division levels, the Albanian inventory is the most dissimilar to the other country/regional lists, presumably because of the lack of targeted field surveys. The highest similarity is observed amongst the Western Adriatic, Croatia and the Italian Ionian coastline. Seven alien, one possible alien and three cryptogenic opisthobranchs were reliably recorded from the Adriatic Sea. The first Mediterranean records of five species were in the Adriatic Sea, of which four species have not been found elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Shipping and aquaculture are the probable pathways for most of the alien species. A steady rate of one to two alien introductions per decade since the 1970s was evident. The Northern Adriatic coasts are the most affected by alien invasions, probably due to repeated local introductions along with shellfish transfers (oysters, mussels, Manila clams), and heavy maritime transport.     

Asbestos fibre identification vs. evaluation of asbestos hazard in ophiolitic rock mélanges,a case study from the Ligurian Alps (Italy)

In recent years, the high incidence of harmful health effects through inhalation of airborne asbestos from amphibole-bearing rock mélanges has been thoroughly documented. Here, we present a field-based, multi-scale geological approach aimed at illustrating the occurrence of amphibole fibrous mineralisation in an ophiolitic suite from the Ligurian Alps (Italy) and discussing the implication on in situ determination of the asbestos hazard. The rock mélange is composed of plurimetre-sized blocks of different lithotypes (metagabbro, serpentinite, chloritoschist) juxtaposed by the meaning of tectonic structures. The geological-structural survey revealed that the fibrous mineralisation is localised in specific structural sites of the rock volume, including veins and schistosity. Both micro-chemical and crystal structure analyses on selected fibrous samples revealed that actinolite fibres grow in veins within the metagabbro and in chloritoschists, while fibrous tremolite occurs in serpentinite schistosity. The morphological features of these amphibole fibres have been analysed in TEM images and used for classifying them as “asbestiform” or “non-asbestiform”. The results show that the asbestos hazard determination is not unequivocally identified when different procedures for asbestos fibre identification and classification are applied. This may have impact on normatives and regulations in defining environmental hazards due to asbestos occurrence.     

Geochemical Control of Heavy Metal Concentrations and Distribution Within Bahia Blanca Estuary (Argentina)

Chromium and lead concentrations and distribution have been fully studied within Bahía Blanca estuary inner area, which is strongly influenced by urban and industrial stress. Not only metals dissolved in estuarine water but also those included in sediments and suspended particulate matters (SPM) were measured. In all cases, internationally standardized protocols were applied to metal measurements, including analytical quality check test through analysis of certified reference materials. Total metal contents from surface sediments and SPM were compared with those from a historical database of the area, as well as with values representing the natural geochemical baseline within the system. Results showed that heavy metal pollution is mainly localized in the areas close to both industrial effluents discharge system and urban sewage outfall discharge. Data from sequential extractions indicate that metals from anthropogenic sources (i.e., Pb) are potentially more mobile than those inherited from geological parent material (i.e., Cr). The influences of other potential sources of metals (i.e., streams, runoff) were also considered. SPM was clearly identified as the main carrier of the studied heavy metals within the system, and its significance to metals input into sediments and/or biota was verified. Finally, the normalization of measured metal concentrations against background reference elements (i.e., Al or Fe) has allowed to identify that most of the measured Cr was lithogenic, while a significant percentage of Pb was from anthropogenic origin within Bahía Blanca estuary.     

An Experimental Study of the Statistics of Temperature Fluctuations in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer

A statistical characterization for two-point temperature fluctuations in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) is analyzed and its implications on the long-standing closure problem discussed. Despite the non-triviality of the dynamics of temperature fluctuations, our analysis supports the idea that the most relevant statistical properties can be captured solely in terms of two scaling exponents. They turned out to be weakly dependent on the stability properties of the PBL. Its statistics have been investigated by collecting data from a field experiment carried out in the urban area of Turin (Italy) from January 2007 to March 2008. Our results confirm those from a large-eddy simulation (LES) analysis carried out for the convective PBL with different level of convection. We extend the scenario to the stable PBL, a regime much more difficult to simulate when exploiting LES.     

Possible stellar asterisms carved on a protohistoric stone

Chisel marks on a stone uncovered in Rupinpiccolo protohistoric hill fort from north-eastern Italy were suggested to be a representation of the night sky (Bernardini et al. 2022 Documenta Praehistorica XLIX). The patterns of the 29 marks are analyzed here to establish if they reproduce popular stellar asterisms. Nine marks are found to match the Tail of Scorpius and five the Orion's Belt, together with Rigel and Betelgeuse. Nine marks are found in the approximate position of the Pleiades showing some match with the cluster members. On the back side, 5 marks possibly reproduce Cassiopeia. One mark slightly North of Orion cannot be identified. The 28 marks show a Pearson correlation coefficient $$(28) with stellar positions higher than 0.99 with a probability $$ of a wrong correlation lower than 0.001. Departures are about one degree, or about 7 mm, as the mean diameter of the marks, which suggests a manufacturing limitation in the charting. The fort dates $$1800–400 BCE when Scorpius and Orion showed about the same orientation at the heliacal rising. The unidentified mark challenges the whole picture. We suggest it could have been the progenitor of a failed supernova, thus offering also the possibility of a verification.