Marine biotic signals across a late Eocene impact layer at Massignano,Italy: evidence for long‐term environmental perturbations?

The Eocene–Oligocene transition marks the passage from 'greenhouse' conditions to an 'icehouse' state, with progressive global cooling starting in the early middle Eocene. The late Eocene presents substantial evidence for extraterrestrial impacts whose effects on living organisms and climatic changes are still not completely clear. A high-resolution, microfloral and faunal investigation has been carried out in a 4-m-thick segment of the Massignano Global Stratotype Section and Point for the Eocene–Oligocene boundary. The studied interval includes a late Eocene (35.7 ± 0.4 Myr old) impactoclastic layer containing several cosmic signatures. The impact event recorded at Massignano had no abrupt, dramatic effects on marine biota in terms of extinction. However, significant quantitative changes in the calcareous plankton and dinoflagellate cyst assemblages occurred 60 kyr after the impact event. The observed pattern is intepreted as reflecting a long-term re-organization of water structure.     

Conservation of Mediterranean seascapes: analyses of existing protection schemes

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are aimed at managing and protecting marine environments. Their design, however, often disregards both a thorough knowledge of the distribution of habitats and assemblages and the use of proper experimental evaluations of the efficacy of MPAs by comparing protected vs. unprotected zones. About 200 MPAs have been recently instituted in the Mediterranean area, but the evidence of their efficacy is scant. The MPA of Torre Guaceto (Southern Adriatic Sea, Italy) is one of the rare cases of effective protection enforcement. The reserve was instituted more than 10 years ago, a period currently considered as sufficient to show responses by organisms to protection. The MPA is divided into a C zone, the general reserve, where many activities are permitted, a B zone, the partial reserve where restrictions increase and two A zones, the integral reserve where access is prohibited. The goals of the paper were to map the distribution of benthic assemblages to assess if they were properly represented in the differently protected zones, and to test the efficacy of protection by quantifying possible differences between the assemblages in two control areas and in the two A zones, where human impact is completely excluded. The analysis of habitat and assemblage distribution within the MPA showed that the zones with total protection do not include most valuable environmental types. Most of the considered variables (i.e. cover of substratum, number of taxa, and average abundance of the most common taxa) were not significantly different in and out of the A zones, at each time of sampling. Results, however, suggested a possible effect of protection in modifying patterns of abundance of sponges under Cystoseira canopy (more abundant in the fully protected zone). In the subtidal habitat, differences were found in the structure of the whole assemblage and in the abundance of encrusting coralline red algae (more abundant outside the fully protected area). Notwithstanding the correct general methodology employed in the study, a lack of statistical power could have a role in preventing the detection of ecologically relevant effects of protection. In some instances, data pooling allowed a discrimination between cases where there was clearly no effect of protection and cases where there might be. On this basis, the optimization of this experimental design should be considered in further studies. In any case, if the goals of MPAs have not been clearly stated, efficacy of protection might prove very difficult to test even with the use of sound experimental designs.     

Seeing through porous media: An experimental study for unveiling interstitial flows

We describe a novel inexpensive method, utilizing particle image velocimetry (PIV) and refractive index‐matching (RIM) for visualizing and quantifying the flow field within bio‐amended porous media. To date, this technique has been limited to idealized particles, whose refractive index does not match that of fresh water and thus requires specialized and often toxic or hazardous fluids. Here, we use irregularly shaped grains made of hydrogel as the solid matrix and water as the fluid. The advantage of using water is that it provides, for the first time, the opportunity to study both hydraulic and biological processes, which typically occur in soils and streambeds. By using RIM coupled with PIV (RIM‐PIV), we measured the interstitial flow field within a cell packed with granular material consisting of hydrogel grains in a size range of 1–8 mm, both in the presence and in the absence of Sinorhizobium meliloti bacteria (strain Rm8530). We also performed experiments with fluorescent tracer (fluorescein) and fluorescent microbes (Shewanella GPF MR‐1) to test the capability of visualizing solute transport and microbial movements. Results showed that the RIM‐PIV can measure the flow field for both biofilm‐free and biofilm‐covered hydrogel grains. The fluorescent tracer injection showed the ability to visualize both physical (concave surfaces and eddies) and biological (biofilms) transient storage zones, whereas the fluorescent microbe treatment showed the ability to track microbial movements within fluids. We conclude that the proposed methodology is a promising tool to visualize and quantify biofilm attachment, growth, and detachment in a system closer to natural conditions than a 2D flow cell experiment.     

Perfluorinated compounds in blood of Caretta caretta from the Mediterranean Sea

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), widely used for their hydro-oil repellent properties, are almost non-degradable in the environment; there is scientific evidence that indicate bioaccumulation. They represent a threat to many organisms, because they are toxic and are endocrine disruptors. Scientific studies have demonstrated the presence of PFCs in blood and liver samples of fish, turtles, birds and mammals of marine ecosystems in different geographical areas. The aim of this study was to determine the distribution of PFOS and PFOA in blood samples of the marine turtle Caretta caretta, using a minimally invasive sampling procedure. 49 blood samples of marine turtle, taken from several Italian marine turtle rescue centers, were analyzed. While PFOA was never detected, measurable concentrations of PFOS were found in 15 blood samples; the values show a range from 1.14 ng/g to 28.51 ng/g (wet wt.). No differences between groups of samples taken from different areas were found.     

Alkenones and coccoliths in ice‐rafted debris during the Last Glacial Maximum in the North Atlantic: implications for the use of UK37′ as a sea surface temperature proxy

The U^K₃₇′ index has proven to be a robust proxy to estimate past sea surface temperatures (SSTs) over a range of time scales, but like any other proxy, it has uncertainties. For instance, in reconstructions of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in the northern North Atlantic, U^K₃₇′ indicates higher temperatures than those derived from foraminiferal proxies. Here we evaluate whether such warm glacial estimates are caused by the advection of reworked alkenones in ice‐rafted debris (IRD) to deep‐sea sediments. We have quantified both coccolith assemblages and alkenones in sediments from glaciogenic debris flows in the continental margins of the northern North Atlantic, and from a deep‐sea core from the Reykjanes Ridge. Certain debris flow deposits in the North Atlantic were generated by the presence of massive ice‐sheets in the past, and their associated ice streams. Such deposits are composed of the same materials that were present in the IRD at the time they were generated. We conclude that ice rafting from some locations was a transport pathway to the deep sea floor of reworked alkenones and pre‐Quaternary coccolith species during glacial stages, but that not all of the IRD contained alkenones, even when reworked coccoliths were present. We speculate that the ratio of reworked coccoliths to alkenone concentration might be useful to infer whether significant reworked alkenone inputs from IRD did occur at a particular site in the glacial North Atlantic. We also observe that alkenones in some of the debris flows contain a colder signal than estimated for LGM sediments in the northern North Atlantic. This is also clear in the deep‐sea core studied where the warmest intervals do not correspond to the intervals with large inputs of reworked coccoliths or IRD. We conclude that any possible bias to U^K₃₇′ estimates associated with reworked alkenones is not necessarily towards higher values, and that the high SST anomalies for the LGM are unlikely to be the result of a bias caused by IRD inputs. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implications of a combined biostratigraphic and palaeomagnetic study of the Umbrian Maiolica Formation

The study of a 275.5 m thick section of white, pelagic limestones occupying the valley of the Fonte del Giordano river on the southern slope of Mt. Montagnola has yielded a biostratigraphically controlled clear magnetic reversal pattern after thermal cleaning. The magnetic stratigraphy of the lower 131 m of the section (Calpionellid zones) is correlatable with the M-sequence of oceanic magnetic anomalies between M-19 and M-14. The reversal stratigraphy of the upper 81.5 m of the section (Radiolaria zone) has also been tied to the oceanic polarity time scale by making linear interpolation for a missing 63 m thickness underneath it.Besides the Fonte del Giordano section two Berriasian outcrops each with a different bedding attitude were studied at Gubbio and near Cagli for tectonic tilt test giving positive results. The mean palaeomagnetic pole position for the Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous after bedding correction is: Φ = 19.1°, Λ = 288.2°, k = 148.7, α₉₅ = 10.2° (N = 3), confirming the presence of a large swing in the polar path, a common behaviour of apparent polar wandering for the peri-Adriatic region during this time.