III Riassunto V Papers published or prepared in the course of the PhD VII Preface IX General introduction 1 Chapter 1 Seed germination responses to varying environmental conditions and provenances in Crucianella maritima L., a threatened coastal species 9 Chapter 2 The effect of seagrass beach-cast on germination and growth of dune plants 16 Chapter 3 High levels of stranded wrack from seagrass...

Posidonia oceanica is an endemic seagrass species in the Mediterranean Sea. Due to its ecological importance, it has been the subject of several genetic studies aimed at increasing general knowledge of the system and helping to define appropriate management strategies. We compared the efficiency of 2 different classes of molecular markers, ‘inter simple sequence repeats’ (ISSRs) and ‘simple seq...

The fish Sarpa salpa (L.) is one of the main macroherbivores in the western Mediterranean. Through direct and indirect mechanisms, this herbivore can exert significant control on the structure and functional dynamics of seagrass beds and macroalgae. Past research has suggested nutritional quality of their diet influences S. salpa herbivory, with the fish feeding more intensively and exerting gr...

The stationary volumetric elastic modulus (epsilon(s)) of the leaf cells of three seagrasses (Halophila ovalis (R.Br.) Hook, Zostera capricorni Aschers, and Posidonia australis Hook f.) was evaluated from estimates of epsilon(s) plus intracellular osmotic pressure (epsilon(s) + II(i)) and II(i). The estimates of (epsilon(s) + II(i)) were made using a linear displacement transducer to measure ve...

Detection and mapping of Posidonia Oceanica (P.O.) meadows in the Mediterranean sea is crucial to preserve the endemic ecosystems and to underscore the negative impact of many anthropogenic activities. Furthermore, navigating Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) in marine environments where the ground is densely colonized with P.O. is nowadays a challenging task, since this sea-grass generates ...

The maximum size and age that clonal organisms can reach remains poorly known, although we do know that the largest natural clones can extend over hundreds or thousands of metres and potentially live for centuries. We made a review of findings to date, which reveal that the maximum clone age and size estimates reported in the literature are typically limited by the scale of sampling, and may gr...

Information on dietary habits of mesograzers in Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows is scarce and restricted to a few species. Here we provide data on the most likely food sources for eight gastropod species inferred from stable isotope data. We observed very similar isotopic signals for all species regardless of trophic guild category, indicating similar consumption behaviour with a main diet ...