TY - CONF
T1 - Invasive mussels directly threat intertidal vermetid reef: some evidences from a Sicilian MPA
AU - Quattrocchi, F; Graziano, M; Badalamenti, F; Sarà, G
AU - Chemello, Renato
AU - Sara', Gianluca
AU - Milazzo, Marco
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Biological invasions pose a great threat to natural communities. Brachidontes pharaonis
is an Eritrean mussel that has accessed in the Mediterranean sea shortly after the
opening of the Suez Canal. At the beginning it had a restrained distribution with small
local populations along the Israeli intertidal coast. More than a hundred years later it
spread westward as far as NW Sicily, colonizing some hyperaline and natural habitats.
Previous studies along the Israeli coast have proved that anthropogenic habitat modi#-
cations occurring on vermetid reefs may promote the colonization of this invasive
mussel causing a reduction of the indigenous mussel Mytilaster minimus. This study
focuses on a population of B. pharaonis that has recently invaded some Dendropoma
petraeum reefs inside the Capo Gallo-Isola delle Femmine MPA (Palermo, NW Sicily).
Inter-annual comparisons (i.e. before and after the B. pharaonis arrival) show negative
e"ects #rstly on the coverage and secondly on the density of D. petraeum. Moreover, no
evident changes in the receiving habitat were recorded from before to after, thus
suggesting that this non-native mussel may represent a direct, although local, threat to
vermetid reefs.
AB - Biological invasions pose a great threat to natural communities. Brachidontes pharaonis
is an Eritrean mussel that has accessed in the Mediterranean sea shortly after the
opening of the Suez Canal. At the beginning it had a restrained distribution with small
local populations along the Israeli intertidal coast. More than a hundred years later it
spread westward as far as NW Sicily, colonizing some hyperaline and natural habitats.
Previous studies along the Israeli coast have proved that anthropogenic habitat modi#-
cations occurring on vermetid reefs may promote the colonization of this invasive
mussel causing a reduction of the indigenous mussel Mytilaster minimus. This study
focuses on a population of B. pharaonis that has recently invaded some Dendropoma
petraeum reefs inside the Capo Gallo-Isola delle Femmine MPA (Palermo, NW Sicily).
Inter-annual comparisons (i.e. before and after the B. pharaonis arrival) show negative
e"ects #rstly on the coverage and secondly on the density of D. petraeum. Moreover, no
evident changes in the receiving habitat were recorded from before to after, thus
suggesting that this non-native mussel may represent a direct, although local, threat to
vermetid reefs.
KW - intertidal, vermetid, climate change, MPA
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10447/44041
M3 - Paper
ER -