Meiofauna of the Mar Piccolo of Taranto (Ionian Sea), 2013-2014

Meiofauna monitoring in the Mar Piccolo of Taranto (Ionian Sea, southern Italy), 2013-2014 in the framework of the Italian flagship project RITMARE. In June 2013 and April 2014, sampling was carried out at four sites by scuba divers who collected five virtually undisturbed sediment cores using polycarbonate sample tubes (12.7 cm I.D. with a sample area of 127 cm2). In laboratory, one sediment core was subsampled by means of 3 cut-off plastic syringes (2.7 cm I.D., surface area of 5.72 cm2, 0-10 cm top sediment) in order to obtain three pseudoreplicates for the meiofauna. Meiofaunal organisms (38–1000 µm) were extracted from sediment subsamples by sieving each pseudoreplicate and by centrifuging the material retained by a 38 μm mesh net with Ludox HS-40 (density of 1.15–1.18 g cm−3). All meiobenthic organisms were counted and taxonomically classified to the main groups under a stereomicroscope (Olympus SZX12; final magnification of 32-40x)
Project Data
In its Blue paper (COM2007/575 of October 10th 2007) the European Commission highlighted the need to implement an integrated maritime and marine policy in order to “enhance Europe's capacity to face the challenges of globalisation and competitiveness, climate change, degradation of the marine environment, maritime safety and security, and energy security and sustainability.” It stated further that such a policy “must be based on excellence in marine research, technology and innovation”. The aim of RITMARE is to implement what is suggested in the Blue Paper in terms of research and innovation, by means of a national programme of scientific and technological marine research. More specifically, RITMARE has been structured around the following three objectives: to support integrated policies for the safeguard of the environment (the health of the sea); to enable sustainable use of resources (the sea as a system of production); to implement a strategy of prevention and mitigation of natural impacts (the sea as a risk factor). In this framework, RITMARE represents a significant opportunity for the Italian marine scientific community to: Increase synergies between those Research Bodies and University Consortia that are involved in marine research, facilitating the emergence of excellence and promoting cooperation; Strengthen cooperation between the world of research and Italian Industry in two complementary directions: inducing the research community to respond to the needs of industry and encouraging the latter to contribute to a relaunch of the technologies available to marine researchers. This will enable the creation of a new generation of researchers, specifically by means of industry-research joint doctorates; Enhance Italian participation in European projects and initiatives, increasing the number of Italian scientists appointed as project coordinators and promoting participation in joint programmes (e.g. JPIs) where the resources made available by the participants are matched by contributions from the EU. The objective over the five years is to set up a system for maritime research that is more internally cohesive, better coordinated with the international scientific community and more in tune with Italy's economic and industrial players.

Title	RITMARE - La Ricerca Italiana per il MARE
Identifier	SDN:EDMERP::12058
Funding	Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research
Study Area Description	Mar Piccolo of Taranto (Ionian Sea, southern Italy)



Sampling Methods
Sampling was carried out at four sites by scuba divers

Study Extent	Two monitoring campaigns were performed (June 2013 and April 2014)
Quality Control	Replicates were sampled and analysed to take into account biological variability.
Method step description:

Sampling was carried out at four sites by scuba divers who collected five virtually undisturbed sediment cores using KC Haps bottom corer with polycarbonate sample tubes (12.7 cm I.D. with a sample area of 127 cm2). In laboratory, one sediment core was subsampled by means of 3 cut-off plastic syringes (2.7 cm I.D., surface area of 5.72 cm2, 0-10 cm top sediment) in order to obtain three pseudoreplicates for the meiofauna. Meiofaunal organisms (38–1000 µm) were extracted from sediment subsamples by sieving each pseudoreplicate and by centrifuging the material retained by a 38 μm mesh net with Ludox HS-40 (density of 1.15–1.18 g cm−3). These pseudoreplicates were preserved in buffered 4% formaldehyde solution using prefiltered seawater and stained with Rose Bengal (0.5 g L-1). All meiobenthic organisms were counted and taxonomically classified to the main groups under a stereomicroscope (Olympus SZX12; final magnification of 32-40x). All data are converted to by multiplying them by a conversion factor (1.66).