Papers by Gualtiero Basilone
El Estrecho de Sicilia ha sido objeto de innumerables investigaciones, particularmente sobre la h... more El Estrecho de Sicilia ha sido objeto de innumerables investigaciones, particularmente sobre la hidrologia, por su importancia para la circulacion en el Mar Mediterraneo, ya que a traves de este angosto canal se realizan todos los intercambios entre las cuencas oriental y occidental. La influencia de las variables oceanograficas es notable sobre las especies pelagicas. En esta investigacion se tuvieron en consideracion los principales parametros fisico-quimicos del agua (concentracion de clorofila, temperatura y la turbulencia en la columna de agua) para explicar variables biologicas tales como el crecimiento y la reproduccion de la anchoa (Engraulis encarsiolus). Inicialmente se utilizo composicion de los aminoacidos de la anchoa para la determinacion de su estructura poblacion, discriminando eventuales sub-poblaciones con caracteristicas diferentes. Posteriormente, se estudio el crecimiento tanto de juveniles como de adultos. Los parametros de crecimiento obtenidos para la especie fueron comparados con los de otras areas, la variabilidad fue explicada en relacion a diferencias en temperatura y concentracion de la clorofila. Se obtuvieron ademas indices del estado de condicion de la especie durante 6 anos de observaciones (1997-2002). Por ultimo, los principales metodos de pesca sobre pequenos pelagicos en el area de estudio fueron analizados y comparados para establecer el impacto sobre las poblaciones de anchoa y sardina, definiendo su eficiencia economica. Como principales resultados podemos destacar que: * La composicion de aminoacidos es una buena herramienta para identificar sub-poblaciones dentro de una misma especie y, por tanto, permite definir la estructura de la poblacion. Parece que existen sub-poblaciones que utilizan distintas areas de puesta, pero los adultos comparten el mismo habitat. * Por medio de imagenes de satelite de clorofila y temperatura superficial del agua se demostr
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Clima e cambiamenti …, 2007
... Autori: A CUTTITTA; B PATTI; G BASILONE; A BONANNO; L CARUANA; A DI NIERI; CPATTI; C CAVALCAN... more ... Autori: A CUTTITTA; B PATTI; G BASILONE; A BONANNO; L CARUANA; A DI NIERI; CPATTI; C CAVALCANTE; G BUSCAINO; G TRANCHIDA; F PLACENTI ES MAZZOLA; L SAPORITO; GM ARMERI; V MALTESE; GRAMMAUTA R; M ZORA. ...
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Hydrobiologia, Sep 4, 2012
ABSTRACT The survival of early stages of small pelagic fish species (e.g. Engraulis encrasicolus)... more ABSTRACT The survival of early stages of small pelagic fish species (e.g. Engraulis encrasicolus) is highly dependent on environmental conditions in both spawning and nursery areas. Knowing the relationship between the mortality rates of the early stages and the environment may help to study and model recruitment fluctuations. During the summer of 2006, two consecutive oceanographic cruises were carried out in the Central Mediterranean sea (CMED) in two different areas: the western Libyan waters and the Sicilian–Maltese waters. For the first time a nearly synoptic comparison between the two border areas of the CMED is performed. In spite of a higher overall egg density in the Sicilian–Maltese waters, there was a higher density of anchovy larvae in Libyan waters. The comparison between the oceanographic datasets singled out different circulation patterns and different characteristics of water masses, which helped to explain the differences in density of the spawning products in the two areas. A Lagrangian transport model was used to evaluate the effects of major oceanographic features on offshore egg and larval transport. The results of the model simulations and the nutritional conditions, as indicated by lipid, carbohydrate and protein contents, support the hypothesis that the western Libyan waters may represent a more favourable nursery ground compared to the Sicilian–Maltese waters in terms of environmental conditions and food availability.
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Active Fluid Seepage (AFS) at the seafloor is a global phenomenon associated with seafloor morpho... more Active Fluid Seepage (AFS) at the seafloor is a global phenomenon associated with seafloor morphologies in different geodynamic contexts. Advances geophysical techniques have allowed geoscientists to characterise pockmarks, mounds and flares associated with AFS. We present a range of marine geological data acquired in the central Mediterranean Sea (northern Sicily continental margin, northwestern Sicily Channel and offshore the Maltese Islands), which allow us to identify AFSs. The AFSs are spatially distributed as clusters, aligned or isolated at different depths, ranging from few decametres offshore the Maltese Islands, up to 400 m offshore north Sicily and in the northwestern Sicily channel. Mounds have heights ranging from 2 to 15 m and form hummocky surfaces. Pockmarks with sub-circular planform shapes and U/V-shaped cross-sections are found in sizes ranging from 5 to 530 m. Gas flares occur on both the continental shelf and upper slope
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Aquatic Living Resources, Apr 1, 2015
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European Physical Journal B, Sep 18, 2008
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Italian Journal of Zoology, Dec 1, 2013
ABSTRACT The European anchovy, Engraulis encrasicolus, is a multiple-spawning small pelagic fish ... more ABSTRACT The European anchovy, Engraulis encrasicolus, is a multiple-spawning small pelagic fish with a comparatively long reproductive season. From April to October 2009, ovary samples were collected from individuals of the southwestern Adriatic Sea in order to examine ovarian histological changes and assess batch fecundity monthly variations throughout the whole reproductive season. To assess monthly variations of the relative batch fecundity, the correlation between batch fecundity (F) – i.e. the number of oocytes released at each spawning act – and ovary-free body mass (W*) was tested by four regression models; the power equation () was found to be the most suitable to describe correlations. The reproductive season of the anchovy of the central-southern Adriatic population lasts from May to September; in this period, all the oocyte development stages were observed, including hydrated oocytes and postovulatory follicles. In April, most fish had only unyolked oocytes; in October, an extensive atresia of yolked follicles was observed. The slope of all the on monthly regressions did not differ significantly from 1, which shows that relative batch fecundity is constant all over the anchovy size range, throughout the spawning season. In the central-southern Adriatic anchovy population, batch fecundity increased from May to July and then gradually decreased until September. Differences in batch fecundity of the anchovy from different areas of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean could possibly be due to both environmental parameters and genetic differences among the different populations.
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Marine Pollution Bulletin, Jun 1, 2018
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Scientific Reports, Jun 23, 2017
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Hydrobiologia, Apr 7, 2011
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Fisheries Research, 2014
ABSTRACT The pelagic realm of the Central Mediterranean Sea is populated by four main species of ... more ABSTRACT The pelagic realm of the Central Mediterranean Sea is populated by four main species of fish: sardine, anchovy, horse mackerel and a mix of other pelagic fish species. In this study we employed a multifrequency acoustics approach to detect and classify fish schools of these groups. Monospecific trawl catches were selected from eight acoustic surveys and examined in relation to the coincident acoustic data. The backscattering properties of the three main species were determined using the decibel difference (Sv120 − Sv38) and the frequency response (NASC120/NASC38). The results indicate that schools of these species cannot be distinguished on the basis of energetic properties alone, because they are very similar in physiology and scattering is dominated by the swimbladder, which is similar in shape and size. However, the use of classification models (classification tree, random forest), using energetic features, as well as bathymetric and morphometric parameters, allowed for some discrimination among the groups. According to the classification tree, school depth was found to play an important role in the identification of these fish groups, especially for anchovy and horse mackerel, for which the contribution to the overall performance of the tree was about 20%. The tree models, with only energetic or morphometric parameters, were able to classify sardine schools reasonably well, but not so well for anchovy and horse mackerel. Using a random forest method, which accounted for the variability in the learning sample, an accuracy of 85% in the overall classification rate was reached with a greater power of discrimination for sardine and anchovy schools.
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Regional Studies in Marine Science, Jun 1, 2023
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Musco, M., Cuttitta, A., Bonomo, S., Tranchida, G., Mazzola, A., Vizzini, S., et al. (2009). Stud... more Musco, M., Cuttitta, A., Bonomo, S., Tranchida, G., Mazzola, A., Vizzini, S., et al. (2009). Study of benthic foraminifera in the continental Shelf of the Gulf of Gela (Sicilian Channel) and their possible use as bioindicators. Paper presented at European Marine Biology Symposium, ...
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For several years, a group of CNR researchers conducted acoustic surveys in the Sicily Channel to... more For several years, a group of CNR researchers conducted acoustic surveys in the Sicily Channel to estimate the biomass of small pelagic species, their geographical distribution and their variations over time. The instrument used to carry out these surveys is the scientific echo-sounder, set for different frequencies. The processing of the back scattered signals in the volume of water under investigation determines the abundance of the species. These data are then correlated with the biological data of experimental catches, to attribute the composition of the various fish schools investigated. Of course, the recognition of the fish schools helps to produce very good results, that is very close to the truth about the abundances associated with the various species. In this work, only the acoustic traces of biological monospecific catches, exclusively of two species of pelagic fish. The ecograms where pre-processed using various software tools [1, 2]. For this work, the potential fish schools are detected and isolated using the SHAPES algorithm in Echoview. At the end of the pre-processing phase, the signals are labelled using the two species of pelagic fish: Engraulis encrasicolus and Sardina pilchardus. These labelled signals were used to train a Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) [3]
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Environmental Modelling and Software, May 1, 2022
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Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation, Dec 1, 2021
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Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2021
Climate change is causing a structural change in Arctic ecosystems, decreasing the effectiveness ... more Climate change is causing a structural change in Arctic ecosystems, decreasing the effectiveness that the polar regions have in cooling water masses, with inevitable repercussions on the climate and with an impact on marine biodiversity. The Svalbard islands under study are an area greatly influenced by Atlantic waters. This area is undergoing changes that are modifying the composition and distribution of the species present. The aim of this work is to provide a method for the classification of acoustic patterns acquired in the Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, Arctic Circle using multibeam technology. Therefore the general objective is the implementation of a methodology useful for identifying the acoustically reflective 3D patterns in the water column near the Kronebreen glacier. For each pattern identified, characteristic morphological and energetic quantities were extracted. All the information that describes each of the patterns has been divided into more or less homogeneous groupings by means of a K-means partitioning algorithm. The results obtained from clustering suggest that the most correct interpretation is that which divides the data set into 3 distinct clusters, relating to schools of fish. The presence of 3 different schools of fish does not allow us to state that they are 3 different species. The method developed and implemented in this work is a good method for discriminating the patterns present in the water column, obtained from multibeam data, in restricted contexts similar to those of the study area
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Papers by Gualtiero Basilone