Integrated assessment of eutrophication in the southern Black Sea waters, using the Nested Environmental Status Assessment Tool.

This research deals with the land-based pressures on the southern Black Sea coast (Turkey), with the objective of assessing their eutrophication impacts. In this context, reference values of some of the eutrophication indicators were calculated, and eutrophication assessment was carried out for this area using the holistic approach NEAT (Nested Environmental Status Assessment Tool). In addition, correlations between NEAT results of coastal regions and pressure-impact analysis methods were investigated. In the determined Spatial Assessment Unit (SAU) areas, 9 indicators were evaluated according to the SAU surface, both with and without weighting by their size the overall assessment of the Turkish Black Sea coast is good (0.70) and moderate (0.57) environmental status, for non-weighting and weighting by SAUs, respectively, with a high confidence level. With this study, we concluded that the sensitivity of the assessment tool needs to be increased. Despite these results, an appropriate number of indicators to represent the water column should be added. It is important to include the phytoplankton variable in the evaluation in future studies. In addition, this study, which uses NEAT allows identifying problematic environmental areas that require attention and action from managers and policymakers.

Current status (as of end of 2020) of marine alien species in Turkey.

The 2020's update of marine alien species list from Turkey yielded a total of 539 species belonging to 18 taxonomic groups, 404 of which have become established in the region and 135 species are casual. A total of 185 new alien species have been added to the list since the previous update of 2011. The present compilation includes reports of an ascidian species (Rhodosoma turcicum) new to the marine fauna of Turkey and range extensions of six species. Among the established species, 105 species have invasive characters at least in one zoogeographic region, comprising 19% of all alien species. Mollusca ranked first in terms of the number of species (123 species), followed by Foraminifera (91 species), Pisces (80 species) and Arthropoda (79 species). The number of alien species found in seas surrounding Turkey ranged from 28 (Black Sea) to 413 (Levantine Sea). The vectoral importance of the Suez Canal diminishes when moving from south to north, accounting for 72% of species introductions in the Levantine Sea vs. only 11% of species introductions in the Black Sea. Most alien species on the coasts of Turkey were originated from the Red Sea (58%), due to the proximity of the country to the Suez Canal. Shipping activities transported 39% of alien species, mainly from the Indo-Pacific area (20%) and the Atlantic Ocean (10%). Misidentified species (such as Pterois volitans, Trachurus declivis, etc.) and species those classified as questionable or cryptogenic were omitted from the list based on new data gathered in the last decade and expert judgements. The documented impacts of invasive species on socio-economy, biodiversity and human health in the last decade as well as the legislation and management backgrounds against alien species in Turkey are presented.

Ecoregion-based conservation planning in the Mediterranean: dealing with large-scale heterogeneity.

Spatial priorities for the conservation of three key Mediterranean habitats, i.e. seagrass Posidonia oceanica meadows, coralligenous formations, and marine caves, were determined through a systematic planning approach. Available information on the distribution of these habitats across the entire Mediterranean Sea was compiled to produce basin-scale distribution maps. Conservation targets for each habitat type were set according to European Union guidelines. Surrogates were used to estimate the spatial variation of opportunity cost for commercial, non-commercial fishing, and aquaculture. Marxan conservation planning software was used to evaluate the comparative utility of two planning scenarios: (a) a whole-basin scenario, referring to selection of priority areas across the whole Mediterranean Sea, and (b) an ecoregional scenario, in which priority areas were selected within eight predefined ecoregions. Although both scenarios required approximately the same total area to be protected in order to achieve conservation targets, the opportunity cost differed between them. The whole-basin scenario yielded a lower opportunity cost, but the Alboran Sea ecoregion was not represented and priority areas were predominantly located in the Ionian, Aegean, and Adriatic Seas. In comparison, the ecoregional scenario resulted in a higher representation of ecoregions and a more even distribution of priority areas, albeit with a higher opportunity cost. We suggest that planning at the ecoregional level ensures better representativeness of the selected conservation features and adequate protection of species, functional, and genetic diversity across the basin. While there are several initiatives that identify priority areas in the Mediterranean Sea, our approach is novel as it combines three issues: (a) it is based on the distribution of habitats and not species, which was rarely the case in previous efforts, (b) it considers spatial variability of cost throughout this socioeconomically heterogeneous basin, and (c) it adopts ecoregions as the most appropriate level for large-scale planning.

A summary of reports of Ulvaceae (Chlorophyta) from Turkey.

A revised list of the taxa of the Ulvaceae occurring in Turkey is reported in this research. A total of 25 taxa of this family is herein reported from Turkey. Also, the transfers of four taxa of Enteromorpha to Ulva are proposed: Ulva intestinalis L. var. asexualis (Bliding) E. Taskin comb. nov. (Enteromorpha intestinalis var. asexualis Bliding, 1963), Ulva intestinalis forma ramosa (Vinogradova) E. Taskin comb. nov. (Enteromorpha intestinalis forma ramosa Vinogradova, 1974), Ulva intestinalis forma saprobia (Vinogradova) E. Taskin comb. nov. (Enteromorpha intestinalis forma saprobia Vinogradova, 1974) and Ulva prolifera subsp. gullmariensis (Bliding) E. Taskin comb. nov. (Enteromorphaprolifera subsp. gullmariensis Bliding, 1963). A total of 25 taxa (species and intraspecific) reported from Turkey.