Synoptic Assessment of Human Pressures on key Mediterranean Hot Spots

"The scientific challenge of this project is therefore to recognize and diagnose the effects of the lockdown, at different temporal and spatial scales and to promote collective actions that allow to consider new social knowledge and practices, depicting a possible future in which the respect for the environment can be reconciled with human activities and wellbeing. The main objectives of the project are:
1. To verify and to characterize: (i) the extent of the reduction of anthropic activities during the lockdown; (ii) any incremental changes to these anthropogenic activities in the post-lockdown
recovery phases;
2. To verify, to quantify, and to diagnose the possible effects on the marine and coastal environment, driven by the (i) reduction of anthropic activities during the lockdown and (ii) resumption of productive activities, in the context of the spatial-temporal variability of natural
phenomena;
3. To reinforce the link between Natural and Social Sciences and to explore the possibility to integrate scientific with local knowledge.

The feasibility of the objectives is based on the following working hypotheses:
a. The reduction and successive progressive recovery of maritime traffic represent a disturbance of the soundscape with observable variations in the responses of several marine organisms.
b. The variations of the flows of matter towards the sea altered the dynamics of the coastal pelagic communities, and this dynamic needs to be characterized.
c. The reduction of fishing effort affected the recruitment in relation to the phase of the production cycle of the species of interest with consequences on the functioning of the food web."

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