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Discussion and Conclusion
The present work provides first molecular insights on a Mediterranean large

scale for populations of Pinna nobilis. H igh levels of resolution are here presented for
Sardinia and Sicily, setting the basis for future studies on population dynamics of these
islands. Furthermore, it has been possible including into our dataset previous molecular
data obtained for Grecian (Katsares et al. 2008) and Tunisian (Rabaoui et al. 2011)
populations, thus obtaining a whole Mediterranean molecular perspective on the
mitochondrial genetic variability of the species.

The non-lethal sampling strategy used to collect portions of tissue from
individuals makes this research part of a global context of biodiversity conservation
(Casu et al. 2006 and 20l 0), whose genetic analysis contribute to improve the
knowledge on species' variability without sacrificing individuals. In such a topic this
work triples the amount of genetic information known till now on P. nobilis avoiding
any damage for the populations analysed.

The mitochondrial COI region showed elevated rates of variability higher than
those obtained from the analysis of 16S, thus confirming the goodness of such marker in
depicting the population dynamics of P. nobilis. On the other hand results obtained from
16S dataset, although evidenced the occurrence of an higher number of haplotypes in
respect to what found by Katsares (2008), confirm the scarce variabi lity ofthis region.

The outcomes of COI pooled dataset suggest a possible occurrence of a pattem
of variability which decrease eastward, as evidenced by haplotype and nucleotide
diversity values that in Tunisian and Grecian samples, with the exception of Epanomi,
are lower than the observed average rates. Nonetheless, taking into account the high
level of variability found for the Grecian population of Epanomi and the occurrence in
the Aegean Sea of species' richness comparable to what found in the western

63

Gìan Luca Dedola: ANALISI DELLA VARIABILITÀ GENETICA DI PATELLA FéRRUGINEA, PATEL.LA ULl'SSIPONENSIS (MOLLUSCA: GASTROPODA) E PINNA
NOBILIS (MOLLUSCA: BIVALVIA): lLCONTRJBUTO DEl DATI MOLECOLARI ALLA CONSERVAZIONE DI SPECIE MINACCIATE · Tesi di douorato in Scienze
della natura e delle sue risorse · indiri7.zo BK>logi.a Ambientale, Università degli Studi di Sassarl