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Ecological Indicators 122 (2021) 107296
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Ecological Indicators
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolind
MedSens index: The bridge between marine citizen science and
coastal management
c
Eva Turicchia a,e,g,i,j,1 , Carlo Cerrano b,e,g,h,k , Matteo Ghetta , Marco Abbiati a,e,f,i,j ,
Massimo Ponti d,e,g,i,j,*,1
a
Dipartimento di Conservazione dei Beni Culturali, Universit` a di Bologna, Via degli Ariani 1, 48121 Ravenna, Italy
b
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente, Universit` a Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
c
Faunalia, Piazza Garibaldi 5, 56025 Pontedera, Italy
d Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Universit` a di Bologna, Via S. Alberto 163, 48123 Ravenna, Italy
e
Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare, Piazzale Flaminio 9, 00196 Roma, Italy
f
Istituto di Scienze Marine, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via Piero Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
g
Reef Check Italia onlus, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
h
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Napoli, Italy
i
Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca Industriale Fonti Rinnovabili, Ambiente, Mare ed Energia, Universit` a di Bologna, Via S. Alberto 163, 48123 Ravenna, Italy
j
Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca per le Scienze Ambientali, University of Bologna, Via S. Alberto 163, 48123 Ravenna, Italy
k Fano Marine Center, Viale Adriatico 1, 61032 Fano, Italy
ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT
Keywords: Citizen science (CS) projects may provide community-based ecosystem monitoring, expanding our ability to
Community-based ecosystem monitoring collect data across space and time. However, the data from CS are often not effectively integrated into institu-
Coralligenous habitats
tional monitoring programs and decision-making processes, especially in marine conservation. This limitation is
Climate change partially due to difficulties in accessing the data and the lack of tools and indices for proper management at
Impact assessment
intended spatial and temporal scales. MedSens is a biotic index specifically developed to provide information on
Species sensitivity
Temperate reefs the environmental status of subtidal rocky coastal habitats, filling a gap between marine CS and coastal man-
agement in the Mediterranean Sea. The MedSens index is based on 25 selected species, incorporating their
sensitivities to the pressures indicated by the European Union’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)
and open data on their distributions and abundances, collected by trained volunteers (scuba divers, free divers
and snorkelers) using the Reef Check Mediterranean Underwater Coastal Environment Monitoring (RCMed U-
CEM) protocol. The species sensitivities were assessed relative to their resistance and resilience against physical,
chemical, and biological pressures, according to benchmark levels and a literature review. The MedSens index
was calibrated on a dataset of 33,021 observations from 569 volunteers (2001–2019), along six countries’ coasts.
A free and user-friendly QGIS plugin allows easy index calculation for areas and time frames of interest. The
MedSens index was applied to Mediterranean marine protected areas (MPAs) and the management and moni-
toring zones within Italian MPAs. In the studied cases, the MedSens index responds well to the local pressures
documented by previous investigations.
MedSens converts the data collected by trained volunteers into an effective monitoring tool for the Mediter-
ranean subtidal rocky coastal habitats. MedSens can help conservationists and decision-makers identify the main
pressures acting in these habitats, as required by the MSFD, supporting them in the implementation of appro-
priate marine biodiversity conservation measures and better communicate the results of their actions. By directly
involving stakeholders, this approach increases public awareness and the acceptability of management decisions,
enabling more participatory conservation tactics.
* Corresponding author at: Via S. Alberto 163, 48123 Ravenna, Italy.
E-mail address: massimo.ponti@unibo.it (M. Ponti).
1
These authors contributed equally to this work.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.107296
Received 31 August 2020; Received in revised form 11 December 2020; Accepted 17 December 2020
Available online 31 December 2020
1470-160X/© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).