@article {478,
	title = {A benthic mucilage event in North-Western Mediterranean Sea and its possible relationships with the summer 2003 European heatwave: short term effects on littoral rocky assemblages},
	journal = {Marine Ecology},
	volume = {28},
	year = {2007},
	abstract = {<p>In this contribution we document an anomalous mucilage growth which  occurred in June 2003 along the rocky cliffs of the Portofino Promontory  (Ligurian Sea, NW Mediterranean Sea), and we describe its dynamics and  its negative effects on many benthic taxa. The zooxanthellate  scleractinian Cladocora caespitosa underwent {\textquoteright}bleaching{\textquoteright} and about 40\%  of biomass of the erect algae was detached by mucilage {\textquoteright}lianas{\textquoteright} created  and strengthened by bottom currents. The 2003 event differed from any  other previously occurred in the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, in that the  mucilage aggregates were formed by the free-living form of the  Phaeophyceae Acinetospora crinita (Harvey) Kornmann, a not usually  dominant species in mucilage aggregates from the north Tyrrhenian Sea.  The damage suffered by the benthic organisms living in this area was  curtailed by a severe storm, occurred in July, which removed the  mucilage to deeper depths, preventing irreversible damages. Only slow  growing, perennant organisms, such as corallinales or scleractinians,  were seriously affected, but a survey carried out 1 year later, in June  2004, allowed to appreciate a complete recovery of those organisms. This  anomalous mucilage event occurred in coincidence of the 2003 European  heatwave, and the anomalous temperature increase of seawater has to be  regarded as the major contributing event that led to the mucilage  outbreak.</p>},
	keywords = {Acinetospora crinita, anomalie thermique, biomass, bleaching, Cladocora caespitosa, climate change, dynamic, Ligurian Sea, littoral, Mediterranean sea, mucilage, north-western Mediterranean, Portofino, recovery, scleractinian, sea water temperature, temperature, Tyrrhenian Sea, warming},
	author = {S. Schiaparelli and M. Castellano and P. Povero and G. Sartoni and R. Cattaneo-Vietti}
}
