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Morpho-Functional Adaptation of Marine Organisms to Different Habitats

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability, Biodiversity and Conservation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2022) | Viewed by 3949

Special Issue Editors

Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Polo Universitario dell'Annunziata, 98168 Messina, Italy
Interests: biodiversity; environmental conservation; fish respiration; fish immunology; marine zoology; zoomorphology; aquaculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Via Ferdinando Stagno d'Alcontres, 31, 98166 Messina, Italy
Interests: marine ecology; fish diet analysis; otolith analysis; beachrock and intertidal environments; marine pollution
Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, 98168 Messina, Italy
Interests: marine zoology; marine ecology; fish morphology; marine pollution; fishes adaptations; fish histology; fish pathology; fish distribution; marine genomics; aquaculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Marine habitats present the most disparate characteristics, from the intertidal to the deepest environments. Marine organisms can show a lot of morpho-functional and ecologically specialized adaptations to the great diversity of habitats and associated environmental factors in which they live, but also to the different anthropic pressure present especially along coastal areas. Exploring the morpho-functional adaptations of marine organisms living in different habitats can help to understand how the biological diversity can be preserved. This could be reached filling the knowledge gaps among the different living strategies of marine organisms challenging “hostile” environments. The relatively low number of studies regarding this topic is often related to the lack of commercial interest and/or to sampling difficulties due to the particular environments in which the species of interest live and, in some cases, to their cryptic nature. Nevertheless, these organisms often play pivotal roles in the functioning of marine ecosystems and are worthy of scientific interest.

This Special Issue, “Morpho-functional adaptation of marine organisms to different habitats”, will consider high-quality research regarding different aspects of morpho-functional adaptation of marine species to different environments, especially “extreme” environments. Among these, special consideration will be given to biota adaptations for living in intertidal zones, anoxic waters, deep-sea environments, hydrothermal vents, contaminated coastal and deep-sea environments. Studies using model organisms to explore adaptation to different conditions in microcosms will be also welcomed. The following topics will be considered:

  • Morphological adaptations of marine organisms;
  • Physiological differences in different habitats within the same species;
  • Deep-sea animals’ biology and ecology;
  • Intertidal life biology and ecology;
  • Phenotypic flexibility;
  • Effects of environmental parameters fluctuation in marine organisms;
  • Pathological alterations in marine organisms related to environmental changes.

Dr. Gioele Capillo
Dr. Francesco Tiralongo
Dr. Serena Savoca
Dr. Marco Albano
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • morpho-functional adaptation
  • marine biology
  • deep-sea environments
  • intertidal life
  • coastal environments
  • marine biodiversity

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

25 pages, 7736 KiB  
Article
Otolith Analyses Highlight Morpho-Functional Differences of Three Species of Mullet (Mugilidae) from Transitional Water
by Claudio D’Iglio, Sabrina Natale, Marco Albano, Serena Savoca, Sergio Famulari, Claudio Gervasi, Giovanni Lanteri, Giuseppe Panarello, Nunziacarla Spanò and Gioele Capillo
Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 398; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14010398 - 31 Dec 2021
Cited by 32 | Viewed by 2916
Abstract
Otoliths are used in taxonomy and ichthyology as they can provide a wide range of information about specimens. They are an essential tool to monitor the most sensitive species for a sustainable exploitation level. Despite the increasing use of sagittae in research, their [...] Read more.
Otoliths are used in taxonomy and ichthyology as they can provide a wide range of information about specimens. They are an essential tool to monitor the most sensitive species for a sustainable exploitation level. Despite the increasing use of sagittae in research, their inter- and intra-specific variability and eco-functionality are still poorly explored. This paper aims to investigate the inter- and intra-specific variability of Mugilidae sagittae using morphological and morphometrical analysis, as well as scanning electron microscopy and shape analysis. The sagittae of 74 specimens belonging to three different Mugilidae species, collected from a coastal lagoon, were analyzed to give an accurate description of their morphology, morphometry, shape and crystalline habits. The results highlighted the intra- and inter-specific variability of sagittae, showing morphometrical differences among species and slight differences between left and right sagittae in C. labrosus individuals. Moreover, SEM images showed a peculiar crystal organization, with several different crystal habits and polymorphs. This study provides an accurate description of sagittae in the studied species, deepening the knowledge on inter- and intra-specific variations and crystal habits and providing data which will be useful for future studies on otoliths. With this data, it will be possible to improve conservation and exploitation sustainability in sensitive habitats. Full article
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