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Sbragaglia, Valerio . et al.-- 11 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, supplementary information https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37954-0 ; The seasonal timing of recurring biological processes is essential for organisms living in temperate regions. While ample knowledge of these processes exists for terrestrial environments, seasonal timing in the marine environment is relatively understudied. Here, we characterized the annual rhythm of habitat use in six fish species belonging to the Sparidae family, highlighting the main environmental variables that correlate to such rhythms. The study was conducted at a coastal artificial reef through a cabled observatory system, which allowed gathering underwater time-lapse images every 30 minutes consecutively over 3 years. Rhythms of fish counts had a significant annual periodicity in four out of the six studied species. Species-specific temporal patterns were found, demonstrating a clear annual temporal niche partitioning within the studied family. Temperature was the most important environmental variable correlated with fish counts in the proximity of the artificial reef, while daily photoperiod and salinity were not important. In a scenario of human-induced rapid environmental change, tracking phenological shifts may provide key indications about the effects of climate change at both species and ecosystem level. Our study reinforces the efficacy of underwater cabled video-observatories as a reliable tool for long-term monitoring of phenological events ; VS was supported by a Leibniz-DAAD postdoctoral research fellowship (n. 91632699). [.] This work was partially funded within the framework of the RESBIO project (REdes de Sensores submarinos autónomos y cableados aplicados a la monitorización remota de indicadores BIOlógicos; Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología, MINISTERIO DE ECONOMÍA, INDUSTRIA Y COMPETITIVIDAD, RETOS 2017) under TEC2017-87861-R contract. The Research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2013-2017) under the grant agreement n◦ 312463, FixO3, through the TNA project FISHAUT (grant agreement n◦ FC-01) for accessing the OBSEA data ; Peer Reviewed

Aguzzi, Ernesto . et al. -- 52 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables.-- 50th Year Anniversary Edition ; All marine species studied thus far show rhythmic temporal patterns in their behavioural, physiological, and molecular functions, which are collectively known as biological rhythms. Biological rhythms are generated by biological clocks that time biological functions and are synchronised by geophysical cycles such as the solar light-dark cycle and tidal cycle. On continental margins, behavioural rhythms can be detected by diel (i.e., 24-h based) or seasonal periodical trawling as a consequence of massive inward and outward displacements of populations to and from the sample areas. As a result, significant errors in population/stock and biodiversity assessments performed by trawling may occur if timing of sampling is not taken into account. The increasing number of cabled and permanent multiparametric seafloor observatories now allows direct, continuous, and long-lasting monitoring of benthic ecosystems and analysis in relation to several habitat cycles. This review describes the adaptation of this technology to investigations of rhythmic behaviour by focusing on automated video-imaging. Diel fluctuations in the number of video-observed individuals can be used as a measure of average population rhythmic behaviour. The potential implementation of automated video image analysis in relation to animal tracking and classification procedures based on the combined use of morphometric tools and multivariate statistics is detailed in relation to populational and community studies. Based on video cameras mounted at multiparametric cabled observatories, an integrated time-series analysis protocol using chrono-biomedical procedures is proposed to place video-recorded bio-information in an oceanographic context ; The present work was developed within the framework of five research projects funded by the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation (PROMETEO, ref. CTM 2007-66316-C02-02; RITFIM, ref. CTM2010-16274; Operatividad Laboratorio Submarino OB SEA ref. ACI2009-0983; DOS MARES, ref. CTM2010-21810-C03-03; and finally GRACCIE-CONSOL IDER INGENIO 2010, ref. CSD2007-00067) and the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Politics-MIPAAF (HighVision, DM 19177/7303/08). The E.U.-funded HERMIONE (ref. 226354-HERMIONE), EMSO-PP (grant agreement no. 211816), the KM3NeT-PP (grant agreement no. 212525), and finally the PERSEUS (CE, VII PM, Grant Agreement no: 287600) RTD projects of the VII Framework Programmes should be equally acknowledged along with the CRG Marine Geosciences (grant 2009 SGR 1305) at the University of Barcelona (Generalitat of Catalunya). Jacopo Aguzzi is a postdoctoral fellow of the Ramón y Cajal Program (MICINN) ; Peer reviewed

26 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, supplementary material https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2017.00005/full#supplementary-material ; Submarine canyons are major geomorphic features of continental margins around the world. Several recent multidisciplinary projects focused on the study of canyons have considerably increased our understanding of their ecological role, the goods, and services they provide to human populations, and the impacts that human activities have on their overall ecological condition. Pressures from human activities include fishing, dumping of land-based mine tailings, and oil and gas extraction. Moreover, hydrodynamic processes of canyons enhance the down-canyon transport of litter. The effects of climate change may modify the intensity of currents. This potential hydrographic change is predicted to impact the structure and functioning of canyon communities as well as affect nutrient supply to the deep-ocean ecosystem. This review not only identifies the ecological status of canyons, and current and future issues for canyon conservation, but also highlights the need for a better understanding of anthropogenic impacts on canyon ecosystems and proposes other research required to inform management measures to protect canyon ecosystems ; UF was funded by the Balearic Government post-doctoral grant 2016, co-financed by European Social Plan; VH was supported by the CODEMAP project (ERC Starting Grant no 258482) and the NERC MAREMAP programme; PP has been funded by the ABIDES project (CTM2015-65142-R); AR was supported by NIWA research project "Impact of resource use on vulnerable deep-sea communities" (MBIE contract CO1X0906). IV was funded by Ifremer and Région Bretagne. ALA is supported by Science Foundation Ireland / Marine Institute IvP award 15/IA/3100 ; Peer reviewed ; Peer Reviewed

17 pages, 4 figures, 4 tables, 1 appendix ; In the last years the need to numerically define color by its coordinates in n-dimensional space has increased strongly. Colorimetric calibration is fundamental in food processing and other biological disciplines to quantitatively compare samples' color during workflow with many devices. Several software programmes are available to perform standardized colorimetric procedures, but they are often too imprecise for scientific purposes. In this study, we applied the Thin-Plate Spline interpolation algorithm to calibrate colours in sRGB space (the corresponding Matlab code is reported in the Appendix). This was compared with other two approaches. The first is based on a commercial calibration system (ProfileMaker) and the second on a Partial Least Square analysis. Moreover, to explore device variability and resolution two different cameras were adopted and for each sensor, three consecutive pictures were acquired under four different light conditions. According to our results, the Thin-Plate Spline approach reported a very high efficiency of calibration allowing the possibility to create a revolution in the in-field applicative context of colour quantification not only in food sciences, but also in other biological disciplines. These results are of great importance for scientific color evaluation when lighting conditions are not controlled. Moreover, it allows the use of low cost instruments while still returning scientifically sound quantitative data. © 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland ; This work was funded by the projects Traceflor (DM 11066/7643/09) and Micoprincem (DM 27009/7643/10) from the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Politics; PROMETEO (ref.: 2007-66316-C02-02/MAR) and RITFIM (CTM2010-16274) from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN). Authors would like to thank Marco Proietti and Emiliano Canali for their help in supporting the present work. Jacopo Aguzzi is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Ramón y Cajal Program (MICINN) ; Peer Reviewed

13 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables.-- Data Availability Statement: The time series of specimen counts per species, obtained through the visual inspection of the image dataset, is provided as a supplementary material (only the images containing at least one specimen are reported). The image datasets analysed for this study can be accessed by contacting the OBSEA observatory [https://www.obsea.es/] on reasonable request ; The marine science community is engaged in the exploration and monitoring of biodiversity dynamics, with a special interest for understanding the ecosystem functioning and for tracking the growing anthropogenic impacts. The accurate monitoring of marine ecosystems requires the development of innovative and effective technological solutions to allow a remote and continuous collection of data. Cabled fixed observatories, equipped with camera systems and multiparametric sensors, allow for a non-invasive acquisition of valuable datasets, at a high-frequency rate and for periods extended in time. When large collections of visual data are acquired, the implementation of automated intelligent services is mandatory to automatically extract the relevant biological information from the gathered data. Nevertheless, the automated detection and classification of streamed visual data suffer from the "concept drift" phenomenon, consisting of a drop of performance over the time, mainly caused by the dynamic variation of the acquisition conditions. This work quantifies the degradation of the fish detection and classification performance on an image dataset acquired at the OBSEA cabled video-observatory over a one-year period and finally discusses the methodological solutions needed to implement an effective automated classification service operating in real time ; This research activity was partially funded by the "ENDURUNS - Development and demonstration of a long-endurance sea surveying autonomous unmanned vehicle with gliding capability powered by hydrogen fuel cell project", Horizon 2020, Grant Agreement H2020-MG-2018-2019-2020 n.824348 and by the "Joint European Research Infrastructure of Coastal Observatories: Science, Service, Sustainability - JERICO-S3'' project, Horizon 2020, Grant Agreement no. 871153. This research was also funded within the framework of the following project activities: ARIM (Autonomous Robotic sea-floor Infrastructure for benthopelagic Monitoring; MarTERA ERA-Net Cofound); RESBIO (TEC2017-87861-R; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades). We also profited from the funding from the Spanish Government through the 'Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence' accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S)

12 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables, 1 video, supplementary material https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32089-8 ; Marine cabled video-observatories allow the non-destructive sampling of species at frequencies and durations that have never been attained before. Nevertheless, the lack of appropriate methods to automatically process video imagery limits this technology for the purposes of ecosystem monitoring. Automation is a prerequisite to deal with the huge quantities of video footage captured by cameras, which can then transform these devices into true autonomous sensors. In this study, we have developed a novel methodology that is based on genetic programming for content-based image analysis. Our aim was to capture the temporal dynamics of fish abundance. We processed more than 20,000 images that were acquired in a challenging real-world coastal scenario at the OBSEA-EMSO testing-site. The images were collected at 30-min. frequency, continuously for two years, over day and night. The highly variable environmental conditions allowed us to test the effectiveness of our approach under changing light radiation, water turbidity, background confusion, and bio-fouling growth on the camera housing. The automated recognition results were highly correlated with the manual counts and they were highly reliable when used to track fish variations at different hourly, daily, and monthly time scales. In addition, our methodology could be easily transferred to other cabled video-observatories ; The Research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2013-2017) under the grant agreement n° 312463, FixO3, through the TNA project FISHAUT (grant agreement n° FC-01) for accessing the OBSEA data ; Peer Reviewed

18 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables ; The understanding of ecosystem dynamics in deep-sea areas is to date limited by technical constraints on sampling repetition. We have elaborated a morphometry-based protocol for automated video-image analysis where animal movement tracking (by frame subtraction) is accompanied by species identification from animals' outlines by Fourier Descriptors and Standard K-Nearest Neighbours methods. One-week footage from a permanent video-station located at 1,100 m depth in Sagami Bay (Central Japan) was analysed. Out of 150,000 frames (1 per 4 s), a subset of 10.000 was analyzed by a trained operator to increase the efficiency of the automated procedure. Error estimation of the automated and trained operator procedure was computed as a measure of protocol performance. Three displacing species were identified as the most recurrent: Zoarcid fishes (eelpouts), red crabs (Paralomis multispina), and snails (Buccinum soyomaruae). Species identification with KNN thresholding produced better results in automated motion detection. Results were discussed assuming that the technological bottleneck is to date deeply conditioning the exploration of the deep-sea. © 2009 by the authors ; This work was funded by the project High-Vision (DM 19177/7303/08) from the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Politics. Jacopo Aguzzi is a Post Doctoral Fellow of the JAE Scheme (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, MICINN) ; Peer Reviewed

33 pages, 8 figures, 6 tables.-- Data Availability Statement: Data is contained within the articl ; The collection of delicate deep-sea specimens of biological interest with remotely operated vehicle (ROV) industrial grippers and tools is a long and expensive procedure. Industrial grippers were originally designed for heavy manipulation tasks, while sampling specimens requires dexterity and precision. We describe the grippers and tools commonly used in underwater sampling for scientific purposes, systematically review the state of the art of research in underwater gripping technologies, and identify design trends. We discuss the possibility of executing typical manipulations of sampling procedures with commonly used grippers and research prototypes. Our results indicate that commonly used grippers ensure that the basic actions either of gripping or caging are possible, and their functionality is extended by holding proper tools. Moreover, the approach of the research status seems to have changed its focus in recent years: from the demonstration of the validity of a specific technology (actuation, transmission, sensing) for marine applications, to the solution of specific needs of underwater manipulation. Finally, we summarize the environmental and operational requirements that should be considered in the design of an underwater gripper ; This research is part of A.M. PhD project co-funded by the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (Italy) and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Italy). The research of J.A. was also funded within the framework of the following project activities: ARIM (Autonomous Robotic sea-floor Infrastructure for benthopelagic Monitoring; MarTERA ERA-Net Cofound); RESBIO (TEC2017-87861-R; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades). J.A. also profited of the funding from the Spanish Government through the 'Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence' accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S) ; Peer reviewed

23 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables. ; The development and deployment of sensors for undersea cabled observatories is presently biased toward the measurement of habitat variables, while sensor technologies for biological community characterization through species identification and individual counting are less common. The VENUS cabled multisensory network (Vancouver Island, Canada) deploys seafloor camera systems at several sites. Our objective in this study was to implement new automated image analysis protocols for the recognition and counting of benthic decapods (i.e., the galatheid squat lobster, Munida quadrispina), as well as for the evaluation of changes in bacterial mat coverage (i.e., Beggiatoa spp.), using a camera deployed in Saanich Inlet (103 m depth). For the counting of Munida we remotely acquired 100 digital photos at hourly intervals from 2 to 6 December 2009. In the case of bacterial mat coverage estimation, images were taken from 2 to 8 December 2009 at the same time frequency. The automated image analysis protocols for both study cases were created in MatLab 7.1. Automation for Munida counting incorporated the combination of both filtering and background correction (Median- and Top-Hat Filters) with Euclidean Distances (ED) on Red-Green-Blue (RGB) channels. The Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) features and Fourier Descriptors (FD) of tracked objects were then extracted. Animal classifications were carried out with the tools of morphometric multivariate statistic (i.e., Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis; PLSDA) on Mean RGB (RGBv) value for each object and Fourier Descriptors (RGBv+FD) matrices plus SIFT and ED. The SIFT approach returned the better results. Higher percentages of images were correctly classified and lower misclassification errors (an animal is present but not detected) occurred. In contrast, RGBv+FD and ED resulted in a high incidence of records being generated for non-present animals. Bacterial mat coverage was estimated in terms of Percent Coverage and Fractal Dimension. A constant Region of Interest (ROI) was defined and background extraction by a Gaussian Blurring Filter was performed. Image subtraction within ROI was followed by the sum of the RGB channels matrices. Percent Coverage was calculated on the resulting image. Fractal Dimension was estimated using the box-counting method. The images were then resized to a dimension in pixels equal to a power of 2, allowing subdivision into sub-multiple quadrants. In comparisons of manual and automated Percent Coverage and Fractal Dimension estimates, the former showed an overestimation tendency for both parameters. The primary limitations on the automatic analysis of benthic images were habitat variations in sediment texture and water column turbidity. The application of filters for background corrections is a required preliminary step for the efficient recognition of animals and bacterial mat patches. ; The present work was developed in the context of the following Research Projects funded by: the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation-MICINN (RITFIM, CTM2010-16274), the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Politics-MIPAAF (HighVision, DM 19177/7303/08), the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund (NEPTUNE Canada and VENUS project; University of Victoria), and an NSERC Canada Strategic Networks grant to the Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONe). J. Aguzzi is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Ramón y Cajal Program (MICINN). M. Matabos conducted this study during a post-doctoral fellowship funded by the Canadian Healthy Ocean Network (CHONe). K. Robert benefited from scholarships from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada), the Fonds du Québec de Recherche—Nature et Technologies and the Bob Wright Foundation (University of Victoria). ; We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI). ; Peer reviewed

[EN] The fan activity rhythm of Sabella spallanzanii (Gmelin, 1791) and its entrainment capability to light were studied. Animals were tested under constant darkness (DD) followed by two consecutive 24 h light-darkness regimes: a first 11 h light period (LD) and a second 9 h light period, with its phase inverted (DL). An infrared analogical video-camera took shots each 30 s. A number of pictures with open fan were counted every 15 min. In DD a weak free-running periodicity in the circadian range was found, thus reinforcing the matching of the 24 h period under study in both photoperiod regimes. A nocturnal activity was characterised with a consistent anticipation to lightOFF (i.e. entrainment). Moreover, this phase of entrainment differed between DL and LD. The presence of endogenous activity rhythm with a variable phase angle of entrainment is a distinctive feature of circadian pacemakers ; [ES] En este trabajo, se estudiaron el ritmo de apertura del abanico del poliqueto Sabella spallanzanii (Gmelin, 1791) y su capacidad de encarrilamiento a la luz. Los animales fueron expuestos bajo oscuridad constante (DD) seguida por dos regímenes consecutivos de luz-oscuridad de 24 h, el primero compuesto por 11 h de luz (LD), y el segundo por 9 h de luz y con su fase invertida (DL). Dicha actividad se midió utilizando fotogramas tomados cada 30 s, mediante una videocámara analógica provista de iluminación infrarroja. Los fotogramas mostrando el abanico abierto fueron sumados cada 15 min. En DD, se detectó una periodicidad débil, en curso libre de rango circadiano en todos los animales. El ritmo se mostró más robusto y asumió un valor de 24 h bajo los dos fotoperíodos empleados. Se evidenció una actividad nocturna con anticipación (encarrilamiento) al apagado de la luz. Además, esta fase de encarrilamiento fue diferente entre LD y DL. La presencia de un ritmo de actividad endógeno con una fase de encarrilamiento variable, sugiere la presencia de un oscilador circadiano ; The authors would like to thank Prof. S. Cataudella, Dr T. Cambras and Dr D. Golombek for their useful comments during manuscript preparation and for their technical assistance. This study was supported by a grant from the Ministero Italiano per le Politiche Agricole e Forestali (Law 41/82). J. Aguzzi is a postdoctoral fellow (Programa Juan de la Cierva), while Juan J. Chiesa has a predoctoral fellowship (Programa Nacional de Formación de Profesorado Universitario), both sponsored by the Ministerio de Educación y Cultura, España ; Peer reviewed

Martech 2009 Third Marine Technology Workshop, 19-20 november 2009, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Barcelona.-- 2 pages, 1 figure, 1 table ; This work proposed a novel approach to practical use of digital photography for biological purposes ; This work was funded by the project High Vision (DM 19177/7303/08) from the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Politics ; Peer reviewed

Martech 2009 Third Marine Technology Workshop, 19-20 november 2009, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Barcelona.-- 2 pages, 3 figures ; This work was funded by the project High Vision (DM 19177/7303/08) from the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Politics ; Peer reviewed

21 pages, 2 figures, 6 tables, supplementary materials https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/s22041471/s1.-- Data Availability Statement: The data presented in this study are available in this Article and Supplementary Materials ; In order to develop a gripping system or control strategy that improves scientific sampling procedures, knowledge of the process and the consequent definition of requirements is fundamental. Nevertheless, factors influencing sampling procedures have not been extensively described, and selected strategies mostly depend on pilots¿ and researchers¿ experience. We interviewed 17 researchers and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) technical operators, through a formal questionnaire or in-person interviews, to collect evidence of sampling procedures based on their direct field experience. We methodologically analyzed sampling procedures to extract single basic actions (called atomic manipulations). Available equipment, environment and species-specific features strongly influenced the manipulative choices. We identified a list of functional and technical requirements for the development of novel end-effectors for marine sampling. Our results indicate that the unstructured and highly variable deep-sea environment requires a versatile system, capable of robust interactions with hard surfaces such as pushing or scraping, precise tuning of gripping force for tasks such as pulling delicate organisms away from hard and soft substrates, and rigid holding, as well as a mechanism for rapidly switching among external tools ; This research is part of A.M.'s PhD project co-funded by the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn of Naples (Italy) and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna Pisa (Italy). The deep-sea research of A.L.A. was supported by Science Foundation Ireland and the Marine Institute under the Investigators Programme Grant Number SFI/15/IA/3100, co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund 2014-2020, and by the Irish National Shiptime Programme. The research of J.A. was funded within the framework of the following project activities: ARIM (Autonomous Robotic sea-floor Infrastructure for benthopelagic Monitoring; MarTERA ERA-Net Cofound); RESBIO (TEC2017-87861-R; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades). J.A. also benefited from funding from the Spanish Government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence" accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S)

10 pages, 5 figures, 1 table ; Behavioral rhythms in marine organisms are generally studied in coastal areas in relation to day-night and tidal cycles. In contrast, the presence of these rhythms in demersal deep-sea fauna remains poorly characterized at present due to technological constraints on direct observation and sampling repeatability. In this study, our aim was to determine the presence of tidally synchronized behavioral rhythms of the demersal fauna at a hydrocarbon seep in Sagami Bay (1100 m depth; central Japan) using automated video-image analysis. Time series of visual counts were obtained for eelpouts (zoarcid fishes), red crabs Paralomis multispina, and snails Buccinum soyomaruae. Water pressure data were used as a marker of internal tidal action. By fitting 24-h and 12-h Fourier harmonics onto 24-h time series segments, a power content value was obtained as a marker of diurnal and semidiurnal fluctuations within the biological data sets. Rhythms were stronger in eelpouts and were weaker in red crabs and snails. Visual counts of eelpouts peaked during spring phases with an infradian periodicity of 13 d. These results are discussed, taking into consideration that animal responses may be of a reactive type (i.e. exogenous) or may be controlled by a biological clock through putative hydrodynamic entrainment. Observed differences in the magnitudes of the rhythms were related to the different modes of species locomotion (i.e. swimming in eelpouts versus walking and crawling in red crabs and snails, respectively) in relation to seabed currents ; The present work was developed within the framework of 2 research projects funded by the MICINN (NORIT, CTM/2005/02034 and PROMETEO, CTM 2007-66316-C02-02/MAR) and the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Politics (HighVision, DM 19177/7303/08). Jacopo Aguzzi is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the 'Ramon y Cajal' Program (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, MICINN) ; Peer Reviewed

Deep-sea ecological monitoring is increasingly recognized as indispensable for the comprehension of the largest biome on Earth, but at the same time it is subjected to growing human impacts for the exploitation of biotic and abiotic resources. Here, we present the Naples Ecological REsearch (NEREA) stand-alone observatory concept (NEREA-fix), an integrated observatory with a modular, adaptive structure, characterized by a multiparametric video-platform to be deployed in the Dohrn canyon (Gulf of Naples, Tyrrhenian Sea) at ca. 650 m depth. The observatory integrates a seabed platform with optoacoustic and oceanographic/geochemical sensors connected to a surface transmission buoy, plus a mooring line (also equipped with depth-staged environmental sensors). This reinforced high-frequency and long-lasting ecological monitoring will integrate the historical data conducted over 40 years for the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) at the station "Mare Chiara", and ongoing vessel-assisted plankton (and future environmental DNA-eDNA) sampling. NEREA aims at expanding the observational capacity in a key area of the Mediterranean Sea, representing a first step towards the establishment of a bentho-pelagic network to enforce an end-to-end transdisciplinary approach for the monitoring of marine ecosystems across a wide range of animal sizes (from bacteria to megafauna). ; This research was funded by PON "Iniziative in supporto al consolidamento e potenziamento dell'infrastruttura EMSO e delle sue attività (InSEA)" - European Union - Italian Ministry of University and Research, grant number PIR01_00030. ; Peer Reviewed ; Postprint (published version)