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ROC-POPLife Updates April 2020

ROC-POPLife Update 2020 Since the last monitoring on December 2019, no other monitoring or field activity has been carried out due to the public health emergency of the Covid-19 for Cinque Terre MPA in the first months. The monitoring and maintenance activities of the transplant sites in the Miramare MPA were carried out, also taking into account the winter season every fortnight; these activities were associated with the verification of the fertility conditions of the population at the Strunjan Park. A very good news is that the monitoring activity held in Miramare at the end of the winter (before the start of the Covid-19 emergency) showed the development of a well-structured algal community around the tiles (i.e. Cystoseiretum barbatae). Some individuals reached 15 cm in height and brought numerous receptacles, suggesting that the thalli have become adult and have reached their sexual maturity. As for the second plot the last monitoring at the end of the winter (before the start of the Covid-19 emergency) showed an increase in thallus length, although not comparable to the first plot. In both plots, the number of juveniles reported in the last counts remained constant through the winter months.