LTER Lacco Ameno - Italy

Researches on marine benthic organisms around the Flegrean islands in the Gulf of Naples have been traditionally performed at the Stazione Zoologica since its foundation in 1872. The peculiarity of this area is strictly related to its geographic location, corrisponding to the winter surface isotherm of 14°C that cuts the Mediterranean Sea into two and represents a climatic boundary barrier for species with different biogeographic affinities. The richness in marine species and habitats of this area (including the islands of Ischia, Procida and Vivara) is preserved by the establishment in 2008 of the Marine Protected Area ‘Regno di Nettuno’. One of the most important habitat of the Gulf of Naples is represented by the Posidonia ...