De Benedictis, Sara (2026) Italian Marine Protected Areas: Present status and future challenges. [Tesi di dottorato]

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Abstract

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) represent a central pillar of marine conservation strategies in Europe. However, their effectiveness in halting biodiversity loss and habitat degradation remains highly variable, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea. This basin is considered one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots and, at the same time, a region subject to intense cumulative human pressures. In this context, the availability of robust, standardised ecological data collected over the long term and across different spatial scales is essential to evaluate conservation outcomes and support adaptive management. This thesis provides a multi-scale assessment of the effectiveness of Italian MPAs by integrating long-term ecological monitoring, analyses on the effectiveness of biodiversity protection, and spatial evaluations of benthic habitat representativity. First, a scoping review on existing monitoring along the Italian coasts highlights persistent gaps in temporal continuity, spatial coverage and methodological harmonisation, limiting the capacity to detect ecological change and to evaluate MPA performance. The analysis underscores the need for coordinated, long-term monitoring frameworks that integrate multiple stressors and protection levels. Second, changes in shallow rocky reef assemblages were assessed over a two-decade period spanning eight Italian MPAs. Intertidal and subtidal benthic communities exhibited heterogeneous trajectories, reflecting the combined influence of protection regimes, local pressures and broader-scale environmental drivers. Ecological status, evaluated using a macroalgal-based index (EBQI), revealed that while protection can mitigate local degradation in some contexts, temporal signals and cumulative pressures often override local management effects, highlighting the limits of MPAs boundaries in a rapidly changing Mediterranean environment. Finally, benthic habitats within Italian MPAs were analysed by comparing high-resolution habitat maps mostly provided by MPA authorities with EMODnet Seabed Habitats data. The results revealed substantial inconsistencies comparing the different sources of information. A predominance of substrate-based units and non-standard categories for classifying habitats across MPAs, and significant gaps in the representation in EMODNET of the habitats present in the Italian MPAs. These limitations constrain large-scale assessments of habitat protection and undermine the capacity to evaluate ecological coherence and representativity of MPA networks. Overall, this thesis demonstrates that similar ecological trajectories emerge across Italian MPAs, regardless of differences in management and protection regimes. This coherence suggests the presence of pervasive, large-scale drivers of change affecting benthic communities, which cannot be fully counteracted by local conservation measures alone. While MPAs may still deliver local benefits, their capacity to buffer ongoing ecosystem shifts appears limited. By linking long-term ecological change with spatial analyses of habitat representation, this work highlights critical gaps and provides evidence-based insights to improve monitoring standardisation, habitat mapping harmonisation and the strategic design and management of Mediterranean MPAs.

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