Coastal marine ecosystems face escalating threats from multiple anthropogenic stressors, including the release of industrial contaminants. Despite decades of industrial activity impacting marine ecosystems, long‐term effects on microbial communities and related key ecological functions remain unclear. Here, we analysed the prokaryotic genetic signatures of extracellular DNA preserved in sediment layers dating from the mid‐17th...

Sampling activities conducted in the Tyre Coast Nature Reserve, southern Lebanon, to study the marine annelid fauna of the area, allowed for the revision of the diversity of this group in Lebanon. We particularly focused on non-indigenous species (NIS), which were characterised from morphological and molecular points of view. A total of 116 taxa were collected; 10 species are reported here for the first time in the Mediterrane...

Shallow hard bottom and intertidal soft bottom polychaete assemblages of the Alexandria coast, southeastern Mediterranean (Levantine Sea), were studied during a complete annual cycle in order to analyze spatial temporal patterns of variation in assemblages, and relevant factors related to polychaete distribution. The present study recorded a total of 73 species, belonging to Syllidae (22 species), Nereididae (9 species), Serpu...

Sabella spallanzanii is a large tubicolous filter feeder polychaete common in the Mediterranean fouling assemblages where it plays an important role in structuring the community. Its reproductive biology is well known and had been investigated since 1993. During the past few years a shift in its reproductive period has been observed. In 2008 the presence of ripe eggs in the females was observed at least two months in advance c...