Artificial Surfing Reefs per la difesa e riqualificazione della costa: ipotesi progettuale a Cattolica (RN)

Un artificial surfing reef (di seguito ASR) è un’importante opera che ha come obiettivo principe la riproduzione di onde e correnti ideali per eseguire il surf. Com’è noto, questo spettacolare sport si basa sul processo di frangimento delle onde che si propagano a riva. Ciò nonostante gli ASR possono servire come opere di difesa dall’erosione della spiaggia essendo in grado di smorzare sulla loro cresta l’energia ondosa. In questo lavoro di tesi si andrà ad analizzare quali parametri sono necessari per rendere uno paraggio fruibile dai surfers assieme ad una disamina degli effetti che un ASR può ingenerare sull’idrodinamica della costa, oltre a definire compiutamente i criteri di progettazione di un reef artificiale, basandoci su studi pregressi di progettisti e su evidenze sperimentali condotte su modelli fisici. Applicheremo tali criteri progettuali ad un caso pratico sulle coste emiliano - romagnole, nella provincia di Rimini laddove il fiume Conca sfocia in Adriatico. Ci baseremo su una progettazione di massima dell’ASR ed infine, anche sulla base di una sommaria analisi dei costi, valuteremo quale alternativa meglio si addica allo stato della costa e del litorale della regione.

Spatial-temporal variability of the benthic communities in Ravenna harbour using Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) with focus on Non-Indigenous Species (NIS)

A Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) is defined as an organism, introduced outside its natural past or present range of distribution by humans, that successfully survives, reproduces, and establish in the new environment. Harbors and tourist marinas are considered NIS hotspots, as they are departure and arrival points for numerous vessels and because of the presence of free artificial substrates, which facilitate colonization by NIS. To early detect the arrival of new NIS, monitoring benthic communities in ports is essential. Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) are standardized passive collectors that are used to assess marine benthic communities. Here we use an integrative approach based on multiple 3-month ARMS deployment (from April 2021 to October 2022) to characterize the benthic communities (with a focus on NIS) of two sites: a commercial port (Harbor) and a touristic Marina (Marina) of Ravenna. The colonizing sessile communities were assessed using percentage coverage of the taxa trough image analyses and vagile fauna (> 2 mm) was identified morphologically using a stereomicroscope and light microscope. Overall, 97 taxa were identified and 19 of them were NIS. All NIS were already observed in port environments in the Mediterranean Sea, but for the first time the presence of the polychaete Schistomeringos cf. japonica (Annenkova, 1937) was observed; however molecular analysis is needed to confirm its identity. Harbor and Marina host significantly different benthic communities, with significantly different abundance depending on the sampling period. While the differences between sites are related to their different environmental characteristic and their anthropogenic pressures, differences among times seems related to the different life cycle of the main abundant species. This thesis evidenced that ARMS, together with integrative taxonomic approaches, represent useful tools to early detect NIS and could be used for a long-term monitoring of their presence.