SOSTANZE XENOBIOTICHE, SPECIE ALIENE ED AGENTI PATOGENI: IMPATTI SUBDOLI SUI PATTERN RIPRODUTTIVI DI ORGANISMI MARINI

During the evolutionary processes, under the force of natural selection acting on the genetic and morphological characteristics of organisms, species have developed several reproductive strategies to cope with the changing environmental conditions. This has led to the development of numerous and extraordinary reproductive tactics that allowed them to achieve the maximum fitness. Nowadays, however, the organisms are increasingly undergoing multiple stresses from which they can not readily defend themselves with negative consequences on the survival of the adults or the reproductive activities (eg. anticipating or delaying sexual maturity and the time of ovulation or spawning, reducing the quality of gametes and offspring). Understanding the consequences of multiple stress at the population level is therefore essential in studies of conservation and management of wild populations. Several examples of impacts able to determine severe alterations of reproductive potential of the marine organisms are here described, with special emphasis on the effects of invasive species, pathogens and endocrine disruptors on wild species.