Il coralligeno toscano: distribuzione, struttura dei popolamenti e monitoraggio mediante utilizzo di differenti indici di qualità ecologica.

Coralligenous reefs are one of the main habitat of the Mediterranean Sea for distribution, biodiversity and role in the carbon cycle. Distribution and ecological quality of coralligenous reefs must be assessed under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The present work aimed at assess the distribution of coralligenous reefs in Tuscany waters, describing their structure and evaluating their ecological quality through different ecological quality indices. In Tuscany waters, coralligenous reefs are distributed on rocky cliffs between 25-30 m and 50-60 m of depth. The ecological quality resulted always sufficient with values of the indices higher on the islands than on the continental coasts.