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The Archivio Moncharmont:
a Pioneering Biodiversity Assessment
in the Gulf of Naples (Italy)
Maria Cristina Gambi
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
Villa Comunale, 80121 Napoli, Italy,
Laboratory of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, Villa Dohrn,
Ischia Punta S. Pietro, 80077 Ischia (Napoli), Italy
Isabella D’Ambra1
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
Villa Comunale, 80121 Napoli, Italy
Graziano Fiorito
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
Villa Comunale, 80121 Napoli, Italy
Vincenzo Saggiomo
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
Villa Comunale, 80121 Napoli, Italy
AbstrAct - In these last years the importance of marine species check-lists and floristic
and faunal data bases has been strongly re-evaluated, as this information represents a
useful tool to assess the biodiversity of geographic areas or single habitats, in relation to
biogeographic and ecological comparisons of the past and actual environmental conditions,
and to conservation problems of the marine biota
In the present contribution we wish to present a synthesis of the “Moncharmont
Project,” a program conducted in collaboration with the Historical Archives of the Stazione
Zoologica Anton Dohrn, and devoted to the acquisition, data base construction, and a first
evaluation of the Archivio of Prof. Ugo Moncharmont (1913-2000). Prof. Moncharmont has
been for many years collaborator and consultant for the Zoology Department at the Stazione
Zoologica in Naples, exerting a thorough supervision of the marine specimens collected for
the Museum and for the zoological and biological work of the Institute’s scientist hosts.
1 Actual adress: Santa Maria a Cubito 687, 80145 Napoli, Italy.
460 Maria Cristina GaMbi, isabella D’aMbra, Graziano Fiorito, et al.
This Archivio, which has been electronically acquired as a pdf document and as a data-base
in Excel, is represented by 5389 hand-written file cards, which have been mainly compiled
between 1960 and 1968 (with additions and revisions up to 1985), and that include and
give information on 4659 marine animal species belonging to 24 Phyla. The Archivio
Moncharmont represents a bridge of knowledge between the past historical information
on the biodiversity of the Gulf of Naples (dating back to the time of Anton Dohrn and
Salvatore Lo Bianco), and the actual, recent one deriving from modern studies conducted
mainly by the ecology research groups of the Stazione Zoologica and other scientific
Institutions acting in Naples. The importance of the Archivio Moncharmont is given with
some examples of species once very common and now quite rare and desperately wanted
by marine biologists, or on the contrary on species still common or that have increased their
frequency and colonization success due to favourable climate and environmental changes.
Finally, a useful actualization of the information occurring in the Archivio Moncharmont
can be achieved with a GIS map of some species, e.g., the potential preys of the common
cephalopod Octopus vulgaris in the Gulf of Naples.
Introduction
In the last years the importance of marine species check-lists and floristic
and faunal data bases has been strongly re-evaluated at various national and
international levels (e.g., Minelli et al. 1995; ERMS catalog; Costello et al. 2008;
WoRMS catalog 2009; Relini 2009). These data bases represent a useful tool
to assess the status of the biodiversity of geographic areas (e.g. alpha, beta and
gamma diversity) at a given time. They also provide a sort of baseline reference
when comparisons of biogeographic and ecological data of the past and actual
environmental conditions are required. In addition, the need to identify spe-
cies that can be used as bioindicators for climate and environmental changes,
have increased the importance of such check-list and data-base also at relatively
small and local scale. This includes also the relatively recent problems with
alien, introduced species, often with an invasive behaviour (ICES 2011).
The Gulf of Naples (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy), due to its highly complex geo-
morphology and variable environmental conditions at medium and small scale,
represents one of the most diversified marine areas of the Mediterranean Sea
and of the Italian coast, and historically one of the most studied worldwide
(Russo 1995). From a biogeographic point of view the Gulf is at the borderline
between the Central and the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea and therefore represents
a useful check-point area for native and alien species migration in different
climate regimes (Relini 2009).
In the frame of the numerous studies on biodiversity and ecology of the ma-
rine biota conducted at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in several years,
various check-lists and data bases have been compiled and some are still in
progress:
Data-base on the Phlaegrean islands (Ischia, Procida, Vivara), on the Banco
di Santa Croce within the Gulf of Naples (more than 1900 records; Gambi et al.
2002; 2003) and on the Gulf of Salerno (more than 700 records; Dappiano 2005).
461A Pioneering Biodiversity Assessment in the gulf of nAPles
Data base on Mediterranean Phytoplankton (on the web with about 100
species; Zingone et al. 2005).
ALGAEBRA: relational data-base on the macro-phytobenthos of the Gulf
of Naples (Soria et al. 2006).
Although such recent data bases are often summarizing historical data, the
information on biodiversity of the Gulf of Naples is still rather fragmentary and
inhomogeneous, with the exception of a few plant and animal groups.
In the present contribution we wish to recall the historical perspective of
the studies on marine biodiversity conducted in the Gulf of Naples, especially
in the frame of the past research activities of the Stazione Zoologica Anton
Dohrn. The stimulating occasion to perform such a synthesis was represented
by the “Moncharmont Project”, a program devoted to the acquisition, long
term conservation, data base construction and content evaluation of the Ar-
chivio built by Prof. Ugo Moncharmont (1913-2000).
Prof. Ugo Moncharmont and his Archivio
Professor Ugo Moncharmont has been for many years collaborator and
consultant for the Zoology Department at the Stazione Zoologica in Naples,
exerting a thorough supervision of the marine specimens collected for the Zo-
ological Collections and as reference for the zoological and biological work
carried out by scientific guests of the Stazione. The most relevant steps of his
long career can be shortly synthesized as follows (Chieffi 2003): 1936: “laurea
cum laude” on Natural History Sciences (Scienze Naturali) at the University of
Naples, with a thesis in Comparative Anatomy; 1937-38: Istitute of Geography
– course in cartography; 1945-49: course of Zoology of Vertebrates for Natural
History Sciences; 1956-70: consultant in Zoology at the Stazione Zoologica,
Professor of Geography for Geological and Natural History Sciences at the
University of Naples, professor at the “classic humanistic liceum” “Vittorio
Emanuele” in Naples.
As a consultant at the Stazione Zoologica, Professor Moncharmont was act-
ing as a supervisor of the scientific collections and identification of animal ma-
terial for the systematic and zoological studies of SZN guest scientists and for
the Museum.2 During this period U. Moncharmont also accomplished some
other important tasks and publications, namely the Archivio (1960-68); a bib-
liographic review of the ecological studies in the Gulf of Naples up to 1980
(Moncharmont 1981a, CNR report not published); a seminal paper: “Notizie
biologiche e faunistiche sui crostacei Decapodi del Golfo di Napoli” (Mon-
charmont 1981b).
2 “Museum” refers to the facility at the Stazione Zoologica where wet and dry specimens of
preserved marine organisms, collected for various projects and purposes and classified by local and
visiting scientists, are stored.
462 Maria Cristina GaMbi, isabella D’aMbra, Graziano Fiorito, et al.
The Archivio, kindly provided by the Moncharmont family, consists of 5389
cards on animal species, hand-written by Moncharmont and compiled mainly
between 1960 and 1968 (with additions and updating until 1985). It is organ-
ized in alphabetic order by species names and represents about 4650 marine
animal species belonging to 24 Phyla (see Table 1).
110 100 1000
Chordata
Hemichordata
Echinodermata
Chaetognatha
Brachiopoda
Bryozoa
Arthropoda
Annelida
Phoronidea
Mollusca
Sipuncula
Echiura
Gastrotricha
Kamptozoa
Nematoda
Nemertea
Gnathostomulida
Plathelminthes
Ctenophora
Cnidaria
Porifera
Granuloreticulosa
Ciliophora
Dinoflagellata
Table 1- List of the main taxonomic groups (Phyla) present in the Archivio Moncharmont and their
number of taxa.
463A Pioneering Biodiversity Assessment in the gulf of nAPles
Each card has been acquired in pdf format, while the content (species
name, habitat, depth, site of collection etc.) has been inserted in a electronic
data base (Excel and Access). Each species has been scored in a data-base, using
both the “original” name (often changed and/or synonymised) and the current
valid name. For each taxon the record includes a short description of the species,
often with a hand-drawing or a picture of the organism, and information about
habitat and site of collection; in addition, a short synthesis of previous historical
records (see Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 as examples). When information was available,
Fig. 2 - File cards for Mesochaetopterus sagittarius= Ranzanides sagittaria (AM 4313; AM 4314). A
species still very common nowadays on the same areas reported on the card (Guglielmo et al. 2006).
Fig. 1 - File cards for Centrostephanus loingispinus (AM 916r, AM 916v), illustrated with a post-card
from the Public Aquarium (AM 917).
464 Maria Cristina GaMbi, isabella D’aMbra, Graziano Fiorito, et al.
data on the biology and reproductive periods are also included, often reporting
the data available in Lo Bianco (1909). Finally, bibliographic notes are reported
with a comprehensive retrospective to historical literature (e.g., Lo Bianco, Ca-
volini, Costa, Panceri, Delle Chiaje, Bellini, Claparède).
In this sense the Archivio Moncharmont represents a first attempt and example
for the assessment of biodiversity in the Gulf of Naples, and a bridge of knowledge
between the past historical information and the currently available contributions
mainly by the research groups in the field of ecology actually working at the Stazi-
one Zoologica, as well as in other marine research Institutes in Naples.
To give an example and a rough assessment of the diversity scored in the Ar-
chivio we can use the group of the Annelida Polychaeta which is a highly diversi-
fied group of invertebrates along the Italian coasts. The Fauna of the Italian coast
reports 870 nominal polychaete species (Castelli et al. 2009), while the Archivio
Moncharmont scored 360 polychaete species, therefore providing information on
more than 40% of the species of the whole Italian polychaete fauna.
Fig. 3 - Examples of two species, reported on the Archvio Moncharmont file cards, and nowadays very
rare in the Gulf of Naples: Branchiostoma lanceolatum, lancet (AM 679r; AM 679v); Glossobalanus
minutus (AM 2164; AM 2165).
Fig. 4 - Examples of illustrations by U. Moncharmont of some species of nudibranch molluscs on file
cards of the Archivio Moncharmont (AM 315r; AM 315v; AM 1883; AM 2168).
465A Pioneering Biodiversity Assessment in the gulf of nAPles
The importance of the Archivio Moncharmont is evident also when analysing
the present status of some species which were once very common and are now
quite rare and desperately wanted by marine biologists for their phyletic impor-
tance (e.g., Amphioxus, Balanoglossus), or on the contrary is documenting the
status of various ecologically relevant species nowadays still common (e.g., Mes-
ochaetopterus sagittarius, Centrostephanus longispinus, Corallium rubrum) or that
have increased their frequency and colonization success due to favourable cli-
mate and environmental changes (e.g., the thermophilous scleractinian Astroides
calycularis; Dappiano and Gambi 2004). Some alien species, recorded for the first
time in the Gulf of Naples have also been reported (e.g., Bursatella leachi).
As a second example, it should be mentioned that through information
available in the Archivio it was possible to provide a GIS-annotated faunal list
of potential preys for the common octopus, Octopus vulgaris (Mollusca, Cepha-
lopoda) in selected areas of the Bay of Naples (Figure 5).
The Archivio Moncharmont represents a paradigmatic example of integra-
tion between historical data and information, and current research on biodiver-
sity and ecology of marine fauna. It is a bridge of data to fill the gap between
the historical and pioneering natural history studies of the marine biota in the
Gulf of Naples and the actual, modern ecological marine researches performed
on this key marine area.
Legend
Species' distribution
(number of species for
each area):
Coastline
Octopus'
fishing sites
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
9
na2
na12
na11
na1
na6
na7
na10 na3
na4
na9
na5
na3
-5 m
-10 m
-20 m
-50 m
-100 m
14°10'00" 14°12'00" 14°14'00" 14°16'00"
40°46'00"
40°48'00"
40°50'00"
Fig. 5 - Map on GIS of the number of potential preys of the Octopus vulgaris (octopus) in a selected
area of the Gulf of Naples.
466 Maria Cristina GaMbi, isabella D’aMbra, Graziano Fiorito, et al.
Future perspectives
There is of course much more to do; the Archivio is a mine of precious in-
formation and we have just scraped its surface. The main points that still need
to be investigated in depth are:
• Taxonomic update (synonymies, update of species names or species no
more valid etc.);
• Homogenization and actualization of site and geographic names and bio-
ecological information on the individual species;
• Evaluation of the heuristic content of the data cards to asses what is based
on past reference and historical data, and what relies on original de visu analysis
and collection at the time U.M. operated at the Stazione Zoologica;
• Inclusion of the information and of the images in the web site of Stazione
Zoologica, for open access to the data;
• Integration of the Archivio with the actual biodiversity and distribution
data of the marine animals in the Gulf of Naples (comparison with other check-
lists and data-bases available at local and larger geographic scale). This point
is particularly interesting to outline long term modification of the biodiversity
patterns in the area due to climate and environmental changes.
Acknowledgements
We are deeply indebted to Lidia and Bruno Moncharmont (daughter and
son of Prof. Ugo Moncharmont). The documents from the Archivio Monchar-
mont (AM) are published with their gracious permission. We are also grateful
for inspiration, advice and support to Andrew Packard and Giovanni Chieffi.
Christiane Groeben, Archivist of the Stazione Zoologica, contributed to the Ar-
chivio’s acquisition and conservation. The following people have contributed
to the compilation of the electronic version of the Archivio Moncharmont: Az-
zurra Avallone, Luciana Borrelli, Massimiliano Maja, Alessandra Mercorella,
Agnese Petraccioli, Stefania Santoro.
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