Negli ultimi 30 anni, un gran numero di ricerche scientifiche ha dimostrato che l’inquinamento acustico sottomarino nuoce alla fauna e agli ecosistemi marini. Di conseguenza, la Strategia per l’Ambiente Marino della Commissione Europea ha riconosciuto il rumore come una delle forme di energia che deve essere mantenuta a un livello non dannoso per la fauna.

MareTerra Onlus ha vinto il premio “Scienza che Passione” all’evento SCIENCE 2DAY, un’iniziativa promossa da Sardegna Ricerche e finanziata dalla Regione Autonoma della Sardegna. Tra i 30 progetti presentati, provenuti da diverse organizzazioni no profit sarde impegnate nel campo della disseminazione scientifica, la nostra associazione ha vinto il primo premio nella categoria “Largo Pubblico” con il progetto “Fattori di Scala”.

In the last decades, dolphin and whale watching based tourism have rapidly become really popular in the oceans all over the world (Hoyt, 2001), including the Mediterranean Sea. Although many studies have been carried out to understand the economic benefit of whale watching, very few studies have investigated the the short and long term effect on local target species in the Mediterranean and the human dimension of this kind of tourism. 

The aim of Behavioural Ecology is to try to understand how an animal’s behavior is adapted to the environment in which it lives, including both the physical environment and the social environment (competitors, predators and parasites). Through natural selection over the generations, organisms will come to be adapted to their environment. The individuals that are selected, naturally, will be those best able to find food and mates, avoid predators, and so on. If the environment changes, then new variants may do best and so natural selection can lead to evolutionary change. 

The staff of MareTerra is committed in helping students to become marine scientists. Our Science Director teaches Cetaceans Behavioral Ecology and Marine Environment Protection in the "Master in Environment and Resource Management" at the Department of Science of the University of Sassari. From 2018 we offer internships for students in the ecological field. Take a look at our programs.

In the marine environment, soundscape provides a series of information that influence many aspects of marine organisms behavior (from invertebrates to mammals), including mating, feeding, distribution, detection of predators or prey, orientation, defense of the territory.

The staff of MareTerra is aboard of Progetto Natura dolphin watching trips to collect scientific data and to raise awareness for conservation concerns. MareTerra also works at the information point of Progetto Natura, with the aim of spreading the culture of responsible travelling and to inform tourists about a more sustainable way to enjoy the sea. 

We firmly believe in the importance of scientific dissemination as a process of spreading methods, knowledge, results and information about scientific research. In this way we want to support the integration of scientific based intervention into the conservation and management of natural resources, economic development and decision making.

The common bottlenose dolphin is one of the Cetacean that most comes into contact with human activities, entering often into competition for food resources or being exposed to sea-related tourism. It is a species with plastic behaviour, able to adopt different behavioural strategies according to geographical and ecological context. Despite being among the most studied species of Cetacean, still many aspects of its ecology remain unknown. Above all, it is the effect of human activities on sub-populations of small size, therefore more vulnerable, that is often totally unknown.

Since the advent of large-scale industrialisation, acoustic habitats have become increasingly disrupted by anthropogenic noise. Shipping, offshore construction, oil and gas exploration, and sonar operations contribute to the soundscape of the ocean. This noise can mask acoustic cues and elicit behavioural responses, with the potential to cause chronic physiological stress and wider effects on populations and communities. Owing to the increase of boat-traffic in the ocean many studies have been conducted to determine the response of bottlenose dolphin to this kind of disturbance. This species is affected by boats in various ways and the response depends on the behavioural state of the dolphin but also on the kind of vessel.