fddb99c4-6fb6-4e45-93ed-3e5c1aedd7f1 Monitoring of benthic communities and NIS in Ravenna and Venice harbours (North Adriatic Sea) 2021-01-01 This monitoring activity focuses on annual observations of benthic communities and early detection of non-native species in two harbour locations in the North Adriatic Sea: Ravenna (Emilia Romagna, Italy) and Venice (Veneto, Italy). In Ravenna, Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) are deployed in both a harbour and touristic marina for 3 months (May-July) each year since 2021. In Venice, ARMS are deployed for one year at a long-term monitoring site. The approach combines ARMS with integrative taxonomic methods, including DNA metabarcoding (COI and 18S), photo identification of sessile fauna, and morphological identification of macrofauna. Each site deployed three replicate ARMS units annually. The objective is to track long-term ecological changes in benthic communities and detect non-native species in urban marine environments. ARMS benthic communities non-native species metabarcoding Federica Costantini University of Bologna federica.costantini@unibo.it Venice 12.3188 12.5488 45.2436 45.4148 Ravenna 12.243 12.3231 44.4568 44.5231