A team of female researchers is on the trail of the Mediterranean monk seal to reconstruct the movements of the Mediterranean’s only pinniped. This is the objective of FOCA NON FOCA, the project developed as part of BiUniCrowd, the University of Milano-Bicocca’s crowdfunding programme.
From the second half of the twentieth century, the Mediterranean monk seal, once a regular inhabitant of beaches and caves, became increasingly rare as a result of habitat deterioration and bycatch, the phenomenon of accidental capture. Over the past thirty years, conservation efforts aimed at this charismatic marine mammal have contributed to an increase in its population, particularly in the Aegean Sea.
«The Mediterranean monk seal,» explains team leader Elena Valsecchi, researcher at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, «remains a vulnerable species that must be protected and increasingly better understood; from this perspective, it is important to broaden the geographical area covered by the screening. We have already analysed more than 600 samples, but almost 400 still remain to be processed. Collected in the open sea on ferries travelling from the Adriatic to Gibraltar as part of the European LIFE-CONCEPTU MARIS project, in which we have been involved over the past four years, they are stored in our marine environmental DNA bank, the first and largest in the Mediterranean. FOCA NON FOCA aims to analyse them all.»
The sampling method involves collecting seawater from the engine rooms of commercial ferries at precise coordinates. The water is then filtered through an ingenious system that makes it possible to obtain filters containing DNA. After the time spent at sea, it is time to return to the laboratory at the University of Milano-Bicocca’s MaRHE Center, where the DNA extraction and analysis process begins.
All organisms release genetic material into the environment through breathing, faeces, skin or hair. «For our research,» continues researcher Elena Valsecchi, «we developed a specific set of primers that works like a beacon: it recognises a precise point within the DNA and lights up only when it finds the sequence of the target species. Like molecular bloodhounds, we are therefore able to identify a genetic trace of a monk seal’s passage near the sample collection point.»
The project is seeking support through a fundraising campaign hosted with the help of Ideaginger.it. The first target is to raise €7,900, which is required to process the samples already collected, stored in the laboratory and awaiting analysis. Every donation is worth twice as much: once 50 per cent of the target has been reached, the remaining 50 per cent will be provided by the University of Milano-Bicocca, which has decided to support the project.
Once the sample analysis has been completed, supporters will be officially invited to an aperifoca in the Bicocca area. It will be an opportunity to share the results and thank supporters by presenting them with various gadgets and rewards, including the opportunity to visit the laboratories.
An all-female team. Elena Valsecchi, a molecular ecologist, researcher and lecturer at the University of Milano-Bicocca, is the project’s founder and lead contact. Working alongside her, Graziella Pupillo, a doctoral researcher in Marine Sciences, Technologies and Management (MTM) at the University of Milano-Bicocca, is responsible for operations. Silvia Raimondo, Alice Massi and Gaia Cavallaro are graduates in Marine Sciences from Bicocca and are responsible for devising, creating and disseminating content. Finally, Celeste Scalera is the team’s graphic design contact and studies Communication Design at IED Milan.