Annual characterization of the nutrients and trophic state in a Mediterranean coastal lagoon: The Marano and Grado Lagoon (northern Adriatic Sea)

Acquavita, Alessandro; Aleffi, Ida Floriana; Benci, Cristina; Bettoso, Nicola; Crevatin, Erica; Milani, Luisella; Tamberlich, Francesco; Toniatti, Loredana; Barbieri, Pierluigi; Licen, Sabina; Mattassi, Giorgio

doi:10.1016/j.rsma.2015.08.017

Cited by 48 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…A recent study by Nunes et al (2017) showed the nutrientenriched nature of the Mfolozi River inflow; however, none of the expected eutrophic responses associated with anthropogenic nutrient loading (e.g., accelerated phytoplankton growth and the proliferations of harmful/toxic algal blooms) were recorded (Lemley et al, 2015;Lemley et al, 2017). This response has also been observed in other estuaries such as the Marano and Grado Lagoon in the Mediterranean (Acquavita et al, 2015) and the Patos Lagoon in southern Brazil (Odebrecht et al, 2015) where, despite nutrient enrichment, altered water residence times inhibited net algal growth rates and biomass accumulation.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 65%

The use of epilithic diatoms grown on artificial substrata to indicate water quality changes in the lower reaches of the St Lucia Estuary, South Africa

Nunes

Adams

Bate

2019

WSA

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In shallow estuaries, artificial substrates provide a means of assessing the response of the diatom community to water chemistry. The shallow St Lucia Estuary was historically connected to the Mfolozi River at the mouth. This connection was severed during the early 1950s due to sediment input from the agriculturally impacted Mfolozi River. A connection has recently been re-established and the potential impact of dissolved inorganic nutrients from the Mfolozi River needs to be determined, as it may alter the ecological integrity of the St Lucia Estuary which forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This study found that the epilithic algal biomass and diatom species composition grown on glass slides were good indicators of nutrient enrichment in the estuary. Over a 28-day study period an above-average rainfall event resulted in an increase of nutrient-enriched freshwater flow into the estuary. No significant biomass differences were recorded in either the natural phytoplankton or microphytobenthos communities because of high variability. By contrast, the epilithic algal biomass accumulation on the glass slides was highest following the freshwater input. Statistical analyses indicated that the accumulation of the epilithic community on the glass slides was mostly affected by DIN and salinity. Diversity index scores for both the natural phytoplankton and microphytobenthos were variable, while the epilithic diatom index scores consistently declined from Day 7 (H’ = 1.2) to Day 28 (H’ = 0.7). These data indicate that epilithic algae grown on glass slides can be used as an effective monitoring tool to detect nutrient-induced changes as a supplementary method in this highly variable estuary.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 65%

The use of epilithic diatoms grown on artificial substrata to indicate water quality changes in the lower reaches of the St Lucia Estuary, South Africa

Nunes

Adams

Bate

2019

WSA

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“…With the removal of iron, phosphate can be released from the sediment to the water mass [50]. Even if nutrient loads range was similar to other transitional water ecosystems in the Mediterranean region [51,52] a buffering capacity or a feedback mechanism of submerged macrophytes in stabilizing phosphorus is expected in lagoons with high habitat isolation [48]. The dense mats of charophyte species such as L. papulosum, typical of such lagoon types, can prevent sediment resuspension and mitigate the phosphorus binding capacity of particulate matter [53,54].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Variability and Macrophyte Assemblages in Coastal Lagoon Types of Western Greece (Mediterranean Sea)

Christia

Giordani

Papastergiadou

2018

Water

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Coastal lagoon types of Western Greece were allocated to a spectrum of meso to polyhaline chocked lagoons; poly to euhaline restricted lagoons; and euhaline restricted lagoons along the Ionian Sea coast. This diversity comprises wide ranges of physical, chemical and environmental parameters in a seasonal and annual scale, which explains the variability in the distribution of benthic macrophytes. Four different macrophyte assemblages were distinguished, characterized by annual or perennial species. Extensive statistical analysis showed that salinity and nitrate concentrations had a great impact on the composition and distribution of macrophyte assemblages into lagoon types that also changed their abundance on a seasonal and annual scale. During the monitoring period, an important salinity shift in a chocked lagoon might cause the gradual loss of Zostera noltii and its replacement by Ruppia cirrhosa. Restricted lagoons were characterized by higher species diversity, while the other three identified macrophyte assemblages were dominated by the angiosperms Ruppia cirrhosa and Cymodocea nodosa. This integrated study of coastal lagoons is likely to be broadly applicable, since it was based on important parameters affecting such ecosystems, and the provided links between macrophyte assemblages and abiotic factors are of critical importance to improve management and environmental policies.

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“…The greater community invasibility in Site 2 may be explained by pulses of resources associated with reduced competition ('fluctuating resource theory', [73]) along with constant propagule pressure from adjacent environments subjected to anthropic disturbances, which might act as invasion epicenters. Indeed, a large number of nutrients were carried from inland through river discharges which is usually offset by the water exchange with the adjacent open sea [74]. Moreover, there might be an effect of intraspecific trait variation which could increase niche breadth and benefit interspecies competition [32,75].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional Divergence Drives Invasibility of Plant Communities at the Edges of a Resource Availability Gradient

et al. 2020

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Invasive Alien Species (IAS) are a serious threat to biodiversity, severely affecting natural habitats and species assemblages. However, no consistent empirical evidence emerged on which functional traits or trait combination may foster community invasibility. Novel insights on the functional features promoting community invasibility may arise from the use of mechanistic traits, like those associated with drought resistance, which have been seldom included in trait-based studies.Here, we tested for the functional strategies of native and invasive assemblage (i.e., environmental filtering hypothesis vs. niche divergence), and we assessed how the functional space determined by native species could influence community invasibility at the edges of a resource availability gradient. Our results showed that invasive species pools need to have a certain degree of differentiation in order to persist in highly invaded communities, suggesting that functional niche divergence may foster community invasibility. In addition, resident native communities more susceptible to invasion are those which, on average, have higher resource acquisition capacity, and lower drought resistance coupled with an apparently reduced water-use efficiency. We advocate the use of a mechanistic perspective in future research to comprehensively understand invasion dynamics, providing also new insights on the factors underlying community invasibility in different ecosystems.

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Annual characterization of the nutrients and trophic state in a Mediterranean coastal lagoon: The Marano and Grado Lagoon (northern Adriatic Sea)

Cited by 48 publications

References 40 publications

The use of epilithic diatoms grown on artificial substrata to indicate water quality changes in the lower reaches of the St Lucia Estuary, South Africa

The use of epilithic diatoms grown on artificial substrata to indicate water quality changes in the lower reaches of the St Lucia Estuary, South Africa

Environmental Variability and Macrophyte Assemblages in Coastal Lagoon Types of Western Greece (Mediterranean Sea)

Functional Divergence Drives Invasibility of Plant Communities at the Edges of a Resource Availability Gradient

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