Assessing environmental health using ecological indices for soft bottom in sewage-affected rocky shores: The case of the largest seaside resort of SW Atlantic

Garaffo, Griselda Valeria; Jaubet, María Lourdes; Becherucci, María Eugenia; Elías, Rodolfo

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.12.017

“…at the sites closest to the sewage discharge, 1S and 2S) this species was competitively overcome by B. proboscidea (Jaubet et al 2013;Elías et al 2015;Llanos 2017;Llanos et al 2018). Due to this behavior (toler-ance) the calculation of ecological quality indexes was carried out with/without this mussel, been more representative the index without mussel abundance (Garaffo et al 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nonindigenous species are favored in places and at times when stress is negatively affecting native flora and fauna, resulting in vacant niches available for colonization (Occhipinti-Ambrogi and Savini 2003;Piola and Johnson 2008). When several environmental quality indices were calculated, it was necessary to exclude B. rodriguezii from these calculations, since it induced the homogenization of sites of high index value with sites with low values (Garaffo et al 2017).…”

Section: Long-term Trendmentioning

confidence: 99%

The response of the natural and sewage-impacted intertidal mussel community of the SW Atlantic to pulse (before / after summer) and chronic sewage discharges in the 1997 - 2014 period

Elías

¹

,

Sabatini²,

Dávila³

2022

Mar Fish Sci

0

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Until 2014 Mar del Plata city discharged its untreated sewage effluents to the intertidal sector. This city has a marked seasonality in the urban discharge, varying between 2.8 and 3.5 m3.sec.-1 of effluents before/after summer. The effect on the intertidal benthic community was evaluated in both spatially, in sewage-impacted and reference sites, and temporarily in both the short term, before/after summer, and in long term along nine periods between 1997 - 2014. The bivalve Brachidontes rodriguezii, the ecosystem engineer, reach the maximum dominance and frequency in reference areas. Spatially the presence of opportunistic and tolerant species characterized the impacted areas, while in reference sites sensitive species were prevalent. The opportunistic polychaete species Capitella "capitata" sp. and Alitta succinea were dominant near the sewage discharge in firsts periods. In other periods the indicator species were Rhynchospio glutaea or Boccardia spp. From 2008 the invader Boccardia proboscidea characterized the sewage-impacted sites building massive reefs. The crustaceans Jassa falcata and Caprella sp. were very abundant at intermediate distances from the sewage discharge, while Monocorophium insidiosum was very abundant in sewage-impacted areas. The tolerant and opportunistic species are favored after the summer due to the extra organic matter input. All community parameters showed lower values after the summer, and also a trend to diminish along the studied period.

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“…at the sites closest to the sewage discharge, 1S and 2S) this species was competitively overcome by B. proboscidea (Jaubet et al 2013;Elías et al 2015;Llanos 2017;Llanos et al 2018). Due to this behavior (toler-ance) the calculation of ecological quality indexes was carried out with/without this mussel, been more representative the index without mussel abundance (Garaffo et al 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The response of the natural and sewage-impacted intertidal mussel community of the SW Atlantic to pulse (before / after summer) and chronic sewage discharges in the 1997 - 2014 period

Elías

¹

,

Sabatini

²

,

Dávila³

2022

Mar Fish Sci

3

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Until 2014 Mar del Plata city discharged its untreated sewage effluents to the intertidal sector. This city has a marked seasonality in the urban discharge, varying between 2.8 and 3.5 m3.sec.-1 of effluents before/after summer. The effect on the intertidal benthic community was evaluated in both spatially, in sewage-impacted and reference sites, and temporarily in both the short term, before/after summer, and in long term along nine periods between 1997 - 2014. The bivalve Brachidontes rodriguezii, the ecosystem engineer, reach the maximum dominance and frequency in reference areas. Spatially the presence of opportunistic and tolerant species characterized the impacted areas, while in reference sites sensitive species were prevalent. The opportunistic polychaete species Capitella "capitata" sp. and Alitta succinea were dominant near the sewage discharge in firsts periods. In other periods the indicator species were Rhynchospio glutaea or Boccardia spp. From 2008 the invader Boccardia proboscidea characterized the sewage-impacted sites building massive reefs. The crustaceans Jassa falcata and Caprella sp. were very abundant at intermediate distances from the sewage discharge, while Monocorophium insidiosum was very abundant in sewage-impacted areas. The tolerant and opportunistic species are favored after the summer due to the extra organic matter input. All community parameters showed lower values after the summer, and also a trend to diminish along the studied period.

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“…This situation produced 15 km of beaches unfit for bathing because there was a risk for human health (Comino et al 2010). To date, multiple studies have been conducted in the study area to evaluate the effect of sewage effluent on benthic communities (Elías et al 2003(Elías et al , 2005(Elías et al , 2006(Elías et al , 2009Elias et al 2015;Elías 2006, Vallarino et al 2014;Jaubet et al 2011Jaubet et al , 2013Jaubet et al , 2015Garaffo et al 2012Garaffo et al , 2016Garaffo et al , 2017Sánchez et al 2013;Becherucci et al 2016). However, all these studies had an ecological approach based on taxonomic diversity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The present study proposes to apply for the first time a functional approach and evaluate if this approach is concordant with the AZTI Marine Biotic Index (AMBI). The AMBI was the index that best reflected the environmental quality of the studio area (Garaffo et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing functional diversity of macrobenthic assemblages in sewage-affected intertidal shores

Garaffo

¹

,

Jaubet

²

,

Llanos

³

et al. 2018

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Functional diversity is the component of diversity that influences ecosystem dynamics, stability, productivity, nutrient balance, and other aspects of ecosystem functioning. We evaluate the spatio-temporal variability of the functional traits (biological traits analysis), functional diversity indices (functional richness, functional evenness, functional divergence and functional dispersion) and AZTI marine biotic index in response to the distinct levels of sewage contamination at different sites on intertidal abrasion platforms. Variations in macrobenthic functional structure between reference and impacted sites were evident in the study area. The functional richness showed a pattern with higher values in the reference sites; Functional evenness showed a similar pattern, but only during spring. Functional divergence presented lower values in the impacted sites during autumn and spring. The functional diversity indices (functional richness and functional evenness) and the AZTI marine biotic index presented a negative relationship, indicating that functional diversity is related to benthic environmental health. Thus, biological traits analysis and functional diversity indices, especially FRic that reveals differences in macrobenthic functional structure between impacted and reference sites during all seasons, represent an informative and useful tool to describe the different aspects of sewage impacts in benthic assemblages on rocky shores. These analyses have a high potential for future monitoring programmes.

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Assessing environmental health using ecological indices for soft bottom in sewage-affected rocky shores: The case of the largest seaside resort of SW Atlantic

Cited by 19 publications

References 57 publications

The response of the natural and sewage-impacted intertidal mussel community of the SW Atlantic to pulse (before / after summer) and chronic sewage discharges in the 1997 - 2014 period

The response of the natural and sewage-impacted intertidal mussel community of the SW Atlantic to pulse (before / after summer) and chronic sewage discharges in the 1997 - 2014 period

The response of the natural and sewage-impacted intertidal mussel community of the SW Atlantic to pulse (before / after summer) and chronic sewage discharges in the 1997 - 2014 period

Assessing functional diversity of macrobenthic assemblages in sewage-affected intertidal shores

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