Benthic communities along a littoral of the Central Adriatic Sea (Italy)

Abstract

Bacteria, meio-and macrofauna were investigated at different depths in a coastal area of the Central Adriatic Sea, yielding information about the composition and abundance of the benthic community. In particular, 14 nematode genera were recorded for the first time in the Upper Adriatic Sea. All communities resulted as being significantly different between inshore and offshore stations, especially when the season interaction was considered. Sediment grain size seemed to be the main natural variable, along with trophic resources, affecting the distribution and composition of these benthic components, whilst there was no clear evidence of competition for food sources and predatory pressure between the communities. Meiofauna appeared the most useful community for detecting disturbances and river influences. In particular, the lowest copepod abundance in the shallow waters seemed to be related to a greater anthropogenic disturbance inshore, whilst meiofaunal abundance and diversity together with the nematode maturity index suggest the influence of the Foglia and Metauro rivers and the small stream Arzilla.

Meio- and macrofauna in the marine area of the Monte St. Bartolo Natural Park (Central Adriatic Sea, Italy)

“…In particular, nematodes are well known to increase in number parallel to the fine fraction of the sediments (Steyaert et al 1999, Vanaverbeke et al 2002, Semprucci et al 2010b, and are able to colonize even the deeper (suboxic) sediment layers (Heip et al 1985, Mirto et al 2004). In the study area, nematode abundance did not significantly differ between the inshore-offshore stations, and this is contrary to the trend observed by Semprucci et al (2010a) in a neighbouring area. This observation, together with the enhancement of polychaetes, particularly inshore, supports the hypothesis of human disturbance effects in the coastal area of the Monte San Bartolo Natural Park.…”

“…In particular, the sandy bottom dominated in the shallower stations, whereas the muddy-enriched sediments dominated at great depths. Similar results were obtained by Albertelli et al (1999) and Semprucci et al (2010a). These changes probably reflect the prevailing hydrodynamic conditions at the inner stations, where the re-suspension effects due to waves and currents are dominant.…”

“…These changes probably reflect the prevailing hydrodynamic conditions at the inner stations, where the re-suspension effects due to waves and currents are dominant. Moreover, the greater retention of sediment-bound organic matter and bacteria abundance in the finest sediments (Van Duyl and Kop 1994, Albertelli et al 1999, Covazzi-Harriague et al 2006) may induce a depletion in oxygen (Semprucci et al 2010a). The nature of the organic matter of the study area was probably mainly refractory.…”

“…In particular, the coastline is an important source of nutrients and pollutants for neighbouring open seas (Moodley et al 1998, Albertelli et al 1999, Danovaro et al 2000, Lee et al 2001, Frontalini and Coccioni 2008, Semprucci et al 2010a.…”

Biodiversity and seasonal variation of benthic macrofauna in Minicoy Island, Lakshadweep, India

“…This showed the ability of these species to survive in adverse conditions, which was similar to the observation of Saravanakumar et al (2007) from the arid zone of mangroves of the Gulf of Kutch, India. The high organic content of fine fraction most likely determined a reduction in oxygen concentration within the sediments as a result of bacterial and chemical degradation activities (Semprucci et al, 2010). A total of eight major groups identified in the present study were gastropods consisting of 51 species, bivalves of 12 species, soft molluscs (7), polychaetes (27), other worm (7), crabs of 24 species, other crustaceans (including prawns, amphipods, isopods, stomatopods, tanaeids, etc.)…”