Conservation Paleobiology as a Tool to Define Reference Conditions in Naturally Stressed Transitional Settings: Micropaleontological Insights from the Holocene of the Po Coastal Plain (Italy)

Abstract

The key role of paralic environments as providers of ecosystem services, associated with their increasingly threatened state, led to the definition of international water management policies aimed to improve ecological quality status (EcoQs). Restoration actions rely on the definition of reference conditions, which is a particularly challenging task in naturally stressed transitional environments. In the present work, we apply the diversity index Exp(H’bc) on benthic foraminifer assemblages from two anthropogenically unimpacted transitional to coastal Holocene sediment successions of the Po coastal plain, in order to assess past EcoQs (PaleoEcoQs). Ostracod ecological groups provided detailed insights on naturally stressful paleoenvironmental conditions. We show that “poor” to “moderate” PaleoEcoQs are recorded by biological indicators at reference conditions under fluctuations of chemical-physical parameters and organic matter enrichment. We emphasize the importance of a site-specific paleobiological approach, as significant differences in diversity occur even on a short spatial scale. This study illustrates that early to mid-Holocene sediment successions resulted to be appropriate for conservation paleobiological purposes, providing a high-resolution paleoecological record under the influence of the Holocene sea-level rise in analogy with the present-day global change.

What is conservation paleobiology? Tracking 20 years of research and development

“…Nonetheless, publications in the literature review described baselines at local to regional scales (e.g., Terry, 2018;Barbieri et al, 2020;Hesterberg et al, 2020;Dillon et al, 2021) and investigated the interplay of ecological processes across different spatial scales (Bennington and Aronson, 2012;Cramer et al, 2021;Louys et al, 2021). Such studies, at least in theory, are primed to contribute to the escalating spatial scales over which resource managers are challenged to act.…”

Long-Term Shifts in Faunal Composition of Freshwater Mollusks in Spring-Fed Rivers of Florida

“…These approaches use fidelity or discordance between live, dead, and fossil assemblages, and other related methods, to recognize spatial and temporal biotic changes and provide long-term baseline assessments that can assist conservation and restoration efforts (e.g., Kowalewski et al, 2000;Jackson et al, 2001;Kidwell, 2007Kidwell, , 2013Yanes, 2013;Hyman et al, 2019). Whereas these approaches have been used extensively in marine (e.g., Kidwell, 2007Kidwell, , 2013Hyman et al, 2019), terrestrial (e.g., Yanes, 2013;Barnosky et al, 2017), estuarine/lagoonal (e.g., Barbieri et al, 2020), and freshwater (e.g., Alin and Cohen, 2004;Brown et al, 2005;Czaja et al, 2019) settings, spring-fed fluvial systems have been comparatively understudied. The primary goal of this study was to apply conservation paleobiological approaches to two springfed, fluvial systems in Florida.…”

A Long-Term Record of Quaternary Facies Patterns and Palaeonvironmental Trends from the Po Plain (NE Italy) as Revealed by Bio-Sedimentary Data

“…All these processes operate over a wide range of time scales [1][2][3][4][5]. Under the threat of Global Change, these low-lying areas are highly exposed to severe flooding, territory loss and damage of ecosystems [6][7][8], making urgent a robust evaluation of the present-day state of health through monitoring techniques [9][10][11][12] and a correct quantification of the environmentalecological quality status [13][14][15][16][17]. However, an improved comprehension of the depositionalenvironmental responses to external factors through time and space is key to produce reliable projections and conservation-restoration strategies [18].…”