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Ecological status assessment based on benthic macrofauna of three Mediterranean ports: Comparisons across seasons, activities and regions
Abstract
The present study aimed to compare anthropogenic impacts in three Mediterranean ports (Cagliari-Italy, Heraklion-Greece, El-Kantatoui-Tunisia) employing benthic macrofaunal indices, used in the context of the European Water Framework Directive. Sampling stations were selected within ports according to sector usage categorization and sampled over three seasons. Benthic indices calculated include M-AMBI, BENTIX, BQI and BQI_Family. Comparisons were made between the indices values and ecological status (ES) of each station within and between ports. Overall, few statistically significant differences were observed across different seasons or different stations with the same usage within or across ports. The ES of sampling stations in the leisure/fishing and passenger/cargo ships sectors was mostly "good" or "moderate", while the shipyard sector had "poor" ES. The results suggest that the indices used were suitable for assessing the ES of Mediterranean ports, led to comparable results even across different countries and contribute to the adaptation of specific port monitoring guidelines.
... Harbours are known as confined ecosystems that are considered as among the most affected coastal areas faced with a wide range of environmental problems including the discharge of sewage waste and ballast water, petroleum and its derivatives, and antifouling paints, together with dredging activities, which may affect both the dredged and the disposal sites [1][2][3][4][5]. Moreover, harbour habitats are considered as major pathways for nonindigenous species (NIS) [6][7][8][9]. ...
... Moreover, harbour habitats are considered as major pathways for nonindigenous species (NIS) [6][7][8][9]. These anthropogenic activities increase the environmental pressures in harbour habitats and change the structure and functioning of the biological communities [5,10]. Therefore, the question of how biological communities respond to environmental perturbations in these marine ecosystems is becoming increasingly relevant for environmental managers and ecologists [11]. ...
... Therefore, the question of how biological communities respond to environmental perturbations in these marine ecosystems is becoming increasingly relevant for environmental managers and ecologists [11]. Macrofaunal benthic invertebrates are recommended as well-established targets for the evaluation of quality status in coastal ecosystems over time [3,5,12] and for the assessment of heavy metal pollution in enclosed environments including harbours [2,13]. To evaluate benthic environmental quality, different indices are available, such as the widely used AZTI marine biotic index (AMBI) [14] and BO2A [15,16]. ...
Harbours are one of the most disturbed coastal ecosystems due to intensive anthropogenic pressures. This study aimed for the first time to compare anthropogenic impacts in three harbours from the central coast of Tunisia (Mediterranean Sea) employing analysis of heavy metal contamination and ecological quality status (EcoQS). Sampling was carried out in spring 2019 in the fishing harbour of Teboulba, the marina of Monastir, and the commercial harbour of Sousse. The high levels of concentration in heavy metals and organic matter were closely related to the fine-grained fraction of the sediment in the fishing and commercial harbours. A total of 94 macrobenthic species, including five nonindigenous species, were identified belonging to six zoological groups. Multivariate analyses highlighted a strong influence of the harbour activity on the diversity of macrozoobenthic communities. Three benthic assemblages were identified according to their environmental characteristics such as sediment type, organic matter content, and heavy metal contamination. Benthic and biotic indices (H′, J′, AMBI, and BO2A) showed that the EcoQS varied from poor (commercial harbour) to good (marina), and was significantly influenced by harbour activity, organic matter, and heavy metal contamination of the sediment. The present work could be considered as providing important baseline data for the implementation of national environmental policies and management plans in the future.
... Harbours are one of the most disturbed coastal ecosystems due to intensive anthropogenic pressures (shipping activities, pollution and dredging: Chan et al. 2016;Dauvin et al. 2017;Chatzinikolaou et al. 2018;Romanelli et al. 2019;Dimitriou et al. 2020). In addition, harbours are a major pathway to non-indigenous species (NIS) due to the maritime activities and artificial structures, such as docks and floating pontoons found in harbours, provide suitable habitats to host opportunistic fouling species and therefore facilitate and accelerate the introduction of NIS (Ardura et al. 2015;López-Legentil et al. 2015;Tempesti et al. 2020). ...
... In Tunisia, the majority of benthic macrofauna studies have focused on macrobenthic communities of shallow coastal areas (Khedhri et al. 2015;Fersi et al. 2018;Boudaya et al. 2019;Mosbahi et al. 2017Mosbahi et al. , 2019Mosbahi et al. , 2020. The few studies carried out on macrobenthic fauna in Tunisia harbours (Aloui-Bejaoui and Afli, 2012;Chatzinikolaou et al. 2018;Chebaane et al. 2019;Dimitriou et al. 2020) have focused on the structure of macrobenthic faunal communities or the identification of NIS in harbour ecosystems, and the ecological quality status (EQs) of these ecosystems is not yet well studied. The aims of the present study covering the majority of the Gulf of Gabès harbours are as follows: (1) to describe their soft-bottom macrobenthic communities and (2) to assess their EQs linked to different levels of anthropogenic stress and biological invasions, so as to determine the relationship between these polluted zones and the establishment of NIS. ...
... In terms of taxonomic composition, the structure of communities in GG harbours is similar to that observed in other harbours of the Mediterranean ecosystem, being dominated mainly by molluscs, crustaceans and polychaetes Chatzinikolaou et al. 2018;Travizia et al. 2019;Dimitriou et al. 2020). The number of species (174) However, this diversity in Gabès harbours appears low compared to the biodiversity recorded recently by Chatzinikolaou et al. (2018) in the El Kantaoui harbour (Tunisia) (211 species), as well as by Travizia et al. (2019) in the Bari harbour (Italy)(224 species) and by Dauvin et al. (2017) for 10 Algerian harbours (847 species). ...
Port Biological Baseline Surveys (PBBS) are standardized surveys of the indigenous and non-indigenous marine biodiversity within harbour activities. They provide a baseline for monitoring changes in the structure and function of harbour communities. This study conducted in 12 fishing and industrial harbours from January to December 2018 was the first initiative of a Port Baseline Survey aimed to assess the impact of biological invasions in harbours of the Gulf of Gabès (GG), Tunisia. A total of 174 macrobenthos species were recorded, belonging to eight phyla, with a dominance of crustaceans (32%), molluscs (31%) and polychaetes (20%). Among these species, 57 were non-indigenous species (NIS) for Tunisian waters, while 27 species were recorded for the first time in GG harbours, and three decapods (Dyspanopeus sayi, Hippolyte prideauxiana and Pilumnus minutus) and one amphipod (Hamimaera hamigera) were newly recorded from Tunisian waters. Two main categories of harbours are distinguished according to their macrobenthic communities and environmental conditions. The industrial harbours yield higher richness and abundance of NIS than the fishing harbours. The ALEX metric is used to evaluate the biological invasion status of the Gulf of Gabès harbours and shows that their status ranges from unaffected in fishing harbours to extremely affected in industrial harbours. Three biotic indices (AMBI, BO2A and BENTIX) are applied to assess the ecological status of harbours, which varies from moderate to good. ALEX and the other biotic indices are significantly correlated with harbour characteristics, maritime traffic and edaphic factors (organic matter and chemical contamination). The present study provides a data baseline for the implementation of environmental policies and management plans in the future.
... In Mediterranean harbours, several multivariate biotic indices such as AMBI (Borja et al. 2000), BENTIX (Simboura and Zenetos 2000), BO2A (Dauvin et al. 2016) and BQI (Leonardsson et al. 2015) have been recommended and extensively used to assess and monitor EQs (Riera et al. 2011;Sany et al. 2015;Tomassetti et al. 2016;Dimitriou et al. 2020). In the present study, three biotic indices (AMBI, BO2A and BENTIX) are used to assess EQs, allowing us to classify the GG harbours as having poor to good ecological status. ...
... Both of these south Mediterranean harbours are strongly affected by diverse anthropogenic pressures which mean these environments are subject to heavy metal and hydrocarbon pollution, as well as accumulation of excessive OM, the release of warm waters from power plants and the input of nutrients (Bellan et al. 1980;Dauvin et al. 2017). The relationships between biotic indices and environmental stressors of harbours ecosystems have been studied by many ecologists, who show a highly signi cant negative correlation between functional diversity, biotic indices and pollution proxies (i.e chemical pollutants, sediment contamination and plastic litter) (Cole et al. 2011;D'Alessandro et al. , 2020Dimitriou et al. 2020). In fact, the lower index values recorded by D'Alessandro et al. (2020) in Maltese harbours suggests a highly disturbed community, by virtue of a heterogeneously occupied functional space with a high level of pollution. ...
... The number of NIS recorded in Tunisia has been increasing during the last few decades. The massive introduction of new NIS could be related to certain economic activities such as marine tra c, sheries, aquaculture and tourism (Streftaris and Zenetos 2006; Ben Souissi et al. 2014; Ouni -Ben Amor et al. 2016).In terms of taxonomic composition, the structure of communities in GG harbours is similar to that observed in other harbours of the Mediterranean ecosystem, being dominated mainly by molluscs, crustaceans and polychaetesChatzinikolaou et al. 2018; Travizi et al. 2019;Dimitriou et al. 2020).The number of taxa(174)and abundance of macrobenthic communities observed in the GG harbours are relatively high compared to other Mediterranean harbours. For example, Chatzinikolaou et al (2018) indicated 33 species in Cagliari harbour (Italy) and 23 species at Heraklion (Greece). ...
This study from January to December 2018 was the first initiative of a Port Baseline Survey (PBS) aimed at assessing the impact of biological invasions in harbours of the Gulf of Gabès (GG). A total of 12 fishing and industrial harbours were seasonally prospected during 2018. A total of 174 macrobenthos taxa were recorded, belonging to eight zoological groups, with a dominance of crustaceans (32%), molluscs (31%) and polychaetes (20%). Among these taxa, 57 were Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) for Tunisian waters, while 27 species were recorded for the first time in GG harbours and three decapods ( Dyspanopeus sayi, Hippolyte prideauxiana and Pilumnus minutus ) and one amphipod ( Hamimaera hamigera ) were newly recorded from Tunisian waters. Two main categories of harbours are distinguished according to their macrobenthic communities and environmental features (essentially edaphic factors). The industrial harbours yield higher numbers of species and abundance of NIS than the fishing ports. The ALEX metric is used to evaluate the biological invasion status of the Gulf of Gabès harbours, showing that their status ranges from unaffected in fishing harbours to extremely affected in industrial harbours. Three biotic indices (AMBI, BO2A and BENTIX) are applied to assess the ecological status of harbours, which varies from moderate to good. ALEX and the other biotic indices are significantly correlated with harbour characteristics, maritime traffic and edaphic factors (organic matter and chemical contamination). The present study gives an overview of all available benthic data, the impact of biological invasions and the ecological quality status of harbours in the Gulf of Gabès. The results could be considered as providing important baseline data for the implementation of environmental policies and management plans in the future.
... Despite the importance of marinas as hotspots of environmental and biological pollution, knowledge about these novel ecosystems is still very scarce. Previous studies have evaluated the pollution pressure (Mali et al., 2017;Gómez et al., 2019;Guerra-García et al., 2021), but little effort has been put into proper characterization of their biological communities (Covazzi Harriague et al., 2012;Chatzinikolaou et al., 2018;Dimitriou et al., 2020). Faunistic information in marinas is mainly restricted to sessile communities and/or Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) (e.g. ...
... Meanwhile, studies on soft-bottom fauna in marinas are scarce (e. g. Chatzinikolaou et al., 2018;Dimitriou et al., 2020; Table S1) and generally limited when compared to other assemblages, such as the biofouling organisms which cause noticeable financial and ecological impacts (Ng et al., 2019 and references therein). The study of the soft bottom environment in marinas (usually corresponding to muddy sediments) is especially relevant since (i) it is the most widespread habitat there, (ii) it represents a more stable substrate for fauna than the floating structures above (which are temporally cleaned and often subjected to fluctuations in salinity and temperature), and (iii) sediments accumulate pollutants and provide more reliable information about environmental conditions than seawater, which only provides punctual information. ...
... The study of the soft bottom environment in marinas (usually corresponding to muddy sediments) is especially relevant since (i) it is the most widespread habitat there, (ii) it represents a more stable substrate for fauna than the floating structures above (which are temporally cleaned and often subjected to fluctuations in salinity and temperature), and (iii) sediments accumulate pollutants and provide more reliable information about environmental conditions than seawater, which only provides punctual information. Indeed, most of the monitoring programmes for quality assessment guidelines in marine habitats are focused on sediments (Birch, 2017(Birch, , 2018Dimitriou et al., 2020) and previous work (e.g Martínez-Lladó et al., 2007;Ondiviela et al., 2013) has already demonstrated that sediments constitute the main testimony of contaminant episodes in harbours. ...
The importance of marinas as infrastructures for recreational boating is increasing substantially. However, information on their soft-bottom benthic communities, a key tool for managing programmes, is still scarce. We combined environment features with macro- and meiofaunal soft-bottom community information for assessing the ecological status of marinas with an integrative approach. To address this issue, we focused on eight marinas of the Southern Iberian Peninsula. Macro- and meiofauna data revealed high benthic heterogeneity at a spatial scale. The environmental variables which correlated best with macrofauna were mainly phosphorus, granulometry, and total organic carbon, and secondarily important variables were faecal coliforms, the biocide Irgarol, and heavy metals; total hydrocarbon concentration was also significant for meiofauna. Annelida was the dominant phylum in terms of number of species (37%) and abundance (66%) and were better descriptors of the environmental conditions than Arthropoda and Mollusca. Although identification to the species level is desirable and mandatory for assessing biological pollution, significant differences among marinas and correlations between fauna and abiotic variables were already detected at the level of family and order. This implies that biota assessment at higher levels may still be useful in monitoring programmes limited by time and budget constraints. The major novelty of this study lies in the development of an integrative assessment method based on the following selected ecological indicators: Marinas Environmental Pollution Index (MEPI), Biocontamination Index (BCI), macrofaunal biotic indices (AMBI, M-AMBI, BENTIX, MEDOCC and BENFES), macrofaunal taxa richness and Shannon-Wiener’s diversity, and nematode:copepod index. This approach was able to discriminate marinas of the Southern Iberian Peninsula based on their ecological status, which ranged from poor to good. The method can be useful to design standards for assigning “sustainable quality seals” to those marinas with better values of ecological indicators.
... Similarly, the four different indices (M-AMBI, BENTIX, BQI, and BQI-Family) that were used for evaluating the ecological status of Heraklion port using soft bottom benthic biodiversity were all identified as suitable for this type of evaluation. Their application led to comparable results even across different countries and their results made it possible to propose the adaptation of the current port monitoring plans to specific guidelines [69]. Differences in the evaluation results when different indices are used can be attributed to the different species included in their calculations, especially when these species are highly abundant or particularly resistant to stress conditions [62]. ...
... For example, the AMBI index classified the Thessaloniki Port from "good" to "slightly polluted," while according to BENTIX it was "moderate to bad" or "moderately to heavily polluted" [61]. Similarly, M-AMBI, BQI, and BQI-Family indices classified the fishing/leisure and the passenger stations of the Port of Heraklion (South Aegean) as having a "good to high quality," while BENTIX classified them as "moderate to good quality" [69]. This difference between the two groups of indices, that is the latter index classifying benthic community quality one level lower than the other indices, seems to be constant at least for the Eastern Mediterranean, with AMBI showing a trend over a better ecological status [70]. ...
Soft bottom benthic communities are among the most important ecosystem components, since they affect biogeochemical cycling and they support the ecosystem’s integrity and health. Undoubtedly, they have earned their place in the current legislation on protection and conservation of biodiversity. However, the descriptors that have been incorporated in the legislation cannot describe sufficiently all the aspects of soft bottom benthic communities. In addition, despite their importance, there is a knowledge gap as far as investigations in the Aegean Sea are concerned. A combination of all the available tools will enhance future studies and provide an overall, high quality assessment of soft bottom benthic communities in the Aegean Sea.
... Disturbances such as human activities and natural factors can lead to changes in their habitats, which in turn leads to changes in the species composition of macrobenthic communities (Lee et al., 2006). Marine macrobenthos are thus widely used as ecological indicators to assess the health of marine ecosystems (Ni et al., 2019;Dimitriou et al., 2020;Dong et al., 2021). ...
Few studies have systematically assessed the ecological status of mangrove wetlands following the stress of anthropogenic activities in China. This study investigated the spatial and seasonal distribution of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and assessed the ecological quality of mangrove habitats on an island scale in Hainan, China (containing the third largest mangrove area of China and the highest mangrove species richness). For the benthic macrofauna community structure, a total of 102 macrobenthic taxa belonging to 50 families were identified, with Crustaceans, Molluscs, Polychaetes, and Oligochaeta having relative abundances of 52.3%, 36.1%, 10.8%, and 0.8%, respectively. Decapoda and Gastropoda dominated the benthic community abundance. Non-metric multidimensional scaling and an analysis of similarities revealed significantly different macroinvertebrate assemblages among the regions during the two seasons. The South mangroves had the lowest macrofauna species numbers, biodiversity, richness, and abundance. The macrofaunal species richness, Shannon index, Margalef index, abundance, and biomass markedly affected by region and season. As indicated by the biotic indices AMBI (AZTI’s Marine Biotic Index) and M-AMBI, more than half of the mangrove habitats on Hainan Island were slightly to heavily disturbed and had poor to moderate ecological quality. Our results recommend long-term monitoring for evaluating the quality status of mangrove wetlands and avoiding extensive land-use conversion of mangroves. Holistic approaches considering ecological characteristics and combining information on both floral and faunal functionality would contribute to the effective management and conservation of mangroves in disturbed areas.
... Despite the presence of high nutrients in the oligohaline and polymesohaline zones of Vashishti, the EcoQS was indicated as 'good' which might be due to relatively high occurrence of both tolerant and sensitive species compared to opportunistic forms. Reasons for the proliferation of sensitive groups like amphipods (80%) in this area could be attributed to multiplicity of food sources and possible resilience of species to low intensity pollution due to their functional characteristics (Okladen et al., 1984;Dimitriou et al., 2020). In case of Shastri, the aggregate EcoQS was 'good' owing to the presence of sensitive species (Astarte montagui) which were higher than the opportunistics. ...
Setting appropriate reference conditions (RCs) is critical for classifying the Ecological Quality Status (EcoQS) which is extremely challenging, considering the present-day estuaries. The EcoQS of three tropical estuaries was assessed by applying five different RCs to identify the best applicable method for the area. The AZTI's indices (AMBI and M-AMBI) categorised areas with sharper pollution gradient with ease, while classification of moderate-low polluted areas was ambiguous. Indices responded to chemical stressors more clearly in the impacted estuary compared to the less polluted estuaries. Ecological status assigned by the default RC (lowest AMBI and highest diversity and richness values) were more accurate than those obtained on application of other four types of RCs, owing to various estuarine constraints that are discussed herewith. Thus, prior to application, caution should be exercised while setting area-specific RCs. The inclusion of combination of AZTI's indices with professional judgment for successful appraisal of ecosystem is recommended.
... En este trabajo se evaluó la vulnerabilidad ecológica acumulada individual y conjunta de tres Objetos de Interés (OI) en aguas mexicanas del golfo de México y el mar Caribe: praderas de pastos marinos, macrofauna bentónica (organismos entre 0.5 y 50 mm de talla, que viven sobre el lecho marino o en los primeros 10 centímetros del fondo (Gray y Elliot, 2009) y tortugas marinas. Estos representan distintos niveles de organización biológica, extensiones espaciotemporales de su distribución y funciones ecológicas diferenciadas, con consecuentes contrastes en sus nichos ecológicos, todos ampliamente reconocidos como grupos de especies indicadoras (Bjorndal y Jackson, 2003;Frazier, 2005;Norling et al., 2007;Guannel et al., 2016;Roca et al., 2016, Dimitriou et al., 2020McLaverty et al., 2020). ...
La evaluación de la vulnerabilidad se ha convertido en una necesidad clave para
los sistemas sociales y ecológicos que enfrentan exposiciones cada vez mayores a
amenazas de origen diverso (e.g., eutrofización, acidificación, contaminación petroquímica). A partir de esta necesidad, han surgido varias propuestas metodológicas, de diversas disciplinas (e.g. geografía, ecología, sociología) que han propuesto
y probado aproximaciones conceptuales y numéricas con un objetivo principal: estimar la
probabilidad de que un sistema sufra daños debido a la exposición a un peligro por la presencia de una perturbación antrópica o estresor ambiental (Adger 2016) y evaluar el estado del sistema en términos de vulnerabilidad.
... En este trabajo se evaluó la vulnerabilidad ecológica acumulada individual y conjunta de tres Objetos de Interés (OI) en aguas mexicanas del golfo de México y el mar Caribe: praderas de pastos marinos, macrofauna bentónica (organismos entre 0.5 y 50 mm de talla, que viven sobre el lecho marino o en los primeros 10 centímetros del fondo (Gray y Elliot, 2009) y tortugas marinas. Estos representan distintos niveles de organización biológica, extensiones espaciotemporales de su distribución y funciones ecológicas diferenciadas, con consecuentes contrastes en sus nichos ecológicos, todos ampliamente reconocidos como grupos de especies indicadoras (Bjorndal y Jackson, 2003;Frazier, 2005;Norling et al., 2007;Guannel et al., 2016;Roca et al., 2016, Dimitriou et al., 2020McLaverty et al., 2020). ...
Las comunidades planctónicas en el ambiente marino son potenciales indicadores
que permiten evaluar el impacto de los hidrocarburos ante un derrame de petróleo.
Esto se debe a la relación intrínseca entre bacterias y microalgas ya que estos grupos
tienen un papel clave en los ciclos biogeoquímicos, en la productividad primaria y son la base de las redes tróficas (Lindh y Pinhassi, 2018; Shade et al., 2012; Zhu, Hong, Zada, Hu y Wang, 2018). Se conoce que la estructura y funcionamiento de las comunidades planctónicas cambia a lo largo del año (Niu et al., 2011; Salmerón-García, Zavala-
Hidalgo, Mateos-Jasso y Romero-Centeno, 2011), por lo tanto se considera que su vulnerabilidad podría ser variable.
... The percentage of opportunists in Cagliari was generally lower than in the other ports. Additional statistical analysis has been applied to the species composition matrices of the specific dataset by Chatzinikolaou et al. (2018) and Dimitriou et al. (2020) in order to explore the multivariate patterns of benthic assemblages and to calculate benthic diversity and biotic indices for the assessment of the ecological status of the habitats. A detailed comparison of macrobenthic biodiversity amongst the different locations -sectorsseasons indicated significant differences between ports and between sectors in each port, while seasonal differences were not apparent (Chatzinikolaou et al. 2018). ...
Mediterranean ports are sources of significant economic activity and at the same time they act as recipients of considerable anthropogenic disturbance and pollution. Polluted and low-in-oxygen sediments can negatively impact benthic biodiversity and favour recruitment of opportunistic or invasive species. Macrobenthic communities are an important component of the port biota and can be used as environmental quality indicators. However, a baseline database for benthic biodiversity in Mediterranean ports has not yet been widely established.
Macrobenthic assemblages were recorded in three Mediterranean touristic ports under the framework of the ENPI CBC MED project MAPMED (MAnagement of Port Areas in the MEDiterranean Sea Basin). Samples were collected from Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy), Heraklion (Crete, Greece) and El Kantaoui (Tunisia) ports during February, May and September 2012. The sampling stations were selected according to the different sectors within each port (i.e. leisure, fishing, passenger/cargo vessels and shipyard). A total of 277 taxa belonging to 12 phyla were found, of which the 96 taxa were present in all three ports. El Kantaoui port hosted the highest number of macrobenthic taxa. Mollusca were the most abundant group (34%) in all ports. The highest percentage of opportunistic taxa per station was found before the touristic period in the shipyard of Heraklion port (89.3%).
... Despite patchiness and environmental conditions of the lagoon, it was possible to detect a clear spatial and temporal Table 4 Species list of the number of individuals found in the North basin (station 1 and 2) at each sampling campaigns (1 = winter & 2 = summer) pattern due to lagoon morphology and natural variability. Seasonal variability in the water column as well as in soft bottom sediments was amply identified as in other research (Paerl et al., 2006;Dimitriou et al., 2020). This study demonstrated that biogeochemical characteristics as organic matter inputs are an important component of such intricated ecosystems. ...
Understanding how biotic indicators respond to natural variability is essential for the health state evaluation of the benthic ecosystems. This study analysed the composition and structure of the benthic communities in the coastal lagoon Stagno Longu of Posada (Sardinia) to investigate the seasonal response of the biological indicator M-AMBI. Multivariate analysis and biodiversity descriptors showed temporal (winter–summer) and spatial variability (across the three basins of the lagoon).
The ecological status (ES) of Stagno Longu was assessed using M-AMBI index: results mainly showed the lagoon to be in “good” and “moderate” status across seasons and basins, while “poor” status was recorded in the North basin during summer.
Despite the absence of direct human pressures, sediment organic content (OC) varied seasonally and spatially and M-AMBI revealed winter to summer shifts on the ES of 3 out of 6 sampling stations. Overall, this study reveals negative significative correlation on the variations on M-AMBI with the increase of sediment OC across the studied sites, none the less discrepancies on the ES of certain stations were detected causing over/ underestimation.
Results suggested that natural seasonal variability is a relevant factor to be considered while performing ES assessments and implementing monitoring programmes in Mediterranean transitional ecosystems when applying indicators such as M-AMBI.
... Consistently with our results, a negative impact on diversity of benthic prokaryotic assemblages with a reduction of species richness and changes in community structure has been extensively documented in chronic contaminations by petrogenic hydrocarbons (Orcutt et al., 2010;Acosta-González et al., 2015). Notably, a coordinated study of the three investigated Mediterranean ports also found the most heavily disturbed conditions in the sediments near the shipyard in Heraklion, as highlighted by the lowest species richness of the macrozoobenthic communities (Chatzinikolaou et al., 2018) and a "poor" ecological status ("unacceptable" under the WFD) based on benthic macrofaunal indices (Dimitriou et al., 2020). ...
Ports and marinas are central nodes in transport network and play a strategic role in coastal development. They receive pollution from land-based sources, marine traffic and port infrastructures on one side and constitute a potential pollution source for the adjacent coastal areas on the other. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of organic and inorganic co-contamination on the prokaryotic communities in sediments from three Mediterranean ports. The structure and composition of the bacterial and archaeal communities were assessed by targeted metagenomic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene, and the links of prokaryotic communities with environmental and pollution variables were investigated. The harbors presented pronounced site-specificity in the environmental properties and pollution status. Consistently, the structure of archaeal and bacterial communities in surface sediments exhibited a strong spatial variation among the three investigated ports. On the contrary, a wide overlap in composition of prokaryotic assemblages among sites was found, but local variation in the community composition and loss of prokaryotic diversity was highlighted in a heavily impacted port sector near a shipyard. We provided evidences that organic matter, metals and PAHs as well as temperature and salinity play a strong role in structuring benthic bacterial communities significantly contributing to the understanding of their responses to anthropogenic perturbations in marine coastal areas. Among metals, copper was recognized as strongly associated with the observed changes in bacterial assemblages. Overall, this study provides the first assessment of the effects exerted by multiple organic and inorganic contaminations on benthic prokaryotes in ports over a large spatial scale and designates bacterial community as a candidate tool for the monitoring of the sediment quality status in harbors.
... However, over large spatial scales characterised by strong environmental gradients, benthic species tend to change their autoecology and overall sensitivity to a particular environmental suit depending on their relative position along that gradient (Zettler et al., 2013). Even though macrobenthic alpha diversity indices are traditionally used in marine environmental assessment in the eastern Mediterranean on a local scale (Dimitriou et al., 2020;Moraitis et al., 2013;Tsikopoulou et al., 2018), it is unclear how macrobenthic beta diversity is partitioned in this heterogeneous region. The use of macrobenthic beta diversity partitioning is limited to small-scale coastal studies (Alsaffar et al., 2019;Piló et al., 2019) and several deep-see cases (Brault et al., 2013a(Brault et al., , 2013bStuart et al., 2017). ...
Coastal ecosystems provide essential services that contribute to various human needs and environmental stability. However, these ecosystems are increasingly threatened by human activities, which have altered over 25% of global coastal surfaces, impacting species distribution, community structure, and overall ecosystem functioning.
This thesis focuses on analysing coastal development by investigating the physical and ecological impact of coastal defence structures, with a particular emphasis on the materials used. This includes a global estimation of the abundance of artificial shorelines and examining the impact of substratum type on benthic colonization, diversity, morphology, as well as the composition and structure of benthic populations and communities. This investigation encompasses intertidal and subtidal areas in exposed zones, as well as floating structures within marinas, which are known for being non-indigenous species hotspots and having high ecological footprint. In the latter case, a special focus is placed on exotic species and the effects of enclosed water bodies within marinas, which are considerably altered.
Our findings indicate that the impact of artificial structures is highly significant, covering nearly 20% of the world's coastlines, and is concentrated in geographically sensitive areas like lagoons, estuaries, bays, islands, and regions with high population densities. These ecosystems are facing substantial human-induced pressures, necessitating their immediate prioritization for protection. Additionally, both substratum type and roughness play pivotal roles in shaping communities and populations, influencing factors such as sessile community structure, limpet population morphology, and the prevalence of exotic species. Although the ecological importance of substratum type may be relatively limited in comparison to other physicochemical, geographical, and ecological variables, our results underscore the necessity of considering substratum type in the sustainable management of artificial coastal ecosystems. In general, predicting the impact of a specific structure at the time of its construction remains a complex challenge, which complicates the establishment of global eco-engineering measures. As a result, the outcomes of this thesis provide valuable insights in this field of study, potentially serving as a resource for future research and the management of projects and initiatives aimed at ecological restoration and eco-engineering.
Coastal zones provide about 70% of the world’s ecosystem services. However, more than 25% of these habitats have been modified by human activity at both land and sea. At the intertidal eco-tonal zone, habitat modification is equally severe, as almost 20% of the world’s shoreline is now artificial. Coastal defense structures are more abundant in areas where the ecosystem richness, diversity and productivity are higher, such as coastal lagoons, estuaries and bays. As these degrad-ed areas are under high human pressure, their protection should be prioritized. Coastal infrastruc-ture, particularly those enclosing highly modified water bodies, such as ports and marinas, are hubs for pollution and human activities, such as trade and leisure. These have become a serious threat to marine coastal communities, due to habitat degradation and disease spread, and ecolog-ical-engineering interventions are now an imperative to integrate urban with nature and improve life and ecosystem quality for coastal settlements.
Pollution status and benthic ecological quality of the two types of ports were assessed based on heavy metals and macrofaunal assemblages. Macrofaunal abundance and biomass in the industrial port were significantly higher than those in the fishing port. The dominant species of the two ports were Echinocardium cordatum and Nephtys oligobranchia. The AZTI marine biotic index (AMBI), multivariate AMBI, and Shannon-Wiener diversity index demonstrated that the benthic ecological quality of the two ports was moderate to good. The benthic ecological quality of the distant port sites was better than those of the nearby port sites. The geoaccumulation index and the Hakanson potential ecological risk index indicated that mercury posed a serious threat to port sediment pollution. AMBI, multivariate AMBI, and Shannon-Wiener diversity index were not good indicators for heavy metal pollution. The dominant species and Pielou’s evenness index were significantly correlated with heavy metal pollution and were good biological indicators.
The Mediterranean Sea is one of the busiest areas worldwide in terms of maritime activity, facing considerable anthropogenic disturbance, such as pollution by hydrocarbons and heavy metals. The present study has evaluated the environmental and benthic biodiversity characteristics of three touristic ports, Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy), Heraklion (Crete, Greece) and El Kantaoui (Tunisia), based on the combined assessment of physical parameters, chemical variables (i.e. nutrients, pigments), sediment pollution and macrobenthic biodiversity. Different port sectors (leisure, fishing, passenger, cargo, shipyard) and different seasons (winter, before touristic period, after touristic period) were compared. Salinity and sediment concentration of copper and antimony were the three environmental parameters most highly correlated with benthic species composition and diversity. Both the environmental variables and the benthic biodiversity patterns were significantly different between the three ports (i.e. different geographical locations). Heraklion port was heavily polluted by AHs in surface and anoxic sediments and had the highest percentage of opportunistic species, while Cagliari had the highest levels of PAHs and UCM and low species richness. El Kantaoui port was less polluted and characterised by a richer biodiversity. The shipyard sector in Heraklion port was significantly different from all other sectors in terms of abiotic and biotic parameters. Physico-chemical and pollution variables recorded during the period after tourism (late summer) were significantly different from the ones recorded in winter. Seasonal differences were not significant between benthic species diversity patterns, but were revealed when the patterns derived from the aggregation of higher taxonomic levels were compared. The present study indicates that a regular-basis monitoring plan including evaluation of environmental health based on benthic biodiversity, can provide a basis for perceiving changes and reveal the degree of anthropogenic disturbance in port environments.
A large data set from the Eastern Mediterranean was analyzed to explore the relationship between seawater column variables and benthic community status. Our results showed a strong quantitative link between the seawater column variables (Chlorophyll a and Eutrophication Index) and various indicators describing benthic diversity and community composition. The percentage of benthic opportunistic species increased significantly in the stations with high trophic status of the seawater column and so did the strength of the coupling between values of seawater column and benthic indicators. The Eutrophication Index threshold level of 0.85, separating the " Bad and Poor " from " Moderate to High " conditions could serve as an acceptable critical value above which there is a readily observable change in benthic community composition.
A challenging aspect of benthic quality indices used for assessing the marine environment has been to compile reliable measures of the species' sensitivity to disturbances. Sensitivity values and their uncertainties can be calculated, but a problem to cope with is that the results may depend on the actual proportion of samples from disturbed and undisturbed environments. Here we calculated sensitivity values for each species along an artificial disturbance gradient created by bootstrapping varying numbers of samples from disturbed and undisturbed environments. The values were increasing, decreasing, or more or less constant along this gradient. The lowest value with the lowest uncertainty was adopted as the species sensitivity value. Analyses of the uncertainties indicated that the accuracy rather than the precision might be a concern. We suggest a method to exclude species for which the uncertainty is outside predefined limits as a precaution to reduce bias in the environmental status classification.
Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Macrobenthic communities are useful biological indicators for monitoring the health status of marine environments. In this context, biological indices have been widely developed based on macrobenthic communities in order to distinguish the ecological status of marine environments. In this study, results from several indices such as Shannon–Weiner, AZTI Marine Biotic Index, Multimetric AZTI Marine Biotic Index, and BENTIX were compared and evaluated. The effects of environmental factors on the benthic communities were also studied. Results from these indices revealed significant differences in ecological status between sampling stations, which were probably due to the different structures of benthic communities and their state successions. The results consistently emphasized the anthropogenic effects and natural variability caused by these variations in spatial scales.
A tested methodology is presented to assess the environmental status Sensu on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) based on the data obtained from the monitoring of water quality in the Hellenic coastal waters within the Water Framework Directive (WFD). A decision tree developed by Borja et al. (2004) for integrating WFD results was applied after some adaptations. Modifications were included to evaluate the physicochemical status based on the eutrophication index developed for the Eastern Mediterranean waters. Results regarding the hydromorphological, physicochemical and biological elements are presented. The chemical status was assessed based on the concentrations of the heavy metals in water. Evaluation of the biological quality was based on the use of metrics developed for the phytoplankton biomass, benthic macroinvertebrates and macroalgae updated to accommodate the MSFD needs. Results from the integrative status of the water bodies were validated by correlating the classification results with a pressure index and environmental indicators in the water column and sediment. Following this decision tree the majority of stations expected to be at risk for achieving the ‘good’ status were found in the ‘moderate’ status. The benthos was found to be the element showing the closest agreement with the integrated final status having an increased weightage in the decision tree. The benthos quality and, in some limited cases, the eutrophication index largely determined the final status. The highest disagreement with the integrative classification was revealed by the macroalgae. All the indicators used correlated with the water and sediment parameters, although the benthos correlated better with the sediment factors while the phytoplankton and eutrophication index correlated with the water column parameters.
A general scheme for approaching the objective of Ecological Quality Status (EcoQ) classification of zoobenthic marine ecosystems is presented. A system based on soft bottom benthic indicator species and related habitat types is suggested to be used for testing the typological definition of a given water body in the Mediterranean. Benthic indices including the Shannon-Wiener diversity index and the species richness are re-evaluated for use in classification. Ranges of values and of ecological quality categories are given for the diversity and species richness in different habitat types. A new biotic index (BENTIX) is proposed based on the relative percentages of three ecological groups of species grouped according to their sensitivity or tolerance to disturbance factors and weighted proportionately to obtain a formula rendering a five step numerical scale of ecological quality classification. Its advantage against former biotic indices lies in the fact that it reduces the number of the ecological groups involved which makes it simpler and easier in its use. The Bentix index proposed is tested and validated with data from Greek and western Mediterranean ecosystems and examples are presented. Indicator species associated with specific habitat types and pollution indicator species, scored according to their degree of tolerance to pollution, are listed in a table. The Bentix index is compared and evaluated against the indices of diversity and species richness for use in classification. The advantages of the BENTIX index as a classification tool for ECoQ include independence from habitat type, sample size and taxonomic effort, high discriminative power and simplicity in its use which make it a robust, simple and effective tool for application in the Mediterranean Sea.
Although the terms 'health' and 'healthy' are often applied to marine ecosystems and communicate information about holistic condition (e. g. as required by the Ecosystem Approach), their meaning is unclear. Ecosystems have been understood in various ways, from non-interacting populations of species to complex integrated systems. Health has been seen as a metaphor, an indicator that aggregates over system components, or a non-localized emergent system property. After a review, we define good ecosystem health as: 'the condition of a system that is self-maintaining, vigorous, resilient to externally imposed pressures, and able to sustain services to humans. It contains healthy organisms and populations, and adequate functional diversity and functional response diversity. All expected trophic levels are present and well interconnected, and there is good spatial connectivity amongst subsystems.' We equate this condition with good ecological or environmental status, e. g. as referred to by recent EU Directives. Resilience is central to health, but difficult to measure directly. Ecosystems under anthropogenic pressure are at risk of losing resilience, and thus of suffering regime shifts and loss of services. For monitoring whole ecosystems, we propose an approach based on 'trajectories in ecosystem state space', illustrated with time-series from the northwestern North Sea. Change is visualized as Euclidian distance from an arbitrary reference state. Variability about a trend in distance is used as a proxy for inverse resilience. We identify the need for institutional support for long time-series to underpin this approach, and for research to establish state space co-ordinates for systems in good health.
The spatial effects of 2 tuna farms on the benthic community were investigated in the Eastern Mediterranean during the fattening period. The impact on benthic fauna was assessed in the vicinity of the fish farms (beneath and at various distances from the cages) using a variety of benthic indicators used for the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). There was a general consensus that most of the samples (95%) were acceptable, i.e. of ‘good’ or ‘high’ ecological status. The biotic indices were also compared between 2 different mesh sizes, total (resulting from the sum of the fractions of 1 and 0.5 mm mesh fractions) and 1 mm mesh, in order to assess the variability of the results. The indicators showed the same pattern between the 2 different sieve mesh sizes. The variability in the ecological status assigned by each indicator was also examined among the replicates taken from each station. Our results showed that one replicate is not sufficient for monitoring purposes and we suggest obtaining more replicates, while using indicators requiring less taxonomic effort for sample processing. Neither fish farms had a significant impact on benthic communities, due mainly to the exposed nature of the study site
Assessing benthic quality status of marine and transitional water habitats requires to set up both: (i) tools (i.e. indices) to assess the relative quality of the considered habitat, and (ii) reference conditions for which such indices can be computed and used to infer the absolute ecological status (ES) of the considered habitat. The development of indices, their comparison and the assessment of the causes of their discrepancies have been largely discussed but less attention has been paid to the methods used for the setting of adequate reference conditions, although this step is clearly crucial for the sound assessment of ES. This contribution reviews the approaches available in setting both reference conditions (pristine areas, hindcasting, modelling and best professional judgment) and targets (baseline set in the past, current baseline and directional/trends). We scored the use of pristine or minimally impacted conditions as the best single method; however, the other methods were judged as adequate then combined with best professional judgment. The case of multivariate AMBI (AZTI's Marine Biotic Index) is used to highlight the importance of setting correct reference conditions. Hence, data from 29 references, including 14 countries from Europe and North America, and both coastal (15 cases) and transitional (17 cases) waters, have been used to study the response of multivariate AMBI to human pressures. Results show that the inability of this index to detect human pressure is in most cases linked with the use of inappropriate methods for setting reference conditions.
A data set of 625 samples of benthic macroinvertebrates collected from the Hellenic Seas (Ionian and Aegean) was used to estab-lish thresholds and reference standards for two of the indicators addressing the descriptors of Sea-floor Integrity under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD): species diversity and richness and the ratio of sensitive species to tolerant species. The dataset was categorised according to the baseline ecological status assessment of the respective water bodies under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Species diversity and richness were characterised using the Shannon diversity and species richness indices, respectively, and were analysed for three pre-defined substrate types, three depth zones and three sample-size categories, and the significant categories were statistically validated. Good Environmental Status (GEnS) threshold and reference values were established for the valid combinations of categories denoted as 'ecotypes' through the use of a boxplot and an analysis of variance. The limitations and specifications for an overall GEnS assessment using the above indices are highlighted based on the WFD experience. For the ratio of sensitive species to tolerant species, the BENTIX index classification scale is proposed for GEnS assessment, and an integrated approach to the assessment of diversity and species richness is suggested. Finally, the regionality of the tested indices in relation to the two Mediterranean sub-regions, including the Hellenic area, was tested.
Cited By (since 1996): 1, Export Date: 16 July 2012, Source: Scopus
An analysis of the contents and conclusions of the papers contained in this issue (Hydrobiologia Volume xxx) suggests that a new vision is taking shape that may correspond to an emerging new paradigm in the way we understand
and manage coastal eutrophication. This new paradigm emphasizes its global dimension and the connections with other global
environmental pressures, and re-evaluates the targets of remedial actions and policies. Eutrophication research must evolve
toward a more integrative, ecosystem perspective which requires that it be extended to include impacts beyond primary producers
and to examine possible cascading effects and feedbacks involving other components of the ecosystem. A quantitative framework
that incorporates the interacting top-down and bottom-up effects in eutrophication models must be urgently developed to guide
diagnostics and establish targets to mitigate coastal eutrophication. The required macroscopic view must also be extended
to the managerial and policy frameworks addressing eutrophication, through the development of policies that examine activities
in the environment in an integrative, rather than sectorial, manner. Recent evidence of complex responses of coastal ecosystems
to nutrient reduction requires that management targets, and the policies that support them, be reconsidered to recognize the
complexities of the responses of coastal ecosystems to reduced nutrient inputs, including non-linear responses and associated
thresholds. While a predictive framework for the complex trajectories of coastal ecosystems subject to changes in nutrient
inputs is being developed, the assessment of managerial actions should be reconsidered to focus on the consideration of the
status achieved as the outcome of nutrient reduction plans against that possibly derived from a ‘do nothing’ scenario. A proper
assessment of eutrophication and the efforts to mitigate it also requires that eutrophication be considered as a component
of global change, in addressing both its causes and its consequences, and that the feedbacks between other components of global
change (e.g., climate change, overfishing, altered biogeochemical cycles, etc.) be explicitly considered in designing eutrophication
research and in managing the problem.
The chemical and physical (water content) changes in sediment profiles beneath and around fish farm cages were investigated on a seasonal basis in Cephalonia Bay, Greece, a relatively enclosed marine area with weak currents and silty substrate. The surface concentrations and the vertical distribution of the sedimentary variables studied (organic matter, organic carbon/nitrogen, chlorophyll, phaeopigments, water content and total phosphorus) varied substantially with distance from the cages and with season. The black-coloured top layer (farm sediment) showed high concentrations of organic matter, phaeopigments and total phosphorus as well as high water content while the compact subsurface layer had concentrations close to (or lower than) those at the control site. The thickness of the farm sediment layer under the cages varied with season, while in all seasons it decreased rapidly with increasing distance from the cages.
A large data set of marine benthic samples from the Eastern Mediterranean was used to develop Benthic Quality Index (BQI)-family, a new indicator based on the BQI index, which was calibrated by maximizing the consensus with other existing indicators namely BQI, Shannon diversity H’, AZTI Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) and BENTIX. The values calculated for the BQI-family indicator are significantly and highly correlated (p < 0.0001) to those calculated for all the aforementioned indicators and it provides judgment on ecological status close to their average. Furthermore, it combines the strong points of all these methods with the increased reliability, speed and low cost of the identification at higher taxonomic levels.
In recent times many benthic indices have been proposed to assess the ecological quality of marine waters worldwide. In this study we compared single metrics and multi-metric methods to assess coastal and transitional benthic status along human pressure gradients in five distinct environments across Europe: Varna bay and lake (Bulgaria), Lesina lagoon (Italy), Mondego estuary (Portugal), Basque coast (Spain) and Oslofjord (Norway). Hence, 13 single metrics (abundance, number of taxa, and several diversity and sensitivity indices) and eight of the most common indices used within the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) for benthic assessment were selected: index of size spectra (ISS), Benthic assessment tool (BAT), Norwegian quality index (NQI), Multivariate AMBI (M-AMBI), Benthic quality index (BQI), (Benthic ecosystem quality index (BEQI), Benthic index based on taxonomic sufficiency (BITS), and infaunal quality index (IQI). Within each system, sampling sites were ordered in an increasing pressure gradient according to a preliminary classification based on professional judgement. The different indices are largely consistent in their response to pressure gradient, except in some particular cases (i.e. BITS, in all cases, or ISS when a low number of individuals is present). Inconsistencies between indicator responses were most pronounced in transitional waters (i.e. IQI, BEQI), highlighting the difficulties of the generic application of indicators to all marine, estuarine and lagoonal environments. However, some of the single (i.e. ecological groups approach, diversity, richness) and multi-metric methods (i.e. BAT, M-AMBI, NQI) were able to detect such gradients both in transitional and coastal environments, being these multi-metric methods more consistent in the detection than single indices. This study highlights the importance of survey design and good reference conditions for some indicators. The agreement observed between different methodologies and their ability to detect quality trends across distinct environments constitutes a promising result for the implementation of the WFD's monitoring plans. Moreover, these results have management implications, regarding the dangers of misclassification, uncertainty in the assessment, use of conflicting indices, and testing and validation of indices.
This contribution presents a method for assessing the risk of water degradation in harbour domains. The method describes a normalized Index of Risk, ranging from 0 to 1, which determines the risk of water degradation due to a pollution event. A branch-decision scheme of decision-making theories was implemented in order to obtain this index. This method evaluates the cost of each decision as a function of the vulnerability, proximity and toxicity of the potential contaminant. A novel feature of this method is that the risk is defined by considering the physical behaviour of the harbour (i.e. water circulation patterns). Regions where water residence time is high are considered more vulnerable to pollutant releases. This method could be implemented from an operational perspective, in which case an oceanographic operational system could be used to obtain current forecasts which in turn would be used to forecast risk maps.
Marin, V., Moreno, M., Vassallo, P., Vezzulli, L., and Fabiano, M. 2008. Development of a multistep indicator-based approach (MIBA) for the assessment of environmental quality of harbours. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 1436–1441.
Environmental pollution in harbours can have detrimental effects on the port, its users, and the surrounding environment. Despite these risks, the Italian legal framework for marine environmental quality does not apply to harbours and marinas, so monitoring is not mandatory. With the aim of supporting environmentally sound management, we propose an indicator-based protocol to assess the environmental quality of harbours through the development of a flexible and site-specific multistep indicator-based approach (MIBA), which gives special consideration to local features. MIBA comprises three steps: (1) development of a simple tool for harbour-specific identification of vulnerable areas and for designing monitoring schemes; (2) selection of suitable environmental quality indicators of different levels of complexity and applicability to the typologies of risks involved; and (3) development of a user-friendly interpretation scheme based on categorical risk values and a visualization code. The approach has been tested in two case studies in marinas located in the Ligurian Sea (Italy).
Eutrophication and chemical pollution are typical threats to the ecosystem of the Gulf of Finland. This paper aims to make a comprehensive assessment of the environmental status of coastal habitats in the easternmost Gulf of Finland (Neva River estuary) by using different physical, chemical and biotic variables to find cost-effective indicators for further monitoring. During summers of 2014 and 2015 we measured water salinity, phosphorus (eutrophication marker), biomass of harmful filamentous macroalgae (coastline hypoxia inductor), sediment hazardous substances (trace metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and other concomitant characters at 12 sites in the gulf. Also, we analyzed responses of the phytoplankton and benthic organisms, including metal-tolerant and hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria, meio- and macrofauna, to these factors. We compared the indicative sensitivity and efficiency of several well-known biotic indices and methods, including a Saprobity system (basing on phytoplankton), Raffaelli and Mason index (meiobenthos), and two macrobenthic derived indices (Goodnight-Whitley Index and Benthic Quality Index). Also, we applied a new index – the embryo malformation frequency in benthic amphipods. To estimate the level of bottom hypoxia induced by the macroalgae blooms, we measured the algal cover and thickness of the algal mats. To verify our assessment, we tested correlations between all used variables. Biotic communities of these areas are subjected to high phosphorus and macroalgae blooms, toxic pollution, water salinity and other factors. We concluded that environmental state of coastal habitats at several southern sites (in Koporskaya Bay and near the developing port Bronka) and near port Primorsk in the north was bad, while the state of the rest of sites was moderate or good. The integrated approach for the assessment may be recommended for monitoring programs as an important tool for studying human-mediated and other effects on brackishwater coastal environments.
Environmental data produced throughout monitoring activities in the framework of the implementation of Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) in Eastern Mediterranean (Greece) were used to assess the sensitivity and response of ecological indices against trace metals, eutrophication and multiple stress factors. The applied ecological indices include multi-metric eutrophication indices, a physicochemical status index applied for the first time in the Greek marine area, benthic indices, phytoplankton biomass index, and integrated status indices assessed through the application of the decision tree integration scheme. To investigate the exceedances in the eco-stoichiometric relationship between nutrients, considered a stressing factor, all physicochemical elements influenced directly or indirectly by eutrophication, such as nutrient concentrations, water transparency, oxygen saturation, particulates concentration, and sediment organic content, were related to ecological indices. Also, chemical contaminant stress factors represented by heavy metal concentrations in the water, as well as multiple stress factors represented by a pressure index, were related to ecological indices. A graphical visualization multivariate tool and statistical correlations were used to evaluate the sensitivity or explanatory power of the tested ecological indices against single and multiple stress factors. Results showed a strong response of all ecological indices to stress factors, although a diversification of sensitivity was evident. Primary production-related indices, i.e., macroalgae and chlorophyll-_a_ indices, are more sensitive to particulates and nitrogen, while secondary production-related indices, i.e., benthic macroinvertebrates indices and eutrophication indices, including nutrients, are more sensitive to phosphates in the water column. The macroalgae index shows the strongest sensitivity to multiple stress factors. Among metals, mostly cadmium seems to match all indices’ performance. Nutrient relationships were shown as critical to eutrophication and ecological status.
While observed seasonal variability in benthic O2 fluxes is consistent with observed variability in organic carbon rain rates, the amplitude of the seasonal benthic flux signal is strongly damped by the presence of organic matter which degrades too slowly to produce seasonal signals. For most pelagic sediments, bioturbation is not rapid enough to bury the most labile fraction of the organic carbon rain significantly before it is degraded; thus, seasonal variability in pore water O2 and nutrient profiles is unlikeley. -from Authors
In this paper an identification and selection of Environmental Performance Indicators (EPIs) in port areas has been conducted. A comprehensive inventory of existing EPIs in use in the seaport sector has been identified for monitoring performance of operational (e.g. dust, noise, dredging, and waste), managerial (e.g. certification, compliance, and complaints) and environmental condition (e.g. air, water, sediment and ecosystems). These indicators have been filtered against specific criteria and have been assessed and evaluated by port stakeholders in order to obtain a final set of indicators suitable to be implemented at EU level. A user friendly tool has been developed specifically to assist port authorities in calculating and reporting the proposed indicators. This study has drawn on major research projects to blend academic research with input from marine professionals in order to identify, select, evaluate and validate EPIs that are acceptable and feasible to the sector, and practicable in their application and implementation.
The intercalibration exercise is an important step in the building process of the surface water ecological quality assessment, which is required by the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Its aim is to apply the water quality classification in a uniform manner to all the Member States belonging to the same eco-region. Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia and Spain participated in the soft-bottom benthic invertebrate subgroup for the Mediterranean coastal region. The methodologies proposed by Member States were applied and tested; the results were compared and harmonized to establish agreed and comparable boundaries for the benthic invertebrate ecological status classes. The national methods used in the intercalibration process were: for Cyprus and Greece, the Bentix Index; for Slovenia, a combination of AZTI Marine Biotic Index (AMBI), richness and diversity with the use of factor and discriminant analysis (Multimetric AMBI); for Spain, a new index, named MEDOCC, which is an adaptation of the AMBI index to the Western Mediterranean area. Italy and France tested different methods, none of which have been officially adopted. Final class boundary values for the different official classification systems were obtained and compared. Besides describing methods and results obtained by the different countries, the Italian situation is examined in more detail. All the above methods have been applied to Italian data, but the results were not conclusive. Major causes for concern are related to insufficient sites and data, to the lack of real non-impacted reference sites, and to the difficulties in validating the ecological status classification in sites not showing a pollution gradient.
This paper considers the use of rank sums from a combined ranking of k independent samples in order to decide which populations differ. Such a procedure is suggested as a convenient alternative to making separate rankings for each pair of samples, and the two methods are compared. Asymptotic use of the normal tables is given and the treatment of ties is discussed. A numerical example is given.
The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) and the St. Lucie Estuary (SLE), both located in Florida, USA, are affected by a variety of anthropogenic pressures. Benthic macroinvertebrates have been monitored quarterly since February 2005, at 15 stations, in order to assess benthic health. Since the SLE and IRL are situated in a subtropical area, it is affected by two major climatic seasons, dry (winter) and wet (summer). This contribution investigates the application of the AZTI's Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) and multivariate-AMBI (M-AMBI), to assess the ecological status of these estuaries. AMBI was firstly calculated after assigning most of the previously unassigned species to each of the five ecological groups (from sensitive to first order opportunistic species). Three main benthic assemblages, associated to oligohaline, meso-polyhaline and euhaline stretches, have been identified within the area. Reference conditions of richness, Shannon's diversity and AMBI have been derived for these assemblages; M-AMBI has then been calculated. Both methods show that the inner part of the SLE is affected by anthropogenic pressures (increased freshwater inflow, with elevated nutrient input, and sedimentation), whilst the IRL is less affected. We have demonstrated that AMBI and M-AMBI are insensitive to the dramatic seasonal changes occurring in the SLE/IRL. At some of the stations a significant positive trend in benthic quality has been identified, linked to the polluted freshwater discharges decrease. The use of both tools seems adequate in assessing benthic health in this subtropical area.
Environmental effects of enlargement works in Puerto Calero (Lanzarote, Canary Islands) were analysed
in the sediments using abiotic variables (total hydrocarbons, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, organic matter
and granulometry) and three biotic indexes (AMBI, M-AMBI and BENTIX). A before–after/control–
impact (BACI) design was developed with four sampling campaigns, before (November 2004), during
(March and July 2005) and after (July 2006) works. Inner stations were characterised by high concentrationsof pollutants (total hydrocarbons and polyaromatic hydrocarbons). A temporal trend (2004–2006) was observed in macrofaunal assemblage structure, and thus in AMBI, M-AMBI and BENTIX indexes.
Macrobenthic assemblages also mirrored the pollution gradient, with bioindicator species in inner stations
(the polychaete Pseudopolydora paucibranchiata and the mollusc Abra alba), sensitive species (the sipunculid Aspidosiphon muelleri, the crustacean Pariambus typicus and the polychaete Aponuphis bilineata) in outer stations and ubiquitous species (the polychaetes Aricidea assimilis and Armandia polyophthalma) in both stations (inner and outer).
The interest in benthic indicators for soft-bottom marine communities has dramatically increased after a rather long period of relative stagnation due to the need for new tools to assess the status of marine waters, called for by the Clean Water Act and the Water Framework Directive. Our expertise on benthic communities has permitted us to gather a vast amount of data from diverse water bodies under unpolluted and polluted conditions (e.g., accidental oil spill, sewage, long-term anthropogenic estuarine constraints) in tidal estuaries, harbours, and on the coastal shelf from Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. We compared the results of four biotic indices on the various available datasets: Shannon-Wiener H′ diversity, AMBI and BO2A, which divide the species into Ecological Groups, and ITI, which divides the species into trophic groups, and the agreement of Best Professional Judgement (BPJ) on the assessment of ecological conditions. Benthic indicators as “sentinel species”, which is a particular species that by its presence or its relative abundance warns of possible unbalances in the surrounding environment or distortions in community functions, was also tested. Indicators, BPJ and opportunist sentinel species gave similar ECoQS for the different sampling sites. We discuss the use of Biological Indicators as ‘objective’ or ‘subjective’ alternatives for assessing soft-bottom communities, and propose to employ simple methods such as BPJ and taxonomy sufficiency in such diagnostic approaches.
Aromatic components of oil, particularly polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are generally assumed to be the toxic fraction of spilled petroleum. We evaluated this assumption by analyzing the chemistry and toxicity of water accommodated fractions (WAFs) prepared from three environmentally weathered middle distillate oils differing in aromatic content. Oil toxicity was determined in short-term growth and survival tests with the mysid shrimp, Mysidopsis bahia. Median lethal concentrations (LC50s) ranged from 0.9 to 1.5 mg l−1 total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), and growth-inhibiting concentrations (EC20s) ranged from 0.13 to 1.1 mg l−1 TPH. Toxicity of the three oils expressed as μg l−1 ∑PAH (sum of 40 PAH analytes; parent and alkyl homologues) ranged from 2.2 to 9.2 μg l−1 (LC50s) and from 0.32 to 5.7 μg l−1 (EC20s). The test oil with the lowest aromatic content, expressed as either μg l−1 PAH or μg l−1 naphthalenes in WAF had the greatest toxicity. The test oil WAF with the lowest total PAH concentration also had the lowest concentrations of single PAH analytes measured at concentrations greater than the detection limit. The results of this study demonstrated that low aromatic content oil can be highly toxic and that PAHs were not the major determinant of the toxicity of the three weathered middle distillate oils.
In this paper, a marine Biotic Index (BI) for soft-bottom benthos of European estuarine and coastal environments is proposed. This is derived from the proportions of individual abundance in five ecological groups, which are related to the degree of sensitivity/tolerance to an environmental stress gradient. The main difference with previously published indices is the use of a simple formula that produces a continuous Biotic Coefficient (BC) – which makes it more suitable for statistical analysis, in opposition with previous discreet biotic indices – not affected by subjectivity. Relationships between this coefficient and a complementary BI with several environmental variables are discussed. Finally, a validation of the proposed index is made with data from systems affected by recent human disturbances, showing that different anthropogenic changes in the environment can be detected through the use of this BI.
A previously presented objective method to calculate each species sensitivity to disturbance is here slightly modified and implemented in the Benthic Quality Index (BQI) for marine benthic invertebrates. A framework for assessment of water bodies based on multi-site BQI-values is also presented, where a certain variation of BQI-values is allowed to cover the heterogeneity within each water body. The 20th percentile, using bootstrapping, from the available sites’ BQI-values is compared with the status boundaries for quality assessment. The reliability of the assessment depends on the background information available for the boundary setting as well as the number of sampling sites included in the assessment. Agreement between time series of quality assessments in areas with known changes in anthropogenic disturbances is encouraging. Problems associated with water body assessment based on few or no samples, as well as multiple sampling occasions during the 6-yr WFD cycle are discussed.
Conventional harbours, provided with only one entrance and devoid of channels, are enclosed areas with low water renewal, high sedimentation rate and high concentrations of pollutants in sediments; the soft bottom communities are characterised by low species richness and low values of the diversity and evenness indexes. The harbour of Ceuta, North Africa, presents an unusual structure since it is provided with two opposing entrances and a channel, which increase the water renewal across the middle of the harbour. These unusual characteristics turn the harbour of Ceuta into an adequate locality to test its environmental implications on macrofaunal assemblages. In the present study, the spatial distribution of mollusc community associated with soft bottoms was studied in relation to the influence of environmental factors on the harbour of Ceuta and nearby areas, North Africa. Twenty-one stations (15 inside and six outside the harbour) were sampled and 26 variables were measured in the sediment of each station: depth, %sand, organic matter, lipids, P, N, Al, As, B, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, S, Sr, Zn. The special configuration of Ceuta harbour created a great variability in sediment characteristics and environmental measures depending on the stations and, due to this heterogeneity, the mollusc species richness in the sediments inside the harbour (45 species) was higher than in conventional harbours. The multivariate approach based on MDS analysis was much more sensitive than univariate techniques to detect differences between internal and external stations of the harbour of Ceuta. The percentage of sand was the main factor to affect the distribution of the mollusc assemblages according to the BIO-ENV procedure and the CCA. SIMPER showed that the bivalves Parvicardium exiguum, Ervilia castanea, Spisula subtruncata and Digitaria digitata were the species that most contributed to the dissimilarity between internal and external stations; P. exiguum, S. subtruncata and D. digitata were more abundant in the internal stations whereas E. castanea was more abundant in the external stations. The bivalves P. exiguum, Abra alba and Corbula gibba and the opistobranch Retusa obtusa dominated in the most enclosed stations inside the harbour where sediments contained very high values of organic matter, lipids, and heavy metals. The data of the present study might assist in the building of new harbours in the future.
We examined the effects of anthropogenic and climatic perturbations on nutrient-phytoplankton interactions and eutrophication in the waters of the largest estuarine systems in the U.S.A., the Chesapeake Bay (CB), Maryland/Virginia, and the Neuse River Estuary/Pamlico Sound (NRE/PS) system, North Carolina. Both systems have experienced large post-World War 11 increases in nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loading, and nutrient reductions have been initiated to alleviate symptoms of eutrophication. However, ecosystem-level effects of these nutrient reductions are strongly affected by hydrologic variability, including severe droughts and a recent increase in Atlantic hurricane activity. Phytoplankton community responses to these hydrologic perturbations, including storm surges and floods, were examined and when possible, compared for these systems. In both systems, the resulting variability in water residence time strongly influenced seasonal and longer-term patterns of phytoplankton biomass and community composition. Fast-growing diatoms were favored during years of high discharge and short residence time in CB, whereas this effect was not observed during high discharge conditions in the longer residence time NRE/PS. In the NRE/PS, all phytoplankton groups except summer cyanobacterial populations showed decreased abundance during elevated flow years when compared to low flow years. Although hurricanes affected the CB less frequently than the NRE/PS, they nonetheless influenced floral composition in both systems. Seasonally, hydrologic perturbations, including droughts, floods, and storm-related deep mixing events, overwhelmed nutrient controls on floral composition. This underscores the difficulty in predicting seasonal and longer-term phytoplankton production and compositional responses to nutrient input reductions aimed at controlling eutrophication of large estuarine ecosystems.
Through implementing environmental Directives, Europe has moved towards coordinated and integrated catchment-to-coast management, following the most novel legislation on ecosystem-based approaches worldwide. The novel joint synthesis of this direction reviewed here allows us to regard the Water Framework Directive (WFD) as a 'deconstructing structural approach' whereas the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) is a 'holistic functional approach', i.e. the WFD has split the ecosystem into several biological quality elements, then it compares the structure of these (such as species complement) individually before combining them and attempting to determine the overall condition. In contrast the MSFD concentrates on the set of 11 descriptors which together summarize the way in which the whole system functions. We emphasize that both Directives are frameworks on which many other directives are linked but that they need to be fully and seamlessly integrated to give a land to open sea system of assessment and management. Hence, by taking account of the experience gained in the WFD implementation, together with that from regional sea conventions, such as OSPAR (North East Atlantic) or HELCOM (Baltic Sea), we propose in this contribution an integrative approach for the environmental status assessment, within the MSFD.
This work evaluates four indices that have been used for benthic macroinvertebrate ecological quality classification in the Mediterranean Sea. Our study was based on the data obtained from the participation of Greece and Cyprus in the Mediterranean Geographical Intercalibration group. The indices AMBI, M-AMBI, MEDOCC and BENTIX were applied to the available benthic species data, and the succession of the ecological groups along the graded values of each index was plotted. The level of agreement among methods was calculated, and the performance of each method in estimating ecological quality status was evaluated. AMBI, based on the Atlantic model, and its derivative M-AMBI overestimated the statuses, while MEDOCC showed the best level of agreement with BENTIX. BENTIX gives equal weight to tolerant and opportunistic species groups, which correlates them more closely than the other indices and makes BENTIX the most sensitive in detecting ecological disturbances in the Eastern Mediterranean basin, where tolerant and opportunistic groups seem to play an equally important role in the response of benthic communities to stressors.
Chemical and toxicological characterization of unresolved complex mixtures in the water-soluble fraction of an artificially weathered Norwegian Sea crude oil was determined by a combination of chemical analysis and toxicity testing in fish in vitro bioassays. The water-soluble fraction of the crude oil was separated into 14 increasingly polar fractions by preparative high-pressure liquid chromatography. The in vitro toxicity (7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase activity, estrogenicity, and metabolic inhibition) of these fractions was characterized in a primary culture of liver cells (hepatocytes) from rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The main contributor to toxicity was one of the most polar fractions, accounting gravimetrically for more than 70% of the organic material in the water-soluble fraction and dominated by an unresolved complex mixture. Chemical analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-time of flight-mass spectrometry identified a large number of cyclic and aromatic sulfoxide compounds and low amounts of benzothiophenes (<0.1% of total mass) in this fraction. Commonly monitored toxic components of crude oil (e.g., naphthalenes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and alkylated phenols) eluted in less polar fractions, characterized by somewhat lower toxicity. Normalization of in vitro responses to the mass in each fraction demonstrated a more even distribution of toxicity, indicating that toxicity in the individual fractions was related to the amount of material present. Although polar and nonpolar compounds contribute additively to crude oil toxicity, the water-soluble fraction was dominated by polar compounds because of their high aqueous solubility and the high oil-water loading. Under these conditions, the polar unresolved complex mixture-rich fraction might account for a large portion of crude oil toxicity because of its high abundance in the water-soluble fraction.
Often when various estuarine benthic indices disagree in their assessments of benthic condition, they are reflecting different aspects of benthic condition. We describe a process to screen indices for associations and, after identifying candidate metrics, evaluate metrics individually against the indices. We utilize radar plots as a multi-metric visualization tool, and conditional probability plots and receiver operating characteristic curves to evaluate associations seen in the plots. We investigated differences in two indices, the US EPA Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program's benthic index for the Virginian Province and the New York Harbor benthic index of biotic integrity using data collected in New York Harbor and evaluated overall agreement of the indices and associations between each index and measures of habitat and sediment contamination. The indices agreed in approximately 78% of the cases. The New York Harbor benthic index of biotic integrity showed stronger associations with sediment metal contamination and grain size.
The aim of this study is to develop a new method for classification of marine benthic quality according to the European Union Water Framework Directive. Tolerance values to environmental disturbance were determined in an objective analysis for benthic species along the Swedish west coast by using 4676 samples from 257 stations. Based on a combination of the species tolerance values, abundance and diversity, a benthic quality index (BQI) was calculated for the assessment of environmental status at a particular station. The qualification of BQI was evaluated in relation to known spatial and temporal gradients of disturbance.