Changes in Macrozoobenthos Community after Aquatic Plant Restoration in the Northern Venice Lagoon (IT)

Federica Oselladore, Valentina Bernarello, Federica Cacciatore, Michele Cornello, Rossella Boscolo Brusà, Adriano Sfriso and Andrea Bonometto
Additional contact information
Federica Oselladore: Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Brondolo No. 5, 30015 Chioggia, VE, Italy
Valentina Bernarello: Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Brondolo No. 5, 30015 Chioggia, VE, Italy
Federica Cacciatore: Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Brondolo No. 5, 30015 Chioggia, VE, Italy
Michele Cornello: Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Brondolo No. 5, 30015 Chioggia, VE, Italy
Rossella Boscolo Brusà: Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Brondolo No. 5, 30015 Chioggia, VE, Italy
Adriano Sfriso: Centre for Estuarine, Coastal and Marine Sciences (CEMAS), Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30170 Mestre, VE, Italy
Andrea Bonometto: Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Brondolo No. 5, 30015 Chioggia, VE, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 8, 1-14

Abstract: Responses of the macrozoobenthic community to an ecological restoration activity in the northern Venice lagoon were studied, within the scope of the project LIFE SEagrass RESTOration aimed at recreating aquatic phanerogam meadows largely reduced in recent decades. Transplants were successful in almost all project areas. Macrozoobenthos was sampled in eight stations before (2014) and after (2015, 2016, 2017) transplanting activities. An increase in abundance and fluctuations in richness and univariate ecological indices (Shannon’s, Margalef’s, Pielou’s indices) resulted during the years. Comparing non-vegetated and vegetated samples in 2017, every index except Pielou’s increased in the latter. Multivariate analysis (hierarchical cluster analysis, MDS, PERMDISP, SIMPER) grouped samples by localization rather than years, with differences between stations due to the abundance of common species. In 2017, results were also grouped by the presence or absence of aquatic plants, with differences in the abundance of grazer and filter-feeding species. Results of ecological index M-AMBI depicted conditions from moderate to good ecological status (sensu Dir.2000/60/EC) with similar fluctuations, as presented by univariate indices from 2014 to 2017. Responses of the macrozoobenthic community were more evident when comparing vegetated and non-vegetated samples, with the vegetated areas sustaining communities with greater abundance and diversity than non-vegetated samples, thus demonstrating the supporting function of aquatic plants to benthic communities.

Keywords: benthos; transitional waters; ecological indicators; phanerogam transplantation; M-AMBI; LIFE programme (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/8/4838/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/8/4838/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:8:p:4838-:d:795189

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().