Application of biotic and taxonomic distinctness indices in assessing the Ecological Quality Status of two coastal lakes: Caprolace and Fogliano lakes (Central Italy)

Prato, Susanna; Morgana, J.G.; Valle, Paola La; Finoia, María Grazia; Lattanzi, Loretta; Nicoletti, L.; Ardizzone, G.D.; Izzo, G.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2008.06.004

Cited by 65 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 80 publications

(119 reference statements)

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“…Thus, the use of taxonomic distinctness as an indicator of human impacts should be treated with caution and only as a complementary assessment tool in monitoring programs. Furthermore, this approach is not helpful in assessing the EcoQ status of systems according to the WFD (Salas et al, 2006;Prato et al, 2009).…”

Section: Diversity Indicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of Italian research on free-living marine nematodes and the future perspectives on their use as Ecological Indicators (EcoInds)

Semprucci¹,

Losi²,

Moreno³

2015

Medit. Mar. Sci.

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The use of free-living marine nematodes as ecological indicators (EcoInds) of human impacts has increased greatly in Italy since 1990. This paper is a summary of the Italian research experience in the study of nematode assemblages of shallow water habitats, and provides a breakdown of the most important insights that have been obtained so far. Although nematodes are among the best candidates for the Ecological Quality (EcoQ) assessment in the benthic domain, many guidelines need to be developed and limits overcome. Italian research has certainly contributed to the achievement of this purpose with highly focused local investigations on the effects of specific stressors (riverine and sewage discharge, aquaculture, trace elements and hydrocarbons), but also to a large extent with wider analyses aimed at finding new and valuable tools for monitoring programs and useful nematode descriptors, in line with the European Directives. Currently, the Italian and foreign experiences in this field draw light to the fact that the best nematode descriptors for the EcoQ assessment are the taxonomic composition and life strategy traits. However, nematode worldwide research is running the risk of being marginalized because of the relatively narrow scope of most contemporary studies. Nematode researchers should work in a nematologist community in order to better promote the use of nematodes such as EcoInds in the era of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). In the present paper, possible steps to obtain this goal are brought to the reader's attention and discussed.

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Section: Diversity Indicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of Italian research on free-living marine nematodes and the future perspectives on their use as Ecological Indicators (EcoInds)

Semprucci¹,

Losi²,

Moreno³

2015

Medit. Mar. Sci.

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“…It is 2.26 km 2 wide, with an average depth of 1.3 m (2.9 m maximum). In order to reduce pollutant load, watercourses bearing agriculture land drainage inputs were deviated in the late 70's (Prato et al, 2009). The salinity of the basin system consequently often exceeds 40 during the summer.…”

Section: Sampling Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ontogenetic and environmental effects on otolith shape variability in three Mediterranean European eel (Anguilla anguilla, L.) local stocks

Capoccioni

Costa²,

Aguzzi

et al. 2011

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

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Otolith morphology is an efficient tool for the discrimination of fish stocks, populations and species when comparative genetic data are not available. Currently, the relationship between environmental factors and otolith shape is poorly characterized for the European eel (Anguilla anguilla), a highly migratory catadromous species constituting a single, randomly mating stock. The present study analyses the differences in otolith morphology between three Mediterranean eel local stocks from different environmental contexts (i.e. two brackish lagoons and one river). The relationship between otolith shape and otolith size was studied by means of Elliptic Fourier analysis and multivariate statistics. Otolith profile was digitally acquired and Cartesian coordinates were extracted. Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis pointed to continuous allometric growth in size and shape in otoliths from all three sites. In the three environments, shape variations occurred during growth as indicated by the presence of a significant and positive relationship between otolith size and the first PLS latent vector (i.e. which bears most of the information regarding otolith outline). Differences between smaller and larger sized otoliths were investigated using PLS Discriminant Analysis (PLSDA) and cluster analysis. Results indicate that otolith shape is highly uniform at smaller than at larger sizes. These shape differences apparently overlap the initial differentiation of the small otolith outlines acquired by eels during the growing phase as elvers in the marine environment. Data were discussed considering that the physical and chemical habitat variability in brackish lagoons and river could underlie a marked change in otolith shape during the animals' growth.

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“…If the value is lower than expected, then the site is regarded as having experienced a genuine loss of diversity that is likely to be due to environmental stress or human disturbance. This property would enable the establishment of reference conditions even in regions entirely impacted to some degree and that lack appropriate reference sites (Prato et al, 2009;Xu et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can excluding non-insect taxa from stream macroinvertebrate surveys enhance the sensitivity of taxonomic distinctness indices to human disturbance?

Jiang

Song

Xiong

et al. 2014

Ecological Indicators

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Application of biotic and taxonomic distinctness indices in assessing the Ecological Quality Status of two coastal lakes: Caprolace and Fogliano lakes (Central Italy)

Cited by 65 publications

References 80 publications

A review of Italian research on free-living marine nematodes and the future perspectives on their use as Ecological Indicators (EcoInds)

A review of Italian research on free-living marine nematodes and the future perspectives on their use as Ecological Indicators (EcoInds)

Ontogenetic and environmental effects on otolith shape variability in three Mediterranean European eel (Anguilla anguilla, L.) local stocks

Can excluding non-insect taxa from stream macroinvertebrate surveys enhance the sensitivity of taxonomic distinctness indices to human disturbance?

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