Characterization of Intertidal Macrofaunal Communities of Two Sandy Beaches under Different Anthropogenic Pressures

Abstract

The macrofauna in the intertidal zone of sandy beaches provides the trophic connectivity between land and sea, by linking microbiome, meiofauna, and megafauna, representing a food source for several terrestrial animals, including shorebirds and mammals. However, the macrozoobenthos in urbanised beaches is subjected to intense disturbances, such as breakwater barriers and tourism, which limit or impede the energy transfer from the marine to the terrestrial habitats. Because the information about diversity and abundance of the macrozoobenthos of the intertidal zone on the Mediterranean sandy coasts is scant, the main objective of this study is to increase the knowledge on the macrofauna living in this habitat and to identify taxa sensitive to cumulative human-induced stresses. To achieve this purpose, the structure and dynamics of macrozoobenthic communities from (1) a highly frequented beach characterized by breakwater barriers and (2) a marine protected area (MPA) in the Adriatic Sea were compared. The hypotheses that macrofauna composition and abundance changed in the two sites and over time were tested. Results highlighted that the macrozoobenthos in the MPA is mainly dominated by juvenile bivalves, which peaked from autumn to winter, and to a lesser extent by ostracods and mysids. Conversely, ostracods and the bivalve Lentidium mediterraneum (O. G. Costa, 1830) are particularly abundant in the highly disturbed beach, while the gastropod Tritia neritea (Linnaeus, 1758) increased only during summer. A possible combined effect of breakwater barriers and intense trampling has been theorized to explain the main differences between the two sites especially in the summer.

Environmental Conflicts with Tourist Beach Uses along the Northeastern Vietnam Coast

“…However, tourism is 1 of the 10 critical anthropogenic pressures on sandy beaches (Afghan et al , 2020; Camillo et al , 2022; Martínez et al , 2015; Nel et al , 2014). The massive increase in tourism on beaches has contributed to the gradual degradation of these ecosystems.…”

Estructura Del Macrobentos en La Playa Urbana De Panamá Viejo.

“…La estructuración de la comunidad de macrofauna intermareal de playas arenosas está físicamente controlada o biológicamente acomodada, de acuerdo a las características del ecosistema (Sanders, 1968) por lo que variables hidrodinámicas, morfodinámicas y sedimentológicas, tienen un efecto importante sobre la riqueza de especies de estas zonas (Rodil y Lastra, 2022), además de estos factores, en las playas urbanas hay influencia importante de las actividades generadas por los visitantes y factores físicos imperantes en la zona como lo es el efecto de las luces de la ciudad (Orlando et al, 2020), las cuales pueden incidir sobre los estadios larvales de algunas especies (Tidau et al, 2023), igualmente, se dan variaciones relacionadas con la distribución espacial y temporal de los organismos (Bhadja et al, 2014). El efecto de la presión humana sobre los organismos bentónicos trastoca la transferencia de energía entre los diferentes componentes del ecosistema costero (Di Camillo et al, 2022).…”