Sediment biogeochemical differences in two pristine Mediterranean coastal lagoons (in Italy) characterized by different phanerogam dominance-a comparative approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT1. The aim of this study was to investigate functional differences in two Italian coastal lagoons (Caprolace and Fogliano, Tyrrhenian Sea) characterized by the dominance of two different seagrass species: Cymodocea nodosa (Ucria) Ascherson in the Caprolace lagoon and Ruppia cirrhosa (Petagna) Grande in the Fogliano lagoon.2. A monitoring system was set up in both lagoons in order to (i) map the distribution of macrophytes, (ii) measure spatio-temporal changes in the biological parameters of the seagrasses, and (iii) measure spatiotemporal changes in biological and chemical-physical parameters in the water column and sediments.3. The results showed that the relationships between macrophytes and aquatic and sediment compartments entail functional differences described by buffering systems that counteract the accumulation of free sulphide.4. This study also suggests that R. cirrhosa and C. nodosa are indicators of different levels of ecological stability.

Environmental Variability and Macrophyte Assemblages in Coastal Lagoon Types of Western Greece (Mediterranean Sea)

“…In the lagoon Type III, characterized by high salinity values induced by low freshwater inflows and high influence of the sea water, C. nodosa can dominate or can be a competitor of R. cirrhosa [70]. The abundance of C. nodosa observed from summer to autumn is one of the highest among other Mediterranean lagoons [24,71].…”

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

“…http://aforo.cmima.csic.es; Lombarte et al, 2006). The specimens collected in the river Tiber are exposed to more homeostatic environmental conditions than those of the two lagoons examined, which are instead exposed to marked daily and seasonal salinity variations (Fabbrocini et al, 2008;Signorini et al, 2008). Salinity is one of the main factors characterizing the ecological niche of Anguilla and hence conditions its growth rate (Sadler, 1979;Cairns et al, 2009;Lamson et al, 2009;Sinha and Jones, 1975).…”

Species-specific response to sulfide intrusion in native and exotic Mediterranean seagrasses under stress

“…appear to be tolerant to sulfides, as increase in pore water sulfides following sucrose additions did not affect leaf growth of C. nodosa (Terrados et al, 1999) or C. rotundata (Halun et al, 2002). Similarly, AVS pools were two-fold higher at 80% cover of the seabed from C. nodosa meadow compared to areas with only 5% coverage (Signorini et al, 2008), suggesting that increasing shoot density of C. nodosa increase sulfur pools of the sediments as found for Z. marina, which is quite similar in morphology to C. nodosa (Holmer and Nielsen, 1997) and has high sulfide tolerance (Holmer and Hasler-Sheetal 2014). C. nodosa may be as tolerant as Z. marina to sulfide intrusion by having efficient detoxification mechanisms in the plant , which may also explain the lack of direct relationship between sulfide intrusion and biogeochemical conditions at the study sites.…”