Small creeks in a big lagoon: The importance of marginal habitats for fish populations

Cavraro, Francesco; Zucchetta, Matteo; Malavasi, Stefano; Franzoi, Piero

doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2016.11.045

Cited by 18 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Most of these canals hosted traditional fish-farming activities but at present are abandoned and partly renaturalized, hosting, in some cases, high fish abundances (Cavraro, Zucchetta, Malavasi, & Franzoi, 2017 show different structural characteristics and tidal regimes that influence the water transparency, the primary productivity, and the predation pressure (Cavraro, et al, 2014;.…”

Section: Males Of This Species (Figure 1) Show Bright Thin White Vertmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Venice lagoon, it is found in the intertidal creeks crossing salt marshes, but also in artificial small‐sized canals that can be found in some islands of the Venice lagoon (Cavraro, Daouti, Leonardos, Torricelli, & Malavasi, ; Cavraro, Torricelli, Franzoi, & Malavasi, ). Most of these canals hosted traditional fish‐farming activities but at present are abandoned and partly renaturalized, hosting, in some cases, high fish abundances (Cavraro, Zucchetta, Malavasi, & Franzoi, ). The artificial creeks can be divided into two main categories: open systems, directly connected with lagoon waters, and closed systems, isolated from lagoon circulation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Habitat constraints on carotenoid‐based coloration in a small euryhaline teleost

Cavraro

Gheno

Ganzerla

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Display of bright and striking color patterns is a widespread way of communication in many animal species. Carotenoid‐based coloration accounts for most of the bright yellow, orange, and red displays in invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds, being widely considered a signal of individual health. This type of coloration is under the influence of several factors, such as sexual selection, predator pressure, pigment availability, and light transmission. Fish offer numerous examples of visual communication by means of color patterns. We used a small cyprinodontid fish, Aphanius fasciatus (Valenciennes, 1821), as a model species to assess habitat constraints on the color display in male caudal fin. Populations from natural and open/closed artificial habitats were tested for differences in the pigmentation of caudal fins. The most important factors explaining the intensity of coloration were the habitat type and the chlorophyll concentration in the sediment, followed by water turbidity; yellow fins were observed in natural habitats with low chlorophyll concentration and high water turbidity, while orange fins occurred in artificial habitats with high chlorophyll concentration and low turbidity. Furthermore, A. fasciatus in artificial habitats showed a higher somatic and a lower reproductive allotment with respect to natural habitats, according to the existing literature on the species. Furthermore, in closed artificial habitats, where the most intense reddish coloration of caudal fins was observed, a trade‐off between somatic growth and the coloration intensity of a carotenoid‐based sexual ornament has been observed; in these populations, intensity of caudal fin coloration was negatively related to the somatic allotment. Results of this study suggested how both the pigmentation of male's caudal fin and the life history strategies of the species are constrained by habitat characteristics.

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Section: Males Of This Species (Figure 1) Show Bright Thin White Vertmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat constraints on carotenoid‐based coloration in a small euryhaline teleost

Cavraro

Gheno

Ganzerla

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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“…In particular, this approach identifies a pool of species that best explains the expected assemblage shifts under changing environmental conditions. Overall, the ecological and trophic structure of such assemblage largely corresponds to the typical nekton community composition found in the inner areas of the Venice lagoon and other Mediterranean transitional water ecosystems [11,69,90,98].…”

Section: Predicting the Expected Nekton Changes After Salinity Reductionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…Other species protected at the European level, namely Aphanius fasciatus and Knipowitschia panizzae, could in turn be limited to areas that are less influenced by the salinity gradient, or gather in habitats different from saltmarsh edges, such as creeks. Small saltmarsh channels are often preferred by small estuarine resident species, by providing better shelter and higher food availability [80,90]. Overall, this emphasises the importance of preserving habitat diversity, even in a scenario of beneficial restoration, as already pointed out for the Venice lagoon by Cavraro et al [90] and Scapin et al [36,70].…”

Section: Implications For Management and Conservationmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…The primary effect on nekton fauna of reducing salinity in the lagoon area investigated would be an overall increase in total assemblage biomass compared to the current conditions, mostly due to the increase in biomass of five species. Among them, the solely resident Pomatoschistus canestrinii and the marine estuarine-dependent Platichthys flesus and Chelon ramada are known to prefer low-salinity, saltmarsh-dominated areas in the inner portions of the Venice lagoon, which they use as recruitment and feeding grounds and, for P. canestrinii, as elective reproductive habitats [80,87,90]. Also the estuarine residents Atherina boyeri and Palaemon elegans, widespread species that can tolerate a wide range of salinity levels in transitional water habitats [7,69], contributed to the expected increase in nekton biomass.…”

Section: Predicting the Expected Nekton Changes After Salinity Reductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Expected Shifts in Nekton Community Following Salinity Reduction: Insights into Restoration and Management of Transitional Water Habitats

Scapin

Zucchetta

Bonometto

et al. 2019

Water

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A restoration project is planned to take place in the northern Venice lagoon (northern Adriatic Sea, Italy), aiming at introducing freshwater into a confined shallow water lagoon area and recreating transitional water habitats. This work describes the shifts in the nekton (fish and decapods) community structure to be expected following the future salinity decrease in the restoration area. Nekton was sampled at a series of natural shallow water sites located along salinity gradients in the Venice lagoon. A multivariate GLM approach was followed in order to predict species biomass under the salinity and environmental conditions expected after restoration. Biomass of commercially important species, as well as species of conservation interest, is predicted to increase following salinity reduction and habitat changes. From a functional perspective, an increase in biomass of hyperbenthivores-zooplanctivores, hyperbenthivores-piscivores and detritivores is also expected. This study emphasises the efficacy of a predictive approach for both ecological restoration and ecosystem management in transitional waters. By providing scenarios of community structure, the outcomes of this work could be employed in future evaluations of restoration success in the Venice lagoon, as well as to develop management tools to forecast the effects of alterations of salinity regimes in coastal lagoons due to climate change.

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A comparative analysis of habitat quality between artificial and natural creeks in the Mediterranean killifish Aphanius fasciatus: Implications for conservation

Cavraro

Giada

Rossato

et al. 2021

Aquatic Conservation

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In transitional water ecosystems, habitat loss is one of the major threats to fish biodiversity. This is particularly true in the case of temperate salt marshes. Good quality artificial novel habitats may compensate for the loss of natural habitats, acting as a refuge for fish populations. The aim of this study was to use coloured ornamental traits exhibited by the males of a small lagoon‐resident fish, the Mediterranean killifish Aphanius fasciatus (Valenciennes, 1821), to assess habitat quality in both the natural and artificial creeks of the Venice lagoon. The conspicuousness of two secondary sexual traits, the yellow/orange caudal fin pigmentation and the contrast between white and dark vertical bars on body sides, proved to be greater in artificial habitats compared to natural salt marshes, highlighting the refuge function of artificial creeks. The use of secondary sexual traits could be extended to other fish species and to other aquatic habitats as a non‐invasive approach. This would allow the identification of good quality habitats in the context of fish population management and conservation.

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Small creeks in a big lagoon: The importance of marginal habitats for fish populations

Cited by 18 publications

References 52 publications

Habitat constraints on carotenoid‐based coloration in a small euryhaline teleost

Habitat constraints on carotenoid‐based coloration in a small euryhaline teleost

Expected Shifts in Nekton Community Following Salinity Reduction: Insights into Restoration and Management of Transitional Water Habitats

A comparative analysis of habitat quality between artificial and natural creeks in the Mediterranean killifish Aphanius fasciatus: Implications for conservation

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