0000000001001097
AUTHOR
Cristina Gambi
Nematode community response to fish-farm impact in the western Mediterranean.
A previous investigation on fish-farm biodeposition effects on benthos, carried out in the Gaeta Gulf (northwestern Mediterranean Sea), revealed a strong impact on meiofaunal assemblages. This study implements these findings by examining in detail the nematode assemblage and its response to organic enrichment from the start of a fish farm activity to the conclusion of the fish rearing cycle. Density, community structure and individual size were utilised for univariate (genus, trophic diversity and abundance patterns) and multivariate analyses (MDS) in order to identify the best descriptors of impact and the response of the nematode assemblages. Nematodes displayed significantly reduced dens…
Influence of artificial reefs on the surrounding infauna: Analysis of meiofauna
We adopted a bottom-up approach in studying the effect of two artificial reefs in contrasting environmental conditions (sandy-mud and meso-eutrophic in the Adriatic Sea versus coarse sands and oligotrophic in the Tyrrhenian Sea) on the surrounding environment by assessing changes in the meiofauna. The spatial distribution of meiofaunal assemblages was established along a transect running from within each reef to well outside its direct sphere of influence, along with information on the trophic conditions of sediments (chloropigments, proteins, carbohydrates and total organic matter). Although total densities were significantly higher in the Adriatic than in the Tyrrhenian, the meiofauna dis…