Search results for "Intertidal zone"
showing 10 items of 52 documents
Cool barnacles: Do common biogenic structures enhance or retard rates of deterioration of intertidal rocks and concrete?
2017
Sedentary and mobile organisms grow profusely on hard substrates within the coastal zone and contribute to the deterioration of coastal engineering structures and the geomorphic evolution of rocky shores by both enhancing and retarding weathering and erosion. There is a lack of quantitative evidence for the direction and magnitude of these effects. This study assesses the influence of globally-abundant intertidal organisms, barnacles, by measuring the response of limestone, granite and marine-grade concrete colonised with varying percentage covers of Chthamalus spp. under simulated, temperate intertidal conditions. Temperature regimes at 5 and 10 mm below the surface of each material demons…
The impact of climate change on Mediterranean intertidal communities: losses in coastal ecosystem integrity and services
2014
As has been shown for other ecosystems, the ecological and socio-economic impacts of climate change on Mediterranean intertidal habitats are highly variable in space and time. We conducted field and laboratory measurements of cellular, ecophysiological and behavioural responses of selected intertidal invertebrates (mussels, gastropods and sponges) and completed a literature review to determine what is known of socioeconomic consequences of these biological changes. Results suggest significant gaps in our knowledge that may impede a complete understanding of likely impacts (physical, biological, and socioeconomic) and that sufficient data for such an analysis is available only for mussels. A…
Assessing vermetid reefs as indicators of past sea levels in the Mediterranean
2020
Abstract The endemic Mediterranean reef building vermetid gastropods Dendropoma petraeum complex (Dendropoma spp) and Vermetus triquetrus develop bio-constructions (rims) on rocky shorelines at about Mean Sea Level (MSL) and are therefore commonly used as relative sea-level (RSL) markers. In this study, we use elevations and age data of vermetid reefs to (1) re-assess the vertical uncertainties of these biological RSL indicators, and (2) evaluate the vertical growth rates along a Mediterranean east-west transect, in attempt to explain the differences found in both growth rates and uncertainties. In Israel, Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) and laser measurements relative to the …
Contribution of planktonic and benthic food sources to the diet of the reef-forming vermetid gastropod Dendropoma petraeum in the western Mediterrane…
2012
Abstract In the Mediterranean Sea, the vermetid Dendropoma petraeum (Monterosato, 1884) forms highly biodiverse reefs that have received increasing attention in recent years although very little is known about the food habit of this species. The main goal of this study was to describe the trophic role of planktonic and benthic food sources for D. petraeum . Specimens from three morphological zones of the reef (inner edge, cuvette and outer edge) at two sites with different wave exposure along the north-western coast of Sicily (Italy; western Mediterranean) were compared for δ 13 C and δ 15 N. Isotopic determinations were also carried out on potential food sources identified in epilithon, re…
First record of Pachygrapsus transversus (Gibbes, 1850) (Brachyura, Grapsidae) in Italian waters
2005
[Pachygrapsus transversus (Gibbes, 1850) is reported for the first time from Italian waters. This crab was collected at Ustica Island and at several other localities on NW Sicily (southern Tyrrhenian Sea) on vermetid reefs, an intertidal habitat frequent in the sampling area. P. transversus, whose distributional range covers the warm and warm-temperate areas of the eastern and western Atlantic and the eastern Pacific, was already known from the eastern Mediterranean since the 1920s; prior to this paper it was recorded in the western Mediterranean only in 1980 and 1994 with very few specimens.There are no data to ascertain the origin of the Sicilian population, i.e., natural or ship-mediated…
Unmanned aerial vehicle technology to assess the state of threatened biogenic formations: The vermetid reefs of mediterranean intertidal rocky coasts
2021
Abstract Vermetid bioconstructions are biogenic formations, built by sessile gastropod molluscs belonging to the family Vermetidae worldwide distributed, occurring in the intertidal and upper subtidal in the rocky shores. In the Mediterranean basin, they occur in complex and tridimensional structures that enhance the local biodiversity, allowing to qualify the structuring species as ecosystem engineers. Due to their ecological relevance and considerable extension along the coasts, we assessed their structural complexity using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology, as tool of littoral cartography analysis of these bioconstructions, and plaster hemispheres dissolution as a descriptor index…
Isotopes Trace Biogeochemistry and Sources of Cu and Zn in an intertidal soil
2013
River floodplain soils are sinks and potential sources for toxic trace metals like Cu and Zn. We hypothesize that stable Cu and Zn isotope ratios reflect both the mobilization and the sources of metals. We determined the soil properties, the concentrations and partitioning of Cu and Zn, and variations in δ65Cu and δ66Zn values in a core obtained from an Aquic Udifluvent developed on a freshwater intertidal mudflat of the River Elbe, Germany. The core was sampled at 2 cm intervals to a depth of 34 cm, which corresponds to approximately 9 yr of sedimentation. Elevated concentrations of Cu (up to 320 μg g−1) and Zn (up to 2080 μg g−1) indicated anthropogenic pollution. At the time of sampling …
Role of peat organic matter on isotopic composition of most abundant benthic organisms in intertidal habitats of SW Iceland
2008
The transfer of peat organic matter (OM) from tidal pools of upper littoral to downstream rocky shores and its potential incorporation into marine biota were investigated using the stable isotope approach. Samplings were carried out in September 2004 in two SW Icelandic sites (Osar and Hvassahraun), where we selected (1) areas with shores where grass gently declined towards rocks and, on reaching the sea line, formed small tidal peat pools and (2) areas where grass and rocky shores were not contiguous, rather the grass lower limits were several hundreds of meters back from the shore. In both grass and no grass areas, in the intertidal zone, all benthic organisms and all potential OM sources…
Sources of organic matter for inter-tidal consumers in Ascophyllum-shores (Sw Iceland): a multi stable isotope approach.
2007
Stable isotopes were used to examine the origin of organic matter in Icelandic Ascophyllum-based habitats, the role of different organic matters in filling intertidal food webs and the food preferences of the most abundant suspension feeders, grazers and predators. We selected three intertidal sites on the SW coast of Iceland where we sampled in early September 2004, organic matter sources (POM, SOM and most abundant primary producers, A. nodosum and F. vesciculosus) and the most abundant macrofauna species (barnacles, mussels, gastropods, sponge and crabs). Even though the primary production (Ascophyllum-based) was the same at the three study sites, the isotopic composition of common-among…
Temporal Distribution of Gastropods In Rocky Intertidal Area In North Manokwari, West Papua
2019
Gastropods is an important organism that commonly found inhabiting the rocky intertidal area. Distribution pattern of this species is influenced by various factors such as population history, microhabitat, predation and a complex interactions between oceanographic dynamics and ecological features. This study aims to compare the temporal distribution pattern of gastropods at two different rocky intertidal area. This research was conducted at the rocky intertidal area of Amban and Nuni, North Manokwari District, West Papua. Data collection was performed during the daylight and night in April and June 2012 using systematic sampling method. The results showed that both physical and chemical fac…