Search results for "beach-cast"
showing 4 items of 4 documents
Small-scale patches of detritus as habitat for invertebrates within a Zostera noltei meadow
2021
Abstract Seagrass detritus can attract numerous invertebrates as it provides food and substrate within the meadow or in adjacent environments. Nonetheless, several factors could modify the invertebrate response to this habitat. In this study, we tested if epifaunal colonisation of Zostera noltei detritus was related to substrate availability rather than food and whether colonising assemblages were similar according to the meadow structural complexity. Litterbags filled with natural or artificial detritus were deployed within an eelgrass meadow in a Mediterranean coastal lagoon (Thau lagoon, France). Colonisation appeared to be driven by the presence of detritus, with similar assemblages in …
Seasonal dynamics of Posidonia oceanica beach-cast wracks in a Sicilian beach: an overlooked system for carbon dynamics
2019
Seagrass detritus accumulates along the coasts forming beach-cast wracks. Being subject to environmental gradients and hydrodynamism, the size and composition of beach-cast wracks may vary in space and time. Also the composition may vary depending on both proximities to and productivity of the adjacent seagrass meadows. Despite their dynamic nature, seagrass beach-casts provide important ecosystem services, by contributing to the nutrient and carbon flow between marine and terrestrial systems, supporting beach biodiversity and trophic webs and protecting the coastline from erosion. However, the knowledge about beach-cast dynamics, ecological role and functions is still fragmented and deserv…
The use of very high resolution images for the estimation of Posidonia oceanica beach-cast morphology
2019
Posidonia oceanica is an endemic Mediterranean seagrass that forms wide and dense meadows from the surface to depths of about 40 m. During fall and winter, due to aging and storms, leaves and rhizomes break away from the seagrass meadows and accumulate on the shores (from a few centimeters in the water to several meters inshore) forming conspicuous beach-casts of P. oceanica detritus. These structures have received increasing attention in the last decade for the potential ecosystem services they provide in protecting the coast from erosion, linking marine and terrestrial food chains and contributing to carbon and nutrients fluxes. However, seagrass beach-cast morphology is not easy to estim…
Dataset from: Small-scale patches of detritus as habitat for invertebrates within a Zostera noltei meadow
2021
This dataset is related to "Small-scale patches of detritus as habitat for invertebrates within a Zostera noltei meadow" (Valentina Costa, Renato Chemello, Davide Iaciofano, Sabrina Lo Brutto, Francesca Rossi)