Assessing the ecological status of Italian lagoons using a biomass-based index

Michele Mistri; Angel Borja; Ida Floriana Aleffi; Claudio Lardicci; Davide Tagliapietra; Cristina Munari

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.09.048

Assessing the ecological status of Italian lagoons using a biomass-based index

Mar Pollut Bull. 2018 Jan:126:600-605. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.09.048. Epub 2017 Oct 21.

Authors

Michele Mistri¹, Angel Borja², Ida Floriana Aleffi³, Claudio Lardicci⁴, Davide Tagliapietra⁵, Cristina Munari⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Via Fossato di Mortara 17, 44121 Ferrara, Italy. Electronic address: msm@unife.it.
² AZTI-Tecnalia, Marine Research Division, Herrera Kaia, Portualdea s/n, 20110 Pasaia, Spain.
³ ARPA FVG, Osservatorio Alto Adriatico, Via La Marmora 13, 34139 Trieste, Italy.
⁴ Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via Derna 1, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
⁵ CNR-ISMAR, Arsenale di Venezia, Tesa 104, 30122 Venezia, Italy.
⁶ Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Via Fossato di Mortara 17, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.

PMID: 29066263
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.09.048

Abstract

We compared the performance of abundance- and biomass-based M-AMBI in the 13 major Italian lagoons, using a benthic dataset constituted by 208 sampling sites. The relative importance of ecological groups changed when using abundance or biomass, sometimes leading to an improved ecological status classification. Being biomass more ecologically relevant than abundance, the adoption of a biomass-based index may better describe the ecological status of lagoons, where the community is naturally disturbed and dominated by tolerant and opportunist species.

Keywords: Abundance; Biomass; Lagoons; M-AMBI; Mediterranean Sea.

MeSH terms

Animals
Biomass*
Environmental Monitoring / methods*
Estuaries
Italy