Benthic communities in three Mediterranean touristic ports: MAPMED project

Eva Chatzinikolaou; Panagiotis Damianidis; Christina Pavloudi; Aikaterini Vasileiadou; Sarah Faulwetter; Kleoniki Keklikoglou; Wanda Plaitis; Dimitra Mavraki; Stamatina Nikolopoulou; Christos Arvanitidis

doi:10.3897/BDJ.9.e66420

Benthic communities in three Mediterranean touristic ports: MAPMED project

Biodivers Data J. 2021 Apr 26:9:e66420. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.9.e66420. eCollection 2021.

Affiliations

¹ Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture (IMBBC), Heraklion, Crete, Greece Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture (IMBBC) Heraklion, Crete Greece.
² Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Greece.
³ Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Institute of Oceanography, Athens, Greece Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Institute of Oceanography Athens Greece.
⁴ Biology Department, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece Biology Department, University of Crete Heraklion, Crete Greece.
⁵ LifeWatch ERIC, Seville, Spain LifeWatch ERIC Seville Spain.

Abstract

Background: Mediterranean ports are sources of significant economic activity and at the same time they act as recipients of considerable anthropogenic disturbance and pollution. Polluted and low-in-oxygen sediments can negatively impact benthic biodiversity and favour recruitment of opportunistic or invasive species. Macrobenthic communities are an important component of the port biota and can be used as environmental quality indicators. However, a baseline database for benthic biodiversity in Mediterranean ports has not yet been widely established.

New information: Macrobenthic assemblages were recorded in three Mediterranean touristic ports under the framework of the ENPI CBC MED project MAPMED (MAnagement of Port Areas in the MEDiterranean Sea Basin). Samples were collected from Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy), Heraklion (Crete, Greece) and El Kantaoui (Tunisia) ports during February, May and September 2012. The sampling stations were selected according to the different sectors within each port (i.e. leisure, fishing, passenger/cargo vessels and shipyard). A total of 277 taxa belonging to 12 phyla were found, of which the 96 taxa were present in all three ports. El Kantaoui port hosted the highest number of macrobenthic taxa. Mollusca were the most abundant group (34%) in all ports. The highest percentage of opportunistic taxa per station was found before the touristic period in the shipyard of Heraklion port (89.3%).

Keywords: Greece; Italy; Mediterranean; Tunisia; harbours; macrobenthos; ports.

Eva Chatzinikolaou, Panagiotis Damianidis, Christina Pavloudi, Aikaterini Vasileiadou, Sarah Faulwetter, Kleoniki Keklikoglou, Wanda Plaitis, Dimitra Mavraki, Stamatina Nikolopoulou, Christos Arvanitidis.

Grants and funding

This project has been financed by the European Union under the ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme in the framework of the project “MAnagement of Port areas in the MEDiterranean Sea Basin” (MAPMED) (Grand Contract 6/2019-25/ 7/2011). This publication has been was supported by the LifeWatchGreece infrastructure (MIS 384676), funded by the Greek Government under the General Secretariat of Research and Technology (GSRT), ESFRI Projects, National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF).