When the levee breaks: Effects of flood on offshore water contamination and benthic community in the Mediterranean (Ionian Sea)

Michele Mistri; Valentina Pitacco; Tommaso Granata; Letizia Moruzzi; Cristina Munari

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.02.005

When the levee breaks: Effects of flood on offshore water contamination and benthic community in the Mediterranean (Ionian Sea)

Mar Pollut Bull. 2019 Mar:140:588-596. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.02.005. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Authors

Michele Mistri¹, Valentina Pitacco², Tommaso Granata³, Letizia Moruzzi³, Cristina Munari²

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 Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Via Fossato di Mortara 17, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
³ CESI, via Nino Bixio 39, 29121 Piacenza, Italy.

PMID: 30803680
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.02.005

Abstract

In the last few years extreme weather events, including changes to storm frequency and intensity, have increased across all continents. In this note we assessed, for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, the impact of a violent storm and consequent flood on offshore water contamination and benthic community along the Calabrian coast (Ionian Sea). Three sites (at 500, 1000, and 2000 m off the coast) were sampled along three parallel transects in 2013, 2014 (before), and 2015 (after the flood). After the flood, metals (especially Al, Cr_VI, Ni, Cu, Zn) in the water column increased in concentration. The flood affected the structure of the benthic community, causing a decrease of diversity, the dominance of few opportunistic species, and the decrease of M-AMBI values.

Keywords: Benthic community; Extreme weather event; Flood; Mediterranean Sea.

MeSH terms

Aquatic Organisms / drug effects*
Environmental Monitoring / methods*
Floods*
Geologic Sediments / chemistry*
Mediterranean Sea
Metals / analysis*
Water Pollution / analysis*
Water Pollution / prevention & control
Weather

Substances

Metals