Application of biotic indices and relationship with structural and functional features of macrobenthic community in the lagoon of Venice: an example over a long time series of data

In the context of the application of WFD, a scientific debate is growing about the applicability of biotic indices in coastal and transitional waters. In the present work, the question about the discriminating power of different biotic indices and the relationships with the structure and functioning...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin 2007-10, Vol.54 (10), p.1607-1618
Main Authors: Pranovi, Fabio, Da Ponte, Filippo, Torricelli, Patrizia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Applied ecology
Biodiversity
Biological and medical sciences
Biotic indices
Brackish
Brackish water ecosystems
Databases, Factual
Diversity
Ecosystem
Ecosystem functioning
Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Environmental Monitoring - standards
Exergy
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Invertebrates
Italy
Lagoon of Venice
Marine
Marine and brackish environment
Oceans and Seas
Synecology
Time Factors
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Summary:In the context of the application of WFD, a scientific debate is growing about the applicability of biotic indices in coastal and transitional waters. In the present work, the question about the discriminating power of different biotic indices and the relationships with the structure and functioning of the macrobenthic community in a transitional environment is discussed. A time series of samples collected during the last 70 years in the lagoon of Venice, reflecting different environmental conditions (a sort of ‘pristine state’ in 1935, the distrophic crisis in 1988 and subsequent modifications in 1990, the invasion by an alien species and the developing of high impacting fishery in 1999) has been used. The comparison of results obtained by applying different biotic indices, such as AMBI, Bentix and BOPA, shows differences in the discriminating power of indices and a general overestimation of environmental conditions. Discrepancies between environmental status as indicated by biotic indices and the structure and functioning of the benthic community have been highlighted.
ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2007.06.010