engleski

Long-term changes in the transitional community of detritic bottoms in the northern Adriatic Sea: Dynamics of the bivalve assemblages.

Benthic fauna is an important component in marine ecosystems. Some benthic species are able to integrate water and sediment quality conditions over time, and thus indicate stress in the benthic zone. Due to their relatively sessile habit, benthic macrofauna served as indicators of changes in the marine environment caused by natural or anthropogenic disturbances. This study is focused on the long-term natural variability of the diversity, biotic and multimetric indices, through the use of long-term bivalve data in the transitional community of detritic bottoms in the northern Adriatic Sea (1989-1991 and 2003-2005). Abundance of some indicator species such as Corbula gibba, Modiolarca subpicta and Timoclea ovata were recorded during the post-anoxic period (1989-1991). The faunistic composition, Cluster and Abundance Comparison analyses were used to assess the recruitment in the quality of bivalve assemblages during a period of relatively stable ecological conditions: in 2003, 2004 and 2005. The results of univariate and multivariate analyses clearly separated the two aforementioned periods (1989-1991 and 2003- 2005) during which the investigations were conducted. Furthermore, the temporal variability in bivalve diversity, due to ecological status in the investigated area in the northern Adriatic Sea, is also discussed.

anoxia ; bivalve assemblages ; soft bottoms ; northern Adriatic Sea

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