Naslov
Meiofauna communities below the fish farm in the Middle Eastern Adriatic Sea

Autori
Petani, Bruna ; Ape, Francesca ; Mirto, Simmone ; Župan, Ivan ; Šarić, Tomislav ; Baričević, Anamaria ; Mustać, Bosiljka

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, ostalo

Izvornik
Book of abstracts 55th European Marine Biology Symposium / - , 2022, 67-67

Skup
55th European Marine Biology Symposium

Mjesto i datum
Gdańsk, Poljska, 19.09.2022. - 23.09.2022

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Organic matter ; Meiofauna ; Aquaculture ; Adriatic Sea

Sažetak
The rapid expansion of aquaculture activities has raised growing concerns about the impact on the marine environment. The goal of this study was to determine impact of fish farm situated in the middle Eastern Adriatic Sea on meiofaunal assemblages and biochemical composition of sedimentary organic matter in surrounding area. Sediment samples were taken at the depth of 34 m, at two aquaculture stations, one located at the edge of the cages (ST 1) and the other directly below the cages (ST 2) and at one control station (CTRL ST) at a distance of cca 700 m from the fish farm. We observed that the presence of the cages induced a significant accumulation of proteins, lipids and biopolymeric carbon in the sediments, resulting in increased total meiofaunal abundances but reduction in meiofaunal diversity under the cages. This significant biodiversity decrease was due to a lower abundance or disappearance of rare taxa more sensitive to organic accumulation in the fish farm stations compared to the control site. In fact, the results of this study revealed differences in meiofaunal community structure between aquaculture sediments and control ones. In particular from the outside to the inside of the cages we found a growing dominance of nematodes in comparison with a gradual disappearance of kinorynchs. These findings, confirming previous studies, suggest the reliability of the nematodes/kinorynchs ratio as an indicator for the assessment of anthropogenic organic enrichment in the sediments due to fish farm biodeposition.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biotehnologija

POVEZANOST RADA