Are the eulittoral invertebrate assemblages suitable in detecting the effects of sewage discharges in atlantic and mediterranean coastal areas?

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Are the eulittoral invertebrate assemblages suitable in detecting the effects of sewage discharges in atlantic and mediterranean coastal areas? Joana Cabral-Oliveira1*, Stanislao Bevilacqua2, Antonio Terlizzi2 and Miguel Â. Pardal1 1 CFE- Centre of Functional Ecology, Portugal 2 Laboratory of Zoology and Marine Biology; University of Salento, Italy Coastal areas are under high human pressure, being affected by several sources of impacts, such as sewage effluents. Eulittoral assemblages of intertidal rocky shores are often exposed to sewage discharges. Such assemblages are accessible to sample, and their dominant species are easy to identify and widely distributed. These features make eulittoral assemblages potentially cost-effective in discerning between disturbed and undisturbed environmental conditions. In this study, a first attempt has been made to understand whether such assemblages are a suitable indicator of human impacts related to sewage discharges, able to consistently respond over large spatial scales. Sampling occurred in different environmental (sewage outfall and reference areas) and geographical locations (Atlantic insular, Atlantic mainland and Mediterranean). Multivariate analyses showed that the structure of eulittoral assemblages differed significantly between reference and impacted areas only on the Mediterranean shores. In all shores, limpet populations (genus Patella) appear to be affected by sewage discharge. The response of limpet populations differed between Atlantic and Mediterranean shores, probably due to within-species heterogeneities of ecological traits. Our results suggest that the response of limpets might be strictly context-dependent, thus limiting their potential to serve as general targets in monitoring the effects of sewage impact over large spatial scales. Keywords: nutrient enrichment, Ecological Indicators, eulittoral assemblages, Rocky shores, sewage pollution Conference: IMMR | International Meeting on Marine Research 2014, Peniche, Portugal, 10 Jul - 11 Jul, 2014. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: BIODIVERSITY, CONSERVATION AND COASTAL MANAGEMENT Citation: Cabral-Oliveira J, Bevilacqua S, Terlizzi A and Pardal M (2014). Are the eulittoral invertebrate assemblages suitable in detecting the effects of sewage discharges in atlantic and mediterranean coastal areas?. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: IMMR | International Meeting on Marine Research 2014. doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2014.02.00084 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 21 Apr 2014; Published Online: 18 Jul 2014. * Correspondence: Dr. Joana Cabral-Oliveira, CFE- Centre of Functional Ecology, Coimbra, Portugal, joanaco@ci.uc.pt Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Joana Cabral-Oliveira Stanislao Bevilacqua Antonio Terlizzi Miguel  Pardal Google Joana Cabral-Oliveira Stanislao Bevilacqua Antonio Terlizzi Miguel  Pardal Google Scholar Joana Cabral-Oliveira Stanislao Bevilacqua Antonio Terlizzi Miguel  Pardal PubMed Joana Cabral-Oliveira Stanislao Bevilacqua Antonio Terlizzi Miguel  Pardal Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.