Biodiversity Studies for Sustainable Lagoon: Thermophilic and Tropical Fish Species vs. Endemic Commercial Species at Mellah Lagoon (Mediterranean, Algeria)

Costantino Parisi,Sofiane Labar,Giuseppe De Marco,Rubina Vangone,Mustapha Hasnaoui,Magdy Alwany,Gaetano Grieco,Adriano Madonna,Lidia Caserta,Sara Inglese,Giulia Guerriero,Olfa Hentati

doi:10.3390/w14040635

Abstract

Lagoons play an important socio-economic role and represent a precious natural heritage at risk from fishing pressure and chemical and biological pollution. Our research focused on better understanding the discrimination of fish biodiversity, the detection of non-indigenous species, and the valorization of commercial indigenous species at Mellah lagoon (Algeria). Taxonomic characterization and barcoding for all fish species and Inkscape schematic drawings for the most common species are provided. A total of 20 families and 37 species were recorded. The thermophilic species Coris julis, Thalassoma pavo, and Aphanius fasciatus and tropical species such as Gambusia holbrooki and Parablennius pilicornis were identified. Numerous Mediterranean species of socio-economic importance are highlighted, and detailed information is summarized for the lagoon’s sustainability. This short-term evaluation goes hand in hand with long-term programs documenting the interaction between indigenous and non-indigenous species in the lagoon and will allow the development of a provisional relationship model for future studies. Thermophilic and tropical species patterns in the Mellah lagoon are presented. Taken together, we provide useful data that can guide future investigations and may become a potential management tool for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and protecting species with large socio-economic roles from potential thermal stress impact.

Highlights

Climate change and natural resource management are mutually interrelated [1,2]
We focused our attention on the Mellah lagoon, which is located near the city of Kala, Wilaya El Tarf, Algeria
As tropical species, we identified Gambusia holbrooki and Parablennius pilicornis

Summary

Introduction

Climate change and natural resource management are mutually interrelated [1,2]. Addressing these problems for economic purposes and for human health requires knowledge of resources and estimation of their variability over time [3,4,5]. The most studied lagoons in the Mediterranean are located in Albania, Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Morocco, Spain, Tunisia, and Turkey, as reported by Cataudella et al [9] Their value is that of providing ecosystem services that contribute to the well-being of the human population for many ecological, cultural, and medical uses [10]. Their stressors, as in lagoons around the world, include overexploitation [11], pollution [12,13,14], climate change, and biological invasions [5,15,16,17,18], often co-occurring in time and space and having cumulative effects. They contribute to the overall productivity of coastal waters by supporting a variety of habitats and to the reduction in poverty (Agenda 2030, SDG1) by providing natural resources [21]

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Conclusion