Abstract
The occurrence of hydrothermal vent ecosystems at Secca delle Fumose, Pozzuoli Bay (Gulf of Naples), represented an opportunity to study the benthic assemblages under the thermal stress of hydrothermal emissions in a very shallow environment (9 – 14 m water depth). In autumn 2016, the macrobenthic community was sampled by scuba divers at four sites located in the Baia Underwater Archaeological Park. Two sites were characterized by vent emissions (one with white bacterial mat scattered on the bottom and one with a yellow substrate around a geyser opening) and two at about 100 m away, used as control. Sediment and interstitial water environmental variables were measured to determine their influence on the structure of macrobenthic assemblages. A total of 1,954 macrofaunal individuals was found, characterized by great differences in abundance and species richness among sites. This pattern was correlated to the dominance of a particular set of variables that drastically change in a very small spatial scale, from one site to another. The control sites, characterized by the highest percentage of gravel in the sediments (19.67±2.6%) and normal level of major ions such as Ca2+, K+ and Mg2+ in the interstitial waters, showed the highest values of sinecological indices. The “white” hydrothermal site exhibited the lowest species richness, abundance and species diversity, influenced by low pH values (~7.6), high temperatures (~37.53°C) and by the highest total organic carbon content (TOC 34.78%) in the sediment. The “yellow” hydrothermal site, with sediment TOC equal to 30.03% and interstitial sulphide ions measuring 130.58 ppm, showed higher values of sinecological indices than those recorded at the “white” site. Therefore, taxonomic analysis revealed a high turnover between control and vents sites. This highlights the preference for hydrothermal vents by a few resistant species, such as the gastropod Tritia cuvierii and the polychaete Capitella capitata, confirming the role of the latter species as opportunistic in extreme environments like Secca delle Fumose.
Highlights
The relationship between environmental factors and benthic communities is of primary importance in determining the structure of biocenoses and their functioning (e.g., Feder et al, 1994; Ellingsen, 2002; Lloret and Marín, 2009; Arribas et al, 2014)
In each site (H, G, control sites (CN), and CS) in November 2016, environmental parameters were measured and samples for interstitial water chemistry, grain size, total organic carbon (TOC) and sediment macrofauna were collected in triplicate
A solitary hydrothermal vent at G site is present at 10 m depth
Summary
The relationship between environmental factors and benthic communities is of primary importance in determining the structure of biocenoses and their functioning (e.g., Feder et al, 1994; Ellingsen, 2002; Lloret and Marín, 2009; Arribas et al, 2014). A huge variety of marine species and bioconstructions is widely distributed along the bathymetrical gradient, from very shallow to deep-water. Hydrothermal vents have wide global distribution, occurring in all oceanic bottoms, at different latitudes and depths and harboring rich and peculiar biological communities (Parson et al, 1995; Dando et al, 2000). Several studies revealed that the occurrence of benthic organisms in the hydrothermal systems is strongly related to the volcanic fluids that outflow from the bottom, characterized by high concentrations of iron, zinc sulfides and gases, such as CH4, H2S, H2, and CO2 (e.g., Van Dover and Fry, 1989; Micheli et al, 2002; Hall-Spencer et al, 2008; Martin et al, 2008; Yao et al, 2010). The former are mainly characterized by chemolithotrophic bacteria using H2S as energy source, representing the basis for a complex heterotrophic ecosystem, while the latter are composed both by chemolithotrophic bacteria and by communities energetically driven by photosynthetic organisms, such as diatoms and algal-bacterial mats absent in deep-sea vents communities (Vismann, 1991; Lutz and Kennish, 1993; Tarasov et al, 2005; Raghukumar et al, 2008)
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