Abstract
Artificial reefs, in the Eastern Mediterranean (Cyprus,) became a popular and frequently used tool, in fisheries and biodiversity conservation management. Even though evaluation studies about the efficacy of artificial reefs are plentiful in the rest of the Mediterranean (Central and Western), in the Eastern Basin they are largely absent. As the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea is characterised by unique physical parameters, the necessity to study artificial reefs under these contrasting regimes increases. The epibenthic communities of two unintentional artificial reefs (modern shipwrecks) in Cyprus (Zenobia) and Lebanon (Alice-B) were evaluated in 2010. Both shipwrecks are at similar depth, type of sea bottom, made of the same material (steel) and were sunk approximately the same period of time. However, Alice-B shipwreck off the coast of Lebanon is constantly exposed to higher levels of nutrients than Zenobia in Cyprus. Significant dissimilarities were observed in the composition, percentage of benthic cover of predominant taxonomic groups and development of the epibenthic communities. Differences in physical and chemical parameters between sides lay mainly in the nutrient and thermal regimes affecting the shipwrecks and most likely bring about the differences in the observed community structure. The results of this study suggest that epibenthic communities could be highly impacted by eutrophication caused by anthropogenic activities, leading to less biodiverse communities dominated by specific species that are favoured by the eutrophic conditions.
Highlights
Marine biodiversity is currently experiencing immense pressure due to increasing anthropogenic activities leading to habitat degradation, pollution and eutrophication
A carpet or turf of filamentous algae and cyanobacteria was observed covering most of the substrate, including shells of living molluscs (Fig 3C), and other organisms protruding from the algal carpet (Fig 3D)
Mucilage aggregates were only observed at the Zenobia and were restricted to sunlit surfaces
Summary
Marine biodiversity is currently experiencing immense pressure due to increasing anthropogenic activities leading to habitat degradation, pollution and eutrophication. The Mediterranean Sea is considered to be a biodiversity hot spot with a decreasing eastern ward biodiversity gradient, characterized by oxygen rich and nutrient poor environments [2, 3]. The Mediterranean Sea conditions allow for complex food webs of high diversity. An example would be the Mediterranean rocky reef fouling (epibenthic) communities, which can reach densities of up to 149 species of macroalgae in areas as small as 40x40 cm [5]. Benthic communities associated with rocky reefs, play a paramount role in energy transfer to higher biological levels in food webs, due to the limited primary production of plankton that characterizes oligotrophic environments [6]. Fouling reef communities supply fish populations with nursery grounds and habitat provision [7]
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