Abstract
MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 472:73-85 (2013) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10060 Macroalgal community response to re-oligotrophication in Saronikos Gulf Konstantinos Tsiamis1,2,*, Panayotis Panayotidis1, Maria Salomidi1, Alexandra Pavlidou1, Julia Kleinteich3, Katerina Balanika1,2, Frithjof C. Küpper4,5 1Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Institute of Oceanography, Anavyssos 19013, Attica, Greece 2Faculty of Biology, Department of Ecology and Taxonomy, Athens University, Panepistimiopolis 15784, Athens, Greece 3Human and Environmental Toxicology, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany 4Scottish Association for Marine Science, Scottish Marine Institute, Oban, Argyll PA37 1QA, UK 5Oceanlab, University of Aberdeen, Main Street, Newburgh, Aberdeenshire AB41 6AA, UK *Email: kostas.tsiamis@gmail.com ABSTRACT: The Saronikos Gulf, an embayment of the Aegean Sea (Greece, Eastern Mediterranean), has undergone profound and unprecedented environmental changes due to the rapid urbanization of the Athens-Piraeus metropolitan area since the 1950s. From the mid-1950s until the mid-1990s, the inner part of Saronikos Gulf was subject to increasing inputs of untreated urban sewage. The resulting long-lasting eutrophication was reflected in the phytobenthos by the presence of low-diversity, mainly ephemeral species communities, largely dominated by the nitrophilous green algae Ulva spp. and Cladophora spp. In the mid-1990s, a wastewater treatment plant started operating on Psittalia islet near the port of Piraeus, capturing the entire central sewage outfall of Athens. Since 1998, the coastal ecosystem of Saronikos Gulf has been under regular monitoring to assess intra-annual and interannual changes in benthic macroalgal communities and nutrient levels. A sharp decline in nutrient and organic loads was soon recorded, leading to a rapid re-oligotrophication of the gulf. Upon this new regime shift, macroalgal communities responded by a general increase in biodiversity and a marked decrease in the abundance of nitrophilous green algae. Within the last years, however, the canopy brown algae (Cystoseira and Sargassum) in the area unexpectedly showed a sharp population decline. Even though this phenomenon may be still ongoing and thus is not fully described and understood, this study is the first to provide a long-term data set of macroalgal responses to a rapid re-oligotrophication process taking place within a highly urbanized Mediterranean coastal area. KEY WORDS: Macroalgae · Greece · Eastern Mediterranean · European Water Framework Directive · Phytobenthos · Cystoseira · Ulva Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: Tsiamis K, Panayotidis P, Salomidi M, Pavlidou A, Kleinteich J, Balanika K, Küpper FC (2013) Macroalgal community response to re-oligotrophication in Saronikos Gulf. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 472:73-85. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10060 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 472. Online publication date: January 09, 2013 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2013 Inter-Research.
Highlights
Marine macroalgal vegetation can be affected by various factors in the coastal zone, including changes in nutrient levels (Munda & Veber 1996), sea urchin grazing (Thibaut et al 2005) as well as competition by alien species (Williams & Smith 2007)
Opportunistic nitrophilous green algae, such as species of the genera Ulva and Cladophora, commonly thrive in organically enriched ecosystems (Belsher 1977, Diez et al 1999), and they have been repeatedly documented to gradually outcompete and replace Cystoseira species under increasing nutrient loads (Pergent 1991, Soltan et al 2001, Panayotidis et al 2004). Marine macroalgae, those of the upper infralittoral zone, are commonly used as indicators of marine ecosystem quality (Soltan et al 2001, Orlando-Bonaca et al 2008, Orfanidis et al 2011), and are included among the 4 main biological quality elements that need to be monitored for the purposes of the European Water Framework Directive (2000/ 60/EC) (Panayotidis et al 2004)
A major dominated by the canopy brown algae (CBA) Cystoseira crinitophylla and decline of CBA coverage was observed for the latter, its epiphyte Jania rubens, while sites of the inner decreasing from ~100% in 1998 to 40% in 2010 region were dominated by the nitrophilous green algae (NGA) Ulva spp. and the geniculate red alga Corallina elongata (Table 1)
Summary
Marine macroalgal vegetation can be affected by various factors in the coastal zone, including changes in nutrient levels (Munda & Veber 1996), sea urchin grazing (Thibaut et al 2005) as well as competition by alien species (Williams & Smith 2007). Opportunistic nitrophilous green algae, such as species of the genera Ulva and Cladophora, commonly thrive in organically enriched ecosystems (Belsher 1977, Diez et al 1999), and they have been repeatedly documented to gradually outcompete and replace Cystoseira species under increasing nutrient loads (Pergent 1991, Soltan et al 2001, Panayotidis et al 2004) On these grounds, marine macroalgae, those of the upper infralittoral zone, are commonly used as indicators of marine ecosystem quality (Soltan et al 2001, Orlando-Bonaca et al 2008, Orfanidis et al 2011), and are included among the 4 main biological quality elements that need to be monitored for the purposes of the European Water Framework Directive (2000/ 60/EC) (Panayotidis et al 2004). This is the first such study in the Mediterranean Sea, which should have a wider relevance due to the need to mitigate coastal pollution impacts stemming from the massive and ongoing urbanization along most Mediterranean and other shores worldwide
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