Luis Miguel Ferrero-Vicente

Assessment of soft-bottom Polychaeta assemblage affected by a spatial confluence of impacts: sewage and brine discharges.

Adami, G., Barbieri, P., Piselli, S., Predonzani, S., Reisenhofer, E., 2000. Detecting and characterising sources of persistent organic pollutants (PAHs and PCBs) in surface sediments of an industrialized area (harbour of Trieste, northern Adriatic Sea). J. Environ. Monit. 2, 261–265. Allison, G.W., Lubchenco, J., Carr, M.H., 1998. Marine reserve are necessary but not sufficient for marine conservation. Ecol. Appl. 8, 79–92. Bergamaschi, B.A., Kuivia, K.M., Fram, M.S., 2001. Pesticides associated with suspended sediments entering San Francisco Bay following the first major storm of water year 1996. Estuaries. 24, 368–380. Boero, F., Brian, F., Micheli, F., 1999. Scientific Design and Monitoring of Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas. CIESM Workshop Series 8, pp. 64. Burns, K.A., Villeneuve, J.P., 1983. Biogeochemical processes affecting the distribution and vertical transport of hydrocarbons residues in the coastal Mediterranean. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 47, 995–1006. Cardellicchio, N., Buccolieri, A., Giandomenico, S., Lopez, L., Pizzulli, F., Spada, L., 2007. Organic pollutants (PAHs, PCBs) in sediments from the Mar Piccolo in Taranto (Ionian Sea, Southern Italy). Mar. Pollut. Bull 55, 451–458. Cousins, I.T., Jones, K.C., 1998. Air–soil exchange of semi-volatile organic compounds (SOCs) in the UK. Environ. Pollut. 102, 105–118. Frignani, M., Belluci, L.G., Carrar, C., Raccanelli, S., 2001. Polychlorinated biphenyls in sediments of the Venice Lagoon. Chemosphere 43, 567–575. Gomez-Gutiérrez, A., Garnacho, E., Bayona, J.M., Albaigés, J., 2007. Assessment of the Mediterranean sediment contamination by persistent organic pollutants. Environ. Pollut. 148, 396–408. I.U.C.N., 1981. Principles, criteria and guidelines for the selection establishment and management of Mediterranean marine and costal protected areas. Gland, CH. Mackay, D., Shiu, W.Y., Ma, K.C., 1992. Illustrated Handbook of Physical–Chemical, vol. I. Monoaromatic Hydrocarbons, Chlorobenzenes and PCBs (also vol. II, 1992, and vol. III, 1993). Lewis Publishers, Chelsea, MI, 697 pp. National Research Council, Committee on Remediation of PCB-Contaminated Sediments. A Risk-Management Strategy for PCB-Contaminated Sediments. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 2001. Pavoni, B., Calvo, C., Sfrisio, A., Orio, A.A., 1990. Time trend of PCB concentrations in surface sediment from a hypertrophic, macroalgae populated area of the lagoon of Venice. Sci. Tot. Environ. 91, 13–21. Pozo, K., Urrutia, R., Barra, R., Mariottini, M., Treutler, H.C., Araneda, A., Focardi, S., 2007. Records of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in sediments of four remote Chilean Andean Lakes. Chemosphere 66, 1911–1921. Raccanelli, S., Pavoni, B., Marcomini, A., Orio, A.A., 1989. Polychlorinated biphenyl pollution caused by resuspension of surface sediments in the lagoon of Venice. Sci. Tot. Environ. 79, 11–123. Ruzzenenti, M., 2003. La storia dei PCB (Policlorobifenili). Miracoli e disastri della tecnica del novecento. Saggio. Altronovecento. Ambiente-Tecnica-Società. Rivista on-line promossa da Fondazione ‘‘Luigi Micheletti” di Brescia. 2003, No. 6-febbraio. <(www.altronovecento.quipo.it)>. Terlizzi, A., Delos, A.L., Garaventa, F., Faimali, M., Geraci, S., 2004. Limited effectiveness of marine protected areas: imposex in Hexaplex trunculus (Gastropoda, Muricidae) populations from Italian marine reserves. Baseline/ Mar. Pollut. Bull. 48, 164–192. Tolosa, I., Bayona, J.M., Albaigés, J., 1995. Spatial and temporal distribution, fluxes and budgets of organochlorinated compounds in northwest Mediterranean sediments. Environ. Sci. Technol. 29, 2519–2527. UNEP, 2001. Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), Interim Secretariat for the Stockholm Convention, United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Chemicals, Geneva, Switzerland, October 2001. <http:// www.pops.int>.

Benthic community recovery from brine impact after the implementation of mitigation measures

In many regions, seawater desalination is a growing industry that has its impact on benthic communities. This study analyses the effect on benthic communities of a mitigation measure applied to a brine discharge, using polychaete assemblages as indicator. An eight-year study was conducted at San Pedro del Pinatar (SE Spain) establishing a grid of 12 sites at a depth range of 29-38 m during autumn. Brine discharge started in 2006 and produced a significant decrease in abundance, richness and diversity of polychaete families at the location closest to the discharge, where salinity reached 49. In 2010, a diffuser was deployed at the end of the pipeline in order to increase the mixing, to reduce the impact on benthic communities. After implementation of this mitigation measure, the salinity measured close to discharge was less than 38.5 and a significant recovery in polychaete richness and diversity was detected, to levels similar to those before the discharge. A less evident recovery in abundance was also observed, probably due to different recovery rates of polychaete families. Some families like Paraonidae and Magelonidae were more tolerant to this impact. Others like Syllidae and Capitellidae recovered quickly, although still affected by the discharge, while some families such as Sabellidae and Cirratulidae appeared to recover more slowly.

Bioindicators as metrics for environmental monitoring of desalination plant discharges.

Development of desalination projects requires simple methodologies and tools for cost-effective and environmentally-sensitive management. Sentinel taxa and biotic indices are easily interpreted in the perspective of environment management. Echinoderms are potential sentinel taxon to gauge the impact produced by brine discharge and the BOPA index is considered an effective tool for monitoring different types of impact. Salinity increase due to desalination brine discharge was evaluated in terms of these two indicators. They reflected the environmental impact and recovery after implementation of a mitigation measure. Echinoderms disappeared at the station closest to the discharge during the years with highest salinity and then recovered their abundance after installation of a diffuser reduced the salinity increase. In the same period, BOPA responded due to the decrease in sensitive amphipods and the increase in tolerant polychaete families when salinities rose. Although salinity changes explained most of the observed variability in both indicators, other abiotic parameters were also significant in explaining this variability.

Lack of Impact of Posidonia oceanica Leaf Nutrient Enrichment on Sarpa salpa Herbivory: Additional Evidence for the Generalist Consumer Behavior of This Cornerstone Mediterranean Herbivore

The fish Sarpa salpa (L.) is one of the main macroherbivores in the western Mediterranean. Through direct and indirect mechanisms, this herbivore can exert significant control on the structure and functional dynamics of seagrass beds and macroalgae. Past research has suggested nutritional quality of their diet influences S. salpa herbivory, with the fish feeding more intensively and exerting greater top down control on macrophytes with higher internal nutrient contents. However recent findings have questioned this notion and shown that herbivores do not preferentially feed on macrophytes with higher nutrient contents, but rather feed on a wide variety of them with no apparent selectivity. To contribute to this debate, we conducted a field fertilization experiment where we enriched leaves of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica, a staple diet for S. salpa, and examined the response by the herbivore. These responses included quantification of leaf consumption in fertilized and non-fertilized/control plots within the bed, and food choice assays where fertilized and non-fertilized/control leaves were simultaneously offered to the herbivore. Despite the duration of leaf exposure to herbivores (30 days) and abundant schools of S. salpa observed around the plots, leaf consumption was generally low in the plots examined. Consumption was not higher on fertilized than on non-fertilized leaves. Food choice experiments did not show strong evidence for selectivity of enriched leaves. These results add to a recent body of work reporting a broad generalist feeding behavior by S. salpa with no clear selectivity for seagrass with higher nutrient content. In concert, this and other studies suggest S. salpa is often generalist consumers not only dictated by diet nutrient content but by complex interactions between other traits of nutritional quality, habitat heterogeneity within their ample foraging area, and responses to predation risk.

Sipuncula inhabiting the coral Oculina patagonica in the western Mediterranean Sea

BackgroundWe analyzed the sipunculan fauna inhabiting the scleractinian coral Oculina patagonica in the Marine Reserve of Tabarca Island (western Mediterranean).ResultsFive sipunculan species were collected from 2011 to 2014: Phascolosoma stephensoni, P. granulatum, P. cf. agassizii, Aspidosiphon misakiensis, and Golfingia vulgaris. All five species were reported for the first time inhabiting O. patagonica; with P. cf. agassizii being a new record for the Iberian Peninsula. The average abundance of sipunculans inhabiting the coral was 468.75 ± 158.04 ind m−2, representing the second most abundant taxonomic group, in biomass, after Mollusca.ConclusionsSipunculan diversity was low comparing with tropical reefs, but species abundances were higher than in soft-bottom nearby areas and community structure appears to be more homogeneous. There may be a considerable contribution to the erosion of the coral skeleton by sipunculans.