scholarly journals Distribution and abundance of Cymodocea nodosa meadows and Pinna nobilis populations in the Mar Menor coastal lagoon (Murcia, South East of Spain)

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Dolores Belando ◽  
Rocio García-Muñoz ◽  
Aranzazu Ramos ◽  
Ignacio Franco ◽  
Jaime Bernardeau-Esteller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Coastal Lagoons ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Cymodocea Nodosa ◽  
Filter Feeder ◽  
Pinna Nobilis ◽  
Mar Menor ◽  
Key Species ◽  
Benthic Vegetation ◽  
Density And Biomass

The Mar Menor (135 km2 ) is one of the most important hypersaline coastal lagoons in the Western Mediterranean Sea, its bottoms were originally colonized by monospecific meadows of the seagrass Cymodocea nodosa. However, since the 1970’s, drastic hydrographic changes caused by various human activities has seen the expansion of a number of species common in the adjacent Mediterranean waters, of which development had been limited up to now due to high salinities and temperatures. Among these species, the seaweed Caulerpa prolifera and the endangered fan mussel Pinna nobilis are those experiencing a broader spread in the lagoon and with a great potential to interact through both bottom-up and top-down processes have, as a result of which they have become key species of the lagoon ecosystem. In fact, previous maps of benthic vegetation suggest a huge decline of seagrass populations as C. prolifera has expanded. Moreover, both the algae and the filter feeder could play a key role in the control of planktonic communities, which development in the lagoon waters could have been accelerated in the last decades due to the great enhancement of eutrophication and pollution processes. Therefore, quantification of benthic vegetation communities, in particular C. nodosa meadows, and P. nobilis populations are crucial for the understanding of the Mar Menor ecosystem, but overall for the management of human activities and the implementation of conservation actions given its current protection status and the urgent need to obey European Directives (Habitats, Water Framework and Marine Strategy). In this context, precise maps of the distribution and abundance of benthic vegetation and P. nobilis in the Mar Menor was obtained during the spring-summer of 2014 by means of direct measurements (macrophytes cover, density and biomass and P. nobilis density) performed on 57 sampling points and qualitative observations (presence/absence) performed on 189 additional points as well as on 155.5 km of lineal transects using a trawled videocamera. Data obtained suggests that seagrass abundance in the lagoon is much higher than that reported in some previous studies and does not support the hypothesis of a long-term decline. P. nobilis has spread over a surface area 56.8% of the lagoon seafloor with a mean density of 2.17 ind.·100 m-2 and maximum values (up to 22.5 ind.·100 m-2) located in the northern part of the lagoon under the maximum influence of the Mediterranean waters.

scholarly journals Distribution and abundance of Cymodocea nodosa meadows and Pinna nobilis populations in the Mar Menor coastal lagoon (Murcia, South East of Spain)

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Dolores Belando ◽  
Rocio García-Muñoz ◽  
Aranzazu Ramos ◽  
Ignacio Franco ◽  
Jaime Bernardeau-Esteller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Coastal Lagoons ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Cymodocea Nodosa ◽  
Filter Feeder ◽  
Pinna Nobilis ◽  
Mar Menor ◽  
Key Species ◽  
Benthic Vegetation ◽  
Density And Biomass

The Mar Menor (135 km2 ) is one of the most important hypersaline coastal lagoons in the Western Mediterranean Sea, its bottoms were originally colonized by monospecific meadows of the seagrass Cymodocea nodosa. However, since the 1970’s, drastic hydrographic changes caused by various human activities has seen the expansion of a number of species common in the adjacent Mediterranean waters, of which development had been limited up to now due to high salinities and temperatures. Among these species, the seaweed Caulerpa prolifera and the endangered fan mussel Pinna nobilis are those experiencing a broader spread in the lagoon and with a great potential to interact through both bottom-up and top-down processes have, as a result of which they have become key species of the lagoon ecosystem. In fact, previous maps of benthic vegetation suggest a huge decline of seagrass populations as C. prolifera has expanded. Moreover, both the algae and the filter feeder could play a key role in the control of planktonic communities, which development in the lagoon waters could have been accelerated in the last decades due to the great enhancement of eutrophication and pollution processes. Therefore, quantification of benthic vegetation communities, in particular C. nodosa meadows, and P. nobilis populations are crucial for the understanding of the Mar Menor ecosystem, but overall for the management of human activities and the implementation of conservation actions given its current protection status and the urgent need to obey European Directives (Habitats, Water Framework and Marine Strategy). In this context, precise maps of the distribution and abundance of benthic vegetation and P. nobilis in the Mar Menor was obtained during the spring-summer of 2014 by means of direct measurements (macrophytes cover, density and biomass and P. nobilis density) performed on 57 sampling points and qualitative observations (presence/absence) performed on 189 additional points as well as on 155.5 km of lineal transects using a trawled videocamera. Data obtained suggests that seagrass abundance in the lagoon is much higher than that reported in some previous studies and does not support the hypothesis of a long-term decline. P. nobilis has spread over a surface area 56.8% of the lagoon seafloor with a mean density of 2.17 ind.·100 m-2 and maximum values (up to 22.5 ind.·100 m-2) located in the northern part of the lagoon under the maximum influence of the Mediterranean waters.

Pinna nobilis in the Mar Menor coastal lagoon: a story of colonization and uncertainty

2020 ◽  
Vol 652 ◽  
pp. 77-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Giménez-Casalduero ◽  
F Gomariz-Castillo ◽  
F Alonso-Sarría ◽  
E Cortés ◽  
A Izquierdo-Muñoz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Random Forest ◽  
Coastal Lagoons ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Mortality Event ◽  
Pinna Nobilis ◽  
Mass Mortality Event ◽  
Mar Menor ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Rate Of Decline

Populations of the Mediterranean fan mussel Pinna nobilis have progressively decreased over the last decades as a result of anthropogenic activities. The rate of decline has strongly increased since 2016, when a mass mortality event triggered by the parasite Haplosporidium pinnae occurred, and evidence exists that Mycobacterium species may also have played a major role in the event. Indeed, the epidemic has spread throughout the Mediterranean, although coastal lagoons seem to offer a degree of ‘resistance’ against the parasite. In the early 1980s, P. nobilis appeared in the Mar Menor lagoon and rapidly became an important component of the benthos. However, colonization of the lagoon by the fan mussel was cut short in 2016 when a massive mortality event occurred, possibly as a consequence of the environmental collapse that occurred in the lagoon, parallel to the mortality that the species suffered in the Mediterranean that same year. In this study, we estimated the spatial distribution of P. nobilis in the Mar Menor for 3 periods: 2003-2004, 2013 and 2016. The first 2 periods use published data, and the last period uses data collected in a new campaign. The probability of occurrence for the 3 periods was estimated using random forest and random forest regression-kriging models. The main environmental variables that determined the dispersion and colonization of the bivalve in the lagoon before 2016 are also identified.

scholarly journals Regulation of bacterioplankton density and biomass in tropical shallow coastal lagoons

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 224-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabiana MacCord ◽  
Fernanda Dall Ara Azevedo ◽  
Francisco de Assis Esteves ◽  
Vinicius Fortes Farjalla
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Lagoons ◽  
Density And Biomass

An updated checklist of YOY fish occurrence in the shallow perimetral areas of the Mar Menor (Western Mediterranean Sea)

Limnetica ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-106
Author(s):  
Adrián Guerrero-Gómez ◽  
Antonio Zamora-López ◽  
Antonio Guillén-Beltrán ◽  
José M. Zamora-Marín ◽  
Ana Sánchez-Pérez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Western Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Mar Menor ◽  
Yoy Fish

scholarly journals Continuous Monitoring of the Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Surface Water in Response to Land Use and Land Cover Types in a Mediterranean Lagoon Complex

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhichao Li ◽  
Yujie Feng ◽  
Nadine Dessay ◽  
Eric Delaitre ◽  
Helen Gurgel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Coastal Wetlands ◽  
Annual Variation ◽  
Coastal Lagoons ◽  
Sand Beach ◽  
Mediterranean Lagoon ◽  
Potential Link ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
The Impact

Mediterranean coastal lagoons and their peripheral areas often provide a collection of habitats for many species, and they often face significant threats from anthropogenic activities. Diverse human activities in such areas directly affect the spatio-temporal dynamic of surface water and its ecological characteristics. Monitoring the surface water dynamic, and understanding the impact of human activities are of great significance for coastal lagoon conservation. The Regional Natural Park of Narbonne includes a typical Mediterranean lagoon complex where surface water dynamic and its potential link with local diverse human activities has not yet been studied. In this context, based on all the available Landsat images covering the study area during 2002–2016, this study identified the water and non-water classes for each satellite observation by comparing three widely used spectral indices (i.e., NDVI, NDWI and MNDWI) and using the Otsu method. The yearly water frequency index was then computed to present the spatio-temporal dynamic of surface water for each year, and three water dynamic scenarios were also identified for each year: permanent water (PW), non-permanent water (NPW) and non-water (NW). The spatial and inter-annual variation in the patterns of the three water scenarios were characterized by computing the landscape metrics at scenario-level quantifying area/edge, shape, aggregation and fragmentation. Finally, the quantitative link between different land use and land cover (LULC) types derived from the LULC maps of 2003, 2012 and 2015 and the surface water dynamic scenarios was established in each of the 300 m × 300 m grid cells covering the study area to determine the potential impact of human activities on the surface water dynamic. In terms of the inter-annual variation during 2002–2016, PW presented an overall stability, and NPW occupied only a small part of the water surface in each year and presented an inter-annual fluctuation. NPW had a smaller patch size, with lower connectivity degree and higher fragmentation degree. In terms of spatial variation during 2002–2016, NPW often occurred around PW, and its configurational features varied from place to place. Moreover, PW mostly corresponded to the natural lagoon, and salt marsh (as a part of lagoons), and NPW had a strong link with arable land (agricultural irrigation) and salt marsh (salt production), sand beach/dune, coastal wetlands and lagoon for the LULC maps of 2003, 2012 and 2015. However, more in-depth analysis is required for understanding the impact of sand beach/dune, coastal wetlands and lagoon on surface water dynamics. This study covers the long-term variations of surface water patterns in a Mediterranean lagoon complex having intense and diverse human activities, and the potential link between LULC types and the water dynamic scenarios was investigated on different dates. The results of the study should be useful for environmental management and protection of coastal lagoons.

scholarly journals S.O.S. Pinna nobilis: A Mass Mortality Event in Western Mediterranean Sea

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maite Vázquez-Luis ◽  
Elvira Álvarez ◽  
Agustín Barrajón ◽  
José R. García-March ◽  
Amalia Grau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Mass Mortality ◽  
Mortality Event ◽  
Pinna Nobilis ◽  
Mass Mortality Event ◽  
Western Mediterranean Sea

Physiological response and photoacclimation capacity of Caulerpa prolifera (Forsskål) J.V. Lamouroux and Cymodocea nodosa (Ucria) Ascherson meadows in the Mar Menor lagoon (SE Spain)

2012 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 37-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta García-Sánchez ◽  
Nathalie Korbee ◽  
Isabel Ma Pérez-Ruzafa ◽  
Concepción Marcos ◽  
Belén Domínguez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physiological Response ◽  
Cymodocea Nodosa ◽  
Se Spain ◽  
Mar Menor ◽  
Caulerpa Prolifera ◽  
Mar Menor Lagoon

scholarly journals An AHP-derived method for mapping the physical vulnerability of coastal areas at regional scales

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1209-1227 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Le Cozannet ◽  
M. Garcin ◽  
T. Bulteau ◽  
C. Mirgon ◽  
M. L. Yates ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Coastal Lagoons ◽  
Western Indian Ocean ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Mapping Method ◽  
Thin Strip ◽  
La Réunion ◽  
Coastal Zones ◽  
Coastal Vulnerability ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change

Abstract. Assessing coastal vulnerability to climate change at regional scales is now mandatory in France since the adoption of recent laws to support adaptation to climate change. However, there is presently no commonly recognised method to assess accurately how sea level rise will modify coastal processes in the coming decades. Therefore, many assessments of the physical component of coastal vulnerability are presently based on a combined use of data (e.g. digital elevation models, historical shoreline and coastal geomorphology datasets), simple models and expert opinion. In this study, we assess the applicability and usefulness of a multi-criteria decision-mapping method (the analytical hierarchy process, AHP) to map physical coastal vulnerability to erosion and flooding in a structured way. We apply the method in two regions of France: the coastal zones of Languedoc-Roussillon (north-western Mediterranean, France) and the island of La Réunion (south-western Indian Ocean), notably using the regional geological maps. As expected, the results show not only the greater vulnerability of sand spits, estuaries and low-lying areas near to coastal lagoons in both regions, but also that of a thin strip of erodible cliffs exposed to waves in La Réunion. Despite gaps in knowledge and data, the method is found to provide a flexible and transportable framework to represent and aggregate existing knowledge and to support long-term coastal zone planning through the integration of such studies into existing adaptation schemes.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document