engleski

Effects of coastal development on habitat structure, biodiversity, and water quality in Novigrad Sea, Croatia

Coastal development in Croatia has become more frequent in recent years, and many new, large, seashore resorts have been approved for development. An effective biological monitoring system of shallow marine habitats is important for informed management of development of the coastal zone. The objective of this study is a before/after, control/impact (BACI) study of the effects of tourist resort development on faunal communities and water quality in an estuarine lagoon system in the Croatian Adriatic. The current results are restricted to the control/impact portion of the study. Our research area covers eight locations in Novigrad Sea, one of four coastal lagoons in Croatia, at sites of planned massive coastal development. A lure assisted, visual census trolling method was used to estimate the fish abundance and species richness between natural sites and nearby developed sites. The content of nutrients, seston, and chlorophyll a in water was measured in regular replicates at all sites. Our results showed that water quality was lower at developed sites, with higher input of nutrients, but that these effects can at times spread far beyond the site of development and into natural areas. Species richness was higher on natural sites, but habitat structure explains fish assemblage structure more than the degree of anthropogenic development. We conclude that accurate monitoring of anthropogenic impacts on mesotrophic marine ecosystems requires a combination of biological and chemical methods, with monitoring matched to benthic habitat and cognizant of long-distance dispersion of contaminants.

coastal development; Novigrad Sea; fish; diversity; water quality

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