engleski

Recovery of meiofauna communities following an acute anoxic event in the northern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean)

Shallow-water benthic communities are subject to a variety of environmental disturbances which vary in frequency, intensity, as well as in temporal and spatial extent. Oxygen deficiency is one of the most widespread forms of disturbance affecting shallow-water benthic communities. The northern Adriatic Sea is sensitive marine system that experiences seasonal (north-western part) and acute (central and eastern part) oxygen crises. The effect of anoxia including subsequent recovery of macrobenthos was very well documented, both on the global and regional (the north-western Adriatic Sea) scales. Generally, the effect of oxygen deficiency and particularly the effect of acute anoxic events are much less studied on the meiofauna communities level. The acute oxygen crisis with great magnitude (3500 km2) and catastrophic consequences (mass mortality of benthos) occurred in the central-east part of the northern Adriatic Sea in the late 80-ies. Since then, no more anoxic events were reported from that region. During that crisis we detected clear stress response of meiofauna along the gradient of oxygen deficiency. Relatively fast recovery of meiofauna abundance (six months after anoxia) and partial recovery of meiofauna assemblage structure (two years after anoxia) were noted. However, many results obtained during biennial post anoxic monitoring was never reported. This study presents a detail results of the meiofauna recovery at three northern Adriatic offshore sites during biennial post anoxic period, as well as results of subsequent long-term monitoring of meiobenthic assemblages performed at the same sites until nowadays, i.e. five, ten, fifteen and twenty years after the catastrophic anoxic event.

Meiofauna; recovery; anoxia; northern Adriatic Sea

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