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- Title
The macrozoobenthos of the Karavasta lagoon system (Albania): local assemblages and geographical comparisons Nonnis Marzano, Gravina, Fianchini, Portacci, Gherardi, Tursi & Corriero Macrozoobenthos of the Karavasta lagoon system.
- Authors
Marzano, Carlotta Nonnis; Gravina, Maria Flavia; Fianchini, Alessandra; Portacci, Giuseppe; Gherardi, Myriam; Tursi, Angelo; Corriero, Giuseppe
- Abstract
The macrozoobenthic assemblage from the Karavasta lagoon system, the main wetland of Albania, was studied on soft bottoms and artificial hard substrates. Three different communities were identified: the typical 'brackish-water community', an 'outlet community' dominated by filter-feeders, and a typical 'marine community', inhabiting fine sandy bottoms, where polychaetes are dominant, together with a few species of tunicates and bivalves, which colonize hard substrates. The occurrence of build-ups of the bryozoan Conopeum seurati, settled on the upper portion of long submerged wooden poles, was the main feature of faunistic interest. The faunistic affinity between the zoobenthic assemblage recorded in the hyperhaline lagoon of Karavasta and the assemblages from two Italian lagoons, the brackish Lake of Lesina and the euhaline Lake of Fogliano, was considered according to the different hydrological conditions and the geographical location. Hydrological confinement and salinity were likely to be the leading factors influencing the benthic community composition in the Karavasta wetland area. Therefore, on a vaster spatial scale, the isolation and geographical proximity of the ecosystems and colonizing ability and dispersal changes of the species appear to be the main factors liable to produce faunal variations.
- Subjects
POLYCHAETA; BIVALVES; WOOD poles; LAGOONS; TUNICATA
- Publication
Marine Ecology, 2010, Vol 31, Issue 4, p622
- ISSN
0173-9565
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1439-0485.2010.00381.x