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- Title
Concepção, Construção, Implantação e Monitorização de Recifes Artificiais de Betão com Incorporação de Lamas Orgânicas.
- Authors
Dias Santos, Jaime P.; Weber, Mike; Gomes, F. Veloso
- Abstract
The use of artificial habitat technologies is gaining increasing global interest. Opportunities exist in both developed and developing countries to apply these technologies to environmental and economic problems. Beneath the coastal waters of the world lie thousands of artificial reefs. Retired ships and other disposal materials now serve as habitats for marine life, and newer reefs that have been designed and built for specific applications. With the field of aquatic habitat technology continually growing, the present study focuses on the composition of reef units using cement in conjunction with organic sludge from urban waste water treatment plants. This research includes the monitoring of the biological colonization rate and diversity of two different types of reef units. Worldwide use of artificial reef technology was reviewed and, on this base, cubic concrete modules were developed and constructed to build two experimental artificial reefs that were placed in the sublitoral zone of the beach of Aguda in North Portugal. The use of organic sludge in concrete composition is a new contribution of this research. The aim was to compare different concrete compositions and the performance of colonization by macroalgae and macrobenthic organisms between the modules built with and without sludge. The colonization by fauna and flora and the biological succession of the two artificial reefs were monitored over four months. The data allowed understanding how the floristic and faunal communities reacted in the presence of these artificial reefs, how they occupied this virgin substrate and how abundance and biodiversity differed between the two different types of reefs. The percentage of biological coverage and four biological indices were calculated: Number of Species (S), Pielou's Evenness (J'), Shannon's Diversity (H') and Simpson's Diversity. Data analysis was performed with nonparametric multivariate techniques using the PRIMER software. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) was used to produce two-dimensional ordination plots. One-way ANOSIM was used to test the null hypothesis of no significant differences, between the reefs, for biological coverage and diversity. The results suggested that either the biodiversity or the percentage biological coverage were significantly greater at the reef constructed with concrete and domestic sludge than at the reef constructed without the sludge. The concrete modules containing sludge developed a thicker biofilm layer on its surface in a shorter time. They also revealed a more intensive and faster growth of macroalgae and a greater diversity and abundance of colonizing organisms. The addiction to the concrete of substances that can release nutrients locally seems to be a good option in order to obtain an efficient colonization and a rapid naturalization of concrete Artificial Reefs.
- Subjects
PORTUGAL; ARTIFICIAL reef design &; construction; COASTAL zone management; NATURAL resources management; FISH reproduction; COASTAL engineering; MARINE resources conservation; ENVIRONMENTAL law; ENVIRONMENTAL monitoring
- Publication
Journal of Integrated Coastal Zone Management / Revista de Gestão Costeira Integrada, 2010, Vol 10, Issue 1, p23
- ISSN
1646-8872
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5894/rgci153