Salinity as a Key Factor on the Benthic Fauna Diversity in the Coastal Lakes

Benthic communities were studied in nine Polish coastal lakes of the Baltic Sea; representing three levels of hydrological connection with the sea (isolated, periodically connected, and permanently connected), with resultant differences in salinity (freshwater, transitional, and brackish). The lakes classified in this way allowed us to investigate biodiversity in relation to the degree of environmental pressure. Stress intensity in coastal water bodies, resulting from contrasting marine and terrestrial influences, varied from mild to severe. Spatial variation in environmental predictors affected species richness more strongly than seasonal fluctuations. The broader the spatial salinity gradient, the smaller the species number recorded. Differences in the intensity of natural instability only slightly affected species number and α-diversity. In Baltic coastal lakes, characterized by low salinity (max. 7.5 PSU), benthic faunal communities were dominated by large populations of opportunistic species. This applied primarily to closed systems and those periodically influenced by seawater intrusion. The marine component of fauna played a more important role in increasing the diversity of benthos in permanently open water bodies (brackish). The highest density of benthic fauna was recorded in them, whereas low values were associated with the strongest instability, observed in lakes periodically linked with the sea (transitional).

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Present-day evolution of coastal lakes based on the example of Jamno and Bukowo (the Southern Baltic coast)

Oceanological and Hydrobiological Studies ◽

10.2478/s13545-014-0131-1 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 43 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Adam Choiński ◽

Mariusz Ptak ◽

Agnieszka Strzelczak

Keyword(s):

Water Surface ◽

Open Water ◽

Aerial Photographs ◽

Direct Connection ◽

The Baltic Sea ◽

Coastal Lakes ◽

Baltic Coast ◽

Water Surface Area ◽

The Baltic ◽

Lake Basins

AbstractThis study presents the directions and the rate of changes occurring in the coastal lakes Jamno and Bukowo, located in northern Poland. Based on the cartographic materials and aerial photographs of those water bodies, it was established that in 1909–2012, the area of the lakes decreased by 183.6 ha (7.7%) and 250.7 ha (13.6%) for Jamno and Bukowo, respectively. Another component of lake disappearance — shallowing of lake basins — was analyzed using bathymetric plans. It turned out that water supplies of Jamno during more than 100 years decreased by 2.4 million m3 (5.9%), while in the case of Bukowo, it was 5.9 million (17.5%). Unfavorable location (inflow of pollutants from the basin) and morphometry of both lakes should be considered as the main causes of such major changes. The lakes are polymictic with a considerable area of the shallowest zone (1 m depth). This favors the vegetation succession and, consequently, shallowing of the lake basins. Moreover, direct connection with the Baltic Sea contributes to the fact that the materials of marine origin deposited in the form of a reverse delta also contribute to a decrease in the open water surface area.

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Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Have Adverse Effects on Benthic Communities in the Baltic Sea: Implications for Environmental Status Assessment

Frontiers in Environmental Science ◽

10.3389/fenvs.2021.624658 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Caroline Raymond ◽

Elena Gorokhova ◽

Agnes ML Karlson

Keyword(s):

Baltic Sea ◽

Community Composition ◽

Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons ◽

Statistical Tests ◽

Benthic Communities ◽

Chemical Exposure ◽

Environmental Predictors ◽

The Baltic Sea ◽

Status Assessment ◽

The Baltic

Changes in benthic macrofaunal communities are indicative of environmental stressors, including eutrophication and hypoxia. However, some species are sensitive not only to hypoxia but also to various environmental contaminants. We tested which of the environmental predictors (sediment organic carbon, sediment concentrations of metals and polyaromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs], bottom water oxygen, salinity, temperature, and surface chlorophyll-a concentration) that best explained the following response variables: (1) macrofauna community composition, (2) abundance of a benthic sentinel species, the amphipod Monoporeia affinis; and (3) the Benthic Quality Index (BQI). All data originated from 29 reference monitoring stations in the Baltic Sea and the statistical tests included both uni- and multivariate analyses. The community composition and BQI were best explained by the same combination of salinity, depth, temperature and PAH concentrations. The abundance of M. affinis, which is sensitive to hypoxia and chemical exposure, was best explained by PAHs as a single predictor. Our findings suggest that benthic communities in the Baltic Sea are influenced by anthropogenic contaminants, which should be taken into account when benthos is used for eutrophication status assessment.

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Spatio-Temporal Variation of the Bacterial Communities along a Salinity Gradient within a Thalassohaline Environment (Saline di Tarquinia Salterns, Italy)

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules26051338 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (5) ◽

pp. 1338

Author(s):

Susanna Gorrasi ◽

Andrea Franzetti ◽

Roberto Ambrosini ◽

Francesca Pittino ◽

Marcella Pasqualetti ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bacterial Diversity ◽

Generalized Linear Models ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Linear Models ◽

Salinity Gradient ◽

Sampling Site ◽

Α Diversity ◽

Spatio Temporal ◽

Abundance Variation ◽

Microbiological Aspects

The “Saline di Tarquinia” salterns have been scarcely investigated regarding their microbiological aspects. This work studied the structure and composition of their bacterial communities along the salinity gradient (from the nearby sea through different ponds). The communities showed increasing simplification of pond bacterial diversity along the gradient (particularly if compared to those of the sea). Among the 38 assigned phyla, the most represented were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Differently to other marine salterns, where at the highest salinities Bacteroidetes dominated, preponderance of Proteobacteria was observed. At the genus level the most abundant taxa were Pontimonas, Marivita, Spiribacter, Bordetella, GpVII and Lentibacter. The α-diversity analysis showed that the communities were highly uneven, and the Canonical Correspondence Analysis indicated that they were structured by various factors (sampling site, sampling year, salinity, and sampling month). Moreover, the taxa abundance variation in relation to these significant parameters were investigated by Generalized Linear Models. This work represents the first investigation of a marine saltern, carried out by a metabarcoding approach, which permitted a broad vision of the bacterial diversity, covering both a wide temporal span (two years with monthly sampling) and the entire salinity gradient (from the nearby sea up to the crystallisation ponds).

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The Southern Ocean benthic fauna and climate change: a historical perspective

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.1992.0150 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 338 (1285) ◽

pp. 299-309 ◽

Cited By ~ 143

Keyword(s):

Global Warming ◽

Southern Ocean ◽

Environmental Change ◽

Benthic Communities ◽

Benthic Fauna ◽

Marine Fauna ◽

Short Term Change ◽

Term Change ◽

Continental Ice Sheets

Environmental change is the norm and it is likely that, particularly on the geological timescale, the temperature regime experienced by marine organisms has never been stable. These temperature changes vary in timescale from daily, through seasonal variations, to long-term environmental change over tens of millions of years. Whereas physiological work can give information on how individual organisms may react phenotypically to short-term change, the way benthic communities react to long-term change can only be studied from the fossil record. The present benthic marine fauna of the Southern Ocean is rich and diverse, consisting of a mixture of taxa with differing evolutionary histories and biogeographical affinities, suggesting that at no time in the Cenozoic did continental ice sheets extend sufficiently to eradicate all shallow-water faunas around Antarctica at the same time. Nevertheless, certain features do suggest the operation of vicariant processes, and climatic cycles affecting distributional ranges and ice-sheet extension may both have enhanced speciation processes. The overall cooling of southern high-latitude seas since the mid-Eocene has been neither smooth nor steady. Intermittent periods of global warming and the influence of Milankovitch cyclicity is likely to have led to regular pulses of migration in and out of Antarctica. The resultant diversity pump may explain in part the high species richness of some marine taxa in the Southern Ocean. It is difficult to suggest how the existing fauna will react to present global warming. Although it is certain the fauna will change, as all faunas have done throughout evolutionary time, we cannot predict with confidence how it will do so.

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Changes in long chain alkenone distributions and Isochrysidales groups along the Baltic Sea salinity gradient

Organic Geochemistry ◽

10.1016/j.orggeochem.2018.11.012 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 127 ◽

pp. 92-103 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Jérôme Kaiser ◽

Karen J. Wang ◽

Derek Rott ◽

Gaoyuan Li ◽

Yinsui Zheng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Baltic Sea ◽

Salinity Gradient ◽

The Baltic Sea ◽

The Baltic ◽

Long Chain

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Influence of Open Water Bodies on the Modeling of Summertime Convection over the Canadian Prairies

Journal of Hydrometeorology ◽

10.1175/jhm-d-15-0225.1 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 18 (6) ◽

pp. 1583-1594

Author(s):

Deepti Joshi ◽

Marco Carrera ◽

Stephane Bélair ◽

Sylvie Leroyer

Keyword(s):

Convective Available Potential Energy ◽

Open Water ◽

Water Bodies ◽

Convective Precipitation ◽

Precipitation Event ◽

Canadian Prairies ◽

Water Fraction ◽

Weather Patterns ◽

Global Environmental ◽

Land Water

Abstract There are numerous water features on the Canadian landscapes that are not monitored. Specifically, there are water bodies over the prairies and Canadian shield regions of North America that are ephemeral in nature and could have a significant influence on convective storm generation and local weather patterns through turbulent exchanges of sensible and latent heat between the land and the atmosphere. In this study a series of numerical experiments is performed with Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) model at 2.5-km grid spacing to examine the sensitivity of the atmospheric boundary layer and the resulting precipitation to the presence of open water bodies. Operationally, the land–water fraction in GEM is specified by means of static geophysical databases that do not change with time. Uncertainty is introduced in this study into this land–water fraction and the sensitivity of the resulting precipitation is quantified for a convective precipitation event occurring over the Canadian Prairies in the summer of 2014. The results indicate that with an increase in open water bodies, accumulated precipitation, peak precipitation amounts, and intensities decrease. Moreover, shifts are seen in times of peak for both precipitation amounts and intensities, in the order of increasing wetness. Additionally, with an increase in open water bodies, convective available potential energy decreases and convective inhibition increases, indicating suppression of forcing for convective precipitation.

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On contribution of horizontal and intra-layer convection to the formation of the Baltic Sea cold intermediate layer

Ocean Science Discussions ◽

10.5194/osd-5-581-2008 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 581-623

Author(s):

I. P. Chubarenko ◽

N. Y. Demchenko

Keyword(s):

Baltic Sea ◽

Intermediate Layer ◽

Heat Content ◽

Field Measurements ◽

Open Water ◽

Early Spring ◽

Cold Intermediate Layer ◽

The Baltic Sea ◽

The Baltic ◽

Fast Increase

Abstract. Seasonal cascades down the coastal slopes and intra-layer convection are considered as the two mechanisms contributing to the Baltic Sea cold intermediate layer (CIL) formation. On the base of TS-diagrams, mean-annual and real-time temperature profiles, the CIL features are re-analyzed. The presence within the CIL of water with temperature below that of maximum density (Tmd) and that at the local surface allows tracing its formation. Field measurements are presented, showing specific features of denser water formation in marine environment. It is argued that such cascades formed during early spring heating (March–April) – before reaching the Tmd – are the source of the coldest waters of the CIL. Fast increase of the open water heat content during further spring heating indicates that horizontal exchange rather than direct solar heating is responsible for that. When the surface is covered with water, heated above the Tmd, the conditions within the CIL become favorable for intralayer convection due to the presence of waters of Tmd in intermediate layer, which can explain the observed increase of its salinity and deepening with time.

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Ist Wasserbau auch eine Frage der Ästhetik? | Is hydraulic engineering a question of aesthetics?

Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Forstwesen ◽

10.3188/szf.2008.0205 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 159 (7) ◽

pp. 205-208

Author(s):

Gianni Paravicini

Keyword(s):

Open Water ◽

Hydraulic Engineering ◽

Water Bodies ◽

Ecological Value ◽

The Aesthetic ◽

Bodies Of Water

There is much extended literature about classic technical hydraulic engineering and about the revitalization of bodies of water. This article deals with a third component, which has received little attention by the engineers. The author pleads for more aesthetic in hydraulic engineering, in particular in populated areas where many people use the open water bodies for recreation. It is shown that more aesthetic in hydrologic engineering often also leads to an increased ecological value. With hydraulic constructions in the canton of Lueerne, possible creative elements for the aesthetic and ecological revaluation of the course of creeks are discussed.

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The fauna and benthic communities of invertebrates of the Ural river within the Atuar steppe (Orenburg state nature reserve)

Вестник Пермского университета. Серия «Биология»=Bulletin of Perm University. Biology ◽

10.17072/1994-9952-2021-4-275-288 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 275-288

Author(s):

Tat'yana S. Krayneva ◽

◽

Nikolaj N. Pan'kov ◽

Keyword(s):

Nature Reserve ◽

Benthic Communities ◽

Water Bodies ◽

Chironomid Larvae ◽

Sandy Gravel ◽

Limnodrilus Hoffmeisteri ◽

Bithynia Tentaculata ◽

State Nature Reserve ◽

Bristle Worms ◽

State Nature

There are 70 species and forms in the composition of zoobenthos of the river Ural and in water bodies of its floodplain have been identified. Mayflies and chironomids are represented in various ways (13 and 12 species and forms, respectively). Caddisflies (10) and stone flies (7) are rich in species. Among other invertebrates, bivalves (6) and gastropods (5), small-bristled worms (5), non-chironomid dipterans (4), leeches, crustaceans and dragonflies, bugs and beetles were recorded. On sandy-gravel-pebble soils is formed a zoobenthocenosis, dominated by the mayflies Ephoron virgo. They are accompanied by Chironomidae larvae. The biomass of the community varies between of 29.32–31.68 g/m2 with an abundance of 18.1–32.44 thousand ind./m2. In the coastal of the channel is formed a pelophilic zoobenthocenosis, the basis of it abundance and biomass are constituted by the small-bristle worms Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri. They are accompanied by mollusks Stagnicola palustris and mysids P. lacustris. The biomass of the pelophilic community is 13.68 g/m2 with a population of 15.45 thousand ind./m2. In floodplain water bodies are formed pelophilic zoobenthocenoses, the biomass of which varies in the range of 19.2–34.24 g/m2 with an abundance of 5.64–30.04 thousand ind./m2. Chironomid larvae constitute the base of the population. The biomass is composed by dragonflies Libellula sp., Chironomids, and mollusks Bithynia tentaculata.

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