Effects of enhanced loads of nutrients on epiphytes on leaves and rhizomes of Posidonia oceanica |
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| Authors: | David Balata Luigi Piazzi Ugo Nesti Fabio Bulleri Iacopo Bertocci |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland;2. Dipartimento di Biologia, CoNISMa; Università di Pisa. Via Derna 1, 56126 Pisa, Italy;1. UMR 6134 CNRS Sciences pour l''Environnement, UMS 3514 CNRS, Stella Mare, Université de Corse, BP 52, 20250 Corte, France;2. IRD, UMR 5119 ECOSYM, Université Montpellier 2, 34095 Montpellier, France;3. Aix-Marseille Université, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d''Ecologie (IMBE), UMR-CNRS-IRD 6372, 13331 Marseille, France;1. Station de Recherches Sous-marines et Oceanographiques (STARESO), Pointe Revellata, BP 33, 20260 Calvi, France;2. EqEL – FRES 3041, UMR CNRS SPE 6134, University of Corsica, Campus Grimaldi, BP 52, 20250 Corte, France;3. Laboratory of Oceanology - MARE Centre - University of LIEGE - B6 C - 4000 LIEGE - Sart Tilman, Belgium;1. Laboratory of Oceanology, MARE Centre, FOCUS, University of Liège, Allée du 6 Août, 15, Sart Tilman, B6c, 4000 Liège, Belgium;2. Chemical Oceanography Unit, FOCUS, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium;3. Station de Recherches Sous-Marines et Océanographiques (STARESO), Pointe Revellata, BP 33, 20260 Calvi, France;4. Agence de l''eau Rhône Méditerranée Corse – Direction Connaissance et Planification, Immeuble Le Noailles, 62 La Canebière, 13001 Marseille, France;1. Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR), University of Algarve-Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal;2. Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Dept of Integrative Marine Ecology, Villa Dohrn. Benthic Ecology Center (Ischia), Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy;3. Department of Earth and Marine Sciences, University of Palermo, CoNISMa, Via Archirafi 18, 90123 Palermo, Italy;4. CoNISMa, Piazzale Flaminio 9, 00196 Roma, Italy;5. Friederich-Schiller-University Jena (FSU), Lessingstr. 8, D-07743 Jena, Germany;1. Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia;2. Institut National des Sciences et des Technologie de la Mer de Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia |
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| Abstract: | The increase of anthropogenic activities has severely altered both terrestrial and aquatic systems. Urbanisation, excessive use of agricultural fertilisers, organic runoff and climate change have caused an increase of nutrients in coastal waters, altering the diversity and food-web structure of benthic assemblages. The aims of the present paper were to text if an experimentally increased availability of nutrients, primarily nitrogen and phosphorous, in an oligotrophic basin, would affect epiphytic assemblages on leaves and rhizomes of P. oceanica and whether this could change rates of consumption of the plant by herbivores. In particular, we tested the hypothesis i) that changes to species composition and abundance of epiphytic assemblages generated by nutrients enrichment would vary between leaves and rhizomes and that ii) alterations to epiphytic assemblages on leaves might, in turn, modify feeding rates of herbivorous fish. After two years, the structure of both leaf and rhizome epiphytic assemblages responded to changes in nutrient concentrations before the occurrence of drastic alterations to the host plant, but only the former showed significant changes in terms of species composition. Moreover, a larger intensity of grazing on P. oceanica leaves was documented in experimentally enriched areas than in controls. The present findings and conclusions are applicable to other systems where patterns of biodiversity depend on changes in the availability of nutrients due to natural or anthropogenic events, likely interacting with biological processes, such as competition and grazing. |
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