The tolerance capability on fouling communities from different habitats to anthropogenic stressors has often given opposite results due to the interaction of several variables. Investigating the resistance of different fouling communities to port habitat conditions is therefore an important issue for the development of future “green ports”, that from a “biopollution” point of view will be aimed to favour fouling communities able to limit the settlement and then the introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS). In this context, a manipulative experiment conducted in a mesocosm system was carried out by testing the disturbance of two stressors (chemical and physical) on fouling communities collected inside a marina located in Madeira Island (NE Atlantic) and from a natural rocky habitat nearby. Three-months old fouling communities were collected from a total of 24 PVC panels and randomly exposed to a chemical (heavy metals exposure through an antifouling paint) and/or physical condition of disturbance (physical pressure of the panels). The main goal of this experiment was to compare the responses of the two communities after a disturbance event, by analysing the whole fouling species composition and the non-indigenous component only. The two fouling communities were observed to be different: inside the marina the plates were mostly colonized by NIS, while outside natives were dominant in total cover, even if NIS richness was similar in both communities. Fouling communities were both strongly affected by the chemical stressor and not by the physical one, but the communities from the natural habitat were observed to be more resistant. Our findings highlight how communities dominant in native species composition and more diverse (in this case from natural rocky habitat) can prove a certain degree of tolerance to stressful conditions, conversely to the expected better resistance of NIS-based fouling communities.

Disturbance and fouling communities: the role of non-indigenous species on artificial habitats and natural shores

Jasmine Ferrario;
2018-01-01

Abstract

The tolerance capability on fouling communities from different habitats to anthropogenic stressors has often given opposite results due to the interaction of several variables. Investigating the resistance of different fouling communities to port habitat conditions is therefore an important issue for the development of future “green ports”, that from a “biopollution” point of view will be aimed to favour fouling communities able to limit the settlement and then the introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS). In this context, a manipulative experiment conducted in a mesocosm system was carried out by testing the disturbance of two stressors (chemical and physical) on fouling communities collected inside a marina located in Madeira Island (NE Atlantic) and from a natural rocky habitat nearby. Three-months old fouling communities were collected from a total of 24 PVC panels and randomly exposed to a chemical (heavy metals exposure through an antifouling paint) and/or physical condition of disturbance (physical pressure of the panels). The main goal of this experiment was to compare the responses of the two communities after a disturbance event, by analysing the whole fouling species composition and the non-indigenous component only. The two fouling communities were observed to be different: inside the marina the plates were mostly colonized by NIS, while outside natives were dominant in total cover, even if NIS richness was similar in both communities. Fouling communities were both strongly affected by the chemical stressor and not by the physical one, but the communities from the natural habitat were observed to be more resistant. Our findings highlight how communities dominant in native species composition and more diverse (in this case from natural rocky habitat) can prove a certain degree of tolerance to stressful conditions, conversely to the expected better resistance of NIS-based fouling communities.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11571/1227493
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