Responses of molluscan communities to centuries of human impact in the northern Adriatic Sea

Author(s)

Ivo Gallmetzer, Alexandra Haselmair, Adam Tomasovych, Michael Stachowitsch, Martin Zuschin

Abstract

In sediment cores spanning ~500 years of history in the Gulf of Trieste, down-core changes in molluscan community structure are characterized by marked shifts in species and functional composition. Between the 16

^th and 19

^th century, a strong heavy metal contamination of the sediments, most notably by Hg, together with the effects of natural climatic oscillations (increased sedimentation and organic enrichment) drive community changes. Since the early 20

^th century up to 2013, the combined impacts of cultural eutrophication, frequent hypoxic events and intensifying bottom trawling replace heavy metal contamination and climatic factors as the main drivers. The pollution-tolerant and opportunistic bivalve Corbula gibba and the scavenging gastropod Nassarius pygmaeus significantly increase in abundance during the 20

^th century, while species more sensitive to disturbances and hypoxia such as Turritella communis and Kurtiella bidentata become rare or absent. An infaunal life habit and scavenging emerge as the dominant life strategies during the late 20

^th century. Down-core shifts in the proportional abundances of molluscan species and functional groups represent a sensitive proxy for past ecological changes and reveal a century-long anthropogenic impact as the main driver behind these processes in the northern Adriatic Sea, offering also a unique perspective for other shallow marine ecosystems worldwide.

Organisation(s)

Department of Palaeontology, Functional and Evolutionary Ecology

External organisation(s)

Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS)

Journal

PLoS ONE

Volume

12

No. of pages

31

ISSN

1932-6203

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0180820

Publication date

07-2017

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

105118 Palaeontology

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences, General, General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/61849773-9c3f-4806-8c33-d4b68a25fb01