Short-term recovery dynamics of fish assemblage

XXXII Congresso following Posidonia oceanica restoration

della Società Italiana
di Ecologia – Catania Davide Bruno1✱, Geraldina Signa1,2, Antonino Vaccaro1, Giovanna Cilluffo1,2, Vincenzo
6-8 / 9 / 2023 Raimondi3, Mauro Assenzo3, Sebastiano Calvo1,3, Antonio Mazzola1,2, Agostino Tomasello1,2, Salvatrice Vizzini1,2
1Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, Università di Palermo; 2 Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare, Roma; 3 Biosurvey S.r.l., Palermo

BACKGROUND
Coastal marine ecosystems, such as seagrass beds, support rich biodiversity and
provide important ecosystem services that contribute to human health and economic
well-being1,2,3. However, these habitats have faced widespread environmental
degradation and disturbance, leading to compromised ecological integrity and
diminished capacity to provide ecosystem services, including habitat provision for
fish4. As such, ecosystem restoration is now considered a viable strategy to accelerate
the recovery and increase the resilience of seagrass ecosystems by recovery
ecosystem functionality and the ecosystem services provided5,6.

OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to assess the Do changes in fish assemblages
recovery dynamics of the fish occur in the first year after
assemblage following a Posidonia reforestation?
oceanica transplantation intervention.

METHODS Underwater every four months

Visual Census for one year

STUDY SITES

• Gulf of Palermo, Sicily (Italy)

o Donor meadow (Addaura VEG)
o Trasplanted meadow (Bandita VEG)
o Unvegetated site (Bandita NON VEG)

• Dead matte substrate (14m deep)

5m

REFORESTATION
25 m
• December 2021

• 22,000 P. oceanica shoots

• Total area: 1,200 m2

• MaterBi® bioplastic supports

(Biosurvey)

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

MDS ANALYSIS OF FISH ABUNDANCE

Coris julis
SPECIES RICHNESS (S)

Diplodus annularis

Diplodus vulgaris

Simphodus ocellatus

The fish assemblage was more similar between the Species richness increased
DISSIMILARITY PERCENTAGES (SIMPER) transplanted and donor meadows than between them throughout seasons, from winter
Average dissimilarity M0 M1 M6 M9 M13 and the unvegetated site. In addition, the increase in (M0) when the transplantation took
Bandita VEG - Bandita NON VEG 86 57 60 59 62 similarity between vegetated sites over time was mainly place, to late summer (M9), and this
due to the increase in abundance of seagrass-associated increase was greater in the
Bandita VEG - Addaura VEG 66 58 52 51 58
fish (i.e., labrids and sparids) in the transplanted transplanted meadow than in the
Bandita NON VEG - Addaura VEG 95 86 64 73 80 meadow. other sites.

REFERENCES CONCLUSIONS
1Orthet al., 2006 Bioscience 2 Short e Wyllie-Echeverria, 1996 Environmental
Recovery processes of the fish assemblage associated with Posidonia oceanica were
Conservation 3 Hemminga e Duarte, 2000 Seagrass Ecology 4 do Amaral
Camara Lima et al., 2023 Hydrobiologia 5 Calvo et al., 2021 Water 6 Young, T. P. observed already during the first year following the reforestation intervention. This
2000 Biological Conservation reveals that reforestation interventions can accelerate ecosystem recovery processes
and, consequently, the provision of associated ecosystem services in the short term.
✱ For more information: davide.bruno01@community.unipa.it