The study area is located at the western end of the Sorrento Peninsula in the Bay of Naples, southern Italy. It is a rocky coast consisting of vertical or near vertical limestone cliffs of structural control, with marine areas characterized by suboutcropping rocky substrate. Seabed sediments are mainly coarse and biogenic in origin with skeletal grains and coralligenous bioconstructions occurring widely. The main goal of this study is to investigate the anthropic influence on benthic habitats in the Punta Campanella Marine Protected Area (MPA). For this aim, several environmental components including benthic habitat characters and distribution, foraminifera assemblages, water column features and inorganic pollutants (heavy metals) have been analysed in two sampling areas within the MPA. In addition, other environmental components such as terrestrial biota, fresh water supply and quality, land use and natural hazard have been taken into account. At present, marine geophysical and sedimentological data together with results from benthic communities allowed us to characterize and map benthic habitats of the study area. At the same time, the presence of specific heavy metals (Ni, Hg) in seabed sediments resulting from geochemical analyses suggest a human-made disturbance of the benthic environments. Anthropic influence is also confirmed by the structure and composition of the benthic foraminiferal assemblages and by morphological deformities that characterize some species. As a next step of this study, we aim to analyse the Punta Campanella MPA with a holistic-based approach that includes territorial data and selected socio-economic components of the coastal zone (i.e. human pressure, land use, etc.). For this purpose, we propose a methodology based on the Environmental Functional Analysis (EFA), a technique originally developed by Cendrero and Fischer (1997) as a procedure for assessing the quality of coastal areas. This method has been successful employed as management tool and monitoring technique for coastal areas and terrestrial protected areas and may be used to evaluate the anthropic disturbance in the Punta Campanella MPA. In addition, the proposed methodology may be employed to compare the potential for conservation and the potential for use of the study area.
Benthic habitats and anthropic disturbance in a Marine Protected Area. The Punta Campanella MPA, southern Italy.
Crescenzo Violante;Francesco Paolo Buonocunto;Luciana Ferraro;Laura Giordano
2019
Abstract
The study area is located at the western end of the Sorrento Peninsula in the Bay of Naples, southern Italy. It is a rocky coast consisting of vertical or near vertical limestone cliffs of structural control, with marine areas characterized by suboutcropping rocky substrate. Seabed sediments are mainly coarse and biogenic in origin with skeletal grains and coralligenous bioconstructions occurring widely. The main goal of this study is to investigate the anthropic influence on benthic habitats in the Punta Campanella Marine Protected Area (MPA). For this aim, several environmental components including benthic habitat characters and distribution, foraminifera assemblages, water column features and inorganic pollutants (heavy metals) have been analysed in two sampling areas within the MPA. In addition, other environmental components such as terrestrial biota, fresh water supply and quality, land use and natural hazard have been taken into account. At present, marine geophysical and sedimentological data together with results from benthic communities allowed us to characterize and map benthic habitats of the study area. At the same time, the presence of specific heavy metals (Ni, Hg) in seabed sediments resulting from geochemical analyses suggest a human-made disturbance of the benthic environments. Anthropic influence is also confirmed by the structure and composition of the benthic foraminiferal assemblages and by morphological deformities that characterize some species. As a next step of this study, we aim to analyse the Punta Campanella MPA with a holistic-based approach that includes territorial data and selected socio-economic components of the coastal zone (i.e. human pressure, land use, etc.). For this purpose, we propose a methodology based on the Environmental Functional Analysis (EFA), a technique originally developed by Cendrero and Fischer (1997) as a procedure for assessing the quality of coastal areas. This method has been successful employed as management tool and monitoring technique for coastal areas and terrestrial protected areas and may be used to evaluate the anthropic disturbance in the Punta Campanella MPA. In addition, the proposed methodology may be employed to compare the potential for conservation and the potential for use of the study area.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
