Università del Salento, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche e Ambientali, Campus Ecotekne, 73100 Lecce, Italy.
Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2023 Nov;196:115423. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115423. Epub 2023 Oct 18.
Bottom trawling can significantly affect benthic communities, directly through immediate removal of sessile organisms and indirectly through sediment resuspension. Submarine canyons, often surrounded by fishing grounds, are important habitats for cold-water corals (CWC). Vulnerability of CWCs to increased suspended sediment concentration (SSC) is key to understanding the severity of bottom trawling effects on those communities. Here we show survival, growth, and physiological response of six CWCs from a Mediterranean submarine canyon (Dendrophyllia cornigera, Desmophyllum dianthus, Desmophyllum pertusum, Madrepora oculata, Leiopathes glaberrima and Muriceides lepida), exposed to a long-term, aquarium-based sedimentary disturbance experiment. Compared to cup coral and octocoral, which did not exhibit symptoms of distress, our data indicate that colonial scleractinian corals and black coral, which experienced substantial polyp mortality in enhanced SSC treatments, are more vulnerable. Indirect impact of bottom trawling could thus contribute to structural simplification of CWC communities posing an additional stressor alongside with global climate change.
底拖网捕捞会对海底生物群落造成显著影响，其直接影响包括对固着生物的直接捕捞，以及通过搅动海底沉积物对生物的间接影响。海底峡谷通常环绕着渔业区，是冷水珊瑚（CWC）的重要栖息地。了解悬浮泥沙浓度（SSC）增加对这些生物群落的严重程度，关键在于冷水珊瑚对其的脆弱性。在这里，我们展示了来自地中海海底峡谷的六种冷水珊瑚（Dendrophyllia cornigera、Desmophyllum dianthus、Desmophyllum pertusum、Madrepora oculata、Leiopathes glaberrima 和 Muriceides lepida）在基于水族馆的长期沉积物干扰实验中的生存、生长和生理反应。与杯状珊瑚和八放珊瑚相比，它们没有表现出不适的症状，我们的数据表明，经历了大量水螅体死亡的群体状珊瑚和黑珊瑚更为脆弱。因此，底拖网捕捞的间接影响可能会导致 CWC 群落的结构简化，这是除全球气候变化之外的另一个压力源。
