Benthic hydrozoan assemblages as potential indicators of environmental health in a mediterranean marine protected area

The comparative study of marine benthic hydrozoan assemblages can improve our understanding of environmental and ecological conditions in marine protected areas (MPAs) such as the large Mediterranean MPA of Datca-Bozburun, where important prospects for future intensive tourism development exist. The analysis of such assemblages may help managers detect changes in important parameters of ecosystem health within this MPA. In this study we compared the hydrozoan assemblages occurring on hard (rocky) and soft (Posidonia meadows) bottoms from stations belonging to three different conditions: i) small marinas (medium anthropogenic impact), ii) yacht stopovers (low impact), and iii) unspoiled sites (no impact) in the southern part of the Datea Peninsula during summer and winter 2015 and 2016. Significant differences in the structure, species composition and richness of benthic hydrozoans among the sampling sites were detected. In both seasons, hydroid assemblages in medium-impact sites significantly differed from little-impact and no-impact sites in terms of qualitative composition. Large structural species were widely represented in all hard-bottomed sampling sites, but small inconspicuous taxa with diverse life histories were much less abundant at the medium impacted sites. Species richness and diversity in Posidonia meadows was much higher in little- and no-impact sites, where highly specific hydroid epibionts were abundant

Coastal Plankton Assemblages in the Vicinity of Galindez Island and Neumayer Channel (Western Antarctic Peninsula) during the First Joint Turkish -Ukrainian Antarctic Research Expedition

Western Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming areas on Earth and coastal areas of the region are foremost affected. Here we present the state of coastal plankton assemblages of the Galindez Island and Neumayer Channel, Western Antarctic Peninsula in austral autumn (April 2016). Surface water temperatures were ranged between ?0.12 °C and ?0.97 °C and average chlorophyll-a concentrations were 0.65 µg/l. A total of 50 phytoplankton and 24 zooplankton taxa (15 copepods and 9 meroplanktonic species) were identified during the sampling period. Diatom species (78%) predominated phytoplankton and the highest abundance was 820 cells l-1, while the highest number of phytoplankton species was 42. Zooplankton was prevailed by the dominance of copepods, except contribution of meroplankton at the Neumayer channel. Highest zooplankton abundance was 101 ind.m-3. The sampling season was the transition period from the productive spring-summer to dormant winter conditions, which explains the low abundances registered, however, on contrary to low cell abundances, diversity was high within plankton