Naturally occurring dissolved organic matter [DOM) was investigated in a lagoonal system with the aim to study the origin and mixing of the Doh4 components. Water samples were collected in the Sacca di Goro lagoon (PO river delta, Italy) and analysed by means of different techniques, such as fluorescence, absorpt~on and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) measurements. Synchronous fluorescence spect...

Ecological communities typically change along gradients of human impact, although it is difficult to estimate the footprint of impacts for diffuse threats such as pollution. We developed a joint model (i.e., one that includes multiple species and their interactions with each other and environmental covariates) of benthic habitats on lagoonal coral reefs and used it to infer change in benthic co...

Sediment samples were collected in 4 sites along a salinity gradient (between 0.2 and 27.3) of the Aussa River (Marano Lagoon, northern Adriatic Sea, Italy) and a decreasing gradient of industrial contamination downstream (from Stn A1 to Stn A4) to assess how a riverine-lagoonal system responds to chemical contamination by applying an integrative measure of its benthic ecological properties. Be...

Coral species, which function to build the framework structure of reef ecosystems, vary across sheltered exposed environmental gradients. For centuries, conditions in environments that impact lagoonal reefs have been altered by local anthropogenic disturbances, while forereefs largely buffered effects disturbances. Yet, bleaching events induced global disturbances challenge how we predict chang...

We explore impacts on pristine atolls subjected to anthropogenic near-field (human habitation) and far-field (climate and environmental change) pressure. Using literature data of human impacts on reefs, we parameterize forecast models to evaluate trajectories in coral cover under impact scenarios that primarily act via recruitment and increased mortality of larger corals. From surveys across th...

A fleet of baited remote underwater video stations was set in lagoonal and inter-reef waters of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, across 14° of latitude and the entire shelf. Counts of the maximum number seen in any one field of view were used to estimate relative abundance of 347 species of bony fishes, cartilaginous fishes and sea snakes. Boosted regression trees were used to assess the inf...

Freshwater lagoons comprise important coastal ecosystems and natural buffers between urbanized land areas and open ocean in the Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Studies of sediment and water chemistry, zooplankton and bacterial communities to assess the extent of anthropogenic disturbance are available. Here we contribute with an organic-geochemical approach supplemented by some microbiological as...