title: Do small marinas drive habitat specific impacts? A case study from Mediterranean Sea.
abstract: Many human activities add new structures to the marine landscape. Despite the fact that human structures cause some inevitable impacts, surprisingly little information exists on the effects of marina on natural marine assemblages. The aim of this paper is to assess habitat-specific response of benthic sessile organisms of rocky shores in relation to the presence of a small marina. Sampling was carried out at three coastal habitats (midshore, lowshore and subtidal) by means of visual censuses adopting an after-control-impact (ACI) experimental design. It appears that the marina affects the structure and composition of benthic communities of both the midshore and the lowshore. Little effect was evident on shallow subtidal assemblage structure. The results of the present study clearly show habitat-specific responses of coastal benthic assemblages to the presence of infrastructure.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Via Archirafi 28, 90123 Palermo, Italy. difry@libero.it
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Franco
authors.forename: Mariagrazia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Graziano
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Franzitta
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Felline
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chemello
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Milazzo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development*; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry; D012767:Ships; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data