title: Assessment of resuspended matter and redistribution of macronutrient elements produced by boat disturbance in a eutrophic lagoon.
abstract: Harvesting of macroalgae by specially equipped boats in a shallow eutrophic lagoon produces evident sediment resuspension. To outline the environmental effects of this disturbance, we examined the quantity of fall-out and the distances travelled by sediment and macronutrients from the source of boat disturbance. Resuspended sediment fall-out (RSFO) was trapped at different distances from the boat path to determine total dry weight, total nitrogen (TN), total carbon (TC), total organic carbon (TOC), total sulphur (TS) and total phosphorus (TP). The data was analysed by principal components analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) on PCA factors. Fall-out of C, N, S and P from the plume of resuspended sediment indicated significant re-arrangement of these nutrients: RSFO dry weight and S content decreased with distance from the boat path, whereas TP increased and was the variable responsible for most discrimination at 100 m. The mass of resuspended matter was relatively large, indicating that the boats considerably reshuffle lagoon sediment.
authors.affiliation: Lagoon Ecology and Aquaculture Laboratory (LEALab), OPL s.r.l., via G. Leopardi 9, 58015 Orbetello, Italy. lealab2@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lenzi
authors.forename: Maria Grazia
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Finoia
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gennaro
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mercatali
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Persia
authors.forename: Jacopo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Solari
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Porrello
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005068:Eutrophication; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis*; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis*; D012623:Seawater; D012767:Ships; D013455:Sulfur / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010758:Phosphorus; D013455:Sulfur; D009584:Nitrogen