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Gradients of salinity and plant community richness and diversity in two different Mediterranean coastal ecosystems in NW Sardinia.

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to test if differences in soil salinity, plant richness and diversity were significantly affected by habitat, site and distance from the seashore at three sandy and three rocky coastal sites in north-western Sardinia. Each site has been divided into three belts placed at an equal distance of 50 m from the shoreline. We measured soil salinity using a probe and vascular plants richness and diversity using linear transects at all sites. Average soil salinity varied from 0.115 g/l to 0.180 g/l; it was higher in the rocky habitats than in the sandy ones. A total of 21 species were found per transect/site at the rocky sites and 30 species per transect/site at the sandy sites, with an average of Shannon and Weaver's Diversity Index of 1.8 per each belt at each site. These data confirm that, also in the Mediterranean islands, there are coastal gradients of soil salinity from the seashore to inland areas and that also vascular plant richness and diversity are influenced by the distance from the sea. Soil salinity was strongly affected by the type of habitat, being average at the rocky coasts and negligible at the sandy shores. The site effect was not significant for both soil salinity and plant richness and diversity.

SUBMITTER: Maccioni A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8626409 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Atmospheric deposition is a source of inorganic nutrients and organic matter to the ocean, and can favor the growth of some planktonic species over others according to their nutrient requirements. Atmospheric inputs from natural and anthropogenic sources are nowadays increasing due to desertification and industrialization, respectively. While the impact of mineral dust (mainly from the Saharan desert) on phytoplankton and bacterial community composition has been previously assessed, the effect of anthropogenic aerosols on marine bacterial assemblages remains poorly studied. Since marine bacteria play a range of roles in the biogeochemical cycles of inorganic nutrients and organic carbon, it is important to determine which taxa of marine bacteria may benefit from aerosol fertilization and which not. Here, we experimentally assessed the effect of Saharan dust and anthropogenic aerosols on marine bacterioplankton community composition across a spatial and temporal range of trophic conditions in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. Results from 16S rDNA sequencing showed that bacterial diversity varied significantly with seasonality and geographical location. While atmospheric deposition did not yield significant changes in community composition when all the experiments where considered together, it did produce changes at certain places and during certain times of the year. These effects accounted for shifts in the bacterial community's relative abundance of up to 28%. The effect of aerosols was overall greatest in summer, both types of atmospheric particles stimulating the groups Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, and Cyanobacteria in the location with the highest anthropogenic footprint. Other bacterial groups benefited from one or the other aerosol depending on the season and location. Anthropogenic aerosols increased the relative abundance of groups belonging to the phylum Bacteriodetes (Cytophagia, Flavobacteriia, and Sphingobacteriia), while Saharan dust stimulated most the phytoplanktonic group of Cyanobacteria and, more specifically, Synechococcus.

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Gradients of salinity and plant community richness and diversity in two different Mediterranean coastal ecosystems in NW Sardinia.

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