Fish farm impacts on Posidonia oceanica meadows: interest of the microbenthic loop.

Posidonia oceanica, the seagrass endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, is a valuable tool to assess the environmental quality in coastal zones. However, only few studies have attempted to use characteristics of its sediment compartment as an indicator of environmental perturbations.
In this study, the impact of a fish farm on the microbenthic loop (organic matter, bacteria, microphytobenthos and meiofauna) of P. oceanica meadows will be described.
Samples were taken under an aquaculture situated in Calvi Bay (Corsica, France) at a depth of 22 m, in March and June 2008. The control site was the meadow situated in front of the research station STARESO (Calvi Bay, Corsica, France), sampled at the same periods and depth. Results concerning bacteria, microphytobenthos and organic matter will be presented here.
For both seasons, differences between sites exist. For example, biomasses of organic matter, microphytobenthos and bacteria are higher in the fish farm than in the control site, indicating that the microbenthic loop has potential to be a good early indicator of pollution in this sea.