Importance of the microbenthic loop of Posidonia oceanica meadows to detect anthropogenic perturbations early: first results

It was demonstrated that Posidonia oceanica, the marine magnoliophyte endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, is a valuable tool to assess environmental qualities of the coastal zones. However, only few studies have attempted to use characteristics of its sediment compartment as an indicator of the environment state of health. Yet, organisms living in this compartment have a turnover which is faster than for canopy-organisms which makes them useful as valid early descriptors of pollution.
The study described here takes place in a project which aims to find an early holistic indicator of anthropogenic perturbations in the Mediterranean coastal zones. The investigation is based on the microbenthic loop (organic matter, bacteria, microphytobenthos and meiofauna) and was led in two different sites of Calvi Bay (Corsica, France), at 10 m depth, in March and June 2007. Only results about bacteria (abundance, biomass, morphotypes), microphytobenthos (biomass) and organic matter (biomass) will be presented.
For both seasons, significant differences between sites are found, irrespective on whether variables are treated separately or together, thus indicating that the microbenthic loop has potential to be a good early indicator of pollution.