Ecosystem functioning and ecological status in the Venice lagoon, which relationships?
The implementation of management measures for improving the ecological status within an Ecosystem Based Management approach represents one the of the main challenges in coastal and transitional water environments. In general terms, ecological status and ecosystem functioning are expected to be posit...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Ecological Indicators |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21011262 |
| _version_ | 1819320287593758720 |
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| author | M. Anelli Monti D. Brigolin P. Franzoi S. Libralato R. Pastres C. Solidoro M. Zucchetta F. Pranovi |
| author_facet | M. Anelli Monti D. Brigolin P. Franzoi S. Libralato R. Pastres C. Solidoro M. Zucchetta F. Pranovi |
| author_sort | M. Anelli Monti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The implementation of management measures for improving the ecological status within an Ecosystem Based Management approach represents one the of the main challenges in coastal and transitional water environments. In general terms, ecological status and ecosystem functioning are expected to be positively associated, being good ecological processes a sort of prerequisite for the ecosystem health, but often relationships between ecosystem functioning indicators and the metrics used to define ecological status resulted to be rather puzzling. Moreover, the Biological Quality Elements (BQEs) do not show a consistent response to the changes in the ecosystem. This situation does not allow to recognize where interventions are really needed, hindering the definition of effective management strategies. In the present paper, a spatially explicit food web model of the Venice lagoon (with the resolution of 300 m) is used to simulate changes in the ecological status and related them to different management scenarios. Functional changes in the food web were investigated by comparing values of a set of 12 indicators derived by the ecological network analysis. In general, results highlighted on one hand the need for more discussion about the implementation of the WFD, at least in complex and spatially heterogeneous transitional waters environments, as the Venice lagoon; on the other, results remark the opportunity to support the BQEs monitoring with an ecological modelling approach. These models are certainly not the panacea for addressing questions about the environmental management, as they have inherent uncertainties (on parameters, structure, processes etc.); however, they can prove useful for selecting among different policy choices, since they offer the opportunity to simulate the mean effects, preliminarily verifying the efficacy of the proposed interventions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-24T11:17:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-01e51c8a908a4635a375f56b889450a8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1470-160X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-24T11:17:11Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Indicators |
| spelling | doaj.art-01e51c8a908a4635a375f56b889450a82022-12-21T16:58:21ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2021-12-01133108461Ecosystem functioning and ecological status in the Venice lagoon, which relationships?M. Anelli Monti0D. Brigolin1P. Franzoi2S. Libralato3R. Pastres4C. Solidoro5M. Zucchetta6F. Pranovi7University of Venice, Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistic Dept. Via Torino 155, 30170 Venice, Italy; Corresponding author.Università IUAV di Venezia, Department of Architecture and Arts, Dorsoduro 2196, 30123 Venice, ItalyUniversity of Venice, Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistic Dept. Via Torino 155, 30170 Venice, ItalyNational Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS, Division of Oceanography, ECHO Group Ecology and Computational Hydrodynamics in Oceanography, Via Beirut 2/4 (Ex-Sissa Bulding), 34151, Trieste, ItalyUniversity of Venice, Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistic Dept. Via Torino 155, 30170 Venice, ItalyNational Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS, Division of Oceanography, ECHO Group Ecology and Computational Hydrodynamics in Oceanography, Via Beirut 2/4 (Ex-Sissa Bulding), 34151, Trieste, ItalyConsiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche -CNR, Polar Science Institute, Via Torino 155, 30170 Venice, ItalyUniversity of Venice, Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistic Dept. Via Torino 155, 30170 Venice, ItalyThe implementation of management measures for improving the ecological status within an Ecosystem Based Management approach represents one the of the main challenges in coastal and transitional water environments. In general terms, ecological status and ecosystem functioning are expected to be positively associated, being good ecological processes a sort of prerequisite for the ecosystem health, but often relationships between ecosystem functioning indicators and the metrics used to define ecological status resulted to be rather puzzling. Moreover, the Biological Quality Elements (BQEs) do not show a consistent response to the changes in the ecosystem. This situation does not allow to recognize where interventions are really needed, hindering the definition of effective management strategies. In the present paper, a spatially explicit food web model of the Venice lagoon (with the resolution of 300 m) is used to simulate changes in the ecological status and related them to different management scenarios. Functional changes in the food web were investigated by comparing values of a set of 12 indicators derived by the ecological network analysis. In general, results highlighted on one hand the need for more discussion about the implementation of the WFD, at least in complex and spatially heterogeneous transitional waters environments, as the Venice lagoon; on the other, results remark the opportunity to support the BQEs monitoring with an ecological modelling approach. These models are certainly not the panacea for addressing questions about the environmental management, as they have inherent uncertainties (on parameters, structure, processes etc.); however, they can prove useful for selecting among different policy choices, since they offer the opportunity to simulate the mean effects, preliminarily verifying the efficacy of the proposed interventions.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21011262Ecosystem functioningEcological stateEcological IndicatorsBQEsWFDVenice lagoon |
| spellingShingle | M. Anelli Monti D. Brigolin P. Franzoi S. Libralato R. Pastres C. Solidoro M. Zucchetta F. Pranovi Ecosystem functioning and ecological status in the Venice lagoon, which relationships? Ecological Indicators Ecosystem functioning Ecological state Ecological Indicators BQEs WFD Venice lagoon |
| title | Ecosystem functioning and ecological status in the Venice lagoon, which relationships? |
| title_full | Ecosystem functioning and ecological status in the Venice lagoon, which relationships? |
| title_fullStr | Ecosystem functioning and ecological status in the Venice lagoon, which relationships? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ecosystem functioning and ecological status in the Venice lagoon, which relationships? |
| title_short | Ecosystem functioning and ecological status in the Venice lagoon, which relationships? |
| title_sort | ecosystem functioning and ecological status in the venice lagoon which relationships |
| topic | Ecosystem functioning Ecological state Ecological Indicators BQEs WFD Venice lagoon |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21011262 |
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