Benthic diatom response to changing environmental conditions

In the Gulf of Trieste (northern Adriatic Sea, Italy) the benthic diatom community dynamics has been studied for seven years (1999–2005) at two sublittoral stations and related to variations of temperature, salinity, nutrient concentrations, freshwater inflow and mucilage. Bin-averaged temperature versus abundance of the main genera revealed that Nitzschia and Navicula presented a positive stepped trend with increasing temperature. An increase of ca. 860 ± 150 cells per cm3 per °C was calculated for Navicula and up to 590 ± 170 cells per cm3 per °C for Nitzschia. The genus Pleurosigma revealed a negative trend with increasing temperature, with a calculated decrease of ca. 140 ± 60 cells per cm3 per °C. A negative relation between Diploneis and temperature was found only in the shallower site. A peak of the tychopelagic genus Cylindrotheca was observed in correspondence with high salinity, but no significant results between bin-averaged salinity and benthic diatom abundance were found. Significant negative relations were obtained between bin-averaged abundance of Pleurosigma and H4SiO4 and NO3− at the deeper station and between the bin-averaged abundance of Gyrosigma   and NH4+ at the coastal station. In this site the abundance of Gyrosigma showed a significant increasing trend over the study period. Navicula and Nitzschia seemed to suffer from the presence of mucilage events occurred in summer 2000 and 2004 whereas Diploneis occupied the ecological niche which remained temporarily uncovered by Navicula and Nitzschia. An exceptional freshwater plume with extremely high terrigenous input in November 2000 completely covered the benthic diatom community, causing a remarkable decrease in its total abundance in late autumn and winter 2000–01. The Gulf of Trieste may be considered a natural megacosm due to its geomorphologic characteristics and therefore the benthic diatom response to changing environmental conditions observed in this site could be extended beyond the geographical limits of this particular ecosystem.