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Connectivity in Three European Coastal Lagoons

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Abstract

The temporal variation and the spatial structure of marine populations strongly depend on the early life stages of the individuals and on their interaction with the environment. The physical dispersion of propagules (eggs and larvae) is a fundamental aspect, conditioning the successful recruitment of juveniles in the adult population. Coastal transitional ecosystems such as lagoons plays a role of nursery for species with economic relevance, such as demersal fishes, mollusks and crustaceans. Those environments promote the recruitment of the early stages for several organisms because they act as area of retention for propagules and concentration for resources. We applied in three different European coastal lagoon a lagrangian particle tracking model coupled with a hydrodynamic model, and developed a method to evaluate the connectivity inside a lagoon and between a lagoon and the sea. Each particle represents a generic passive pelagic larva with a duration of one month. The average connectivity has been estimated after two years of simulation under realistic tide and wind forcings. Our results allow to characterize the lagoons behavior considering different spatial scales and to compare the dynamics of different systems. This study is a first step toward a better knowledge of the factors influencing the ecological role of coastal lagoons.

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Acknowledgments

This study has been started in the context of the DSS-Pesca project and developed in the context of the RITMARE project, by the cooperation of lines SP3-WP4-AZ5 and SP2-WP2-AZ1-UO8. We are grateful to dr. Ferrarin Christian for the scientific suggestions. One of the authors was supported by a grant (APR, 18869/EE/13) for research stays of the Jimnez de la Espada mobility, cooperation and internationalization program of the Seneca Foundation in the framework of the Plan de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovacíon de la Regíon de Murcia (2011-2014).We wish to acknowledge Agencia Estatal de Meteorologia and Organismo Público Puertos del Estado for the metheorological and hydrographical data provided respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNR - National Research Council of Italy, ISMAR - Institute of Marine Sciences in Lesina, Via Pola 4, 71010, Lesina (FG), Italy

    Michol Ghezzo

  2. CNR - National Research Council of Italy, ISMAR - Institute of Marine Sciences, Castello 2737/f, 30122, Venice, Italy

    Francesca De Pascalis, Georg Umgiesser & Marco Sigovini

  3. CORPI - Coastal Research and Planning Institute, Klaipeda University, H. Manto 84, LT 92294, Klaipeda, Lithuania

    Georg Umgiesser & Petras Zemlys

  4. Departamento de Ecologa e Hidrologià, Facultad de Biologià, Campus Espinardo, Regional Campus of International Excellence Campus Mare Nostrum, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, 30100, Spain

    Concepción Marcos & Angel Pérez-Ruzafa

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  1. Michol Ghezzo
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  2. Francesca De Pascalis
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  3. Georg Umgiesser
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Correspondence to Michol Ghezzo.

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Communicated by: Wayne S. Gardner

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Ghezzo, M., De Pascalis, F., Umgiesser, G. et al. Connectivity in Three European Coastal Lagoons. Estuaries and Coasts 38, 1764–1781 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-014-9908-0

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