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Impacts of mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) farming on oxygen consumption and nutrient recycling in a eutrophic coastal lagoon

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Abstract

Fluxes of oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorus were determined in two areas of the Sacca di Goro lagoon, at a site influenced by the farming of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis and a control site. Mussel farming induced intense biodeposition of organic matter to the underlying sediments, which stimulated sediment oxygen demand, and inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus regeneration rates compared to the nearby control station. Overall benthic fluxes (–11.4 ± 6.5 mmol O2 m−2 h−1; 1.59 ± 0.47 mmol NH +4 m−2 h−1 and 94 ± 42 μmol PO 3−4 m−2 h−1) at the mussel farm are amongst the highest ever recorded for an aquaculture impacted area and question the belief that farming of filter-feeding bivalves has inherently lower impacts than finfish farming. In situ incubations of intact mussel ropes demonstrated that the mussel rope community was an enormous sink for oxygen and particulate organic matter, and an equally large source of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphate to the water column. Overall, a one meter square area of␣mussel farm (mussel ropes and underlying sediment) was estimated to have an oxygen demand of 46.8 mmol m2 h−1 and to regenerate inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus at rates of 8.5 and 0.3 mmol m2 h−1, with the mussel ropes accounting for between 70 and more than 90% of the overall oxygen and nutrient fluxes. Even taking into account that within the farmed area of the Sacca di Goro lagoon, there are 15–20 m−2 of open water for each one covered with mussel ropes, the mussel ropes would account for a large and often dominant part of overall oxygen and nutrient fluxes. These results demonstrate that it is essential to take into account the activity of the cultivated organisms and their epiphytic community when assessing the impacts of shellfish farming. Overall, whilst grazing by the mussel rope community could act as a top-down control on the phytoplankton, most of the ingested organic matter is rapidly recycled to the water column as inorganic nutrients, which would be expected to stimulate phytoplankton growth. Consequently, the net effect of the mussel farming on phytoplankton dynamics, may be to increase phytoplankton turnover and overall production, rather than to limit phytoplankton biomass.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 33/A, I-43100, Parma, Italy

    Daniele Nizzoli, Marco Bartoli & Pierluigi Viaroli

  2. School of Environmental and Applied Sciences, and Centre for Aquatic Processes and Pollution, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, PMB 50 GC Mail Centre, 9726 , Bundall, Queensland, Australia

    David T. Welsh

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  1. Daniele Nizzoli
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Correspondence to Daniele Nizzoli.

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Nizzoli, D., Welsh, D.T., Bartoli, M. et al. Impacts of mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) farming on oxygen consumption and nutrient recycling in a eutrophic coastal lagoon. Hydrobiologia 550, 183–198 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-005-4378-9

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