Fish assemblage response to environmental pressures in the Venice lagoon

Abstract

1. Venice lagoon (Italy), being a transitional water environment, is subjected to several environmental pressures of anthropogenic origin, with a likely impact on the overall ecological status of the system.
2. Following the Water Framework Directive (WFD, Directive 2000/60/CE), water bodies are to be characterised by the pressures acting on them, and fish assemblages can be used as biological quality element of their ecological status. The Venice lagoon basin has been divided into 14 water bodies, belonging to 5 types, according to the national classification.
3. With the aim of comparing the role of anthropogenic pressures and environmental background in affecting the lagoon fish assemblages, human pressures have been identified and their magnitude quantified in each lagoon water body, with particular reference to 3 pressure categories: pollution (including nutrient enrichment), direct pressures on the habitat and the living organisms (with particular regard to fishes), and indirect pressures deriving from ground occupation (adjacent land uses).
4. Fish assemblage attributes (both taxonomical and functional), in sites located within 4 lagoon water bodies (fish samples were collected in 2001-2002 by using fyke nets), were related to the respective pressures acting on these water bodies, by taking into account also the contribution of natural environmental variability among the studied areas, including habitat diversity.
5. Results showed similar significant effects of environmental background and anthropogenic pressures on the lagoon fish assemblages. This highlights the importance of controlling for environmental variability to allow the detection of the signal of human impact on biological assemblages when attempting at the evaluation of lagoon ecological status.