La meiofauna delle sabbie “relitte” dell’Adriatico Settentrionale soggette ad operazioni di escavo

The study falls within a larger research programme aimed at assessing the effect of dredging operations on benthic fauna associated with an off-shore sand bank to be used for beach nourishment. Meiofaunal samples in three replicates were collected in three periods: before, during and one month after the dredging operations, at 10 sites: 3 in the impacted area and 7 in adjacent areas not subject to dredging. A faunistic survey of sediment cores found the meiofaunal benthic community to be composed almost exclusively of epibenthic and infaunal forms. The community was dominated by Nematoda followed by Harpacticoida, with the highest density recorded before the beginning of the operations. The dredging had a strong, adverse effect on the fauna, causing near complete defaunation at the impacted sites. One month after completion of the operation, the fauna of the impoverished sites did not show significant evidence of recovery; a working hypothesis relates the slow recolonisation process to the large extension of the impacted area.