Corresponding author: Eva Chatzinikolaou (
Academic editor: Vasilis Gerovasileiou
Mediterranean ports are sources of significant economic activity and at the same time they act as recipients of considerable anthropogenic disturbance and pollution. Polluted and low-in-oxygen sediments can negatively impact benthic biodiversity and favour recruitment of opportunistic or invasive species. Macrobenthic communities are an important component of the port biota and can be used as environmental quality indicators. However, a baseline database for benthic biodiversity in Mediterranean ports has not yet been widely established.
Macrobenthic assemblages were recorded in three Mediterranean touristic ports under the framework of the ENPI CBC MED project MAPMED (MAnagement of Port Areas in the MEDiterranean Sea Basin). Samples were collected from Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy), Heraklion (Crete, Greece) and El Kantaoui (Tunisia) ports during February, May and September 2012. The sampling stations were selected according to the different sectors within each port (i.e. leisure, fishing, passenger/cargo vessels and shipyard). A total of 277 taxa belonging to 12 phyla were found, of which the 96 taxa were present in all three ports. El Kantaoui port hosted the highest number of macrobenthic taxa.
Mediterranean ports are sources of significant economic activity and they strongly support local, regional and national economic development. The Mediterranean Sea hosts about 480 ports and terminals and is one of the busiest maritime areas of the world (
This dataset includes macrobenthic taxa identified in three touristic ports in the Mediterranean, located at Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy), Heraklion (Crete, Greece) and El Kantaoui (Tunisia) (
MAPMED: MAnagement of Port areas in the MEDiterranean sea basin
Dr Eva Chatzinikolaou (project management, design and implementation of sampling, taxonomic identification), Dr Panagiotis Damianidis (taxonomic identification), Dr Christina Pavloudi (taxonomic identification), Dr Katerina Vasileiadou (taxonomic identification), Dr Sarah Faulwetter (taxonomic identification), Kleoniki Keklikoglou (taxonomic identification), Wanda Plaiti (taxonomic identification), Dimitra Mavraki (data management), Stamatina Nikolopoulou (data management) and Dr Christos Arvanitidis (principal investigator).
Mediterranean touristic ports: Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy), Heraklion (Crete, Greece) and El Kantaoui (Tunisia).
During this study, differences in macrobenthic assemblages were examined across three levels: a) geographical differences (three countries), b) use-sectoral differences (3-5 stations within ports) and c) temporal differences (three seasons in relation to the touristic period).
This project has been financed by the European Union under the ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme in the framework of the project “MAnagement of Port areas in the MEDiterranean Sea Basin” (MAPMED) (Grand Contract 6/2019-25/ 7/2011). This publication has been supported by the LifeWatchGreece infrastructure (MIS 384676), funded by the Greek Government under the General Secretariat of Research and Technology (GSRT), ESFRI Projects, National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) and from LifeWatch ERIC.
Five replicates of sediment samples were collected from each station using a box corer (13.5 cm × 13.5 cm × 16 cm) manually operated from a small boat. A Garmin 60 CS portable GPS and a depth meter were available on board to record the exact position and depth of each station respectively. The sediment samples were sieved through a 0.5 mm sieve and then fixed and preserved in 5% formaldehyde buffered with seawater and stained with Rose Bengal. The benthic organisms were sorted out of the sediment under a stereoscope, counted and identified down to the lowest possible taxonomic level.
All scientific names were standardised against the World Register of Marine Species using the Taxon Match tool (
Three Mediterranean touristic ports were selected as study sites and they are presented in Fig.
Sampling stations were selected in order to achieve good spatial coverage in each port and also to represent sectors with different uses according to the Water Management Units in MAPMED Action Plans (MAPMED 2015). Four stations were selected in the port of Heraklion, five stations in the port of Cagliari and three stations in the port of El Kantaoui (Table
33.724 and 41.311 Latitude; 7.954 and 27.598 Longitude.
The dataset includes information on macrobenthic assemblages found in the three Mediterranean touristic ports belonging to the following 12 phyla:
A total of 46,187 individuals were identified down to the lowest possible taxonomic level, from which 15,535 were found in Cagliari port, 11,571 in Heraklion port and 19,081 in El Kantaoui port. A total of 277 macrofaunal taxa were identified in the three ports, from which 32 were present exclusively in Cagliari port, 22 were found only in Heraklion port and 53 were found only in El Kantaoui port. A total of 96 taxa were common between all three Mediterranean ports (Fig.
The percentage of opportunistic taxa abundances (i.e. short-lived taxa often characterising disturbed or stressed habitats) was calculated for each station as the percentage of abundances for
Additional statistical analysis has been applied to the species composition matrices of the specific dataset by
Three seasonal sampling campaigns were carried out during 2012: one in winter (February), one in spring before the beginning of the touristic season (May) and one in late summer after the touristic season (September).
Benthic communities and environmental parameters in three Mediterranean ports (Sardinia, Crete and Tunisia).
5% formaldehyde buffered with seawater.
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture (IMBBC), Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
Open Data Commons Attribution License
This work is licensed under a
Benthic communities and environmental parameters in three Mediterranean ports (Sardinia, Crete and Tunisia).
1
Benthic communities and environmental parameters in three Mediterranean ports (Sardinia, Crete and Tunisia).
Darwin Core Archive.
UTF-8
The dataset is available via the
This publication refers to the most recent version of the dataset available through the IPT server or MedOBIS. Future changes to the dataset due to quality control activities might change its content or structure.
The current publication refers to the "occurrence" source file (txt file) that is associated with the particular dataset. Additional details about the sampling events can be found in the "event" source file (txt file) associated with the same dataset.
Column label | Column description |
---|---|
id | A unique identifier for the record within the dataset or collection, auto-incrementing number automatically added by the system (same with eventID). |
eventID | An identifier for the set of information associated with an Event (something that occurs at a place and time). |
samplingProtocol | The description of the method or protocol used for sample collection. |
eventDate | The date-time or interval during which an Event occurred. |
year | The four-digit year in which the Event occurred, according to the Common Era Calendar. |
month | The integer month in which the Event occurred. |
day | The integer day of the month on which the Event occurred. |
eventRemarks | Comments or notes about the Event. |
locationID | An identifier for the set of location information (station name). |
locality | The specific description of the place. |
minimumDepthInMetres | The lesser depth of a range of depth below the local surface, in metres. |
maximumDepthInMetres | The greater depth of a range of depth below the local surface, in metres. |
decimalLatitude | The geographic latitude (in decimal degrees, using the spatial reference system given in geodeticDatum) of the geographic centre of a Location. Positive values are north of the Equator, negative values are south of it. Legal values lie between -90 and 90, inclusive. |
decimalLongitude | The geographic longitude (in decimal degrees, using the spatial reference system given in geodeticDatum) of the geographic centre of a Location. Positive values are east of the Greenwich Meridian, negative values are west of it. Legal values lie between -180 and 180, inclusive. |
geodeticDatum | The ellipsoid, geodetic datum or spatial reference system (SRS) upon which the geographic coordinates given in decimalLatitude and decimalLongitude are based. |
coordinateUncertaintyInMetres | The horizontal distance (in metres) from the given decimalLatitude and decimalLongitude describing the smallest circle containing the whole of the Location. |
georeferenceProtocol | A description or reference to the methods used to determine the spatial footprint, coordinates and uncertainties. |
institutionCode | The name (or acronym) in use by the institution having custody of the object (s) or information referred to in the record. |
collectionCode | An identifier for the collection or dataset from which the record was derived. |
basisOfRecord | The specific nature of the data record. |
occurrenceID | An identifier for the Occurrence (as opposed to a particular digital record of the occurrence). |
catalogNumber | An identifier (preferably unique) for the record within the dataset or collection. |
individualCount | The number of individuals represented present at the time of the Occurrence. |
occurrenceStatus | A statement about the presence or absence of a Taxon at a Location. |
scientificNameID | An identifier for the nomenclatural (not taxonomic) details of a scientific name (Isid of WORMS). |
scientificName | The full scientific name, not including authorship. |
kingdom | The full scientific name of the kingdom in which the taxon is classified. |
phylum | The full scientific name of the phylum in which the taxon is classified. |
class | The full scientific name of the class in which the taxon is classified. |
order | The full scientific name of the order in which the taxon is classified. |
family | The full scientific name of the family in which the taxon is classified. |
genus | The full scientific name of the genus in which the taxon is classified. |
specificEpithet | The species epithet of the scientificName. |
scientificNameAuthorship | The authorship information for the scientificName formatted according to the conventions of the applicable nomenclaturalCode. |
nomenclaturalCode | The nomenclatural code (or codes in the case of an ambiregnal name) under which the scientificName is constructed. |
taxonRemarks | Comments or notes about the taxon or name in the original dataset file. |
This publication has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union under the ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme in the framework of the project “MAnagement of Port areas in the MEDiterranean Sea Basin” (MAPMED) (Grand Contract 6/2019-25/7/2011). The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of HCMR and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union or of the Programme's management structures.The authors would like to thank the Management Authorities of the ports of Cagliari, Heraklion and El Kantaoui for their support during the sampling campaigns, as well as all the participating project partners.
Dr Eva Chatzinikolaou (writing of manuscript, project management, design and implementation of sampling, taxonomic identification), Dr Panagiotis Damianidis (taxonomic identification), Dr Christina Pavloudi (taxonomic identification), Dr Katerina Vasileiadou (taxonomic identification), Dr Sarah Faulwetter (taxonomic identification), Kleoniki Keklikoglou (taxonomic identification), Wanda Plaiti (taxonomic identification), Dimitra Mavraki (data management), Stamatina Nikolopoulou (data management) and Dr Christos Arvanitidis (principal investigator).
The three Mediterranean touristic ports (A) and location of the sampling stations in Cagliari (B), Heraklion (C) and El Kantaoui (D)
Chart showing number of common and unique taxa in the three Mediterranean ports (Cagliari, Heraklion and El Kantaoui).
Distribution of the different phyla found in the three Mediterranean ports (Cagliari, Heraklion and El Kantaoui).
Percentage (%) of opportunistic taxa abundances in the different stations of Cagliari port (purple: C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5), Heraklion port (orange: H1, H3, H4 and H5) and El Kantaoui (blue: E1, E2 and E3) during the three differerent sampling seasons (dark colours: winter, medium colours: before summer, light colours: after summer).
Maximum depth (m), use sectors and coordinates of all sampling stations in the Meditarranean ports of Cagliari, Heraklion and El Kantaoui.
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Cagliari | C1 | 7.8 | Leisure/fishing |
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C2 | 4.5 | Leisure/fishing |
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C3 | 8.3 | Leisure/fishing |
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C4 | 13.5 | Passenger/cargo ships |
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C5 | 11.4 | Intense maritime traffic |
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Heraklion | H1 | 3.7 | Leisure/fishing |
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H3 | 19.5 | Passenger ships |
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H4 | 10.5 | Cargo ships |
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H5 | 19.0 | Shipyard |
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El Kantaoui | E1 | 2.5 | Leisure/fishing |
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E2 | 4.0 | Leisure/fishing |
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E3 | 3.2 | Leisure/fishing |
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List of taxa (phylum, class, family and species name) found in the three Mediterranean touristic ports.
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