Benthic communities and environmental parameters in three Mediterranean ports (Sardinia, Crete, Tunisia)

Three seasonal sampling campaigns (winter, summer before touristic period, summer after touristic period) were implemented during 2012 in three Mediterranean touristic ports: Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy), Heraklion (Crete, Greece) and El Kantaoui (Tunisia). Three to five stations were sampled per port, which were part of different port sectors (leisure, fishing, passenger, cargo, shipyard). Three water and three sediment replicate samples were collected per station for analysis of nutrients, pigments and hydrocarbons. One replicate was analysed for physical parameters, heavy metals and granulometry. Five sediment replicates were collected for analysis of benthic biodiversity. Benthic organisms were sorted to the main taxonomic groups (e.g. .Annelida, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Echinodermata) and identified to species level.

IdentificationAbout this resource

Alternate Identifier: 10.15468/xrlqx4

Alternate Identifier: a375889c-8799-4ea3-8827-de3dce518663

Alternate Identifier: http://ipt.medobis.eu/resource?r=mapmed_ports

Alternate Identifier: 9b11f305-fb7a-4a65-826e-7fb97af06e5f

Publication Date: 2025-02-18

Title: Benthic communities and environmental parameters in three Mediterranean ports (Sardinia, Crete, Tunisia)

Abstract: Three seasonal sampling campaigns (winter, summer before touristic period, summer after touristic period) were implemented during 2012 in three Mediterranean touristic ports: Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy), Heraklion (Crete, Greece) and El Kantaoui (Tunisia). Three to five stations were sampled per port, which were part of different port sectors (leisure, fishing, passenger, cargo, shipyard). Three water and three sediment replicate samples were collected per station for analysis of nutrients, pigments and hydrocarbons. One replicate was analysed for physical parameters, heavy metals and granulometry. Five sediment replicates were collected for analysis of benthic biodiversity. Benthic organisms were sorted to the main taxonomic groups (e.g. .Annelida, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Echinodermata) and identified to species level.

Dataset Language: ENGLISH

Dataset Creator: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research - Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture - Eva Chatzinikolaou (Post Doc Researcher)

71003
,

Dataset Creator: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research - Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture - Christos Arvanitidis (Director of Research)

71003
,

Metadata Provider: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research - Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture - Eva Chatzinikolaou (Post Doc Researcher)

71003
,

Associated Party: CUSTODIAN_STEWARD

Hellenic Centre for Marine Research - Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture - Stamatina Nikolopoulou (Research Technician)

Associated Party: CUSTODIAN_STEWARD

Hellenic Centre for Marine Research - Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture - Dimitra Mavraki (Research Technician)

Dataset Contact: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research - Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture - Thanos Dailianis (Postdoc Researcher)

Dataset Contact: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research - Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture - Manolis Mandalakis (Postdoc Researcher)

Dataset Contact: University of Cagliari,Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture - Alessandra Carucci (professor)

Dataset Contact: Department of Biology, University of Florence - Felicita Scapini (Professor)

via Romana 17, 50125 Firenze, Italy
,
Firenze
,
50125
,
ITALY

Dataset Contact: Department of Biology, University of Florence - Claudia Rossano (Postdoc Researcher)

via Romana 17, 50125 Firenze, Italy
,
Firenze
,
ITALY

Dataset Contact: Department of Biology, University of Florence - Simone Gambineri (PhD)

via Romana 17, 50125 Firenze, Italy
,
Firenze
,
ITALY

Dataset Contact: University of Cagliari,Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture - Giovanna Cappai (Associate Professor)

Dataset Contact: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Science, School of Biology - Department Zoology - Panagiotis Damianidis (Postdoc Researcher)

Dataset Contact: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research - Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture - Wanda Plaitis (Research Technician)

Dataset Contact: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research - Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture - Eva Chatzinikolaou (Post Doc Researcher)

71003
,

Keywords (GBIF Dataset Type Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_type.xml)

Mediterranean Sea; Ports; Physical parameters; Hydrocarbons; Heavy metals; Nutrients; Benthic biodiversity

Keywords (GBIF Dataset Type Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_type_2015-07-10.xml)

Samplingevent

Geographic Coverage

Geographic Description

Cagliari: 5 stations (C1,C2,C3,C4,C5).

Heraklion: 4 stations(H1,H3,H4,H5).

El Kantaoui: 3 stations(E1,E2,E3).

The values given below are maximum station depth. At the same time, this is sampling depth for all sediment samples and benthos.

C1 = 7.8m, C2 = 4.5m, C3 = 8.3m, C4 = 13.5m, C5 = 11.4m.

H1 = 3.7m, H3 = 19.5m, H4 = 10.5m, H5 = 19.0m.

E1 = 2.5m, E2 = 4.0m, E3 = 3.2m.

Bounding Box

West Bounding Coordinate: 7.954

East Bounding Coordinate: 27.598

North Bounding Coordinate: 41.311

South Bounding Coordinate: 33.724

Temporal Coverage

Range of Dates

Begin Date: 2012-02-13

End Date: 2012-09-25

Taxonomic Coverage

General Taxonomic Coverage: Macrobenthos

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name: Phylum

Taxonomic Rank Value: Annelida

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name: Phylum

Taxonomic Rank Value: Mollusca

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name: Phylum

Taxonomic Rank Value: Arthropoda

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name: Phylum

Taxonomic Rank Value: Echinodermata

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name: Phylum

Taxonomic Rank Value: Nematoda

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name: Phylum

Taxonomic Rank Value: Sipuncula

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name: Phylum

Taxonomic Rank Value: Nemertea

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name: Phylum

Taxonomic Rank Value: Cnidaria

resourceLicensesLicense Information

Intellectual Rights

This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License

Resource License

License Name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

URL: https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html

Identifier: CC-BY-4.0

Distribution

Online

URL: http://ipt.medobis.eu/archive.do?r=mapmed_ports

Additional Metadata

Metadata

GBIF Metadata Block

Date Stamp: 2026-04-14T08:23:10Z

Citation: Chatzinikolaou E., Arvanitidis C. (2017). Benthic communities and environmental parameters in three Mediterranean ports (Sardinia, Crete, Tunisia). https://doi.org/10.15468/xrlqx4 accessed via GBIF.org on 2026-04-14.

Bibliography

Logo URL: http://ipt.medobis.eu/logo.do?r=egyptexpeditionbryozoa

• Project

Title: Management of Port areas in the Mediterranean Sea Basin (MAPMED).

Personnel

Individual Name

Given Name: Christos

Surname: Arvanitidis

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Personnel

Individual Name

Given Name: Alessandra

Surname: Carucci

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Abstract: http://www.mapmed.eu/

Funding: This dataset has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union under the ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme.

• Method

Method Step

Description

1)Five replicates per station for benthos.

2)Three replicates per station for water and sediment samples: nutrients, pigments, hydrocarbons.

3)One replicate per station for water and sediment samples: physical parameters, heavy metals, granulometry.

4)Water samples were collected from the seawater surface (depth 0-1 m).

Sampling

Study Extent: Ports of Cagliari-Sardinia, Heraklion-Crete, El Kantaoui-Tunisia

Sampling Description

Physical properties of water samples (water temperature, salinity, oxygen, pH) were measured on board with a 3420 WTW multi-meter. Turbidity was measured using a Secchi disk.

Redox potential of sediment samples was measured with a SenTix ORP 900 WTW electrode.

Sediment temperature was measured using a digital sediment thermometer.

Water samples (5L) were collected using plastic containers from the sea surface and analysed for nutrients, pigments, hydrocarbons and heavy metals.

Sediment samples were collected using a custom-made hand-operated box corer (13.5 x 13.5 x 16 cm) equipped with a modular expandable handle.

For benthos box corer samples were sieved using a 0.5 mm sieve and then fixed and preserved in 5% formaldehyde buffered with seawater.

For nutrients, pigments, hydrocarbons, heavy metals and granulometry sediment subsamples were collected using small plastic cores (diameter 4.4 cm).

Benthic communities and environmental parameters in three Mediterranean ports (Sardinia, Crete, Tunisia)

Default

IdentificationAbout this resource

Geographic Coverage

Bounding Box

Temporal Coverage

Range of Dates

Taxonomic Coverage

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Classification

resourceLicensesLicense Information

Resource License

Distribution

Online

Additional Metadata

Metadata

GBIF Metadata Block

Project

• Project

Personnel

Individual Name

Personnel

Individual Name

Methods

• Method

Method Step

Sampling