Oxygen crises in the North Adriatic: Effect on the structure and behaviour of the macroepibenthos
(FWF project P17655-B03) | The present project of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) is designed to study the key symptoms and effects of oxygen deficiencies on the behavior and mortality of bottom-living organisms in the Northern Adriatic Sea.
Even though low DO events are increasing here and elsewhere, their onset and extent remain difficult to predict and tend to elude field studies. Moreover, mortality events often run their course within a few days, further hindering their comprehensive documentation.
To address this problem we developed a state-of-the-art underwater device that creates and documents oxygen crises in situ. This Experimental Anoxia Generating Unit (EAGU) consists of oxygen-, hydrogen sulphide-, temperature- and pH sensors along with a digital time-lapse camera, flashes and batteries and can remain on the seafloor for several days before retrieval. This approach, paralleling the "dome of death" concept of our colleague Robert Diaz, enables us to: - document natural behaviour of benthic fauna
- define series of behavioural responses of individual species with decreasing oxygen concentration
- document inter-specific behavioural interactions
- determine the sequence of mortality
- help define indicator species
- provide insight into changes on the species and community-level due to oxygen crises here and elsewhere
Cooperation with the Dept. of Paleontology, Vienna (http://www.univie.ac.at/Palaeontologie/) and the Marine Biology Station Piran, Slovenia (http://www.mbss.org/) |
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