New Approach for the Evaluation of Ecological Quality in the Mediterranean Coastal Ecosystems, Case Study of Bizerte Lagoon: Marine Nematodes Functional Traits Assessment

Abstract

Marine ecosystems have great economic and ecological value, as they provide good services and habitats for a variety of organisms. However, the marine environment is under anthropogenic stressors. The Mediterranean basin is one of the most threatened ecosystems, where urban and industrial waste is becoming a growing risk for coastal marine habitats integrity. The Bizerte lagoon represents a major coastal lagoon and is an example of such an aquatic environment continuously exposed to pollutants. Marine nematodes are the most diverse metazoans and represent an excellent model for the environmental monitoring because they can be easily sampled and maintained under experimental conditions. Nematode communities are investigated for the analysis of taxonomic diversity and ecological indices. Currently, we present here to evaluate the ecological quality based on the description of nematode assemblages using biological traits and functional groups. This relatively new approach allows obtaining insight into the status of marine coastal ecosystems.