Tracing the effects of eutrophication on molluscan communities in sediment cores: outbreaks of an opportunistic species coincide with reduced bioturbation and high frequency of hypoxia in the Adriatic Sea

AbstractEstimating the effects and timing of anthropogenic impacts on the composition of macrobenthic communities is challenging, because early twentieth-century surveys are sparse and the corresponding intervals in sedimentary sequences are mixed by bioturbation. Here, to assess the effects of eutrophication on macrobenthic communities in the northern Adriatic Sea, we account for mixing with dating of the bivalve Corbula gibba at two stations with high accumulation (Po prodelta) and one station with moderate accumulation (Isonzo prodelta). We find that, first, pervasively bioturbated muds typ... Mehr ...