Ecological status of benthic communities after a long story of trade-off between conservation and exploitation in the Goro Lagoon, northern Adriatic Sea

Coastal lagoons are among the most disturbed ecosystems in the world, yet shaping unique communities of inhabiting fauna and providing many ecosystem services. Goro Lagoon in the North Adriatic coast (Emilia Romagna Region, Italy) is a lagoon of economic importance (shellfish aquaculture) and conservational interest (Ramsar and UNESCO heritage site). The aims of this study were to assess benthic assemblages in the Goro Lagoon and to analyze the changes of their structures comparing data from 1984/85 campaign with present data (2020/21). In this study, four stations (FV, BM, GO and CS) of the lagoon were sampled for macrobenthos and sediment in two periods (October 2020 and March 2021). Each of these stations was chosen to represent areas of the basin with different hydrographic and sedimentological characteristics. Macrobenthic assemblage structures resulted different in the four stations with seasonal variations. The differences in assemblage structures could be best explained by the distribution of fine sand (Rho=0.425). Compared with the published literature, macrobenthic assemblage structures of the present-day had low species diversity but also a smaller number of tolerant and opportunistic species as well, indicating a slight improvement in ecological quality