Marine Pollution Bulletin 46 (2003) 964971

www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul

Can plankton communities be considered as bio-indicators

of water quality in the Lagoon of Venice?
F. Bianchi *, F. Acri, F. Bernardi Aubry, A. Berton, A. Boldrin,
E. Camatti, D. Cassin, A. Comaschi
ISMARBiologia del Mare, National Research Council (C.N.R.), Riva Sette Martiri 1364/A, Venice 30122, Italy

Abstract
This study examines whether plankton of the Lagoon of Venice could be considered as a bio-indicator of areas subjected to
various anthropogenic inuences. This study was a two year hydrochemical and biological survey in ve areas of the Lagoon of
Venice, each with dierent environmental conditions due to pollution from urban, industrial, thermal and agricultural wastes.
Phytoplankton associations did not show any promising species. In the dierent lagoonal areas, this community was dierentiated
into its major groups. In contrast, the copepod Acartia tonsa Dana could be considered as a target species in highly eutrophic areas.

2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Anthropogenic pollution; Hydrology; Nutrients; Plankton; Bio-indicators; Lagoon of Venice

1. Introduction
In brackish-water ecosystems, planktonic populations are well-known to be inuenced by spacetime
variations in hydrochemical parameters and tidal dynamics (UNESCO, 1981; Cloern et al., 1989). Anthropogenic activities often generate further eects (Campesan
et al., 1981; Sorokin et al., 1996; Collavini et al., 2001),
which also interfere to a greater or lesser extent with the
ecosystem. The Lagoon of Venice receives several types
of inputs: urban, industrial and thermal euents, and
agricultural run-o (Perin, 1975; Cironi et al., 1993;
Collavini et al., 2001). These have produced signicant
variations in the trophic state of the ecosystem in
question, sometimes accompanied by alterations in
specic biological populations. As regards plankton,
algal blooms have been described in the central and
northern basins of the Lagoon (Voltolina, 1973; Alberighi et al., 1992; Socal et al., 1999), while one species of
zooplankton (Acartia tonsa Dana) has undergone explosive increases in numbers, especially in the innermost
areas of the Lagoon (Comaschi and Cavalloni, 1995;

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-41-2404756; fax: +39-415204126.
E-mail address: bianchi@ibm.ve.cnr.it (F. Bianchi).

0025-326X/$ - see front matter
2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0025-326X(03)00111-5

Comaschi et al., 2000). The question therefore arises as

to whether planktonic organisms in the Lagoon can be
exploited as bio-indicators of water quality.
Aiming to answer this question, a research program
started since 1997. This study consisted of two years of
observations in the Venice lagoon, to follow the space
time variations of plankton populations in areas subjected to anthropogenic inuences.

2. Materials and methods

Sampling stations, located in the northern and central
basins of the Lagoon of Venice (Fig. 1) were chosen so
that each one was representative of the variety of habitats subjected to contamination:
Station 1, S. Giuliano, collects urban waste from the
town of Mestre, where phytoplankton blooms often
develop (Bianchi et al., 1996; Socal et al., 1999);
Station 2, Marghera, is inuenced by polluting substances of industrial origin (Perin, 1975);
Station 3, Fusina, is aected by heat emissions from
the thermo-electric power plant at Portomarghera
(Alberighi et al., 1992; Socal et al., 1999);
Station 4, Lido, the northernmost inlet of the lagoon,
is characterized by Adriatic coastal waters inuence;

F. Bianchi et al. / Marine Pollution Bulletin 46 (2003) 964971

965

horizontal sampler equipped with a 200-lm net, xed in

neutralized formalin and counted quantitatively under a
stereomicroscope.
Statistical analyses were carried out on the data matrix, after logarithmic transformation (log10 n 1) of
biological data (chlorophyll a, phyto- and zooplankton),
to account for non-normal data distributions, according
to Sokal and Rohlf (1981).

3. Results
3.1. Hydrology, nutrients and particulate matter

Fig. 1. Lagoon of Venice: sampling stations.

Station 5, Palude, in the inland marshy area called

Palude della Rosa, is a typical lagoonal environment,
inuenced both by fresh waters entering from the Silone channel and, to a lesser extent, by waters transported this far by tide (Bianchi et al., 1999).
Samples were collected monthly from May 1997 to
April 1999. In addition, sampling was carried out every
two weeks during summer 1998, to follow intensied
biological activity in greater detail. At every station,
measurements and sampling were carried out on the
surface, at neap tide, in order to minimize the eect of
tidal hydrodynamics. The total number of surveys was
30.
The following parameters were measured: transparency, with a Secchi disk; temperature, by a bucketthermometer; salinity, with a Guildline Autosal
laboratory salinometer; dissolved oxygen, according to
Winklers method; dissolved nutrients (ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, orthophosphates and orthosilicates),
ltered through Whatman GF/F berglass lters (porosity 0.7 lm) and analysed with a Systea-Alliance
auto-analyser, according to the methods generally indicated by Strickland and Parsons (1972) and Hansen and
Korole (1999); chlorophyll a, assessed according to
Holm-Hansen et al. (1965), after ltering through
Whatman GF/F lters and measurement of the acetone
extract before and after acidication by means of a
Perkin Elmer LS5B spectrouorometer; particulate organic carbon (POC) and nitrogen (PN), determined on
Whatman GF/F lters after elimination of inorganic
carbon by HCl, with a Perkin Elmer 2400 CHN elemental analyser, according to Hedges and Stern (1984);
phytoplankton, xed in neutralized formalin with hexamethylentetramine and counted on an invertoscope
according to the method of Utherm
ol (1958), while
species diversity was calculated according to Margalef
(1957); zooplankton, collected by a ClarkeBumpus

Water transparency was minimal at station 1 (S. Giuliano) and at station 5 (Palude); this was attributed
respectively to freshwater inputs and intense shipping
movement which cause resuspension of bottom sediments (st. 1) and to draining caused by tides on
boundary shoals (st. 5). Maximum transparency was
found at coastal station 4 (Lido; Table 1). The inuence
of warm wastewater was observed at station 3 (Fusina),
due to the proximity of the thermo-electric power plant,
and station 2 (Marghera), located along the same main
channel (Table 1). As regards salinity, diluted waters
were found mainly at S. Giuliano, Fusina and Palude,
due to the presence of freshwater channels draining
water from inland (Table 1). Lido and Marghera had
typically marine-coastal salinity value (respective averages 32.8 and 29.2 PSU, with a range of 22.636.2
PSU).
Dissolved oxygen saturation percentages were on
average higher at Marghera (118%), with peaks exceeding 170% in summer 1998, when phytoplankton
blooms occurred. Fusina had values around 100%,
similar to results found during previous studies (Bianchi
et al., 1996). At S. Giuliano, oxygenation was on average under saturation levels (range 67141%; Table 1),
probably due to the resuspension of anoxic sediments,
caused by shipping, and/or to the degradation processes
of suspended organic matter present in great quantity.
Concentrations of dissolved nutrients stayed at low
levels at Lido (Table 1), whereas loads were signicantly
greater in the innermost areas. The terrigenous origin of
orthosilicates was evident at S. Giuliano and Palude
(means higher than 50 lM). Total dissolved inorganic
nitrogen (DIN, as sum of ammonium, nitrite and nitrate) showed peaks corresponding to the areas subjected to industrial, urban and agricultural wastes, DIN
values being very high at Fusina, Marghera, S. Giuliano
and Palude (Table 1). The nitrate form always prevailed,
with mean percentages varying between 60% (S. Giuliano) and 79% (Lido); ammonia ranged between 17%
(Lido and Palude) and 35% (S. Giuliano). Similarly,
orthophosphates were higher in the industrial (Marghera) and urban (S. Giuliano) areas, where an absolute

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F. Bianchi et al. / Marine Pollution Bulletin 46 (2003) 964971

Table 1
Means (avg) and standard deviations (SD) of parameters observed (number of observations 30)
Parameters

Stations
S. Giuliano (st. 1)

Transparency (m)
Temperature (C)
Salinity (PSU)
Dissolved oxygen (cm3 dm
3 )
Relative oxygen (%)
DIN (lM)
SiSiO4 (lM)
PPO4 (lM)
POC (lg dm
3 )
PN (lg dm
3 )
Chlorophyll a (lg dm
3 )
Total phytoplankton
(cell dm
3 103 )
Diatoms (cell dm
3 103 )
Dinoagellates (cell dm
3 103 )
Microagellates (cell dm
3 103 )
Total zooplankton (ind m
3 )
Copepods (ind m
3 )
Cladocerans (ind m
3 )

Marghera (st. 2)

Fusina (st. 3)

Lido (st. 4)

Palude (st. 5)

Avg

SD

Avg

SD

Avg

SD

Avg

SD

Avg

SD

0.5
17.5
21.2
5.7
95.0
59.1
54.3
1.6
1730.6
300.9
18.2
8405

0.3
7.4
5.3
1.4
17.0
37.2
41.2
0.9
1074.3
203.7
17.6
13,090

1.5
19.2
29.2
6.3
118.0
50.0
31.0
1.4
821.2
149.7
14.3
7801

0.5
6.9
2.2
1.1
29.3
35.8
36.3
1.6
590.3
120.8
15.5
10,460

0.8
22.3
27.0
5.5
104.6
62.4
28.9
1.1
815.2
122.3
6.3
3107

0.4
5.6
3.8
0.8
8.0
39.3
14.8
0.5
347.5
61.6
7.6
3220

3.0
17.1
32.8
6.0
107.9
19.7
22.5
0.2
324.9
53.0
2.0
1364

1.4
7.1
1.9
0.8
11.4
11.0
39.9
0.1
145.9
25.6
1.3
1352

0.5
17.2
24.2
6.7
113.8
56.9
53.4
0.4
699.4
117.4
5.3
4004

0.1
8.4
4.3
1.3
21.7
54.2
44.6
0.4
455.7
83.8
5.2
6431

6238
120
2014
3562
3429
3

12,175
226
1914
5098
5023
6

3446
183
4054
308
274
1

5722
337
9223
390
351
2

1627
33
1308
1182
1053
10

1779
74
1538
2009
1898
25

750
22
579
1910
1346
265

1099
29
492
2603
2008
476

2372
16
1558
1380
1277
26

6067
31
1842
2353
2315
36

peak of 7.9 lM was measured; minima were observed at

Lido and Palude.
POC and PN concentrations were very high at S.
Giuliano, with intermediate values at Marghera, Fusina
and Palude (Table 1). Chlorophyll a had the same behaviour (Table 1). At Marghera, a maximum of 71.7 lg
chl a dm
3 was measured in July 1998, resulting from a
community of nanoagellates with abundances exceeding 7  106 cell dm
3 . At Lido, chlorophyll a concentrations typical of Northern Adriatic coastal waters were
measured (mean 2.0 lg dm
3 ), whereas Palude and
Fusina had more or less similar means, around 56
lg dm
3 . POC/chlorophyll ratios exceeded 200 in all

stations, highlighting how the contribution of the biogenic detritus to organic particulates was high.
3.2. Phyto- and zooplankton abundances and taxonomy
The phytoplankton component revealed abundances
which were on average higher at S. Giuliano and
Marghera (Table 1, Fig. 2); the minimum of 124  103
cell dm
3 was found at Lido.
The interannual variability of phytoplankton appeared
very high everywhere, being abundance trends quite
heterogeneous in time and space (Fig. 2). Qualitatively,
phytoplankton was mainly composed of diatoms (mean

Fig. 2. Phytoplankton: mean abundances of the main groups, with standard deviations (left), and time trends of total community (right).

F. Bianchi et al. / Marine Pollution Bulletin 46 (2003) 964971

7
S. Giuliano

Margalef diversity index

values ranged from 52% to 74% of total), except at

Marghera, where microagellates prevailed (avg 52%
of total; Fig. 2). Other classes were found occasionally:
coccolithophorids, typical of marine environments, were
mainly observed at Lido, but always in very small percentages (max 1%). Chlorophyceans and euglenophyceans, typical freshwater forms, were found in stations
inuenced by inputs from the innermost areas. The
phytoplankton populations of Palude were typically
both marine and brackish, conrming the transitional
nature of this area. During summer, S. Giuliano and
Palude had diatom blooms in both 1997 and 1998. At S.
Giuliano in June 1997, 92% of the phytoplankton was
composed of Chaetoceros cfr. compressus (21  106 cell
dm
3 ) and Cylindrotheca closterium (29  106 cell
dm
3 ), whereas, in June 1998, 70% of the total was
represented by Thalassiosira sp. (22  106 cell dm
3 ). In
Palude, in AugustSeptember 1997 and 1998, a Nitzschia frustulum bloom was observed, with abundances
respectively of 30  106 and 15  106 cell dm
3 .
Analysis of population structure, carried out by applying Margalefs diversity index (Margalef, 1957), gave
further information on water quality. The seasonal
trends of this index (Fig. 3) were more or less similar in
all stations: (i) Marghera almost always had lower diversity values, revealing a reduction in total species
numbers; (ii) Lido showed a more constant seasonal
trend, with no dominance on the community; (iii) the
trend at Fusina underwent a decrease in diversity during
winter, probably due to a community adapted to the
increased temperatures inuenced by a thermal waste.
Zooplankton data (Table 1) shows that: (i) the mean
of numerical abundances was very high at S. Giuliano,
followed by Lido; (ii) peaks were observed at S. Giuliano (21,205 ind m
3 ) and Palude (11,506 ind m
3 ), the
nearest areas to the edge of the lagoon; (iii) the taxonomic composition of zooplankton was almost exclusively represented by the copepod A. tonsa, except for

967

Marghera

st. 5

Fusina
Lido
Palude

5
st. 1

st. 4
st. 3

st. 2

2
spring

summer

fall

winter

Fig. 3. Seasonal trends of Margalefs diversity index applied to phytoplankton.

Lido, where the congener Acartia clausi had higher numerical abundances (Fig. 4); (iv) time trends closely
followed temperature trends (Fig. 4), both as regards
total zooplankton and its major constituent, A. tonsa;
(v) while the typical high trophic state of Marghera indicated that zooplankton abundances should have been
high, observed values were far lower, only reaching a
mean of 308 ind m
3 and a peak of 1644 ind m
3 .
3.3. Statistical analyses
In order to highlight relations existing between environmental parameters and biological populations, the
data set of 14 variables, for a total of 136 samples, was
statistically processed.
To order the variables, a principal components
analysis (PCA R-mode) was applied, resulting in a series

Fig. 4. Zooplankton: mean abundances and standard deviations of the main species (left) and time trends of total community (right).

968

F. Bianchi et al. / Marine Pollution Bulletin 46 (2003) 964971

of eigenvalues, of which the rst two overall explained

more than 60% of the total variancea highly signicant percentage, considering that biological variables
also occurred in the examined system (Clarke and
Warwich, 1994). The contribution of each variable is
shown in Table 2: in the rst component, chlorophyll,
POC, PN, phytoplankton and temperature had a positive inuence; in the second, salinity positively, and nitrites, phosphates, ammonia and nitrates negatively.
These variables fell in the plane of the rst two principal
components, identifying three groups: (A) relative oxygenation, zooplankton, temperature, phytoplankton,
chlorophyll, POC and PN; (B) salinity and transparency; (C) dissolved nutrients (Fig. 5). Substituting single
observations to the variables, the following may be observed in the same ordering model (Fig. 5): group A
contains samples from S. Giuliano, Marghera, Fusina
and Palude, collected from May to September; group B
contains all observations at Lido in all seasonal situations, together with some in winter at Fusina and Pa-

Table 2
Principal component analysis: eigenvalues for the rst and second
main components
Parameters

I component

II component

Transparency
Temperature
Salinity
Relative oxygen
NNH3
NNO2
NNO3
SiSiO4
PPO4
POC
PN
Chlorophyll a
Phytoplankton
Zooplankton

)0.398
0.706
)0.312
0.280
)0.065
0.049
)0.312
)0.240
0.111
0.868
0.898
0.924
0.850
0.505

0.510
0.367
0.748
0.537
)0.742
)0.836
)0.707
)0.531
)0.764
)0.136
)0.096
0.018
0.036
0.367

lude; group C includes samples from S. Giuliano and

Marghera in winter, together with the remaining winter

component I

1
0.8

salinity

0.6

transparency

group A
relative oxyg.
zoo temperature

0.4

group B

0.2
phyto

chl

PN

POC

-0.2
-0.4

SiO4

-0.6

NO3

NH3

-0.8

group C
PO
NO2 4

-1
-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

componentII
2

4
4 4
444 44 4
2
4 4
5 5 5 2
4
2
4 4444 4 4 4 4
5
2
2
5
4 4 4 4
22 355 2
23 5 5 2
35
4
3
5
3
3
5
53 1 33 5
3
4
2 3 33 2
3
5
2 12 5 3 2
5
1
5
5
3
5
5
2
2
5
3
52
3 23 5
1
3
3
5
1
12
1
1
2
1
1
3
1
2
3
5 21
23
13
1
1
12 5 5
1
1
5
1

group B
4

component I

0
-1
-2
-3
-2

-1

group C

group A
1
1
1

1
1

component II
Fig. 5. Principal components analysis: ordination model, with rotation of Varimax axes, of variables (above) and stations (below), in plane of rst
two principal components. Three main groups (A, B and C) are identied.

F. Bianchi et al. / Marine Pollution Bulletin 46 (2003) 964971

969

Table 3
Ridge regression analysis
Dependent variables

Variables related with dependent ones

Phytoplankton
F 8:578, df 5, 136, p 6 0:0001

Temperature
0.263

Salinity

0:150

DIN

0:100

Silicates
)0.080

Copepods
F 7:375, df 4, 139, p 6 0:0001

Temperature
0.197

Salinity
0.026

POC
0.085

PN
0.118

Acartia clausi
F 2:314, df 4, 139, p not sign:

Temperature
0.106

Salinity
0.109

POC
)0.480

PN
0.287

Acartia tonsa
F 18:355, df 4, 139, p 6 0:0001

Temperature
0.261

Salinity
)0.050

POC
0.136

PN
0.158

Phosphates
0.042

F -test values, degrees of freedom (df) and signicance levels (p) shown for each dependent variable (left). Bold type: variables with coecient values
signicantly correlated with respective dependent variables.

observations at Fusina and Palude. These results indicate that temperature and salinity are the main factors
contributing to the distribution of plankton in the Lagoon of Venice. This is shown by: (i) the cycle of both
phyto- and zooplankton, found abundantly in less
transparent and less salty waters, is linked to temperature; (ii) nutrients in diluted, colder and less transparent
waters make up a separate group.
However, the set of variables making up environmental characterization often do not act independently,
generating self-correlation phenomena: to avoid this,
some authors recommend applying a ridge regression
analysis (Draper and Smith, 1981), the results of which
are shown in Table 3. Interesting conrmations and
observations derived from it include: (i) phytoplankton
depends positively on temperature, again demonstrating
the seasonality of its cycle, and negatively on salinity
and DIN, showing the greater anity for diluted waters
and its uptake towards this nutrient; (ii) zooplankton:
the main group of copepods is only sensitive to temperature, a parameter which heavily inuences its lifecycle (however, not all species belonging to this group
behave in the same way); (iii) A. clausi does not appear
to depend either on fundamental hydrological variables
or on organic particulates, which do not constitute its
preferential source of food; (iv) instead, A. tonsa is
heavily dependent on temperature and, as a trophic resource, on organic particulates.

4. Discussion and conclusions

The ecosystem consisting of hydrochemical and biological variables of the Lagoon of Venice is extremely
complex, partly due to the strong inuence of the many
dierent sources of pollutionindustrial, thermal,
urban and agriculturalas well as the intensity of tidal
inow and outow. In this frame, chemical parameters,
considered independently, may not be sucient to furnish a complete picture of the environment. Therefore,
examination of biological components, in this case

plankton, may supply further elements determining the

quality of lagoon waters.
Our results show that the most eutrophic stations are
those heavily inuenced by urban (S. Giuliano) and industrial inputs (Marghera and, to a lesser extent, Fusina), with high concentrations of dissolved nutrients
and organic particulates. Large-scale trophic oscillations
were found at Palude, greatly inuenced both by run-o
waters from surrounding land, mainly under intensive
agriculture, and by the incoming tidal ow, which makes
saltier waters reach these more distant parts (salinity
maximum here 31.7 PSU). A medium/low trophic
level has always been observed at the marine station of
Lido, where typical coastal waters of the northern
Adriatic were found.
Examination of biological components, such as
plankton, may supply further elements determining the
quality of lagoon waters. As regards phytoplankton, its
abundance, closely depending on nutrient distribution,
turned out to be an indirect index of water trophism. In
the course of the sampling period, no species prevailed
in highly trophic areas, and when algal blooms occurred,
they had a point source, did not last very long, and were
often composed of various organisms. Species diversity
supplied useful elements characterizing the ve stations.
The Margalefs index appliance showed: (i) peaks in
winterspring and minima in summer; (ii) a attening at
Lido, signal of a well-balanced community, with no
particular species prevailing; (iii) low diversity at Fusina
in winter, probably due to the constantly warmer water,
which inuences taxonomic compositions; (iv) a reduction of diversity at Marghera, accompanied by dierent
species composition, mainly represented by microagellates.
As regards zooplankton communities, in this study
the largest abundances were observed in the innermost
area (Palude). The unusually high values were due to the
massive presence of A. tonsa, a recent arrival here
(Comaschi and Cavalloni, 1995; Comaschi et al., 2000),
which numerically dominated the samples collected in
the more internal stations. Other studies (Roman, 1984;

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F. Bianchi et al. / Marine Pollution Bulletin 46 (2003) 964971

Paenhofer and Stearn, 1988; Bianchi et al., 1999) show

that the life-cycle of this copepod closely depends on the
quantity of food available and that, the greater the
trophic supplies, the more growth is accelerated. When
the physicalchemical conditions of the waters show
coastal features, abundances of A. tonsa decrease, and
the congener A. clausi, which has greater anity for
these waters, occupy the area of distribution, as demonstrated by our data.
A minimal quantity of zooplankton was recorded at
Marghera. In view of the high trophic load found here,
it was reasonable to expect explosive growth of opportunistic species, but this did not occur. We believe that,
in this area, polluting substances of industrial origin
interfere with the life-cycle of zooplankton and of some
phytoplankton groups, such as diatoms. Toxic substances detected in this site include mainly heavy metals
and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (i.e. some average data
measured at Marghera in May 1993 in ood and ebb
tide: 1.82.5 lg Cu dm
3 , 11.023.5 lg Zn dm
3 ; Cleary
et al., 1999). Their eects on plankton associations, despite the wide natural variability of the biological response, cannot be neglected.
Among phytoplankton, diatoms, in spite of the heterogeneous sensitivity which several classes (and several
species inside the same class) show towards various
kinds of toxic substances (Walsh, 1986), present high
mortality towards organotin compounds (Walsh et al.,
1985), pesticides (Walsh, 1983) and heavy metals such as
Cu and Cd (Visviki and Rachlin, 1991). Consequently,
the reduced numbers of diatoms in the samples from
Marghera may be ascribed to the presence of one, or
more, polluting substances. For microagellates, highly
abundant at Marghera, it should be recalled that this
category comprises many taxonomic groups, small in
size, dicult to identify under the microscope, and belonging to various classes, each of them with a dierent
sensitivity level. Because of the few literature data on
the biological response of microagellates towards
toxic compound (these organisms are not used as targets
in toxicity tests), it is dicult to make hypotheses regarding their sensitivity. The low species diversity observed at Marghera highlighted that microagellates are
less aected by situations of environmental stress
unlike diatoms, the relative abundances of which are
reduced.
Acartia tonsa, the dominant species in the inner Lagoon, is a widely studied organism in ecotoxicology, due
to the important role played by copepods in marine and
brackish-water ecosystems (Sosnowski and Gentile,
1978; Uren, 1983; Tester and Costlow, 1981). The acute
and chronic eects caused by some heavy metals on this
organism have been studied in similar estuarine ecosystems, like Chesapeake Bay (Sunda et al., 1990), where
high concentrations of Zn and Cu, comparable to those
of the Lagoon of Venice (Cleary et al., 1999), are re-

sponsible for the high mortality of A. tonsa populations

exposed to them.
In conclusion, our data suggested that the plankton
in the Lagoon of Venice could be considered as a bioindicator of water quality in several areas subjected to
anthropogenic disturbance. Among zooplankton, the
target species identied is A. tonsa, generally found in
large numbers in eutrophic waters. Its scarce presence in
the industrial area is probably caused by a depression of
its life-cycle induced by dierent polluting substances.
Further studies need to conrm this assessment. The
situation of phytoplankton is dierent. Although no
particular species emerges, phytoplankton species composition is equally interesting as bio-indicator. On one
hand, high trophic levels favour massive explosions of
single species (blooms), while, on the other, the presence
of industrial wastes may inhibit the growth of some
taxonomic group (e.g. diatoms), highlighting increasing
percentages of other classes (microagellates).

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Marco Marin and Mauro
Penzo for their help given during samplings. Mrs. Gabriel Walton for the English version of the text. This
work was made possible thanks to funding by EC program LIFE-WATERS.

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