Using fish assemblage to identify success criteria for seagrass habitatrestoration

摘要

A fish-based multimetric index was applied to assess the ecological statusof fish fauna in both natural and newly restored seagrass meadows in theVenice lagoon (northern Adriatic Sea, Italy), using natural habitats asreference sites. Fish assemblages were then compared, and communityattributes of recreated and natural habitats were evaluated. Ecologicalstatus resulted higher in natural meadows, and a multivariate analysisshowed that an increase in the relative proportion of seagrass specialistsat restored sites could represent an indicator of success of seagrassrestoration.