P. Panayotidis et al., Benthic vegetation as an ecological quality descriptor in an Eastern Mediterranean coastal area (Kalloni Bay, Aegean Sea, Greece), EST COAST S, 48(2), 1999, pp. 205-214
Sampling of phytobenthos was carried out in Kalloni Bay (Lesvos island), in
order to study the impact of confinement and eutrophication, using the phy
tosociological parameters as descriptors of the ecological quality. The stu
dy area was dominated by Fucophyceae (mostly Cystoseira species, typical of
the climax benthic community) in all stations, although the more eutrophic
stations where characterized by the presence of Ulva acid Enteromorpha spe
cies. The number of species per sample varied from 19 in the inner bay, to
37 near the open sea. The range of the Diversity Index and Evenness values
was from 0.96 to 2.47 and 0.25 to 0.51, respectively. The combined action o
f confinement and eutrophication became apparent on the dendrogram formed o
n a Bray-Curtis similarity matrix. (C) 1999 Academic Press.