Trophic organization of the benthic communities off the South Italian coasts: A review with a modelistic approach

Limited data are available about the coastal ecology of the Calabria region, in the southern Italy. As well, data about the levels of biodiversity and the structure of food webs in these environments are totally missing. However, considering the wide range of physical and ecological conditions distinguishing these ecosystems, a remarkable spread of biodiversity is expected. This review represents a first attempt to describe and estimate the structure of the food webs in a range of shallow stations along the south-western coasts of southern Italy, in the Ionian Sea. They comprise a Special Area of Conservation (Amendolara shoal), an urbanized area (Sibari), a sandy area impacted by industrial installations (Corigliano) and a seagrass meadow (Calopezzati). For each of these stations, we produced ecological simulation models based on the available information in order to estimate the structure of food webs. In particular, the patterns of distribution of trophic resources resulting from literature data were statistically compared to a theoretical model based on the physical and ecological features of coastal ecosystems. The model was responsive and predicted remarkable differences in the compartmentalization of trophic resources among stations, due to the diversity of substrates and the anthropic activities impacting each area. Large availability of resources for omnivores and detritivores characterized most stations. A noteworthy richness of trophic resources for herbivores was forecasted off Amendolara and Calopezzati. In parallel, the model obtained for the urbanized area of Sibari predicted a higher abundance of trophic resources for filter feeders, especially in the deepest station.