POLLUTION EFFECTS ON THE STRUCTURE OF MEIOFAUNAL COMMUNITIES IN THE BAY OF NAPLES

A 13 month field investigation on the status of meiofaunal communities was carried out in an area of the Bay of Naples affected by urban pollution. Physicochemical parameters, including water temperature, sediment redox potential, particulate organic carbon, and chlorophyll a, were also monitored over the same period. The data were subjected to multivariate analysis, and from the results it was possible to detect a stress gradient in the four sites under study due to their differences in the environmental characteristics. It is concluded that meiofauna, and in particular the harpacticoid copepod assemblage, might be considered a very sensitive and useful tool in pollution monitoring studies. © 1990.