The hydrobiological station of Chioggia: a platform to study the coasts and lagoons of the north-western Adriatic Sea

The Hydrobiological Station “Umberto D’Ancona” (chioggia.biologia.unipd.it/en/), founded in 1941 in Chioggia, inside the Venetian Lagoon (northern Adriatic Sea), constitutes an historical field station for researches on marine and lagoon environments. Strongly linked to the local realities, the Station collected several data and built databases over time. Two continuous datasets are freely available and yearly updated. From 1970s data on air and water temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen are collected inside the Venetian Lagoon. On the other hand a database on monthly landings of several marine species, reported by the local fishery, is maintained starting from 1945. Ongoing researches on coasts include: the relationship between environmental characteristic and fish communities of hard substrates, the spatial and temporal variation in microbiological communities, the effects of climate changes (acidification and temperature) and pollutions on marine invertebrates, fish, microbes and algae, the genetic structure of marine organisms, the relationship between environment and behavior in marine fish. The Station constitutes also a reference for local fishermen for the early warning of invasive species. Here we propose to expand the researches to address the challenges faced by coastal areas including the monitoring of key species (defined as study species with other research institutions), over space and time as sentinel for an earlier management of ecosystem changes.