Global Results
Initially slated as a two-year project, SIOSED was recently extended to 33 months to broaden the testing and analytical efforts. The project ends on Nov. 7, but Deheyn expects a series of research papers based on the data to be published in the months ahead and beyond.
Workers are building immense barriers intended to
block Venice from
high sea levels as part of the
Experimental Electromechanical Module,
or MoSE
project.
Early results of the project show that dredged and translocated sediment will not have a negative impact on the lagoon ecosystem.
Bartlett's group has searched for bacterial and viral pathogens using various molecular tests and has not seen substantial threats thus far, other than sites closer to sewage discharge areas that, not surprisingly, revealed high levels of certain bacteria and viruses. Nor have they seen any traces of the plague.
For the benthic animals in the lagoon, Levin says the wetlands of Venice have exhibited surprising parallels with those of San Diego. Both, she says, are under pressure from humans and invasive species, have restoration efforts underway, and feature food webs fueled by algae.
"Our research studies the extent to which food webs have recovered in restored salt marshes and the speed with which invertebrate communities recover in artificial sediment banks," said Levin. "So far in Venice we have seen that the banks recover faster than the salt marshes."
Rathburn and Gieskes, meanwhile, have seen a possible relationship between tiny single-celled organisms called foraminifera and the level of contamination in lagoon sediment.
Historians of the storied city might remember the Scripps effort as part of the larger project that saved Venice. But for Deheyn, the public benefits may have a much wider reach.
"SIOSED is being developed in Italy but its lessons could be applied to other coastal cities around the world," he said.