Dati preliminari sulle caratteristiche idrobiologiche del sistema acqua-sedimento nell'area delle Isole Egadi (campagna oceanografica EGA '96).

An interdisciplinary research was carried out, during March 1997 around the Egadi Islands, to improve the knowledge on the oceanographic, trophic and sedimentologic features of this environment. Some results, relative to the more quick analysis (temperature, salinity, density, heterotrophic bacteria, proteolytic activity, bionomic and sedimentologic identification) are showed in This paper. These preliminary data led us to formulate a descriptive hypothesis about this ecosystem. A high salinity gradient, and a marked water stratification were found, which are probably responsible for local confinement of the trophic resources in the surface layers. Therefore in the southern part, the benthic communities are very poor, but toward the northern part, organic enrichment of the substratum and remarkable benthic assemblages were recorded. In the deepest part, a generalized oligotypic condition was observed.