Spatial and Temporal Responses of Macrozoobenthic Communities to Environmental Stressors Around Offshore Gas Structures in the Adriatic Sea

Near-field stations (0-60 m) most frequently accounted for spatial dissimilarities, whereas communities at 120 and 1000 m were generally more similar. Early surveys around the well-site and the four-leg platform were characterised by low diversity and high dominance of the opportunistic polychaete Ditrupa arietina, suggesting a short-term disturbance related to installation. Recovery trajectories differed among structures: community descriptors stabilized faster around the subsea well-site, while changes near the platforms extended for at least two years; at the one-leg and four-leg platforms the progressive development of a bivalve mound coincided with a marked differentiation of the benthos at 0 m. Overall, our results highlight that both structural complexity and local environmental settings modulate the spatial footprint and recovery time of benthic communities around offshore installations, supporting a case-by-case approach in decommissioning planning.