Comments on: Acqua alta: some plusses and minuses http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/4936/acqua-alta-some-plusses-and-minuses/ My personal account of living real life in real Venice, and more Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:24:27 +0000 hourly 1 By: Erla http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/4936/acqua-alta-some-plusses-and-minuses/comment-page-1/#comment-463 Erla Sun, 07 Mar 2010 09:47:26 +0000 http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/?p=4936#comment-463 Briefly,the high water cleans and also brings nutrients to the barene. The barene accumulate stuff, like surfaces anywhere, and the high water floats away dead plant (or animal) matter, as well as the plastic, metal, and other trash which finds it way onto the barene either accidentally or is thrown away there by anonymous people who evidently consider the barene a one-size-fits-all garbage dump. The salt in the water is important to various halophytic barene plants which are dependent on the salt in order to thrive. The mud particles which are deposited and/or carried away also bring an important load of nutrients. And with high water, the organisms living in the middle of the barene (not merely those along the edges),are able to benefit as well. High water not only doesn't damage the barene, I would say that it can't damage them; if it were damaging, the barene would already have disappeared (or been shrunk) long ago. High water isn't a recent phenomenon here, yet photographs as recent as 1950 show the lagoon as being full of sandbanks, barene, and other land forms at various depths or heights which have been utterly scoured away by the damage caused by motondoso. Ongoing and expensive projects to reconstruct barene are futile because the channels now are so deep and the patterns of tidal flow have been so deranged (due first to the digging of the Canale dei Petroli, and now due to MOSE, as well as the ever-increasing motorized traffic) that barene which have been eroded away will inevitably continue to be eroded, and faster than before. My sources are several professors of marine biology here, as well as older Venetians who have spent much of their lives in the lagoon and know it intimately. Briefly,the high water cleans and also brings nutrients to the barene. The barene accumulate stuff, like surfaces anywhere, and the high water floats away dead plant (or animal) matter, as well as the plastic, metal, and other trash which finds it way onto the barene either accidentally or is thrown away there by anonymous people who evidently consider the barene a one-size-fits-all garbage dump.
The salt in the water is important to various halophytic barene plants which are dependent on the salt in order to thrive. The mud particles which are deposited and/or carried away also bring an important load of nutrients. And with high water, the organisms living in the middle of the barene (not merely those along the edges),are able to benefit as well.
High water not only doesn’t damage the barene, I would say that it can’t damage them; if it were damaging, the barene would already have disappeared (or been shrunk) long ago. High water isn’t a recent phenomenon here, yet photographs as recent as 1950 show the lagoon as being full of sandbanks, barene, and other land forms at various depths or heights which have been utterly scoured away by the damage caused by motondoso.
Ongoing and expensive projects to reconstruct barene are futile because the channels now are so deep and the patterns of tidal flow have been so deranged (due first to the digging of the Canale dei Petroli, and now due to MOSE, as well as the ever-increasing motorized traffic) that barene which have been eroded away will inevitably continue to be eroded, and faster than before.
My sources are several professors of marine biology here, as well as older Venetians who have spent much of their lives in the lagoon and know it intimately.

]]> By: Krystyna http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/4936/acqua-alta-some-plusses-and-minuses/comment-page-1/#comment-462 Krystyna Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:18:12 +0000 http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/?p=4936#comment-462 As I'm very interested in biology and ecology, I'd love to know more about how and why is the acqua alta good for the barene? Where do you have this information from? Doesn't the high water contribute to their erosion, even if the moto ondoso is a much greater factor? A very quick internet search didn't give me any useful information. (The only info I found is that the barene help to soften the effects of high tides, acting as "natural sponges", and thus the disappering of the barene makes the acqua alta worse. But this is a different topic.) As I’m very interested in biology and ecology, I’d love to know more about how and why is the acqua alta good for the barene? Where do you have this information from?
Doesn’t the high water contribute to their erosion, even if the moto ondoso is a much greater factor?
A very quick internet search didn’t give me any useful information.

(The only info I found is that the barene help to soften the effects of high tides, acting as “natural sponges”, and thus the disappering of the barene makes the acqua alta worse. But this is a different topic.)

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