Faunistic and Structural Changes in Shallow Coastal Benthic Communities of the Ebre Delta (NW Mediterranean Sea)
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Published:2023-05-03
Issue:5
Volume:15
Page:623
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ISSN:1424-2818
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Container-title:Diversity
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language:en
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Short-container-title:Diversity
Author:
Ramón Montserrat1ORCID, Marco-Herrero Elena12ORCID, Galimany Eve1, Recasens Laura1, Abelló Pere1ORCID
Affiliation:
1. Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37–49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain 2. Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), Centro Oceanográfico de Murcia, Varadero, 1, 30740 San Pedro del Pinatar, Spain
Abstract
The Ebre Delta (NW Mediterranean), which is considered a highly vulnerable ecosystem, is one of the most important European wetlands and belongs to the Natura 2000 network. The present study aims to characterize the benthic megainvertebrate communities inhabiting the Ebre Delta soft-bottom infralittoral to acquire faunistic and biological knowledge for two periods of time, 23 years apart. Experimental trawls were conducted during the two periods (1992–1993 and 2016–2017) in three depth strata, between 5 and 25 m. A total of 139 and 170 taxa were collected at each period, respectively. Our results showed that community species composition and structure varied between periods and among depth strata. Overall, a large decrease in density and biomass was detected for most species in all three depth strata examined (0–5, 15–20, and 20–25 m) in 2016–2017, especially in the shallowest stratum. Species richness was higher in 2016–2017 than in 1992–1993, and the lowest values were found at the shallowest stratum in both periods. The significant biomass losses herein reported highlight the need to increase, in time and effort, the monitoring of large marine invertebrates in coastal areas, where many taxa provide important ecosystem functions and services.
Funder
Department d’Agricultura, Ramaderia i Pesca
Subject
Nature and Landscape Conservation,Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous),Ecological Modeling,Ecology
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