Community Structure and Spatial Patterns of Soft-Bottom Macrozoobenthos in Oualidia Lagoon, Moroccan Atlantic

Asri, Fatima El; Martín, Daniel; Errhif, Ahmed; Tamsouri, Mohamed-Naoufal; Maanan, Mohamed; Zidane, Hakima

doi:10.1007/s41208-020-00263-3

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Our results also showed the association of stations located in the subtidal with others in the intertidal areas in the identified clusters (G6, G7 and G8). In contrast to the results obtained in the Moulay Bousselham lagoon by [46] and in the Oualidia lagoon by [61], our assemblages do not show a clear dominance of one or two species.…”

Section: Spatial Patterns and Environmental Driverscontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…Compared with previous studies, the number of species was higher than observed by [22]: 45, [23]: 54, [46]: 46 and lower than that obtained by [21]:173 taxa. In comparison with other lagoon systems, the species richness shows higher values than the lagoons of Sidi Moussa [55,57,58], Oualidia [59][60][61], Khnifiss [60,62], Ghar El-Melh [63], Mellah [64], Cabras [65,66], Celestun [67], Epe [68] and Lesina [69]. However, the species number was still lower than that Oualidia [54], Nador [70], Ria Formosa [71], Venice [72], Lagos [73], Bay of Muggia [74], Marano and Grado lagoon [75] and similar to those observed in Sacca di Goro lagoon [76].…”

Section: Benthic Macrofaunamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial Patterns of Macrozoobenthos Assemblages in a Sentinel Coastal Lagoon: Biodiversity and Environmental Drivers

Boutoumit

Bououarour

Kamcha

et al. 2021

JMSE

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This study presents an assessment of the diversity and spatial distribution of benthic macrofauna communities along the Moulay Bousselham lagoon and discusses the environmental factors contributing to observed patterns. In the autumn of 2018, 68 stations were sampled with three replicates per station in subtidal and intertidal areas. Environmental conditions showed that the range of water temperature was from 25.0 °C to 12.3 °C, the salinity varied between 38.7 and 3.7, while the average of pH values fluctuated between 7.3 and 8.0. In vegetated habitats, biomass values of the seagrass Zostera noltei Hornemann ranged between 31.7 gDW/m² and 170.2 gDW/m² while the biomass of the seagrass Ruppia cirrhosa (Petagna) Grande between 54.2 gDW/m² and 84.7 gDW/m². Sediment analyses showed that the lagoon is mainly composed of sandy and silty sediments. We recorded 37,165 individuals of macrofauna distributed in 63 taxa belonging to 50 families, with a mean abundance value of 4582.8 ind/m² and biomass average of 22.2 g/m². Distance-based linear modeling analysis (DISTLM) identified sediment characteristics, water parameters and habitat type (biomass of Z. noltei) as the major environmental drivers influencing macrozoobenthos patterns. Our results clearly revealed that the hydrographic regime (marine and terrestrial freshwater), sediment distribution and characteristics and the type of habitat (vegetated vs unvegetated substrate) are the key factors determining the species composition and patterns of macrozoobenthos assemblages.

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Section: Spatial Patterns and Environmental Driverscontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Benthic Macrofaunamentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Patterns of Macrozoobenthos Assemblages in a Sentinel Coastal Lagoon: Biodiversity and Environmental Drivers

Boutoumit

Bououarour

Kamcha

et al. 2021

JMSE

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“…In the connection area of marine and freshwater, generally, salinity level alteration is a vital environmental factor determining the benthic macroinvertebrate community structure and distribution (El Asri et al 2021;Zinchenko et al 2017). Boutoumit et al (2021) reveal that key factors determining the species composition and patterns of macrozoobenthos assemblages are the hydrographic regime (marine and terrestrial freshwater), sediment distribution and characteristics, and the sort of habitat (vegetated area).…”

Section: Correlation Between Ecosystem Characters Water Quality and T...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity and community assemblages of freshwater and marine macrozoobenthos in Gorontalo Waters, Indonesia

et al. 2022

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Abstract. Kadim MK, Pasisingi N, Alinti ER, Alinti ER, Panigoro C. 2022. Biodiversity and community assemblages of freshwater and marine macrozoobenthos in Gorontalo Waters, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 23: 637-647. Macrozoobenthos plays an essential role in the aquatic ecosystem including as primary consumers, food sources, and water quality bioindicators. This study aimed to determine the composition, taxa abundance, community structure of the macrozoobenthos in the lower reach, estuary, and marine areas along Gorontalo waters, also their association with water quality parameters. Biota samples were collected purposively from 33 sampling points. The sampling process was conducted in June 2020 and May 2021. Macrozoobenthos samples were taken using Ekman Grab and prepared with filters (mesh size of 500 µm). Statistically, a t-test was done to assess the significance of taxa abundance difference among three different ecosystems from both sampling periods. Similarity percentages were displayed through a dendrogram. Furthermore, the biota assemblages and water quality parameters association were interpreted through Eigenvalues of Principal Component Analysis using Minitab ver. 14.0. The results showed that the macrozoobenthic community structure composed 70 taxa belonging to six classes dominated by Gastropoda, followed by Bivalvia, Malacostraca, Clitellata, Polychaeta, and Polyplacophora. The marine area had the highest abundance of macrozoobenthos (469.5 ind. m-3 in 2020; 460.9 ind. m-3 in 2021), followed by the river station (335.3 ind. m-3 in 2020; 2621 ind. m-3 in 2021), and estuary zone (217.3 ind in 2020. m-3; 848.5 ind. m-3 in 2021). The most abundant species in the lower reach area was Melanoides sp. (135.5 ind. m-3 in 2020; and 1222.5 ind. m-3 in 2021), while in the estuary was Brachidontes sp. (70.7 ind. m-3 in 2020; and 248 ind. m-3 in 2021). Batillaria sp. (128.3 ind. m-3 in 2020) and Anachis sp. (1510.7 ind. m-3 in 2021) were the species with the highest number in the marine zone. Based on the diversity and evenness index, the sea was in the medium category with no dominant species in the marine area. Biota communities in the lower reach station tend to be more like estuary biota than marine biota.

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“…Historically, monitoring efforts in Oualidia lagoon have been focused on heavy metal pollution via the monitoring of sediment and marine molluscs (Zourarah et al, 2007;Maanan., 2008;Boutahar et al, 2019), hydrodynamics , faecal pollution (Escherichia coli and faecal streptococci), physico-chemical water parameters (Hennani et al, 2012;Hassou et al, 2014), and nutrient cycling (Damsiri et al, 2017). Research carried out on benthic macrofauna have been limited to the study of the polychaete assemblages (El Asri et al, 2018) and intertidal or subtidal species spatial distribution (Chaouti et al, 2019;El Asri et al, 2020), and no studies have attempted to use biotic indices for the assessment of the ecological status of the lagoon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated assessment of a coastal lagoon ecological status based on benthic macroinvertebrates

Boutahar,

Maanan,

Bououarour

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Coastal lagoons are considered as one of the most productive ecosystems worldwide but are also vulnerable to the growing human-made stressors. This study aimed at assessing, for the first time, the ecological status of the Oualidia lagoon (Atlantic coast of Morocco) using benthic macroinvertebrates as bioindicators. An integrative ecological monitoring approach based on spatial diversity patterns of species assemblages (examined using taxonomic indices, structural trophic guilds as indicators of the functional biodiversity, and marine biotic indices) in relation to sedimentary and hydrological descriptors was performed. Results showed that hydrodynamic conditions, represented by intra-lagoon currents and the watershed, govern the entire sediment distribution within the lagoon and establish a longitudinal downstream-upstream gradient and transverse right-left banks, which explained 66% of the total variation observed in benthic assemblage composition. Seagrass meadows affect positively the abundance of dominant species but do not support high diversity. Overall, macrozoobenthos spatial pattern consists in modification of the relative abundance of species, independently of species composition. The average score of the ecological classes obtained from five biotic indices (AMBI, BENTIX, H’, MAMBI and ITI) showed an acceptable status of the benthic assemblages. This integrated analysis resulted in a holistic view of the benthic-ecosystem that will serve in implementing an ecosystem-based approach to the management of the Oualidia lagoon.

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Community Structure and Spatial Patterns of Soft-Bottom Macrozoobenthos in Oualidia Lagoon, Moroccan Atlantic

Cited by 12 publications

References 46 publications

Spatial Patterns of Macrozoobenthos Assemblages in a Sentinel Coastal Lagoon: Biodiversity and Environmental Drivers

Spatial Patterns of Macrozoobenthos Assemblages in a Sentinel Coastal Lagoon: Biodiversity and Environmental Drivers

Biodiversity and community assemblages of freshwater and marine macrozoobenthos in Gorontalo Waters, Indonesia

Integrated assessment of a coastal lagoon ecological status based on benthic macroinvertebrates

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