Spatial and temporal variability of sessile benthos in shallow Mediterranean marine caves

Bussotti, Simona; Terlizzi, Antonio; Fraschetti, Simonetta; Belmonte, Genuario; Boero, Ferdinando

doi:10.3354/meps325109

Cited by 85 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This fact was explained by the reduced trophic supply inside submarine caves (Zabala et al 1989, Fichez 1990). However, in recent years quantitative studies conducted simultaneously in different caves have highlighted the difficulty of finding general and consistent patterns in marine cave communities (Bussotti et al 2006, Navarro-Barranco et al 2013. In the present study, mean values of abundance, species richness and Shannon diversity were higher at external stations.…”

Section: Internal Vs External Stationssupporting

confidence: 54%

Amphipods from marine cave sediments of the southern Iberian Peninsula: diversity and ecological distribution

Navarro‐Barranco¹,

Guerra-García²,

Sánchez-Tocino³

et al. 2014

Sci. Mar.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary:The present study explores the amphipod assemblages of six marine caves on the Mediterranean coast of southern Spain. Replicate samples were taken both inside and outside each marine cave in order to characterize the amphipod fauna and the physicochemical properties of the sediment. As a result, 44 amphipods species were identified. The high number of species found in a relatively limited area highlighted the richness of the Alboran Sea fauna, which is mainly due to the mixture of species from different biogeographic areas. Harpinia genus was the dominant amphipod taxa inside marine caves and Perioculodes longimanus was also very abundant in the caverns. On the other hand, external communities were dominated by Siphonoecetes sabatieri, Metaphoxus fultoni and Photis longipes. There was a high degree of variability in both the internal and the external stations. Only the external station situated at low-medium depth showed a relatively homogeneous amphipod assemblage. The structure and behaviour of soft-bottom communities inside marine caves is difficult to predict because their environmental conditions depend on a particular combination of factors such as topography, depth and orientation. Therefore, no constant patterns were observed for species richness, Shannon diversity and abundance of amphipods in marine caves in comparison with open habitats. According to canonical correspondence analysis, sediment granulometry, organic matter and nitrogen concentration were the parameters that best explained the distribution of amphipods. Species were also classified by their tolerance to environmental pollution according to criteria followed by the Azti Marine Biotic Index and the BENTIX index. The great abundance of sensitive species at both the internal and external stations indicates the good ecological quality of the soft bottom studied. However, the suitability of biotic indices in marine caves should be tested in future studies.Keywords: marine caves; soft-bottom communities; Amphipoda; benthic ecology; Mediterranean Sea. Anfípodos en sedimentos de cuevas submarinas del Sur de la Península Ibérica: diversidad y distribución ecológicaResumen: En el presente trabajo se estudia la fauna de anfípodos presente en el sustrato blando de seis cuevas submarinas de la costa Mediterránea del sur de España. Con el objetivo de caracterizar tanto la comunidad biótica como las características físico-químicas del sedimento, se tomaron muestras de sedimento a la salida y en el interior de las cuevas submarinas. Como resultado, se identificaron un total de cuarenta y cuatro especies de anfípodos diferentes. Este elevado número de especies encontrado en un área relativamente limitada pone de manifiesto la riqueza faunística del Mar de Alborán, la cual se atribuye principalmente a la mezcla de especies de diferentes áreas biogeográficas. El género Harpinia fue el taxón dominante en el interior de las cuevas, junto con Perioculodes longimanus. Por otro lado, la comunidad en las zonas externas estaba dominada por Siphonoecetes s...

show abstract

Section: Internal Vs External Stationssupporting

confidence: 54%

Amphipods from marine cave sediments of the southern Iberian Peninsula: diversity and ecological distribution

Navarro‐Barranco¹,

Guerra-García²,

Sánchez-Tocino³

et al. 2014

Sci. Mar.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This trend has been observed for many groups such as suspension and filter feeders (sponges, cnidarians, bryozoans and tunicates) (Bibiloni and Gili 1982;Gili et al 1986;Balduzzi et al 1989;Bibiloni et al 1989;Harmelin 1997;Benedetti-Cechi et al 1998;Corriero et al 2000;Bell 2002;Martí et al 2004a;Bussotti et al 2006), large decapods (Gili and Macpherson 1987), meiofauna (Todaro et al 2006), planktonic organisms (Garrabou and Flos 1995;Moscatello and Belmonte 2007), polychaetes (Denitto and Licciano 2006), fishes (Bussotti et al 2002(Bussotti et al , 2003; Bussotti and Guidetti 2009), etc. However, this trend has not been reported for the macro-infauna so far.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The photic (exterior) area, the semi-dark area and the dark area were clearly different in both taxonomic composition and physico-chemical characteristics. These three biocoenoses are generally recognized in Mediterranean marine caves and have been identified for both mobile and hard-bottom cave communities (Riedl 1966;Pérès 1967;Bibiloni and Gili 1982;Balduzzi et al 1989;Gili et al 1986;Gili and Macpherson 1987;Bibiloni et al 1989;Fichez 1990;Marti et al 2004a;Bussotti et al 2006;Denitto et al 2007;Moscatello and Belmonte 2007;Bussotti and Guidetti 2009). Nevertheless, it was unknown so far whether a similar pattern of zonation also applies to soft substrate communities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are many other caves where the trophic-depletion hypothesis fails to explain the very poor faunal assemblages of their inner parts, as there is no significant decrease in organic matter. The studies on hard-bottom assemblages suggest the processes determining spatiotemporal distribution patterns in marine caves to be highly complex, being context and scale dependent (BenedettiCechi et al 1998;Bussotti et al 2006). Thus, many other factors have been proposed to explain the distribution patterns observed (always for hard-bottom communities): physico-chemical gradients with respect to salinity, temperature, density and dissolved oxygen (Gili et al 1986;Zabala et al 1989;Harmelin 1997), diffusion-sedimentation processes (Garrabou and Flos 1995), the persistence of microlayer gradients along the walls (Gili et al 1986), variation in larval settlement and post-settlement events (Benedetti-Cechi et al 1996;Harmelin 1997;Denitto et al 2007), biotic interactions between species (Benedetti-Cechi et al 1996;Martí et al 2004bMartí et al , 2005Turon et al 2009), presence of hydrothermal springs (Benedetti-Cechi et al 1996, 1998, the depth and the exposure of the entrance (Corriero et al 2000;Bell 2002), differences in internal topography (Martí et al 2004a, b) and presence or absence of secondary openings (Zabala et al 1989).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All cave studies have revealed a marked horizontal zonation within the animal communities on the walls (Laborel and Vacelet 1959;Sarà 1961;Riedl 1966;Pérès 1967;Cinelli et al 1978;Balduzzi et al 1989;Bibiloni and Gili 1982;Harmelin et al 1985;Gili et al 1986Gili et al , 1987Zabala et al 1989;Bibiloni et al 1989;Fichez 1990;Benedetti-Cecchi et al 1996, 1998Harmelin 1997;Bell 2002;Bussotti et al 2006;Marti et al 2004a, b;Dennito and Licciano 2006;Denitto et al 2007;Moscatello and Belmonte 2007). A common feature in these studies is a decrease in species richness, biomass and coverage of benthic organisms from the outermost to the innermost part of the cave.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Soft-bottom crustacean assemblages in Mediterranean marine caves: the cave of Cerro Gordo (Granada, Spain) as case study

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although marine caves are priority conservation areas according to the Directive 92/43/CEE of the European Community, there is a lack of studies dealing with their softbottom communities. For a case study, we selected the Cerro Gordo cave at 15 m depth. Three different zones were defined: a semi-dark 25-m long entrance area, a dark intermediate area of 35 m, and the final zone at 90 m from the entrance. Sediment samples were taken from these zones as well as from outside the cave (control) by SCUBA diving. Six rectangular cores of 10 9 250 cm 2 were collected in each site for macrofaunal study, and three more replicates were taken to analyze physico-chemical parameters. The granulometry showed a clear gradient from medium sands outside the cave to silt and clay in the inner zone. Measurements of the crustacean assemblages showed that the number of species and abundance were significantly higher outside the cave (30-40 species,[4,000 ind m -2 ) than inside (5-10 species, \1,000 ind m -2 ). Multivariate analyses showed a clear difference in species composition between outside and inside the cave. Caprellids, tanaids, cumaceans, and decapods were only found outside the cave, while gammarids and isopods were present both outside and inside the cave. The gammarid Siphonoecetes sabatieri and the tanaid Apseudes latreilli were the dominant species outside the cave, while the gammarids Harpinia pectinata, Harpinia crenulata, and Harpinia ala were dominant inside. The present study represents an increase in depth range and geographic distribution for Kupellonura mediterranea and Monoculodes packardi. This is the first description of soft-bottom crustacean communities from submarine caves of southern Spain.

show abstract

Community structure and recovery in cryptic intertidal communities reflects dynamics on open‐surface communities

2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research on intertidal community structure and recovery in the California Current System has largely focused on macrophytes and invertebrates occupying two‐dimensional, readily studied “open” rock surfaces. However, most rocky shores have a “third” dimension that includes channels, cracks, crevices, and overhangs whose organismal assemblages, termed “cryptic communities,” are poorly studied. Cryptic communities not only share many species with those on more accessible surfaces but also include high abundances of colonial invertebrates such as tunicates, sponges, bryozoans, and hydrozoans. We investigated species abundance and diversity of cryptic communities and tested their recovery from disturbance by comparing removal plots to undisturbed controls for ~1.5 years. Additionally, we tested whether community structure and recovery varied with contrasting large‐scale levels of ecological subsidies (invertebrate recruitment, nutrients, and phytoplankton) and local‐scale microhabitat differences (emersion and solar irradiation) on the Oregon Coast. We compared cryptic recovery rates to recovery rates on open‐surface communities. In cryptic communities, site explained most (92%) variance in community structure of undisturbed plots, while microhabitat metrics had little (1.2%) effect. Further, recovery rates were faster at a site with higher subsidy inputs than one with lower subsidies in both cryptic and noncryptic communities. Hence, larger scale environmental drivers appeared more important than local‐scale drivers within cryptic communities. Our research provides novel insight into intertidal cryptic surge channel community structure and dynamics.

show abstract

Spatial and temporal variability of sessile benthos in shallow Mediterranean marine caves

Cited by 85 publications

References 47 publications

Amphipods from marine cave sediments of the southern Iberian Peninsula: diversity and ecological distribution

Amphipods from marine cave sediments of the southern Iberian Peninsula: diversity and ecological distribution

Soft-bottom crustacean assemblages in Mediterranean marine caves: the cave of Cerro Gordo (Granada, Spain) as case study

Community structure and recovery in cryptic intertidal communities reflects dynamics on open‐surface communities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About