Trophic structure of macrobenthos in the Tagus estuary and adjacent coastal shelf

The trophic structure of benthic communities in the Tagus estuary and adjacent coastal shelf was characterized according to a functional guild approach, based on sampling surveys conducted between 1987 and 2000. Macrobenthic organisms were assigned to seven distinct trophic groups (herbivorous, filter feeders, surface deposit feeders, subsurface deposit feeders, carnivores, filter feeders/detritivores, carnivores/detritivores) and the dominance of these groups was related to environmental variables using multivariate ordination techniques. Surface-deposit feeders were numerically dominant in the Tagus estuary, making up 52% of the benthic communities, while in the adjacent coastal shelf the assemblage was dominated by both surface-deposit feeders and filter feeders (37% and 33%, respectively). When biomass was considered, filter feeders and filter feeders/detritivores were the dominant groups in the estuary, while for the adjacent coastal shelf filter feeders represented 83% of the total biomass. Salinity, depth and sediment composition were the main factors structuring spatial distribution. Surface-deposit feeders were the most abundant macrobenthos of the upper estuary. Surface deposit feeders also dominated the middle and the lower estuary but the proportion of filter feeders as well as other trophic groups increased with salinity. Generally, a more even distribution of trophic structure was found at stations with high salinity. In the adjacent coastal shelf, the trophic diversity decreased with depth. The trophic structure revealed that filter feeders dominated in abundance and biomass in shallow sandy sediments (<25 m), while in deeper sandy mud and muddy habitats (>50 m to 260 m), deposit feeders and carnivores were the most important groups in abundance and biomass, respectively.