Structure and diversity of shallow soft-bottom benthic macrofauna in the Gulf of Lions (NW Mediterranean) |
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Authors: | Céline Labrune Antoine Grémare Jean-Michel Amouroux Rafael Sardá João Gil Sergi Taboada |
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Institution: | 1.UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR7621, Laboratoire d’Océanographie Biologique de Banyuls,Banyuls-sur-Mer,France;2.CNRS, UMR7621, Laboratoire d’Océanographie Biologique de Banyuls,Banyuls-sur-Mer,France;3.Station Biologique d’Arcachon, UMR 5085, Université Bordeaux 1 – CNRS,Arcachon,France;4.Centre d’Estudis Avan?ats de Blanes, CSIC,Girona,Spain |
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Abstract: | Samples of soft-sediment macrobenthos from 92 sites between 10 and 50 m depth were used to assess (1) the main soft-bottom
macrofauna communities in the Gulf of Lions, (2) the different components of the diversity of benthic macrofauna in this area,
and (3) the relevance of the use of major taxonomic groups as surrogates for the analysis of the structure and diversity of
total macrofauna. Three main communities were identified by cluster analysis and associated procedures. These communities
corresponded well to the assemblages recently identified on the basis of polychaete composition. The α-diversity indices were
in accordance with those reported for similar communities in the Mediterranean. Conversely, the β-diversity value was higher
than the few other data available in the literature for marine soft-bottom macrofauna. The total number of species in the
studied area estimated by the “total species accumulation curve” (TS) method was 2,319, which was only 10% higher than the
number obtained by extrapolation of the species–area curve. The similarity matrix based on polychaetes correlated best with
the one based on total macrofauna. Polychaetes and crustaceans were also the best surrogates of total macrofauna when assessing
α-diversity (except in the case of Δ*). Conversely, molluscs were the best surrogates of total macrofauna β-diversity. Our
results show that the choice of an optimal surrogate for total benthic macrofauna depends on the characteristic of the benthic
macrofauna to be studied. Moreover, this choice is also dependent on the environment to be studied. |
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Keywords: | Macrobenthos Community structure Surrogates Diversity Gulf of Lions |
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