scholarly journals Macroalgal-dominated coastal detritic communities from the Western Mediterranean and the Northeastern Atlantic

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 476 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. JOHER ◽  
E. BALLESTEROS ◽  
C. RODRÍGUEZ-PRIETO

This is a qualitative comparison of the distribution of macroalgal-dominated coastal detritic communities from the Western Mediterranean and the Northeastern Atlantic, based on our own data from the Balearic Islands (Western Mediterranean) and available data from literature. The macroalgal-dominated coastal detritic bottoms from both regions could be distinguished by the presence of a high number of regional exclusive non-carbonated species, and the presence of a high number of maërl-forming species in the Mediterranean. Further, regional differences in the distribution of some exclusive species allowed the distinction of three zones in the Northeastern Atlantic (United Kingdom, French Brittany and Galicia), while no differences were found within the Western Mediterranean. However, the algal communities considered in the selected literature could not be qualitatively distinguished, and all the samples should be considered as maërl beds. Lithothamnion corallioides and Phymatolithon calcareum were the most widespread maërl forming species in the two regions, while in the Western Mediterranean Spongites fruticulosus was also very frequent. According to the differences in the species composition of the basal and erect strata of these beds, and also in their species richness, five different morphologies of macroalgal-dominated detritic bottoms could be distinguished. Their main characteristic species and their biogeographical distribution are detailed.

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 573 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. JOHER ◽  
E. BALLESTEROS ◽  
C. RODRIGUES-PRIETO

Three main algal-dominated coastal detritic communities from the continental shelf off Mallorca and Menorca (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean) are described herein: maërl beds dominated by Spongites fruticulosus and forests of Laminaria rodriguezii located in the Menorca channel, and Peyssonnelia inamoena beds found along the Southern coast of Menorca. There seems to be a gradient of disturbance from the highly disturbed Peyssonnelia beds to the almost undisturbed L. rodriguezii forests. Whether this gradient is the result of current and past anthropogenic pressure (e.g. trawling intensity) or is driven by natural environmental factors needs further assessment. Finally, the location of the target communities by means of ROV dives combined with the use of a Box-Corer dredge and beam trawl proved to be a good methodology in the study of the composition and structure of these deep water detritic communities.


Author(s):  
Rafel MATAMALES-ANDREU ◽  
Francesc X. ROIG-MUNAR ◽  
Oriol OMS ◽  
Àngel GALOBART ◽  
Josep FORTUNY

ABSTRACT Moradisaurine captorhinid eureptiles were a successful group of high-fibre herbivores that lived in the arid low latitudes of Pangaea during the Permian. Here we describe a palaeoassemblage from the Permian of Menorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean), consisting of ichnites of small captorhinomorph eureptiles, probably moradisaurines (Hyloidichnus), and parareptiles (cf. Erpetopus), and bones of two different taxa of moradisaurines. The smallest of the two is not diagnostic beyond Moradisaurinae incertae sedis. The largest one, on the other hand, shows characters that are not present in any other known species of moradisaurine (densely ornamented maxillar teeth), and it is therefore described as Balearosaurus bombardensis gen. et sp. nov. Other remains found in the same outcrop are identified as cf. Balearosaurus bombardensis gen. et sp. nov., as they could also belong to the newly described taxon. This species is sister to the moradisaurine from the lower Permian of the neighbouring island of Mallorca, and is also closely related to the North American genus Rothianiscus. This makes it possible to suggest the hypothesis that the Variscan mountains, which separated North America from southern Europe during the Permian, were not a very important palaeobiogeographical barrier to the dispersion of moradisaurines. In fact, mapping all moradisaurine occurrences known so far, it is shown that their distribution area encompassed both sides of the Variscan mountains, essentially being restricted to the arid belt of palaeoequatorial Pangaea, where they probably outcompeted other herbivorous clades until they died out in the late Permian.


2015 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Rocha ◽  
CC. Santos Júnior ◽  
GA. Damasceno-Júnior ◽  
VJ. Pott ◽  
A. Pott

The rhizomatous Cyperus giganteus, abundant in the Pantanal wetland, can dominate extense floodable areas as monodominant communities. The Jacadigo lake has a large area of C. giganteus, where we performed an evaluation on community structure during two months in 2010, before it was hit by a wildfire which top-killed the vegetation, compared to ten months post-fire. We utilized 40 plots of 1m × 1m, along permanent trails, assessing two strata: the upper, near the inflorescence of adult plants, and the lower, close to the water level. Our results show that fire does not affect dominance of C. giganteus, as it maintained the same cover as before fire; species richness is not much altered either - 28 before fire and 34 thereafter. Fire changed the floristic composition, due to the annual variation of species and the ability of some plants to colonize gaps and to regrow after fire from underground organs and seeds. The stratification of the vegetation with characteristic species of upper and lower strata was similar after fire.


2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergi Joher ◽  
Enric Ballesteros ◽  
Emma Cebrian ◽  
Noemí Sánchez ◽  
Conxi Rodríguez-Prieto

Hydrobiologia ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 670 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Guijarro ◽  
George Tserpes ◽  
Joan Moranta ◽  
Enric Massutí

1999 ◽  
Vol 63 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 229-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Riera ◽  
Amalia Grau ◽  
Antonio M. Grau ◽  
Elena Pastor ◽  
Antoni Quetglas ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga MAYORAL ◽  
Francesco MASCIA ◽  
Lina PODDA ◽  
Emilio LAGUNA ◽  
Pere FRAGA ◽  
...  

Although wetlands provide an important range of environmental, social and economic services, they are increasingly subjected to anthropogenic perturbations, amongst which invasion by alien plants is particularly alarming. This paper focuses on the alien flora of wetlands from three territories belonging to the western Mediterranean area: one continental (Valencian Community) and two insular (Balearic Islands and Sardinia), providing a complete checklist for the three territories and a general comparison. In total, 380 alien taxa from 89 families have been reported, being the Valencian Community the area richer in taxa (312), followed by the Balearic Islands (151) and Sardinia (134). The invasive component includes 77 taxa, of which nine are common to the three territories - and have been recognised as the most invasive ones in Mediterranean islands - and six are considered invasive worldwide (Ailanthus altissima, Arundo donax, Cortaderia selloana, Oxalis pes-caprae, Ricinus communis and Eichhornia crassipes). Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) revealed that the three territories do not show statistically relevant differences in relation to the alien species present in wetlands and their characteristics. The information on the characteristics of plants in similar habitats of the same biogeographic region provides a portrait of the current dimensions of the phenomenon in Western Mediterranean wetlands and is especially useful from the management perspective: its predictive value can be applied in establishing a prioritization of control measures of those most invasive species and will help screening new introductions with invasive potential.


Author(s):  
Enric Torres-Roig ◽  
Kieren J Mitchell ◽  
Josep Antoni Alcover ◽  
Fernando Martínez-Freiría ◽  
Salvador Bailón ◽  
...  

Abstract Viperinae is a subfamily of viperid snakes whose fossil record in the Mediterranean islands is, until now, restricted to 12 palaeontological deposits on seven islands. Revision of the material excavated 30 years ago from the Middle/Late Pleistocene–Holocene deposit of Es Pouàs [Eivissa (= Ibiza), Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean] revealed about 6000 bones of a small-sized viper across different stratigraphic levels. Its morphological characteristics are different enough to known species of Vipera to warrant the description of a new species, but the nearly complete mitochondrial genome obtained from this snake based on a sample dated to 16 130 ± 45 bp, suggested it belonged to a new insular population of Lataste’s viper (Vipera latastei), Vipera latastei ebusitana subsp. nov. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the dispersal of the ancestors of V. l. ebusitana to Eivissa, most probably from a north-east Iberian population, occurred via overwater colonization < 1.5 Mya, well after the Messinian Salinity Crisis (5.97–5.32 Mya) when land bridges allowed terrestrial colonization of the Balearic Islands by mainland faunas. The morphological differences between V. l. ebusitana and the Iberian populations suggest that it is a new dwarf taxon resulting from insular evolutionary processes, becoming extinct shortly after the first human arrival to this island about 4000 years ago.


2003 ◽  
Vol 61 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 7-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Carbonell ◽  
F Alemany ◽  
P Merella ◽  
A Quetglas ◽  
E Román

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document