scholarly journals Structure and Trophic Niches in Mobile Epifauna Assemblages Associated With Seaweeds and Habitats of Syngnathid Fishes in Cíes Archipelago (Atlantic Islands Marine National Park, North West Iberia)

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Piñeiro-Corbeira ◽  
Laura Iglesias ◽  
Raquel Nogueira ◽  
Sara Campos ◽  
Arturo Jiménez ◽  
...  

Syngnathids are vulnerable fishes closely associated with seaweeds and seagrass, which provide shelter and food resources. Even though most syngnathids commonly feed on small crustaceans, the feeding regimes may differ depending on the species and prey availability. This is the first monitoring study to explain syngnathid abundances and dietary regimes within macroalgal beds in Cíes Archipelago (Atlantic Islands Marine National Park, North West Iberian Peninsula). We sampled the epifaunal assemblages in seaweed communities dominated by the canopy-forming macroalgae Gongolaria baccata and Codium spp. seasonally during 2 years. The epifaunal structure was mostly represented by harpacticoid copepods, amphipods (especially gammarids) and gastropods. Epifauna exhibited low plant-host specificity and a higher dominance of amphipods on the more structurally complex macroalgae G. baccata. The epifaunal assemblages and syngnathid specimens were assessed for trophic structure using stable isotopes (δ13C and δ15N). The three syngnathids (Hippocampus guttulatus, Syngnathus acus, and Entelurus aequoreus) inhabiting Cíes Archipelago were sympatric. They occupied highly similar trophic positions (TPs), but differed in niche size, in such a way that the snake pipefish E. aequoreus would likely feed on smaller prey. The assessment of the feeding regime in the dominant great pipefish S. acus revealed that amphipods mostly contributed to bulk diet, followed by isopods, carideans, and copepods, whereas mysidaceans were not highly consumed. Seasonal changes in both epifaunal structure and syngnathids abundance confirmed that syngnathids are seasonal residents in Cíes Archipelago, migrating to other areas in autumn when the seaweed cover is drastically reduced and the epifaunal structure modified. This study showed the importance of Gongolaria assemblages in Cíes Archipelago, providing rich dietary sources and potentially contributing to higher abundances and diversity of syngnathids. Ongoing cover reduction in Gongolaria assemblages in certain regions (e.g., Mediterranean) should be considered a potential ecological concern for syngnathids and accompanying fauna, requiring further investigations.

Oryx ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 727-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm S. Ramsay ◽  
Andriamahery Razafindrakoto ◽  
Shawn M. Lehman

AbstractAlthough roads are often assumed to be barriers to the dispersal of arboreal species, there has been little empirical testing of this assumption. If arboreal animals are unable to cross roads, population subdivision may occur, or resources may become inaccessible. We tested the hypothesis that Route Nationale 4 (RN4), a paved highway, was a barrier to movement and dispersal of the Endangered golden-brown mouse lemur Microcebus ravelobensis in Ankarafantsika National Park, in north-west Madagascar. During June–August 2015 we conducted a capture–mark–recapture study at three sites: two adjacent to RN4 and one within intact forest without a potential barrier. During 2,294 trap nights we captured 120 golden-brown mouse lemurs 1,032 times. In roadside habitats we captured significantly more males than females, whereas the opposite was the case in interior forest habitat. We detected eighteen crossings of highway transects by nine individuals; however, all potential dispersal events involved males. In roadside habitat, movement was significantly inhibited in both males and females. We present some of the first data on the effects of roads on movement patterns in arboreal Malagasy mammals, showing species- and sex-biased effects of roads as dispersal barriers. Our findings indicate that roads may not be complete barriers to dispersal in lemurs. We recommend that conservation managers and scientists examine explicitly the effects of roads and natural arboreal bridges in Madagascar in future studies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (7) ◽  
pp. 556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael K. Macphail ◽  
Robert S. Hill

Fossil pollen and spores preserved in drillcore from both the upper South Alligator River (SARV) in the Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory and the North-West Shelf, Western Australia provide the first record of plants and plant communities occupying the coast and adjacent hinterland in north-west Australia during the Paleogene 66 to 23million years ago. The palynologically-dominant woody taxon is Casuarinaceae, a family now comprising four genera of evergreen scleromorphic shrubs and trees native to Australia, New Guinea, South-east Asia and Pacific Islands. Rare taxa include genera now mostly restricted to temperate rainforest in New Guinea, New Caledonia, New Zealand, South-East Asia and/or Tasmania, e.g. Dacrydium, Phyllocladus and the Nothofagus subgenera Brassospora and Fuscospora. These appear to have existed in moist gorges on the Arnhem Land Plateau, Kakadu National Park. No evidence for Laurasian rainforest elements was found. The few taxa that have modern tropical affinities occur in Eocene or older sediments in Australia, e.g. Lygodium, Anacolosa, Elaeagnus, Malpighiaceae and Strasburgeriaceae. We conclude the wind-pollinated Oligocene to possibly Early Miocene vegetation in the upper SARV was Casuarinaceae sclerophyll forest or woodland growing under seasonally dry conditions and related to modern Allocasuarina/Casuarina formations. There are, however, strong floristic links to coastal communities growing under warm to hot, and seasonally to uniformly wet climates in north-west Australia during the Paleocene-Eocene.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (29) ◽  
pp. 112
Author(s):  
Taleb Mohamed Lamine ◽  
Maatoug M’hamed ◽  
Azouzi Blel ◽  
Zedek Mohamed ◽  
Hellal Benchabane

This study aims to search the relationship between the decline of the Atlas cedar and the eco-dendrometrique factors in the National Park of Theniet El Had located in the north-west of Algeria. This study takes place throughout 30 circular plots of 1.000m2 area in which, a dendrometric measures and ecological data are taken in addition to descriptive data for Atlas cedar trees. The descriptive data shows that 34% of inventoried Atlas cedar have damaged leaves and 30% have more then 25% of their crowns damaged. The analysis of variance shows that there is no relationship between the rate of the Atlas cedar decline ant the ecological factors, components of the soil and dendrometric parameters except for the average circumference witch is influenced by the competition between trees. Therefor, a particular management plan for the regulation of competition is a necessity for this park.


Oryx ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. T. Johnsingh ◽  
Justus Joshua

One of India's five major populations of elephants lives in north-west India, where 90 per cent of the total 750 elephants occur in Rajaji and Corbett National Parks and adjacent reserve forests. This 3000-sq-km habitat is also home to many other endangered species. While the 520-sq-km core area of Corbett National Park is free from human impact, the rest of the range is subject to increasing pressures, both from the pastoral Gujjar community within the forests and villagers outside. The elephant habitat has been fragmented by hydrological development work and human-elephant conflict is increasing. The authors recommend measures that need to be implemented to ensure that the elephants and other wildlife of the area are conserved.


2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (No. 4) ◽  
pp. 152-164
Author(s):  
S. Hristovski ◽  
L. Melovski ◽  
M. Šušlevska ◽  
L. Grupče

The aim of this paper is to present the results of the investigation on belowground biomass and its annual increment in a beech ecosystem (Calamintho grandiflorae-Fagetum) in Mavrovo National Park, Republic of Macedonia. Belowground biomass was estimated in three layers of the ecosystem (tree, shrub and herb layers) for seven years during the period 1997–2005. Allometric regressions were established for the relationship of root biomass from volume index (D<sup>2</sup>H, diameter squared × height) on a sample of 10 model trees and 13 model shrubs of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.). Fine root biomass of trees and shrubs was estimated in soil samples to a depth of 145 cm and divided into live and dead fine roots and subdivided into thickness classes. Belowground biomass of the herb layer was assessed in 20 herb species. It was estimated that the total belowground biomass in the ecosystem was 57.75 ·ha<sup>–1</sup>. The contribution of shrub and herb layers was insignificant (less than 0.2%). Biomass of the live fine roots was 10.16 t·ha<sup>–1</sup>, i.e. 18% of the total belowground biomass. Annual increment of trees and shrubs was 1.03 t·ha<sup>–1</sup>·y<sup>–1</sup> and 4.6 kg·ha<sup>–1</sup>·y<sup>–1</sup>, respectively.    


2013 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Najat Elkhiati ◽  
Mohamed Ramdani ◽  
José L. Espinar ◽  
Khalid Fahd ◽  
Laura Serrano

Oryx ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 352-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric L. Edroma

The northern race of the square-lipped rhinoceros Ceratotherium simum cottoni is disappearing in Africa and is now believed extinct in Uganda. Commonly called the white rhinoceros because of its wide (weit) square mouth, it differs from the black rhino in size, habits and disposition. The white rhino occurred naturally in three countries: the West Nile Province of Uganda, north-east Zaire, and the Bahr el Ghazal and Equatorian provinces of Sudan. The Nile limited its eastern spread, although fossils show that it existed in Tanzania some 400,000 years ago. Its extreme southern limit was the river Ora which enters the Nile opposite Wadelai, from where it extended northwards along the western bank of the Nile through to Shambe, and then north-west through the Bahr el Ghazal drainage to the borders of Chad, where in the 1890s it was abundant. Harper reported the collection of many rhino horns yearly in Abecher. At the beginning of this century Sidney described the species as numerous in the upper waters of the Bahr Azoum and the Bahr Aoule, plentiful in the Birao area, fairly numerous north of the Uele river in what is today in Zaire's Garamba National Park, and abundant in Okolo, Aringa and West Madi in Uganda.18Rhinos were so common in all these areas that in 1919 Theodore Roosevelt's headquarters for the Smithsonian African Expedition collecting rhino products was named Rhino Camp. Here in 1932 Captain Pitman encountered 30–40 groups of at least seven individuals each within a day's walk, and he could approach to within 7–8ft because they were unharried by hunters and poachers.


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