Changes in benthic communities along a 0–60 m depth gradient in the remote St. Peter and St. Paul Archipelago (Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Brazil)

2015 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Machado Magalhães ◽  
Gilberto Menezes Amado-Filho ◽  
Marcos Rogerio Rosa ◽  
Rodrigo Leão de Moura ◽  
Poliana Silva Brasileiro ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Garrido ◽  
Luis Miguel Pardo ◽  
Ladd E. Johnson ◽  
Dirk Schories

Sea stars often function as keystone predators in food webs of intertidal and subtidal communities, especially in temperate and sub-polar regions. In South America the sea star Cosmasterias lurida is distributed along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Patagonia and is one of the most conspicuous and abundant benthic predators in the shallow subtidal zone (<25 m). Its feeding strategy and prey selection are, however, still poorly known. This study describes the feeding behavior of C. lurida at a site in the Seno del Reloncaví (Chile), assessing its abundance, size and prey selection in the field relative to observed prey abundance and size along a bathymetric gradient. We hypothesized that C. lurida is a generalist predator, feeding on suitable prey according to their availability. However, we found that this predator only consumed a limited number (7 of 48) of potential prey species, primarily the slipper limpets Crepipatella spp. and the mussels Aulacomya ater and Mytilus chilensis. Electivity analysis revealed a clear preference for one mussel (A. ater) but not the other (M. chilensis) as well as depth-dependent selectivity for the slipper limpets, which changed from avoidance to preference with increasing depth. Sea star densities varied with depth, peaking between depths of 5 and 10 m, but the size of sea stars and the size of their prey did not vary significantly along a depth gradient. No significant correlations were found with the most commonly selected prey. These results would indicate that while this predator may be a generalist–opportunist, its feeding behavior is context-dependent and its high selectivity for certain species suggests that this sea star plays a key role structuring subtidal benthic communities in Patagonia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 741 ◽  
pp. 140462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaiyuan Wu ◽  
Wenqian Zhao ◽  
Mingjia Li ◽  
Félix Picazo ◽  
Janne Soininen ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 684-686
Author(s):  
S. V. Galkin ◽  
T. N. Molodtsova ◽  
K. V. Minin ◽  
S. G. Kobyliansky

During the 39th cruise of RV Professor Logachev ecological studies of the Russian exploration area in the Central part of the Northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge were conducted. New data on the composition and structure of benthic communities as well as composition and distribution of ichthyofauna were obtained.


1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-295
Author(s):  
José A. Juanes ◽  
Juan C. Canteras

Baseline studies constitute, at the same time, the base and the reference point for the development of site-specific monitoring programs. As a previous step in the analysis of the structure of benthic communities in the infralitoral off Avilés and Gijón, multivariate techniques were used to assess the agreement between the distribution pattern of samples, from both rocky and soft bottom benthos, according to their species or family compositions. Sampling was carried out in summer 1992. Stations were located on a depth gradient basis (A: −1 m; B: −5 m; C: −15 m; D: −25 m; E: −35 m; F: −45 m) along eight transect lines. Abundance data from replicate samples from each station, aggregated at both the species and the family levels, were tested by three complementary multivariate measures of community structure: clustering (CL), principal components analyses (PCA) and multidimensional scaling (MDS) techniques. The main results obtained in this study demonstrated the adequacy of family-based abundance data for carrying out classification and ordination of samples from both rocky and soft bottom benthic ecosystems.


Author(s):  
Artem Lapenkov ◽  
Artem Lapenkov ◽  
Yury Zuyev ◽  
Yury Zuyev ◽  
Nadezhda Zuyeva ◽  
...  

Coastal zones have great diversity of resources. The shallow water zones contain the most of plant and benthic communities. A description of relief and type of ground is needed for the rigorous monitoring of biota and environmental condition of coastal zone. Generally, on the basis of these data the investigation methods of the coastal zone are selected. The shallows research strategy has been developed by us for northern part of the Lake Ladoga. If the coastal areas are characterized by great depth and flat topography, then sonar’s can be used to describe them and samples of ground can be taken by bottom grabs. In the Lake Ladoga these methods don’t operate correctly by reason of the compound bottom relief and the fact that a sizeable part of the bottom is occupied by hard ground. Therefore, our investigations base on the diving transect method of Golikov and Skarlato (1965). A diver moves along transects. He registers the depth, length to coastline, water temperature, relief and ground, edificators and records video. In the laboratory all these data are decoded and used for mapping of bays. Studies of plant communities have been performed and strategy for research of benthic communities in complex relief and hard ground conditions has been developed based on the descriptions of shallow waters. Description of the Malay Nikonovskia Bay bottom has given an opportunity to estimate changes in the bottom of the bay under the influence of the trout farm.


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