scholarly journals Preliminary data on the Posidonia meadows and associated macrozoobenthic community of Sazani island (Albania)

Author(s):  
Jula Selmani ◽  
Stela Ruci ◽  
Denada Kasemi ◽  
Sajmir Beqiraj ◽  
Lefter Kashta

The seagrass Posidonia oceanica meadows are scarcely studied in the Albanian coast. Data presented in this work have been collected during an assessment of benthic communities of Sazani Island, Albania, in May 2013. The P. oceanica meadow has a limited distribution around this island, covering a relatively small area on its eastern coast. Although this meadow seems to be under degradation, it is still a good shelter for high species number and high abundance of benthic macroinvertebrates. The highest species richness and abundance has been recorded for sponges, hydrozoans, gastropods, bivalves, polychaetes, echinoderms, bryozoans and ascidians. The sciaphilic and photophilic communities were clearly evident, associated respectively to the P. oceanica rhizomes and leaves. Referring to the species richness and abundance, a rapid assessment of ecological and environmental state of benthic macroinvertebrate community has been done. Other parameters used for the assessment of the state of P. oceanica meadow have also been recorded, and possible reasons for the degradation of the meadow have been highlighted. These assessments of the benthic macroinvertebrate community and the state of seagrass meadow are also important within the framework of monitoring, conservation and management of the only Marine Protected Area of Albania, where Sazani Island is a core area.

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jula Selmani ◽  
Stela Ruci ◽  
Denada Kasemi ◽  
Sajmir Beqiraj ◽  
Lefter Kashta

The seagrass Posidonia oceanica meadows are scarcely studied in the Albanian coast. Data presented in this work have been collected during an assessment of benthic communities of Sazani Island, Albania, in May 2013. The P. oceanica meadow has a limited distribution around this island, covering a relatively small area on its eastern coast. Although this meadow seems to be under degradation, it is still a good shelter for high species number and high abundance of benthic macroinvertebrates. The highest species richness and abundance has been recorded for sponges, hydrozoans, gastropods, bivalves, polychaetes, echinoderms, bryozoans and ascidians. The sciaphilic and photophilic communities were clearly evident, associated respectively to the P. oceanica rhizomes and leaves. Referring to the species richness and abundance, a rapid assessment of ecological and environmental state of benthic macroinvertebrate community has been done. Other parameters used for the assessment of the state of P. oceanica meadow have also been recorded, and possible reasons for the degradation of the meadow have been highlighted. These assessments of the benthic macroinvertebrate community and the state of seagrass meadow are also important within the framework of monitoring, conservation and management of the only Marine Protected Area of Albania, where Sazani Island is a core area.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Etielle Barroso de Andrade ◽  
Luiz Norberto Weber ◽  
José Roberto de Souza Almeida Leite

Abstract The Cerrado is one of the most threatened biomes in Brazil. It is estimated that much of its original vegetation has been replaced by some type of human use. This is quite worrying, mainly in the northern part where the number of wildlife inventories is insufficient and creates the false impression of low diversity in the region. The Parque Estadual do Mirador-PEM, located in the south-central region of the state of Maranhão, presents vegetation typical of the Cerrado biome and corresponds to one of 46 priority areas for conservation in the state. Herein, we describe the species richness and composition of the anurofauna from the PEM and analyze the influence of different types of vegetation in its formation. Our inventory was conducted from December 2013 to February 2015, using the active search and auditory census methods on breeding sites in different water bodies of the park. We recorded 31 anuran species belonging to five families (species number in parentheses): Leptodactylidae (14), Hylidae (12), Bufonidae (3), Microhylidae (1) and Phyllomedusidae (1). The rarefaction curve and species richness estimators indicated that the sampling effort was enough to record most of the species in the region. The richness of anurans in the PEM was higher than reported by other authors for several areas of Cerrado. Most species have a wide distribution in Brazil or are strongly associated with the Caatinga or Amazon biomes. Only about 19% are endemic to the Cerrado biome. This study is the first to inventory the anurans species of the south-central region of state of Maranhão and provides important data on amphibian communities from the northern part of the Brazilian Cerrado.


2008 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 703-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Santos-Filho ◽  
DJ. da Silva ◽  
TM. Sanaiotti

A community of small mammals was studied in seasonal semideciduous submontane forest in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. This study evaluated the use of edge and matrix pasture, by different small mammal species. Overall, 31 areas were studied, with a total sampling effort of 33,800 trap x nights. Only seven of the 25 species captured in the study sites were able to use the pasture matrix; we classified these species as generalists. Fourteen species were found to be intermediate in habits, being able to use forest edges. We found only four species habitat specialists, occurring only on transect lines in the interior of the fragment, at least 150 m from the edge. Transects located in the pasture matrix and 50 m from the edge had significantly lower species richness and abundance than transects located in the fragment edge or in the interior of the fragment. All transects located within the fragment had similar species richness and abundance, but transects located 50 m from the edge had slightly lower, but non-significant, species richness than transects located 100 m apart from edges. Rarefaction curves demonstrated that only medium-sized fragments (100 300 ha) reached an asymptote of species accumulation. The other areas require further sampling, or more sampling transect, before species accumulation curves stabilize, due to a continued increase in species number.


2020 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 106400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Bradfer-Lawrence ◽  
Nils Bunnefeld ◽  
Nick Gardner ◽  
Stephen G. Willis ◽  
Daisy H. Dent

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 480
Author(s):  
GABRIELLA LA MANNA ◽  
IVAN GUALA ◽  
DANIELE GRECH ◽  
FRANCESCO PERRETTI ◽  
FABIO RONCHETTI ◽  
...  

Accurate, rapid and cost-effective fish assemblage monitoring is fundamental for marine protected area (MPA) management as a pivotal tool to verify whether and to what extent MPA conservation objectives have been achieved and to redefine these objectives in the framework of an adaptive management. Recently, there has been a sharp increase in the number of video-based methods to study fish fauna, such as baited remote underwater video (BRUV) systems, that, depending on the objectives of the monitoring, can provide complementary or additional data to the more commonly used underwater visual census (UVC). Even though BRUV systems have been widely used in a wide range of geographic contexts and habitats, their use in the Mediterranean basin is still sporadic and the evaluation of the efficiency of BRUV systems and whether they can be used to complement other techniques needs investigation. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the performance of a BRUV system in a Mediterranean MPA and to evaluate its effectiveness in assessing the structure of fish assemblages (abundance and species richness) by comparing estimates with those obtained by the UVC technique. The fish fauna were monitored by BRUV and UVC in the Capo Caccia – Isola Piana Marine Protected Area (Sardinia, Italy), in July and October-November 2020, at four sampling sites and two areas, hundreds of meters apart, for each site. Overall, 46 taxa and a total of 3620 individuals were observed by BRUV, while 36 taxa and a total of 2995 individuals were observed by UVC. The species first observed in front of the camera’s field of view and able to reach the maximum abundance were the planktivores (Chromis chromis and Oblada melanura) followed by several carnivorous species belonging to the families Labridae, Serranidae and Sparidae, and lastly two carnivores (Mullus surmuletus and Mugilidae spp.) and some high-level predators (Dentex dentex, Seriola dumerili, Sphyraena viridensis, Dicentrarchus labrax). The maximum species richness and abundance were reached between 39 and 50 min. The cumulative species richness increased until around 30 min. Species richness was higher during the BRUV compared to the UVC monitoring. The consistency in findings between BRUV and UVC and a better performance of BRUV in detecting some species (mainly high-level predators), supports BRUV as an additional technique for describing and quantifying species richness and abundance also in the Mediterranean Sea. Based on the results of this study, the advantages/disadvantages, shortcomings, suggestions and resources needed for the two techniques are outlined.


1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Mataloni ◽  
Gustavo Tesolín

Algal communities colouring snow and ice were studied at fourteen sites on Cierva Point (Danco Coast, Antarctic Peninsula). Chlorophyta were the dominant group in cryobiontic communities, both in species richness and abundance. Cyanobacteria and diatoms, in turn, showed a higher species number at low altitude, well drained temporary snow fields, probably denoting a cryoxenic character. Descriptions of the six species newly recorded for Antarctica are given, and the taxonomic position of some Scotiella, Trochiscia and Koliella species is discussed. Further research is needed to assess the importance of various stress factors in the progressive drop in species richness and biosynthesis of secondary carotenoids associated with a change in snow colour from green to orange-red to pink-red.


2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (7) ◽  
pp. 824
Author(s):  
Inari Sosa-Aranda ◽  
Luis Zambrano

One of the consequences of increased turbidity in lakes is the modification of the structure of the benthic macroinvertebrate community. To understand this relationship, we evaluated 13 lakes in the Montebello Lakes National Park in Chiapas. The lakes have been affected by gradual eutrophication over decades, producing variable transparency values among lakes. Macroinvertebrates were sampled from each lake in the rainy and dry seasons, and species richness and abundance were calculated and related to Secchi disc transparency. Cluster analysis showed that community composition was similar in pristine and semitransparent lakes, in contrast with turbid lakes. Considering macroinvertebrate groups, hyalellids were dominant in pristine and semiturbid lakes, whereas chironomids were dominant in turbid lakes. A significant quadratic relationship between richness and Secchi disc depth values was found, which is consistent with the intermediate production hypothesis. This study shows how a gradual change in Secchi disc depth can markedly modify benthic communities.


Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Joo Myun Park ◽  
Seok Nam Kwak ◽  
Ralf Riedel

Decapod assemblages in Zostera marina beds from two bays adjacent to unvegetated habitats were investigated to assess their influence on decapod assemblages. Thirty-eight decapod species belonging to four taxa were collected using a small beam trawl at four habitat types from two different locations off the coast of Namhae Island, South Korea. Dominant decapod taxon at all habitats was the caridean shrimps, with Eualus leptognathus, Heptacarpus pandaloides, Latreutes anoplonyx, La. Laminirostris, and Palaemon macrodactylus being the most abundant caridean species. Crabs were characterized with the highest biomass, but with moderate species richness and abundance. Penaeoid and sergestoid shrimps only accounted for <1% of the total decapod abundance. The number of species and their abundance of decapod assemblages varied greatly by habitat type, season, and diel patterns, but not diversity. Species number and abundance peaked in seagrass beds of southern exposed bays during the autumn and were lowest in unvegetated habitats during the summer months. Diel decapod catch rates were higher at night. Dense seagrass vegetation and nighttime supported higher decapod mean densities, but not species richness and diversity. Multivariate analyses revealed that habitat type and season significantly affected the structure of decapod assemblages, but diel patterns had a minor influence. Among decapod species, Pa. macrodactylus and Pugettia quadridens characterized the decapod assemblages in seagrass beds at the northern semi-closed bay, while Telmessus acutidens, Crangon affinis, Cr. hakodatei, Charybdis (Charybdis) japonica, and Portunus sanguinolentus were significantly associated with both vegetated and unvegetated habitats at the southern exposed bay, with the former two species more abundant during the colder season.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrien Cheminée ◽  
Laurence Le Direach ◽  
Elodie Rouanet ◽  
Patrick Astruch ◽  
Adrien Goujard ◽  
...  

AbstractCoastal zones are ecosystems of high economic value but exposed to numerous disturbances, while they represent nurseries for many fish species, raising the issue of the preservation of their functions and services. In this context, the juvenile fish assemblages of all types of habitats present in shallow coastal zones were studied on the south-east coast of France using underwater visual censuses in warm (June–July 2014) and cold (April 2015) periods. A total of fourteen habitat types were characterized, which could be grouped into three broad categories, rocky substrates (natural and artificial), sedimentary bottoms with all levels of granulometry, and seagrass beds including Cymodocea nodosa and Posidonia oceanica meadows; the ecotones or interfaces between the three broad habitat categories were individualized as particular habitat types. The abiotic and biotic descriptors of the 14 habitat types individualized did not vary with time, except for a higher cover percentage and canopy height of macrophytes in the warm period, which increased the three-dimensional structure of some habitats. The taxonomic composition and density of juvenile fish assemblages were analyzed using both multivariate and univariate descriptors, after grouping the 57 fish species recorded into 41 well-individualized taxa. Juvenile fishes were recorded in all habitat types, with higher mean species richness and abundance during the warm than the cold period. The richest habitats in terms of both fish species richness and abundance were the natural rocky substrates and the interfaces between Posidonia beds and the other habitats. Although juvenile fish assemblage composition differed among habitat types and between periods, the most abundant fish species were Atherina sp., Sarpa salpa, Gobiidae, Symphodus spp., Pagellus spp. and several Diplodus species, which colonized 7 up to 14 different habitat types (depending on taxa) during their juvenile life. Most species settled in one or a few specific habitats but rapidly colonized adjacent habitats when growing. This study provided evidence of the role of all types of shallow coastal habitats as fish nurseries and their varying pattern of occupation in space and time by the different juvenile stages. It highlighted the importance of the mosaic of habitats and interfaces for the complete development of all juvenile life stages of fishes, and for the preservation of a high diversity of coastal fish assemblages and fisheries resources in the Mediterranean Sea.


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