Rufino, Marta M; Pereira, Alexandre; Pereira, Fábio; Moura, Paula; Vasconcelos, Paulo; Gaspar, Miguel B (2016): Species name, classification (WORMS), abundance and biomass of the megabenthic communities of the Algarve [dataset publication series]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.859802, Supplement to: Rufino, MM et al. (2016): Habitat structure shaping megabenthic communities inhabiting subtidal soft-bottoms along the Algarve coast (Southern Portugal). Hydrobiologia, 16 pp, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-016-2879-3
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Abstract:
The present study analysed the megabenthic diversity in subtidal soft bottoms and assessed the main environmental drivers of megabenthic community organisation along the Algarve coast (southern Portugal). We tested the hypothesis that megabenthic communities respond to the same environmental drivers than macrofauna. We found that similar to macrofauna, megafaunal communities were organised in relation to the depth of closure, light reaching the bottom, and the hydrodynamic conditions related with exposure within the shallower areas. The influence of the main river outflow prevailed over other drivers, but only up to 9 m depth. We found that seven different spatial units should be considered, each characterised by different indicator species. Additionally, among a total of 412 taxa collected between 4 and 50 m depth, we provide the characteristics of the 64 commonest species in terms of occurrence, frequency, distribution, abundance, bathymetric and sedimentary preferences, which constitutes most valuable information for ecosystem modelling. Megabenthic alpha diversity decreased with depth, contrary to evenness and was higher in the proximity of the river Guadiana and in highly exposed shores. We conclude that the megafauna, which is significantly quicker to collect and analyse, can provide an accurate alternative to macrofauna sampling, as their communities are shaped by the same drivers.
Coverage:
Median Latitude: 37.050577 * Median Longitude: -8.042152 * South-bound Latitude: 36.929417 * West-bound Longitude: -8.867000 * North-bound Latitude: 37.175000 * East-bound Longitude: -7.400000
Event(s):
Comment:
Samples were collected in 601 stations covering all soft bottoms along the Algarve (southern Portugal) and distributed along ~140 km of coastline (from -8.9° to -7.4° longitude W) (Fig. 1). Sampling comprised 145 transects perpendicular to the coast (every 700 m), crossed at six bathymetric levels: 4 m (91 samples), 9 m (96 samples), 14 m (41 samples), 20 m (127 samples), 35 m (129 samples) and 50 m (117 samples) (Fig. 1).
Sampling surveys were performed between 19th and 27th June 2007 on board the IPMA's research vessel "Diplodus", using a razor shell dredge that digs into the sediment (tooth length of 35 cm and with 15 mm mesh size at the cod-end) (Rufino et al. 2010). The dredge was towed for 5 minutes at a constant speed of 1.5 knots, sweeping an area of 144 m**2 in each haul.
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)
Size:
2 datasets
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Datasets listed in this publication series
- Rufino, MM; Pereira, A; Pereira, F et al. (2016): Abundance and biomass of species along the coastline. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.859801
- Rufino, MM; Pereira, A; Pereira, F et al. (2016): Sample stations along the Algarve coast. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.859799