Rocky intertidal macrobenthic communities across a large-scale estuarine gradient

Luis Giménez; Ana Inés Borthagaray; Marcel Rodríguez; Alejandro Brazeiro; Alvar Carranza

doi:10.3989/scimar.2010.74n1087

Authors

Luis Giménez Sección Oceanología, Facultad de Ciencias
Ana Inés Borthagaray Sección Oceanología, Facultad de Ciencias
Marcel Rodríguez Sección Oceanología, Facultad de Ciencias
Alejandro Brazeiro Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias
Alvar Carranza Sección Oceanología, Facultad de Ciencias

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2010.74n1087

Keywords:

community structure, diversity, estuaries, scale, front

Abstract

We evaluated relationships between (1) salinity and species richness and (2) frontal zones and community structure for the rocky intertidal macrobenthic community of the Uruguayan coast. A large-scale sampling design (extent ~500 km) covering 9 rocky shores across 3 intertidal levels was performed between September and November 2002. The linear relationship between salinity and species richness (minimum at the freshwater extreme) and the lack of correlation between variation in salinity and richness rejected two previous empirical models, explaining variations in species richness along the salinity gradient. Other factors (e.g. turbidity) may explain this discrepancy. The estuarine front defined two communities—freshwater and estuarine-marine—differing in species composition and richness. The freshwater community was characterised by low richness and few individuals confined to crevices or tide pools, and must be structured by physical processes (e.g. desiccation); the estuarine-marine community, with individuals occupying almost all available substrata, must be structured by both physical and biological processes. A marine front, separating estuarine and marine habitats, had a weak effect on community structure although estuarine and marine assemblages differed according to species characterising different functional groups. We conclude that the position of the estuarine frontal zones is important for explaining large-scale patterns of community structure in the study area.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Luis Giménez, Sección Oceanología, Facultad de Ciencias

School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, LL59 5AB, Menai Bridge, UK

Ana Inés Borthagaray, Sección Oceanología, Facultad de Ciencias

Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Chile. Departamento de Ecología and Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Ecología y Biodiversidad, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Alvar Carranza, Sección Oceanología, Facultad de Ciencias

UNDECIMAR, Facultad de Ciencias, Uruguay

References

Anderson, M. and T. Willis. – 2003. Canonical Analysis of Principal Coordinates: a Useful Method of Constrained Ordination for Ecology. Ecology, 84: 511-525 doi:10.1890/0012-9658(2003)084[0511:CAOPCA]2.0.CO;2

Attrill, M. – 2002. A testable linear model for diversity trends in estuaries. J. Anim. Ecol., 71: 262-269 doi:10.1046/j.1365-2656.2002.00593.x

Benedetti-Cecchi, L. – 2001. Variability in abundance of algae and invertebrates at different spatial scales on rocky sea shores. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 215: 79-92. doi:10.3354/meps215079

Borthagaray, A. and A. Carranza. – 2007. Mussels as ecosystem engineers: Their contribution to species richness in a rocky littoral community. Acta Oecol., 31: 243-250. doi:10.1016/j.actao.2006.10.008

Boschi, E., E. Fischbach, and M. Iorio. – 1991. Catálogo ilustrado de los crustáceos estomatópodos y decápodos marinos de Argentina. Frente Marítimo, 10: 7-9.

Broitman, B., S. Navarrete, F. Smith, and S. Gaines. – 2001. Geographic variation of southeastern Pacific intertidal communities. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 224: 21-34. doi:10.3354/meps224021

Bustamante, R. and G. Branch. – 1996. Large scale patterns and trophic structure of southern African rocky shores: the roles of geographic variation and wave exposure. J. Biogeogr., 23: 339-351. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2699.1996.00026.x

Coll, J. and E. Olivera. – 1999. The Benthic marine algae of Uruguay. Bot. Mar., 42: 129-135. doi:10.1515/BOT.1999.016

Diniz-Filho, J., C. de Santána, M. de Souza and T. Rangel. – 2002. Null models and spatial patterns of species richness in South American birds of prey. Ecol. Lett., 5: 47-55. doi:10.1046/j.1461-0248.2002.00289.x

Ellis, J., V. Cummings, J. Hewitt, S. Thrush, and A. Norkko. – 2002. Determining effects of suspended sediment on condition of a suspension feeding bivalve (Atrina zelandica): results of a survey, a laboratory experiment and a field transplant experiment. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 267: 147-174. doi:10.1016/S0022-0981(01)00355-0

Framiñan, M. and O. Brown. – 1996. Study of the Río de la Plata turbidity front, Part I: spatial and temporal distribution. Cont. Shelf Res., 16: 1259-1282. doi:10.1016/0278-4343(95)00071-2

Fraschetti, S., A. Terlizzi and L. Benedetti-Cecchi. – 2005. Patterns of distribution of marine assemblages from rocky shores: evidence of relevant scales of variation. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 296: 13-29. doi:10.3354/meps296013

Giménez, L. – 2003. Potential effects of physiological plastic responses to salinity on population networks of the estuarine crab Chasmagnathus granulata. Helgol. Mar. Res., 56: 265-273.

Giménez, L., A. Borthagaray, M. Rodríguez, A. Brazeiro and K. Dimitriadis. – 2005. Scale-dependent patterns of macroinfaunal distribution in soft-sediment intertidal habitats along a large-scale estuarine gradient. Helgol. Mar. Res., 59: 224-236. doi:10.1007/s10152-005-0223-9

Gotelli, N. and G. Entsminger. – 2004. EcoSim: Null models software for ecology. Version 7. Acquired Intelligence Inc. and Kesey-Bear. Jericho, VT05465. http://garyentsminger.com/ecosim/index.htm.

Guerrero, R., E. Acha, M. Framiñan and C. Lasta. – 1997a. Physical oceanography of the Río de la Plata Estuary, Argentina. Cont. Shelf Res., 17: 727-742. doi:10.1016/S0278-4343(96)00061-1

Guerrero, R., C. Lasta, E. Acha, H. Mianzán and M. Framiñan. – 1997b. Atlas Hidrográfico del Río de la Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina-Montevideo, Uruguay.

Hughes, T., H. Baird, E. Dinsdale, A. Moltschaniwskyj, M. Pratchett, J. Tanner and B. Willis. – 1999. Patterns of recruitment and abundance of corals along the Great Barrier Reef. Nature, 397: 59-63. doi:10.1038/16237

Jones, C., J. Lawton and M. Shachak. – 1994. Organisms as ecosystem engineers. Oikos, 69: 373-386. doi:10.2307/3545850

Lappo, S., E. Morozov, D. Severov, A. Sokov, A. Klyuvitkin and A. Nagy. – 2005. Frontal mixing of river and sea waters in Rio de La Plata. Doklady Earth Sciences. Akademii Nauk, 401: 226-228.

Leppäkoski, E. – 1999. Balanus improvisus (Darwin 1854), Balanidae, Cirripedia. In: S. Gollasch, D. Minchin, H. Rosenthal and M. Voigt (eds.), Exotics Across the Ocean. Case histories on introduced species: their general biology, distribution, range expansion and impact, pp. 49-54. Univ. Kiel, Department of Fishery Biology, Institute for Marine Science.

Mannino, A. and P. Montagna. –1997. Small-scale spatial variation of macrobenthic community structure. Estuaries, 20: 159-173. doi:10.2307/1352729

Maytía, S. and V. Scarabino. – 1979. Las comunidades del litoral rocoso del Uruguay: zonación, distributción local y consideraciones biogeográficas. In: A. Jensen and J. Stein (eds.), Ecología Bentónica y Sedimentación de la Plataforma Continental del Atlántico Sur, pp. 149-160, UNESCO, Montevideo.

Menge, B., B. Daley, P. Wheeler, E. Dahlhoff, E. Sanford and P. Strub. – 1997. Benthic-pelagic links and rocky intertidal communities: Bottom-up effects on top-down control? Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 94: 14530-14535 doi:10.1073/pnas.94.26.14530

Menge, B., J. Lubchenco, M. Bracken, F. Chan, M. Foley, T. Freidenburg, S. Gaines, G. Hudson, C. Krenz, H. Leslie, D. Menge, R. Russell and M. Webster. – 2003. Coastal oceanography sets the pace of rocky intertidal community dynamics. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 100: 12229-12234. doi:10.1073/pnas.1534875100

Mianzan, H., C. Lasta, E. Acha, R. Guerrero, G. Macchi and C. Bremec. – 2001. The Río de la Plata estuary, Argentina-Uruguay. In: U. Seeliger and B. Kjerfve, (eds.), Coastal Marine Ecosystems of Latin America Berlin, pp. 195-204, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

Morin, P. – 1999. Community Ecology. Blackwell, Oxford.

Nagy, G., M. Gómez-Erache, C. López and A. Perdomo – 2002. Distribution patterns of nutrients and symptoms of eutrophication in the Río de la Plata estuary system. Hydrobiologia, 475/476: 125-139. doi:10.1023/A:1020300906000

Nonato, E. and C. Amaral. – 1979. Anelídeos Poliquetas. Chaves para famílias e gêneros, São Paulo University, São Paulo, Brazil.

O’Connor, W. – 1991. A numerical model of tides and storm surges in the Rio de la Plata Estuary. Cont. Shelf Res., 11: 1491-1508. doi:10.1016/0278-4343(91)90023-Y

Raffaelli, D. and S. Hawkins. – 1996. Intertidal Ecology. Chapman and Hall, London.

Rangel, T., J. Diniz-Filho and L. Bini. – 2006. Towards an integrated computational tool for spatial analysis in marcoecology and biogeography. Global Ecol. Biogeogr., 15: 321-327. doi:10.1111/j.1466-822X.2006.00237.x

Remane, A. and C. Schlieper. – 1971. Biology of Brackish Water. E. Schweiserbart’sche Verlagsbuhhandlung, Stuttgart.

Riestra, G., L. Giménez and V. Scarabino. – 1992. Análisis de la comunidad macrobentónica infralitoral de fondo rocoso en Isla Gorriti e Isla de Lobos (Maldonado, Uruguay). Frente Marít., 11: 123-127.

Rios, E. – 1994. Seashells of Brazil. Fundação Universidade de Rio Grande, Museu Oceanográfico, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil.

Robinson, W., W. Wehling and M. Morse. – 1984. The effect of suspended clay on feeding and digestive efficiency of the surf clam, Spisula solidissima (Dillwyn). J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 74: 1-12. doi:10.1016/0022-0981(84)90034-0

Roughgarden, J., Gaines, S. and H. Possingham. – 1988. Recruitment dynamics in complex life cycles. Science, 241: 1460-2466. doi:10.1126/science.11538249 PMid:11538249

Scarabino, F. – 2004. Lista Sistemática de los Gastropoda marinos y estuarinos vivientes de Uruguay. Comun. Soc. Malac. Uruguay, 8: 305-346.

Scarabino, F., J. Zaffaroni, A. Carranza, C. Clavijo, and M. Nin. – 2006. Gasterópodos marinos y estuarinos de la costa uruguaya: faunística, distribución, taxonomía y conservación. In: R. Menafra, L. Rodríguez-Gallego, F. Scarabino, and D. Conde (eds.), Bases Para la Conservación y el Manejo de la Costa Uruguaya., pp. 143-155, Vida Silvestre, Montevideo.

Schneider, D. – 1994. Quantitative Ecology: spatial and temporal scaling. Academic Press, New York.

Severov, D., G. Nagy, V. Pshennikov and E. Morozov. – 2003. SeaWifs fronts of the Rio de la Plata estuarine system. Geophysical Research Abstracts 5, 01914. www.cosis.net/abstracts/EAE03/01914/EAE03-J-01914.pdf

Wallentinus, I. – 1991. The Balthic Sea gradient. In: A. Mathieson and P. Nienhuis (eds.), Ecosystems of the World, Vol 24, pp. 83-108, Intertidal and littoral systems Elsevier, Amsterdam.

Ysebaert, T., P. Herman, P. Meire, J. Craeymeersch, H. Verbeek and C. Heip. – 2003. Large-scale spatial patterns in estuaries: estuarine macrobenthic communities in the Schelde estuary, NW Europe. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci., 57: 335-355. doi:10.1016/S0272-7714(02)00359-1

Zar, J. – 1996. Biostatistics. Prentice-Hall, London.