Community structure of benthic macroinvertebrates inhabiting a highly stratified Mediterranean estuary

Authors

  • Alfonso Nebra IRTA Aquatic Ecosystems
  • Nuno Caiola IRTA Aquatic Ecosystems
  • Carles Ibáñez IRTA Aquatic Ecosystems

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2011.75n3577

Keywords:

benthic macroinvertebrates, community structure, distribution patterns, salt wedge, highly stratified estuary, Ebro estuary

Abstract


The community composition and spatial distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates were studied along the Ebro estuary, a highly stratified estuary located in the NE Iberian Peninsula. During the last decade the oligotrophication process occurring in the lower Ebro River and its estuary has allowed a complex benthic macroinvertebrate community to become established; these results contrast with the poor community found there in the early nineties. A total of 214 taxa were identified, and polychaetes dominated the community both in abundance and species richness. The results showed spatial differences in the structure and composition of macroinvertebrates, which suggests that there are two distinct communities along the estuary. Each community was found in a specific stretch (upper and lower estuary) in function of the presence of the salt wedge. The macrobenthos of the upper estuary was dominated by freshwater taxa, but some euryhaline species were also found. The lower estuary showed a marine community typical of shallow Mediterranean environments. The transition between these two communities fits an ecotone model. The highest abundances, richness and diversities were recorded at the lower estuarine stations, especially those closer to the river mouth, whereas the lowest values corresponded to the stations adjacent to the tip of the salt wedge.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

AENOR. - 1996. Norma UNE-EN 872. Water quality. Determination of total suspended solids. AENOR, Madrid, Spain.

Attrill, M.J. and S.D. Rundle. - 2002. Ecotone or ecocline: Ecological boundaries in estuaries. Est. Coast. and Shelf Sci., 55: 929-936. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/ecss.2002.1036

Batalla, R.J., C.M. Gómez and G.M. Kondolf. - 2004. Reservoir-induced hydrological changes in the Ebro River basin (NE Spain). J. Hydrol., 290: 117-136. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2003.12.002

Brown, S.S., G.R. Gaston, C.F. Rakocinski and R.W. Heard. - 2000. Effects of sediment contaminants and environmental gradients on macrobenthic community trophic structure in Gulf of Mexico estuaries. Estuaries, 23: 411-424. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1353333

Cacchione, D.A., D.E. Drake, M.A. Losada and R. Medina. - 1990. Bottom-boundary layer measurements on the continental shelf off the Ebro River, Spain. Mar. Geol., 95: 179-192. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0025-3227(90)90115-Z

Caiola, N., M.J. Vargas and A. Sostoa. - 2001. Feeding ecology of the endangered Valencia toothcarp, Valencia hispanica (Actinopterygii: Valenciidae). Hydrobiologia, 448: 97-105. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1017584903305

Capaccioni-Azzati, R. and D. Martín. - 1992. Pseudomastus deltaicus gen. et sp. n. (Polychaeta: Capitellidae) from a shallow water bay in the North-western Mediterranean Sea. Zool. Scr., 21: 247-250. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.1992.tb00328.x

Casamayor, E.O., J. Garcia-Cantizano, J. Mas and C. Pedros-Alio. - 2001. Primary production in estuarine oxic/anoxic interfaces: contribution of microbial dark CO2 fixation in the Ebro River Salt Wedge Estuary. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 215: 49-56. http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps215049

Chainho, P., J.L. Costa, M.L. Chaves, M.F. Lane, D.M. Dauer and M.J. Costa. - 2006. Seasonal and spatial patterns of distribution of subtidal benthic invertebrate communities in the Mondego River, Portugal - a poikilohaline estuary. Hydrobiologia, 555: 59-74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10750-005-1132-2

Clarke, K.R. and R.N. Gorley. - 2006. PRIMER v6: User Manual/Tutorial. PRIMER-E, Plymouth, UK.

Clarke, K.R. and R.M. Warwick. - 2001. Change in Marine Communities: An Approach to Statistical Analysis and Interpretation, second ed. PRIMER-E, Plymouth, UK, 00-165.

Dajoz, R. - 1971. Précis d´Ecologie. Dunod, París, France.

Dauer, D.M., J.A. Ranasinghe and S.B. Weisberg. - 2000. Relationships between benthic community condition, water quality, sediment quality, nutrient loads, and land use patterns in Chesapeake Bay. Estuaries, 23: 80-96. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1353227

Dauvin, J.C. - 2000. The muddy fine sand Abra alba-Melinna palmata community of the Bay of Morlaix twenty years after the Amoco Cadiz oil spill. Mar. Pollut. Bul., 40: 528-536. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0025-326X(99)00242-8

Dauvin, J.C. - 2007. Paradox of estuarine quality: benthic indicators and indices, consensus or debate for the future. Mar. Pollut. Bul., 55: 271-281. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2006.08.017 PMid:17007892

Elliott, M. and V. Quintino. - 2007. The estuarine quality paradox, environmental homeostasis and the difficulty of detecting anthropogenic stress in naturally stressed areas. Mar. Pollut. Bul., 54: 640-645. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2007.02.003 PMid:17418874

Falco, S., L.F. Niencheski, M. Rodilla, I. Romero, J. González del Río, J.P. Sierra and C. Mosso. - 2010. Nutrient flux and budget in the Ebro estuary. Est. Coast. and Shelf Sci., 87: 92-102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2009.12.020

Ferreira, T., N. Caiola, F. Casals, J.M. Oliveira and A. Sostoa. - 2007a. Assessing perturbation of river fish communities in the Iberian Ecoregion. Fisheries Manag. Ecol., 14: 519-530. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2400.2007.00581.x

Ferreira, T., J.M. Oliveira, N. Caiola, A. Sostoa, F. Casals, R. Cortes, A. Economou, S., Zogaris, D. Garcia-Jalón, M. Ilhéu, F. Martínez-Capel, D. Pont, C. Rogers and J. Prenda. - 2007b. Ecological traits of fish assemblages from Mediterranean Europe and their responses to human disturbance. Fisheries Manag. Ecol., 14: 473-481. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2400.2007.00584.x

Field, J.G., K.R. Clarke and R.M. Warwick. - 1982. A practical strategy for analyzing multispecies distribution patterns. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 8: 7-52. http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps008037

Gray, J.S., M. Elliott. - 2009. The ecology of marine sediments. Second edition Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Hansen, D.V. and M. Rattray. - 1966. New dimensions in estuary classification. Limnol. Oceanogr., 11: 319-326. http://dx.doi.org/10.4319/lo.1966.11.3.0319

Holme, N.A. and A.D. McIntyre. - 1984. Methods for the study of marine benthos. Blackwell Scientific Publications. London, UK.

Ibáñez, C., A. Rodrigues-Capítulo and N. Prat. - 1995. The combined impacts of river regulation and eutrophication on the dynamics of the salt wedge and the ecology of the lower Ebro River. In The ecological basis for river management, ed. D. Harper and A. Ferguson, 105-114. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, UK.

Ibáñez, C., N. Prat and A. Canicio. - 1996. Changes in the hydrology and sediment transport produced by large dams on the lower Ebro River and its estuary. Regul. Rivers: Res. Manage., 12: 51-62.

Ibáñez, C., D. Pont and N. Prat. - 1997. Characterization of the Ebre and Rhone estuaries: A basis for defining and classifying salt-wedge estuaries. Limnol. Oceanogr., 42: 89-101.

Ibáñez, C., J. Saldaña and N. Prat. - 1999. A model to determine the advective circulation in a three layer, salt wedge estuary: application the Ebre River estuary. Est. Coast. Shelf Sci., 48: 271-279.

Ibáñez, C., N. Prat, C. Durán, M. Prados, A. Munné, R. Andreu, N. Caiola, N. Cid, H. Hampel, R. Sánchez and R. Trobajo. - 2008. Changes in dissolved nutrients in the lower Ebro river: Causes and consequences. Limnética, 27: 131-142.

Jeffrey, S.W. and G.F. Humphrey. - 1975. New spectrophotometric equations for determining chlorophylls a, b, c1 and c2 in higher plants, algae and natural phytoplankton. Biochem. Physiol. Pflanzen, 167: 191-194.

Koroleff, F. - 1977. Simultaneous persulphate oxidation of phosphorus and nitrogen compounds in water. In report of the Baltic Intercalibration Worshop, 52-53.

Kristensen, E. and F.O. Andersen. - 1987. Determination of organic-carbon in marine-sediments - a comparison of 2 chn-analyzer methods. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 109: 15-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0022-0981(87)90182-1

Legendre, P and L. Legendre. - 1998. Numerical ecology. Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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

Marques, J.C., P. Maranhao and M.A. Pardal. - 1993. Human impact assessment on the subtidal macrobenthic community structure in the Mondego estuary (western Portugal). Est. Coast. and Shelf Sci., 37: 403-419. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/ecss.1993.1064

Martín, D., S. Pinedo and R. Sardá. - 2000. Distribution patterns and trophic structure of soft-bottom Polychaete assemblages in a north-western Mediterranean shallow-water Bay. Ophelia, 53: 1-17.

McLusky, D.S. - 1999. Estuarine benthic ecology: A European perspective. Aust. J. Ecol., 24: 302-311. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1442-9993.1999.00983.x

Morrisey, D.J., L. Howitt, A.J. Underwood and J.S. Stark. - 1992. Spatial variation in soft-sediment benthos. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 81: 197-204. http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps081197

Puente, A., J.A. Juanes, A. García, C. Álvarez, J.A. Revilla and I. Carranza. - 2008. Ecological assessment of soft bottom benthic communities in northern Spanish estuaries. Ecol. Indic., 8: 373-388. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2007.04.002

Remane, A. and C. Schlieper. - 1971. Biology of brackish water. Wiley Interscience, New York, USA.

Rodrigues, A.M., S. Meireles, T. Pereira, A. Gama and V. Quintino. - 2006. Spatial patterns of benthic macroinvertebrates in intertidal areas of a Southern european estuary: the Tagus, Portugal. Hydrobiologia, 555: 99-113. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10750-005-1109-1

Rovira, L., R. Trobajo and C. Ibáñez. - 2009. Periphytic diatom community in a Mediterranean salt wedge estuary: the Ebro Estuary (NE Iberian Peninsula). Acta Bot. Croat., 68: 285-300.

Rundle, S.D., M.J. Attrill and A. Arshad. - 1998. Seasonality in macroinvertebrate community composition across a neglected ecological boundary, the freshwater-estuarine transition zone. Aquat.Ecol., 32: 211-216. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1009934828611

Schlacher, T.A. and T.H. Wooldridge. - 1996. Axial zonation patterns of subtidal macrozoobenthos in the Gamtoos estuary, South Africa. Estuaries, 19: 680-696. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1352528

Sierra, J.P., A. Sánchez-Arcilla, J.G. Del Río, J. Flos, E. Movellán, C. Mosso, R. Martínez, M. Rodilla, S. Falco and I. Romero. - 2002. Spatial distribution of nutrients in the Ebro estuary and plume. Cont. Shelf Res., 22: 361-378. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0278-4343(01)00061-9

Sierra, J.P., A. Sánchez-Arcilla, P.A. Figueras, J.G. Del Río, E.K. Rassmussen and C. Mosso. - 2004. Effects of discharge reductions on salt wedge dynamics of the Ebro River. River Res. Appl., 20: 61-77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rra.721

Sousa, R., S. Dias and J.C. Antunes. - 2006a. Spatial subtidal macrobenthic distribution in relation to abiotic conditions in the Lima estuary, NW of Portugal. Hydrobiologia, 559: 135-148. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10750-005-1371-2

Sousa, R., C. Antunes and L. Guilhermino. - 2006b. Factors influencing the occurrence and distribution of Corbicula fluminea (Mu.ller, 1774) in the River Lima estuary. Ann. Limnol., 42: 165-171. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/limn/2006017

Sousa, R., S. Dias, V. Freitas and C. Antunes. - 2008. Subtidal macrozoobenthic assemblages along the River Minho estuarine gradient (north-west Iberian Peninsula). Aquatic Conserv: Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst., 18: 1063-1077. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aqc.871

Van der Maarel, E. - 1990. Ecotones and ecoclines are different. J. Veg. Sci., 1: 135-138. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3236065

Van Hoey, G., S. Degraer, M. Vincx. - 2004. Macrobenthic community structure of soft-bottom sediments at the Belgian Continental Shelf. Est. Coast. and Shelf Sci., 59: 599-613. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2003.11.005

Ysebaert, T., P. Meire, J. Coosen and K. Essink. - 1998. Zonation of intertidal macrobenthos in the estuaries of Schelde and Ems. Aquat.Ecol., 32: 53-71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1009912103505

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

Downloads

Published

2011-09-30

How to Cite

1.
Nebra A, Caiola N, Ibáñez C. Community structure of benthic macroinvertebrates inhabiting a highly stratified Mediterranean estuary. Sci. mar. [Internet]. 2011Sep.30 [cited 2024Mar.19];75(3):577-84. Available from: https://scientiamarina.revistas.csic.es/index.php/scientiamarina/article/view/1280

Issue

Section

Articles