Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T04:27:57.581Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relationships between macroinfaunal invertebrates and physicochemical factors in two sandy beaches of Patagonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2009

María Martha (Pitu) Mendez ,
Evangelina Schwindt  and
Alejandro Bortolus
María Martha (Pitu) Mendez*
Affiliation:
Grupo de Ecología en Ambientes Costeros, Centro Nacional Patagónico (CENPAT–CONICET), Boulevard Brown 2915 (U9120ACD) Puerto Madryn, Argentina
Evangelina Schwindt
Affiliation:
Grupo de Ecología en Ambientes Costeros, Centro Nacional Patagónico (CENPAT–CONICET), Boulevard Brown 2915 (U9120ACD) Puerto Madryn, Argentina
Alejandro Bortolus
Affiliation:
Grupo de Ecología en Ambientes Costeros, Centro Nacional Patagónico (CENPAT–CONICET), Boulevard Brown 2915 (U9120ACD) Puerto Madryn, Argentina
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: M.M. Mendez, Grupo de Ecología en Ambientes Costeros, Centro Nacional Patagónico (CENPAT–CONICET), Boulevard Brown 2915 (U9120ACD) Puerto Madryn, Argentina email: mendez@cenpat.edu.ar
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The interest in the knowledge of the ecology of soft-sediment communities is increasing due to the importance that these environments pose to ecologists and environmentalists. However, the ecology of Argentinean sandy beaches is almost unknown, in spite of being relatively common landscapes. In this work we describe and compare the macroinfaunal assemblages in the two largest sandy beaches within the Monte León National Park, the first marine-coastal park of Argentina. Macrobenthic samples were collected and environmental descriptions were performed by quantifying and comparing the organic matter content, grain size distribution and depth of the substratum available for macroinfaunal colonization. Results show that polychaetes and crustaceans are the dominant taxa and that the two beaches differ in the physicochemical characteristics, suggesting that a relation between the benthic fauna and physicochemical factors exists. Although they appeared similar at the landscape scale in preliminary visual surveys, the geomorphological differences between habitats are likely to drive strong differences in the structure of the macroinfaunal assemblages. The monitoring of visible landscape features is likely to undermine the efficiency of protection and managing strategies if not complemented by geomorphological and ecological surveys of less visible ecosystem variables.

Keywords

sandy shoresconservationmacroinfaunaorganic matter contentgrain size distribution
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 90 , Issue 3 , May 2010 , pp. 429 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Administración de Parques Nacionales (2007) http://www.parquesnacionales.gov.ar.Google Scholar
Boschi, E.E. and Cousseau, M.B. (2004) La vida entre mareas: vegetales y animales de las costas de Mar del Plata, Argentina. Publicaciones especiales INIDEP, Mar del Plata.Google Scholar
Bortolus, A., Schwindt, E., Mendez, M.M., Ortiz, N., Ré, M.E., Piriz, M.L., Elias, I., Gosztonyi, A.E., Kuba, L., Ciocco, N., Gagliardini, D.A. and Orensanz, J.M. (2006) Estudio de Línea de Base y Plan de Monitoreo de la Biodiversidad de los Ambientes Marinos y Adyacentes al Parque Nacional Monte León. Proyecto de Conservación de la Biodiversidad. Administración de Parques Nacionales, 65 pp.Google Scholar
Bortolus, A. and Schwindt, E. (2007) What would have Darwin written now? Biodiversity and Conservation 16, 337–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, A.C. and McLachlan, A. (1990) Ecology of sandy shores. Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishers.Google Scholar
Carver, R.E. (1971) Procedures in sedimentary petrology. New York: Wiley Interscience Publishers.Google Scholar
Constable, A.J. (1999) Ecology of benthic macro-invertebrates in soft-sediment environments: a review of progress towards quantitative models and predictions. Australian Journal of Ecology 22, 452–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Defeo, O., Brazeiro, A., de Alava, A. and Riestra, G. (1997) Is sandy beach macrofauna only physically controlled? Role of substrate and competition in Isopods. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 45, 453–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Defeo, O. and McLachlan, A. (2005) Patterns, processes and regulatory mechanisms in sandy beach macrofauna: a multi-scale analysis. Marine Ecology Progress Series 295, 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dexter, D.M. (1992) Sandy beach community structure: the role of exposure and latitude. Journal of Biogeography 19, 59–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elías, R., Bremec, C.S. and Vallarino, E.A. (2001) Polychaetes from a southwestern shallow shelf Atlantic area (Argentina, 38S) affected by sewage discharge. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 74, 523–531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Escofet, A. (1983) Community ecology of a sandy beach from Patagonia (Argentina, South America). PhD thesis. University of Washington, Washington, USA.Google Scholar
Fauchald, K. and Jumars, P.A. (1979) The diet of worms: a study of polychaete feeding guilds. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 17, 193–284.Google Scholar
Jaramillo, E. and McLachlan, A. (1993) Community and population responses of the macroinfauna to physical factors over a range of exposed sandy beaches in South-central Chile. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 37, 615–624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaramillo, E., Contreras, H., Duarte, C. and Quijón, P. (2001) Relationships between community structure of the intertidal macroinfauna and sandy beach characteristics along the Chilean coast. Marine Ecology 22, 323–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, S.J. (1994) Physical disturbance and marine benthic communities: Life in unconsolidated sediments. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 32, 179–239.Google Scholar
Hurlbert, S.H. (1984) Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments. Ecological Monographs 54, 187–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IUCN (1994) Guidelines for Protected Areas Management Categories. IUCN, Cambridge, UK and Gland, Switzerland, Occasional Publications, 261 pp.Google Scholar
Lenihan, H.S. and Micheli, F. (2001) Soft-sediment communities. In Bertness, M.D., Gaines, S.D. and Hay, M.E. (eds) Marine community ecology. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc, pp. 253–287.Google Scholar
McLachlan, A. (1983) Sandy beach ecology: a review. In McLachlan, A. and Erasmus, T. (eds) Sandy beaches as ecosystems. The Hague: Dr W. Junk Publishers, pp. 321–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLachlan, A. (1988) Behavioural adaptations of sandy beach organisms: an ecological perspective. In Chelazzi, G. and Vannini, M. (eds) Behavioral adaptation to intertidal life. New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation, pp. 449–475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLachlan, A., Jaramillo, E., Donn, T. and Wessels, F. (1993) Sandy beach macrofauna communities and their control by the physical environment: a geographical comparison. Journal of Coastal Research 15, 27–38.Google Scholar
Mittermeier, R.A., Mittermeier, C.G., Robles-Gil, P., Pilgrim, J., da Fonseca, G.A.B., Brooks, T. and Konstant, W.R. (2002) Wilderness Earth's last wild places. Mexico: CEMEX.Google Scholar
Pastor de Ward, C.T. (2000) Polychaete assemblages in the San José Gulf (Chubut, Argentina), in relation to abiotic and biotic factors. Marine Ecology 21, 175–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, T.H. (2001) Functional group ecology in soft-sediment marine benthos: the role of bioturbation. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 39, 233–267.Google Scholar
Pocklington, P. and Wells, G.P. (1992) Polychaetes: key taxa for marine environmental quality monitoring. Marine Pollution Bulletin 24, 593–598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shannon, C.E. and Weaver, W. (1949) The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Seeliger, U. (1992) Coastal plant communities of Latin America. New York: Academic Press, Inc.Google Scholar
Stephenson, G. (1999) Vehicles impact on the biota on sandy beaches and coastal dunes. A review from a New Zealand perspective. Deptartment of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand, Occasional Publications, 48 pp.Google Scholar
Tsutsumi, H. (1990) Population persistence of Capitella sp. (Polychaeta; Capitellidae) on a mud flat subject to environmental disturbance by organic enrichment. Marine Ecology Progress Series 63, 147–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, G.P. (1962) The lugworms of the Southern cold temperate zone (Arenicolidae, Polychaeta). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 140, 121–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodin, S.A. (1999) Shallow water benthic ecology: a North American perspective of sedimentary habitats. Australian Journal of Ecology 24, 291–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zaixso, H.E., Lizarralde, Z., Pastor, C., Gómez Simes, E., Romanello, E. and Pagnoni, G. (1998) Spatial distribution of subtidial macrozoobenthos from San José Gulf (Chubut, Argentina). Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía 33, 43–72.Google Scholar
Zar, J.H. (1999) Biostatistical analysis. New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc.Google Scholar