Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-g7rbq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-29T09:57:32.204Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Spatial Variability in the Distribution of Sponges and Cnidarians in a Sublittoral Marine Cave with Sulphur-Water Springs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

L. Benedetti-Cecchi ,
L. Airoldi ,
M. Abbiati  and
F. Cinelli
L. Benedetti-Cecchi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ambiente e del Territorio, Università di Pisa, Via A. Volta 6, 1–56126 Pisa, Italy
L. Airoldi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ambiente e del Territorio, Università di Pisa, Via A. Volta 6, 1–56126 Pisa, Italy
M. Abbiati
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ambiente e del Territorio, Università di Pisa, Via A. Volta 6, 1–56126 Pisa, Italy
F. Cinelli
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ambiente e del Territorio, Università di Pisa, Via A. Volta 6, 1–56126 Pisa, Italy
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The distribution of sponges (Aplysilla sulfurea, Geodia cydonium and Petrosia ficiformis) and cnidarians (Astroides calycularis, Caryophyllia inornata and Leptosammia pruvoti) was investigated in a sublittoral cave with sulphur water springs from May 1993 to February 1994 at Capo Palinuro, on the south-western coast of Italy. Multi-factorial sampling designs were used to address: (1) the distribution and abundance of sponges and cnidarians on the vault and the sides of the cave at different distances from the entrance; (2) the distribution of cnidarians on the vault of the cave with respect to the type of substratum (sponges vs others) and distance from the entrance; and (3) whether abundances were correlated with the distance from the sulphur boundary and how this relationships changed moving from the outer to the inner part of the cave. All the sources of variation included in the study affected to some degree the distribution of organisms but patterns were not consistent among species. The abundance of A. calycularis decreased proceeding from the outer to the inner part of the cave, while the reverse was observed for L. pruvoti. Differences also occurred between the vault and the sides, A. calycularis and G. cydonium being completely absent on the vertical walls. Both A. calycularis and L. pruvoti were less abundant on sponges than on other types of substratum, but patterns changed in relation to the distance from the entrance. The abundance of L. pruvoti decreased close to the sulphur boundary, while the percentage cover of A. calycularis increased, but only at outer positions. Strong variability also occurred at the spatial scale of a few metres (between replicated areas) often overriding other patterns of distribution. Results have been discussed in terms of variability in the physico-chemical environment and in the outcome of interspecific interactions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 78 , Issue 1 , February 1998 , pp. 43 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1998

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

Airoldi, L. & Cinelli, F., 1996. Variability of fluxes of particulate material in a submarine cave with chemolithoautotrophic inputs of organic carbon. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 139, 205–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alvisi, M., Barbieri, F., Bruni, R., Cinelli, F., Colantoni, P., Grandi, G.F. & Maltoni, P., 1994. La Grotta Azzurra di Capo Palinuro (Salerno). Memorie dell’ Istituto Italiano di Speleologia 2nd series, 6, 51–56.Google Scholar
Balduzzi, A., Bianchi, C.N., Boero, F., Cattaneo, Vietti R., Pansini, M. & Sarà, M., 1989. The suspension-feeder communities of a mediterranean sea cave. Scientia Marina, 53, 387–395.Google Scholar
Benedetti-Cecchi, L., Airoldi, L., Abbiati, M. & Cinelli, F., 1996. Exploring the causes of spatial variation in an assemblage of benthic invertebrates from a submarine cave with sulphur springs. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 208, 153–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biblioni, M A., Uriz, M.J. & Gili, J.M., 1989. Sponge communities in three submarine caves of the balearic islands (western Mediterranean): adaptations and faunistic composition. P.S.Z.N.I: Marine Ecology, 10, 317–334.Google Scholar
Buss, L. W., 1980. Competitive intransitivity and size-frequency distributions of interacting populations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 77, 5355–5359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buss, L.W. & Jackson, J.B.C., 1979. Competitive networks: nontransitive competitive relation-ships in criptic coral reef environments. American Naturalist, 113, 223–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cinelli, F., Fresi, E., Mazzella, L., Pansini, M., Pronzato, R. & Svoboda, A., 1977. Distribution of benthic phyto- and zoocoenoses along a light gradient in a superficial marine cave. In Biology of benthic organisms (ed. B.F., Keegan et al), pp. 173–183. Oxford: Pergamon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connell, J.H., 1961. The influence of interspecific competition and other factors on the distribution of the barnacle Chthamalus stellatus. Ecology, 42, 710–723.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connell, J.H., 1985. The consequences of variation in initial settlement vs post-settlement mortality in rocky intertidal communities. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 93, 11–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Danielson, B.J., 1991. Communities in a landscape: the influence of habitat heterogeneity on the interactions between species. American Naturalist, 138, 1105–1120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dethier, M.N., Graham, E.S., Cohen, S. & Tear, L.M., 1993. Visual vs random point percentage cover estimations: ‘objective’ is not always better. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 96, 93–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunson, W.A. & Travis, J. 1991. The role of abiotic factors in community organization. American Naturalist, 138, 1067–1091.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fichez, R., 1990. Decrease in allochthonous organic inputs in dark submarine caves, connection with lowering in benthic community richness. Hydrobiologia, 207, 61–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fichez, R., 1991. Suspended particulate organic matter in a mediterranean submarine cave. Marine Biology, 108, 167–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fricke, H., Giere, O., Stetter, K., Alfredsson, G.A., Kristjiansson, J.K., Stoffers, P. & Svavarsson, J., 1989. Hydrothermal vent communities at the shallow subpolar Mid-Atlantic ridge. Marine Biology, 102, 425–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaines, S.D. & Roughgarden, J., 1985. Larval settlement rate: a leading determinant of structure in an ecological community of the marine intertidal zone. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 82, 3707–3711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gili, J.M., Riera, T. & Zabala, M., 1986. Physical and biological gradients in a submarine cave on the western Mediterranean coast (north-east Spain). Marine Biology, 90, 291–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grassle, J.F., 1986. The ecology of deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities. Advances in Marine Biology, 23, 301–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harmelin, J.-G., 1969. Bryozoaires des grottes sous-marines obscures de la région marseillase. Faunistique et écologie. Teé;thys, 1, 739–806.Google Scholar
Harmelin, J.-G., Vacelet, J. & Vasseur, P., 1985. Les grottes sous-marines obscures: un milieu extrême et un remarquable biotope refuge. Téthys, 11, 214–229.Google Scholar
Jackson, J.B.C., 1977. Competition on marine hard substrata: the adaptive significance of solitary and colonial strategies. American Naturalist, 111, 743–768.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamenev, G.M., Fadeev, V.I., Selin, N.I., Tarasov, V.G. & Malakhov, V.V., 1993. Composition and distribution of macro- and meiobenthos around sublitoral hydrothermal vents in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 27, 407–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laborel, J., 1960. Contribution à l'étude des peuplements benthiques sciaphiles sur substrat rocheux en Méditerranée. Recherche Travaux Station Marine Endoume, 33, 117–173.Google Scholar
Laborel, J. & Vacelet, J., 1958. Etude des peuplements d'une grotte sousmarine du golfe de Marseille. Bulletin de l'Institut oce´;anographique de Monaco, 55 (1120), 1–20.Google Scholar
Lewin, R., 1986. Supply-side ecology. Science, New York, 234, 25–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ott, A. & Svoboda, A., 1976. Sea caves as model systems for energy flow studies in primary hard bottom communities. Pubblicazioni della Stazione Zoologica di Napoli, 40, 477–485.Google Scholar
Peres, J.M. & Picard, J., 1964. Nouveau manuel de bionomie benthiques sciaphiles sur substrat rocheux en Méditerranée. Recherche Travaux Station Marine Endoume, 47, 1–137.Google Scholar
Riedl, R., 1966. Biologie der Meereshohlen. Hamburg: Paul Parey.Google Scholar
Sarà, M., 1970. Competition and cooperation in sponge populations. In The biology of the Porifera (ed. W.C., Fry), pp. 273–284. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
SAS Institute Inc., 1989. SAS User's guide: statistics. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc.Google Scholar
Sebens, K.P., 1982. Competition for space: growth rate, reproductive output, and escape in size. American Naturalist, 120, 189–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sih, A., Crowley, P.H., McPeek, M.A., Petranka, J.W. & Strohmeier, K., 1985. Predation, competition and prey communities: a review of field experiments. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 16, 269–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sokal, R.R. & Rholf, F.J., 1981. Biometry. The principles and practices of statistics in biological research, 2nd ed. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman & Co.Google Scholar
Sousa, W.P., 1984. The role of disturbance in natural communities. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 15, 353–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Southward, A.J., 1989. Animal communities fuelled by chemosynthesis: life at hydrothermal vents, cold seeps and in reducing sediments. Journal of the Zoological Society, 217, 705–709.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Southward, A.J., Kennicutt, M.C., Alcalà-Herrera, M., Abbiati, M., Airoldi, L., Cinelli, F., Bianchi, C.N., Morri, C. & Southward, E.C., 1996. On the biology of submarine caves with sulphur springs: appraisal of13C/12C ratios as a guide to trophic relations. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
True, M.A., 1970. Etude quantitative de quatre peuplements sciaphiles sur substrat rocheux dans la région marseillaise. Bulletin de l'lnstitut Oceanographique De Monaco, 69, 1–8.Google Scholar
Underwood, A.J., 1981. Techniques of analysis of variance in experimental marine biology and ecology. Oceanography and Marine Biology, Annual Review, 19, 513–605.Google Scholar
Underwood, A.J., 1990. Experiments in ecology and management: their logics, functions and interpretations. Australian Journal of Ecology, 15, 365–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Underwood, A.J. & Fairweather, P.G., 1989. Supply-side ecology and benthic marine assemblages. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 4, 16–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vacelet, J., Boury-Esnault, N., Harmelin, J.-G., 1994. Hexactinellid cave, a unique deep-sea habitat in the SCUBA zone. Deep-Sea Research, 41, 965–973.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zabala, M., Riera, T., Gili, J.M., Barange, M., Lobo, A. & Peuelas, J., 1989. Water flow, trophic depletion, and benthic macrofauna impoverishment in a submarine cave from the western Mediterranean. P.S.Z.N.I: Marine Ecology, 10, 271–287.Google Scholar