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Seasonal organization patterns of demersal assemblages in the Gulf of Lions (north-western Mediterranean Sea)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2000

J.C. Gaertner
Affiliation:
IFREMER, Laboratoire Ecologie Halieutique, 1 Rue Jean Vilar, 34200 Sète, France Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille, Station Marine d'Endoume, Rue de la Batterie des Lions, 13007 Marseille Cedex 07, France, E-mail: gaertner@sme.com.univ-mrs.fr

Abstract

The seasonal organization patterns of demersal assemblages (fish and cephalopods) in the Gulf of Lions were investigated on the basis of a set of bottom trawl surveys. The use of Partial Triadic Analysis (PTA) provided a detailed representation of: (1) the common part of the spatial organization of demersal assemblages at seasonal scale; and (2) the seasonal variability of each species around this common structure. During the course of the study, demersal assemblages exhibited a strong seasonal stability in their organization patterns and only few species showed a strong seasonal variation in their spatial distribution. Demersal assemblages of the Gulf of Lions were structured primarily on the basis of a non depth coast–open sea gradient, which occurred from the coast to the midshelf region. The influence of depth on the structure of fish assemblages appeared to be only of limited importance and mainly restricted to the continental slope area. The PTA combined with contouring technics could be used to improve our knowledge of community structuring factors, and offers a theoretical framework to assess the reproducibility of multispecies structures.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2000 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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