Distribution patterns of the peracarid crustaceans associated with the alga Corallina elongata along the intertidal rocky shores of the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Spatial patterns of intertidal peracarids, associated with the alga Corallina elongata, were studied along the whole Iberian Peninsula. A total of 28,215 specimens were collected, comprising 78 different species (57 amphipods, 16 isopods, 4 tanaids and 1 cumacean), most of them with Atlantic-Mediterranean distribution (60%) and only 9% of Mediterranean endemics. Gammarids were dominant in abundance and number of species, representing more than 70% of the total peracarids. The most common species collected during the present study were the caprellid Caprella penantis, the gammarids Hyale schmidti, Hyale stebbingi, Jassa cf. falcata and Stenothoe monoculoides, the isopod Ischyromene lacazei and the tanaid Tanais dulongii. Caprellids and tanaidaceans presented their highest populations in the stations of the Strait of Gibraltar, whereas isopods were more abundant in Atlantic stations. Univariate analyses did not reflected differences in number of species, abundance and ShannonWeaver diversity between Mediterranean and Atlantic. However, cluster analyses and Whittaker index, as measure of ß-diversity, showed a different species composition between Mediterranean and Atlantic and a replacement of species along the coast, especially at the Strait of Gibraltar. The turnover mainly affected species of the same genera, probably related with sympatric speciation. CCA and BIO-ENV analyses showed high correlations between environmental measures (especially conductivity) and peracarid distribution. Mediterranean species tolerated higher values of conductivity and temperature, while Atlantic species were associated with stations characterized by higher oxygen concentrations.

Distribution and species identification in the crustacean isopod genus Dynamene Leach, 1814 along the North East Atlantic-Black Sea axis

“…There is one recent record for north-eastern England, which may be the result of a stranding, as are records for The Netherlands, where it is not considered indigenous (Holthuis 1956). The closest record to the Mediterranean of Dynamene bidentata is Tarifa, in southern Spain (Guerra-García et al 2011, Izquierdo and Guerra-García 2011, Guerra-García et al 2012, Torrecilla-Roca and Guerra-García 2012). …”

Fouling assemblages associated with off-coast aquaculture facilities: an overall assessment of the Mediterranean Sea

“…Given the cosmopolitan distribution of J. slatteryi, its presence in the Mediterranean has probably been underestimated due to a mixture of Jassa individuals being attributed to a single species of for example J. marmorata or J. cadetta (Navarro-Barranco, 2015). Separately, S. tergestina, although it has not been reported previously in fouling habitats, is common in natural habitats such as algae (Vazquez-Luis et al, 2008;Izquierdo & Guerra-García, 2011), mussels (Kalkan et al, 2006), soft-bottoms (Sezgin et al, 2007;FernandezGonzalez et al, 2016) or bryozoans (Conradi et al, 1997;Conradi & Lopez-Gonzalez, 1999), which may be present as biogenic habitats within the fish-farm fouling (Fitridge et al, 2012).…”

The amphipod assemblages of Sabellaria alveolata reefs from the NW coast of Portugal: An account of the present knowledge, new records, and some biogeographic considerations

“…For example, Pereira et al (2006) reported clear geographic differences, with a sharp gradient from north to south, in patterns of distribution of epifaunal crustacean species associated with dominant macroalgal species along the Portuguese rocky coast. Such a gradient could be driven by a combination of physical and biological factors, including the availability of seston and grain-size of sands (Sparla et al 1992), rafting of juveniles and adults (Guerra-García et al 2009;Izquierdo and Guerra-García 2010), temperature, water currents, and wave exposure (Pereira et al 2006), which are known to play a key role in driving the distribution of plant-associated epifaunal amphipods over large oceanic distances. It is worth mentioning that the herein amphipod records belong exclusively to the biogeographic AtlanticMediterranean category, and no subtropical or boreal Atlantic species were collected.…”