Ecological similarities between two Mediterranean wetlands: Sidi Boughaba (North-West Morocco) and the Doñana National Park (South-West Spain)

Abstract

<p>Addressing the underlying common processes within aquatic systems located in the same geographical region has long been used as a tool for the advancement of limnology. A limnological study of the Merja Sidi Boughaba in 2009 has shown that there are many common features between the physico-chemical and biological conditions of this site and previous data reported from some of the wetlands of the Doñana National Park (South-West Spain). Both are Ramsar sites located on extensive dune systems of the Atlantic coast with a Mediterranean climate. They have a common palaeoenvironmental history that is largely responsible for their similar hydrology and water composition. Oceanic influence has probably produced a slight disproportion of Mg²⁺ over Ca²⁺ through airborne sea salt deposition and the surface evaporation of groundwater feeding these wetlands during annual flood and drought cycles. The wide spectrum of environmental conditions encountered in the Doñana wetlands is epitomised by the Merja Sidi Boughaba, where water and sediment gradually change in the same water body from north to south: from humic-coloured waters and a sandy substrate to a calcium-rich substrate with turbid and silted waters which eventually dry out. As a consequence, the community of submersed macrophytes is very rich and dominated by dense charophyte beds. The high primary production coupled with high biodiversity found in the Merja Sidi Boughaba is also shared by the Doñana wetlands. The high conservation status of both sites enables a useful comparison to be made of the water quality of shallow aquatic systems at a regional scale which, contrary to the trophic classifications developed for deep stratified lakes in temperate regions, is not based on regressions between the concentrations of chlorophyll and total phosphorus (Tot-P) but on the proportions of dissolved and particulate P pools. In these Mediterranean sites, nutrients are more efficiently recycled through the sediment (whether deposited at the bottom or suspended in the water column) while seasonal fluctuations of the water level are stronger than in deep stratified lakes and, hence, no significant correlation was found between chlorophyll and either total or particulate P in our study.</p

Girogonitos de carofitas en el Parque Nacional de Doñana: Su registro en sedimentos pleistocenos y holocenos

“…En el Parque de Doñana, C. connivens ha sido encontrada en la laguna de Las Gangas (Cirujano et al, 2007) y en otras lagunas semipermanentes o de largo hidroperiodo (Díaz-Paniagua et al, 2010), donde suele situarse en las zonas más profundas (Díaz-Paniagua et al, 2015). A nivel mundial, se ha citado principalmente en diversas regiones de Europa y las costas mediterráneas de África, aunque también se ha mencionado en Asia y Australia (Elkhiati et al, 2013;síntesis en Rybak & Woyda-Ploszczyca, 2019).…”

Assessment of Primary Production in an Estuarine Environment: The Case of the Oum Er Rbia Estuary (Atlantic Coast, Morocco)

“…Few works have addressed primary production in Morocco's coastline (Bessa et al, 2018; Bozzano and Alonso 2009; Eberwein and Mackensen 2006; Head et al, 1996;Santana-Falcón et al, 2016) and even fewer in Moroccan rivers and wetlands (Bocci et al, 2016;Elkhiati et al, 2013). In order to identify the water quality of the Oum Er Rbia estuary on the basis of water parameters and primary productivity, eight water parameters (temperature, salinity, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, chlorophyll-a, phaeopigments, Secchi depth) their temporal and spatial distribution, and primary productivity (gross primary production (GPP), net primary production (NPP), respiration (R)) were monitored monthly from November 2018 to January 2020 at two stations in the Oum Er Rbia estuary at a depth of two meters.…”

Application of the QuEChERS Method for the Analysis of Contamination by Pesticide Residues in the Sediments of Three Moroccan lagoons

“…Wetlands are highly diverse in terms of size, biodiversity, and number of endemic species (Williams et al, 2004;Biggs et al, 2005;Oertli et al, 2008). Morocco has the richest wetlands in the southern Mediterranean, with a marine coastline of approximately 3500 km and two large mountain ranges that have generated a very dense hydrographic network (Elkhiati et al, 2013). The country has over 200.000 hectares of lake and lagoon systems, as Application of the QuEChERS Method for the Analysis of Contamination by Pesticide Residues in the Sediments of Three Moroccan Lagoons well as thousands of kilometers of river network and coastal areas.…”