First Investigation of the Composition and Spatial Distribution of Polychaete Feeding Guilds From Essaouira Protected Coastal Area (Atlantic Coast of Morocco)

Abstract

Several researches have been conducted to explain patterns of the abundance, richness and taxonomic diversity of benthic polychaetes; however, such analyses have ignored the functional diversity of polychaete communities, especially feeding guilds in intertidal rocky shores. The present study was carried out to describe and analyse the polychaete feeding guilds on intertidal rocky shores and then examine the effects of environmental factors. Twelve intertidal rocky shores from the coastal protected area of Essaouira (Atlantic coast of Morocco) were sampled during the summer of 2016. A total of 42 polychaete species belonging to 29 genera and 16 families were identified among the 4517 specimens collected. The medium biomass per sampling site was found to be 37.61 ± 15.80 g.m -2 . The polychaete species were classified into five feeding guilds, and nine feeding modes. The filter feeders were the dominant feeding guild (32%) followed by omnivores (23%), burrowers (20%), carnivorous (15%) and surface deposit-feeders (10%). The FDT (filter feeder, discretely motile, with tentacles) was the most abundant feeding mode, accounting for 24% of abundance (mainly represented by Sabellaria alveolata), followed by the ODJ feeding mode (omnivorous, discretely motile, with jaw apparatus) with 22%, and the SDT feeding mode (surface deposit feeder, discretely motile, with tentacles) with 18.9%. The highest trophic importance index and index of trophic diversity values were recorded in the southern region of Essaouira coastline. Based on the canonical correspondence analysis, composition and spatial distribution of polychaete feeding guilds were mainly related to the length of rocky shores and water temperature.

Role of Reef-Building, Ecosystem Engineering Polychaetes in Shallow Water Ecosystems

“…RBP species are present in multiple marine systems worldwide, such as sandy beaches [36], coastal marinas [50], coastal lagoons [62], and estuaries [63] ( Figure 1). Most RBP species inhabit soft bottoms [58,62,64], but they can also be found in intertidal [32,65] and subtidal hard bottoms [26]. Associations of individual tube-building polychaetes can lead to large reefs of cemented sand grains (e.g., Sabellarids [66]) or calcareous secretions [67,68].…”

“…This polychaete inhabits rocky outcrops in the shallow infralittoral and lower mesolittoral of sandy In Europe, two species of the genus Sabellaria are documented: Sabellaria alveolata and S. spinulosa. S. alveolata is a polychaete that builds one of the most extensive reef formations ( Figure 1A) and covers large areas in the lower elevations of tidal flats of the Northeastern Atlantic (from Scotland to Morocco [33,65], including Wales, Ireland, and England [41,44], English Channel in France [42], and Portugal [33]) and the Mediterranean sea [69]. S. alveolata builds a variety of reef types (mushrooms, balls, barriers, coalescent structures) and platforms [42].…”

Assessment of trace element accumulation on the Tunisian coasts using biochemical biomarkers in Perinereis cultrifera

“…Polychaetes (Annelida) have been used as sentinels in coastal studies for monitoring purposes, especially in soft-bottom habitats (Li et al 2012). These worms are one of the most important groups in terms of diversity and abundance in macro-benthic communities in coastal and marine environments, (Chouikh et al 2019). They play a vital role in ecosystem functioning, not only because of their dominance, but also because of their different feeding modes and reproductive strategies (Han et al 2016).…”