Macroinvertebrate communities in sediment and plants in coastal Mediterranean water bodies (Central Iberian Peninsula).

Abstract

Sediment and plant-associated macroinvertebrates were sampled in six shallow water bodies along the central part of the coast of Mediterranean Spain. The size of ponds, salinity and hydroperiod were highly variable. Seventy-one taxa were recorded, some of them were endemic or uncommon species, evidencing the important contribution of these ponds to biodiversity. Crustaceans and gastropods of biogeographical interest were found in the most primeval site. Correspondence analysis showed that macroinvertebrate assemblages responded to environmental variables such as salinity, temporality and eutrophication. The brackish water fauna was dominated by crustaceans, while oligochaeta and insect larvae were abundant in freshwater conditions. Oligochaetes were abundant at localities with high trophic level, whereas localities with semi-permanent waters were dominated by chironomids. The density of macroinvertebrates was clearly related with trophic state but we did not find significant relationships between density and salinity or water permanence. For plant associated samples our results showed negative relationships between species richness and temporality or salinity, contrary to sediment samples, where the Oligochaeta/Chironomidae ratio in sediments and the percentage of sensitive taxa (Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Trichoptera) were useful indices, and were dependent on pond typology. This study emphasizes the broad ecological variety of ponds found in these wetlands and their importance for biodiversity. Some ponds act as permanent biodiversity reservoirs in fluctuant marshes with seasonal dryness, calling for more attention on their ecological relevance for management strategies.

Loss of Ostracoda biodiversity in Western Mediterranean wetlands

“…General limnological surveys of wetlands on the eastern Spanish seacoast (Lo´pez and Toma´s, 1989;Oltra and Armengol-Dı´az, 1999;Rodrigo and Colom, 1999) also include information on water chemistry, plankton composition and other limnological features of some of the studied wetlands. Some general characteristics of these sites and the values of some limnological variables from the same sampling campaign can be found in Moss et al (2003) and Sahuquillo et al (2007). All sites studied were Figure 1.…”

Quantification of environment-driven changes in epiphytic macroinvertebrate communities associated to Phragmites australis

“…1). These communities are also subjected to changes in the environment related to seasonal trends (Kairesalo 1984;Botts et al 1993;Löhlein 1996), water level fluctuations (Balcombe et al 2007), and differences in the physicochemical composition of the water (Kornijów et al 1990;Arnold et al 1997;Sahuquillo et al 2006;Sahuquillo et al 2007). Environmental factors influence macroinvertebrates both directly (the organisms show different tolerances to salinity and pollution) and indirectly (the environment exerts an influence over the host plant and the epiphyton, leading to changes in the epiphytic macroinvertebrate communities).…”

“…In the present study, we took into consideration the fact that each plant species supports different invertebrate assemblages (Rooke 1984;Cattaneo et al 1998;Taniguchi et al 2003) according to its physical and biological characteristics (Papas 2007). Accordingly, the study focused exclusively on one plant species to avoid distorting the effects of environmental factors on the macroinvertebrate fauna (Sahuquillo et al 2007). The Common Reed, Phragmites australis (Cav.)…”