Spatial and temporal variability of mobile macro-invertebrate assemblages associated to coralligenous habitat

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate patterns of spatial and temporal variability of mobile macroinvertebrate assemblages associated to coralligenous habitat. A multi-factorial sampling design was used to test the hypotheses that the structure of assemblages and their spatial and temporal variability changed in relation to substrate inclination. Moreover, macroalgae and sessile macroinvertebrates were also investigated in order to detect eventual relationships between sessile and mobile assemblages. A total of 236 mobile macro-invertebrate taxa were identified, among them 2 Platyhelminthes, 4 Sipuncula, 6 Nemertea, 27 Mollusca, 86 Annelida, 103 Arthropoda, 8 Echinodermata. The results of the study show that mobile macro-invertebrate assemblages of coralligenous habitat were little influenced by the inclination of substrate and by the morphology of sessile organisms, as patterns of variation were different between the two assemblages. Mobile macro-invertebrate assemblages changed among sampling dates within a one-year period and showed high variability at the spatial scale examined.

A network approach to identify bioregions in the distribution of Mediterranean amphipods associated with Posidonia oceanica meadows

“…An extensive survey of the literature was conducted to obtain all available information on the presence of amphipods from P. oceanica meadows across different regions of the Mediterranean Sea. We filtered the available literature to obtain comparable data in terms of sampling season, depth and methods (see Supplemental Materials & Methods S1), so recovering data from 11 papers (Diviacco, 1988;Scipione et al, 1996;Scipione, 1998;Sanchéz-Jerez et al, 2000;Zakhama-Sraieb et al, 2006, 2010Bedini et al, 2011;Sturaro et al, 2014Sturaro et al, , 2015Bellisario et al, 2016, Camisa et al, 2017). Data were checked for possible taxonomic issues by updating species nomenclature according to WoRMS, so that species names reported in Table S1 correspond to present day taxonomic assignment (see Supplemental Materials & Methods S1 for further explanations).…”

“…Despite the importance of amphipods in seagrass systems, a comprehensive study on their biogeographic patterns at the whole Mediterranean scale is still lacking. Available data include mainly check-lists and local studies based on classical diversity index (Gambi et al, 1992;Diviacco, 1998;Como et al, 2008;Scipione & Zupo, 2010;Bedini et al, 2011;Zakhama-Sraieb, Ramzi-Sghaier & Charfi-Cheikhrouha, 2011;Sturaro et al, 2015), which can foster biogeographic studies using innovative approaches.…”

Temporal variability of sedimentation rates and mobile fauna inside and outside a gorgonian garden

“…Little information is available regarding the vagile fauna associated with coralligenous biotic layers, limited to some lists of taxa covering only a few locations (Bedini et al . ). Paramuricea clavata is a long‐lived and slow‐growing organism (Linares et al .…”

“…This structure is characterized by the equilibrium between biobuilders and bioeroders (Cerrano et al 2001). Little information is available regarding the vagile fauna associated with coralligenous biotic layers, limited to some lists of taxa covering only a few locations (Bedini et al 2014). Paramuricea clavata is a long-lived and slow-growing organism (Linares et al 2007) and is a structuring key species of the coralligenous fauna characterizing entire facies of the circalittoral and bathyal biocenosis (Weinberg 1980;Linares et al 2007;Ponti et al 2014).…”

Reducing the data-deficiency of threatened European habitats: Spatial variation of sabellariid worm reefs and associated fauna in the Sicily Channel, Mediterranean Sea

“…Concomitantly, the peculiarity of the faunal assemblages of sabellariid reefs in the Sicily Channel is reinforced by the occurrence of some numerically scarce species, such as the amphipods G. ulrici and J. ocia. The former species is considered endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, but records along the Italian coasts are very sparse and rare (but see Lo Brutto and Sparla, 1993;Bedini et al, 2011;Iaciofano et al, 2015). The latter was previously found in large abundances within S. alveolata reefs located along the central Tyrrhenian coast, about 500 km north of present locations , and, therefore, could be a species using the sabellariid bio-constructions as a preferential habitat.…”