Spatial variability and response to anthropogenic pressures of assemblages dominated by a habitat forming seaweed sensitive to pollution (northern coast of Alboran Sea)

Abstract

The Cystoseira ericaefolia group is conformed by three species: C. tamariscifolia, C. mediterranea and C. amentacea. These species are among the most important habitat forming species of the upper sublittoral rocky shores of the Mediterranean Sea and adjacent Atlantic coast. This species group is sensitive to human pressures and therefore is currently suffering important losses. This study aimed to assess the influence of anthropogenic pressures, oceanographic conditions and local spatial variability in assemblages dominated by C. ericaefolia in the Alboran Sea. The results showed the absence of significant effects of anthropogenic pressures or its interactions with environmental conditions in the Cystoseira assemblages. This fact was attributed to the high spatial variability, which is most probably masking the impact of anthropogenic pressures. The results also showed that most of the variability occurred on at local levels. A relevant spatial variability was observed at regional level, suggesting a key role of oceanographic features in these assemblages.

Role of environmental factors in affecting macrophyte dominance in transitional environments: The Italian Lagoons as a study case

“…Macrophytes are affected by different anthropogenic pressures that can affect the environmental status. Transitional environments can change from pristine‐natural conditions, with aquatic angiosperms and sensitive macroalgae present (Bermejo, de la Fuente, Ramírez‐Romero, Vergara, & Hernández, ; Littler & Littler, ; Orfanidis et al., ; Sfriso et al., ), into environments either colonized by opportunistic macroalgae, especially Ulvaceae, Cladophoraceae and Gracilariaceae, or completely deprived of vegetation (Bermejo et al., ; Díez, Santolaria, Muguerza, & Gorostiaga, ; Krause‐Jensen, Carstensen, & Dahl, ; Orfanidis et al., ; de Paz, Neto, Marques, & Laborda, ; Scanlan, Foden, Wells, & Best, ; Sfriso et al., ) very rapidly. The Valli di Comacchio in the Emilia‐Romagna Region are perfect examples of basins with bad transitional environmental conditions (Sorokin & Zakuskina, ; Viaroli et al., ), where phytoplankton or cyanobacteria prevail over other primary producers.…”

“…() for the Greek lagoons, Bologa and Sava () for the Black Sea and Bermejo et al. () for the Alboran Sea. Similar results were obtained for macroalgal families or species by De Casabianca, Barthelemy, Serrano, and Sfriso () and Viaroli et al.…”

An ecosystem-based approach to assess the status of Mediterranean algae-dominated shallow rocky reefs

“…Coastal disturbances are often cumulative and have to be linked to the measured parameters and assessed at a fine scale (e.g. Lopez y Royo et al, 2009;Holon et al, 2015;Bermejo et al, 2016;Guarnieri et al, 2016). Spatially explicit approaches able to model the complex relationships between multiple human pressures and coastal ecosystems status have already been successfully applied in the study area .…”

Improved phylogeny of brown algae Cystoseira (Fucales) from the Atlantic-Mediterranean region based on mitochondrial sequences

“…Cystoseira (Fucales, Heterokonta) brown algae are key elements of the marine seascape along warm-temperate North African and European coasts [1–4]. They form marine forests with a complex three-dimensional structure and provide habitat for other algae, invertebrates and fish [5–8], playing a key role in the determination of biodiversity patterns and ecosystem functioning [6]. Currently, many Cystoseira taxa are undergoing a strong demographic decline attributed to both local and global pressures [9–11].…”