Vertical Distribution of Benthic Macrofauna in Intertidal Habitats Frequented by Shorebirds at Merja Zerga Lagoon

Mapping and Quantification of the Dwarf Eelgrass Zostera noltei Using a Random Forest Algorithm on a SPOT 7 Satellite Image

“…First, Dakki et al [61] estimated that 4.78% of the lagoon's surface was occupied by dwarf eelgrass meadows, the surface area of which corresponded to 140 ha, including algae species. The presence of Z. noltei in the Merja Zerga lagoon was also reported by Boutahar et al [30], Gam et al [72], Grignon-Dubois and Rezzonico [73], Natij et al [74], Touhami et al [75], and Touhami et al [76]. The dwarf eelgrass meadows in this lagoon have developed in muddy and sometimes deep substrates, which makes walking through them very difficult, so mapping these meadows on foot is not feasible.…”

Variación en pequeña escala de la estructura horizontal y vertical de comunidades macrobentónicas en una laguna costera del Atlántico Sudoccidental

“…Se observaron patrones de distribución del macrobentos atendiendo a un gradiente entre las estaciones y de profundidad dentro del sedimento, que se relaciona con los parámetros ambientales obtenidos. Estudios previos mostraron este comportamiento y destacaron la importancia del estrato superficial en cuanto a la abundancia macrobentónica debido a su rol fundamental en la transferencia energética entre el sedimento y la columna de agua (Venturini, et al, 2011;Touhami, et al, 2018). Los puntos internos y más alejados de la intrusión marina presentaron una hidrodinámica baja que favorece la deposición de sedimentos finos y facilita la acumulación de materia orgánica (Venturini, et al, 2004).…”

“…Sin embargo, son escasas las investigaciones que examinan la partición vertical del espacio (i.e. profundidad) a nivel de microescala espacial, tanto del ambiente físicoquímico como de la distribución de la fauna bentónica (Rodríguez, 2016;Touhami, et al, 2018).…”

Shorebirds exhibit niche partitioning on multiple dimensions at a small staging site on the Northumberland Strait, New Brunswick, Canada

“…Therefore, shorebird species foraging at different sediment depths target spatially segregated prey items, though the prey taxa in their diets may overlap unless these taxa are segregated by depth. For example, gastropod species typically dwell on or near the sediment surface (Huxham et al 1995;Chandrashkara and Frid 1998), while other invertebrate taxa, including bivalves and polychaete worms, can be found at a range of sediment depths (Henriksen et al 1983;Zwarts and Wanink 1989;Touhami et al 2018). Within the taxonomic levels to which we classified burrowing invertebrates for diet niche models in this study, individuals can be found at a wide range of depths, sometimes spanning 0 to over 10 cm (Zwarts and Wanink 1989;Davey 1994).…”

“…Within the taxonomic levels to which we classified burrowing invertebrates for diet niche models in this study, individuals can be found at a wide range of depths, sometimes spanning 0 to over 10 cm (Zwarts and Wanink 1989;Davey 1994). Larger prey also tend to burrow deeper in muddy or sandy intertidal sites (Zwarts and Wanink 1989;Coulthard and Hamilton 2011;Touhami et al 2018). Thus, long-billed shorebird species, which in our study were larger than the short-billed plovers and small Calidrids (and therefore could consume larger prey items), may have had access to prey items that their smaller competitors could not have consumed.…”