BIBLIOS

Tipo
Capítulo em Livro


Título
DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS OF BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES ASSEMBLAGES IN SMALL ESTUARIES OF THE PORTUGUESE COAST - WILL IT BE USEFUL IN COASTAL MANAGEMENT?

Participantes na publicação
Cardoso, I. (Author)
MARE
Cabral, H.N. (Author)
MARE
Cancela da Fonseca, L. (Author)
CTA - Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias da Água, Universidade do Algarve
MARE

Resumo
Benthic macroinvertebrate communities are highly variable, but play a key role in estuarine and lagoonal environments, even at small spatial scales, related to: i) their high productivity; ii) implementation of monitoring plans; iii) application of ecological quality assessment tools. The understanding of benthos distribution patterns is relevant to discriminate their natural variability from that induced by anthropic impacts. These communities were studied in five small estuaries from the Portuguese south and south-west coasts, in order to perceive the influence of environmental characteristics in their structure. Knowledge of distribution patterns in each system is essential for: i) quantifying tangible impact factors; ii) mitigate the risk of ecological and functional value’s loss; iii) future comparisons between systems; iv) quantify their vulnerability. The five systems’ benthic communities showed distinct compositions, with the dominance of different species among them. On a larger scale (between systems), sediment parameters explain the major differences between these communities. Within systems, patterns cannot be attributed to sediment heterogeneity. Moreover, seasonality, a salinity proxy, did not have the same impact on equivalent systems, viewing the complexity of factors that can act on small scales in small-sized systems. For monitoring purposes, it was concluded that community analysis should not discard the specific composition as it can provide fundamental information about the characteristics of the system when other available data are scarce. It was also concluded in this context that: i) sampling procedures should cover not only the heterogeneity of the system (not only by sampling along estuarine gradients) but also cover the seasonal variation which may be of great importance for some small estuaries; ii) associations of benthic macroinvertebrates, usually considered as good indicators of the environmental state in estuarine systems, will only be useful in coastal management if pooled with other indicators related to anthropic activities, evaluating the respective impacts. All this information may interest authorities and stakeholders in what concerns management and conservation.

Editor
Ana Cristina Roque; Davis Pereira de Paula; J. Alveirinho Dias; L. Cancela da Fonseca; Maria Antonieta C. Rodrigues; Miguel da Guia Albuquerque; Silvia Dias Pereira


Instituição
Faculdade de Geologia; UERJ - Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Suporte
Saindo da zona de conforto: a interdisciplinaridade das zonas costeiras - Tomo VIII da Rede BRASPOR

Identificadores da Publicação
ISBN - 9788587245038

Editora
UERJ



Keywords
Small estuaries Benthic communities Patterns of distribution Portuguese south coast

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