Macrobenthos– sediment relationships in a sandy bottom community off Mar del Plata, Argentina

The aim of this study is to characterize the different macrozoobenthos communities in Mar del Plata waters (south-western Atlantic) on the basis of their abundance and habitat, and to determine how sediment characteristics, like the grain-size composition, affect macrobenthic community structure. Mu...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Arrighetti, Florencia, Penchaszadeh, Pablo Enrique
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2010
Country:Argentina
Institution:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repository:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/16535
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/16535
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Macrobenthos
Mar del Plata
Argentina
Community
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Description
Summary:The aim of this study is to characterize the different macrozoobenthos communities in Mar del Plata waters (south-western Atlantic) on the basis of their abundance and habitat, and to determine how sediment characteristics, like the grain-size composition, affect macrobenthic community structure. Multivariate techniques indicated that benthic communities and sediments in the surveyed area were included into the following five well-defined groups: (1) a medium sand assemblage dominated by the bivalve Crassinella marplatensis and Diplodonta patagonica, the echinoderm Encope emarginata, the tanaidacean Bacescapseudes sp. and the polychaete Armandia loboi; (2) a medium to very fine sand assemblage dominated by ostracods, the tanaidacean Bacescapseudes sp., amphipods and polychaetes of the family Nephtyidae; (3) a fine to very fine sand assemblage dominated by the tanaidacean Bacescapseudes sp.; (4) a silt and fine sand assemblage dominated by polychaetes particularly Scolelepis sp. and individuals of the family Nephtyidae; and (5) a fine sand assemblage dominated by amphipods and the tanaidacean Bacescapseudes sp. These results revealed the patchy distribution of macrobenthic assemblages as a result of sediment characteristics and serve as baseline information for this area strongly subjected to trawling perturbations.