Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T18:28:07.790Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Benthic assemblages associated with rocks in a brackish environment of the southern Baltic Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2010

Katarzyna Grzelak  and
Piotr Kuklinski
Katarzyna Grzelak*
Affiliation:
Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Powstancow Warszawy 55, Sopot 81–712, Poland
Piotr Kuklinski
Affiliation:
Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Powstancow Warszawy 55, Sopot 81–712, Poland
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: K. Grzelak, Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Powstancow Warszawy 55, Sopot 81–712, Poland email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sandy bottoms, with local patches of rocks, dominate the southern Baltic Sea coast. These rock patches create three-dimensional habitats with additional niches that can support diverse assemblages of organisms. In this study we investigated macrofaunal assemblages associated with the boulder field in the brackish Gulf of Gdansk. Of the 30 recorded taxa three animal species (Mytilus trossulus, Balanus improvisus and Electra crustulenta) together with five species of algae were directly attached to rocks. These engineering organisms provided habitats for a further 22 taxa. Among the fauna directly associated with rocks, barnacles (76%) were the most abundant while among indirectly associated biota, oligochaetes were the dominant group (45%). Rock size and algal biomass explained most variance in macrofaunal structure of the assemblages investigated. There were statistical differences in assemblage structure between two separate localities within the rocky patch, despite environmental homogeneity (salinity, water temperature and structure of sea bottom). These differences in assemblage structure were mostly due to differences in dominance of particular species rather than in species composition. Our results show that rocky patches in an otherwise soft sediment habitat provide additional living space for macrofauna leading to an increase in local biodiversity and organismal abundance.

Keywords

rocky habitatassociated faunabiodiversitymacrofaunaBaltic Sea
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 90 , Issue 1 , February 2010 , pp. 115 - 124
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anderson, M.J. (2005) PERMANOVA—Permutational multivariate analysis of variance. A computer program. Department of Statistics, University of Auckland, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Andrulewicz, E., Kruk-Dowgiallo, L. and Osowiecki, A. (2004) Phytobenthos and macrozoobenthos of the Slupsk Bank stony reef, Baltic Sea. Hydrobiologia 54, 163–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atrill, M.J., Bilton, D.T., Rowden, A.A., Rundle, S.D and Thomas, R.M. (1996) An estuarine biodiversity hot-spot. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 76, 161–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atrill, M.J., Bilton, D.T., Rowden, A.A., Rundle, S.D and Thomas, R.M. (1999) The impact of encroachment and bankside development on the habitat complexity and supralittoral invertebrate communities of the Thames Estuary foreshore. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 9, 237–247.3.0.CO;2-S>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, D.K.A. and Kuklinski, P. (2003) High polar spatial competition: extreme hierarchies at extreme latitude. Marine Ecology Progress Series 259, 17–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bayne, B.L. (1964) Primary and secondary settlement in Mytilus edulis L (Mollusca). Journal of Animal Ecology 33, 513–523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brusca, R.C. and Brusca, G.J. (2002) Invertebrates. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc.Google Scholar
Chao, A. (1987) Estimating the population size for capture–recapture data with unequal catchability. Biometrics 43, 783–791.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chapman, M.G. (2002a) Patterns of spatial and temporal variation of macrofauna under boulders in a sheltered boulder field. Austral Ecology 27, 211–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, M.G. (2002b) Early colonization of shallow subtidal boulders in two habitats. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 275, 96–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, M.G. and Underwood, A.J. (1996) Experiments on effects of sampling biota under intertidal and shallow subtidal boulders. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 207, 103–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christie, H., Jørgensen, N.M., Norderhaug, K.M. and Waage-Nielsen, E. (2003) Species distribution and habitat exploitation of fauna associated with kelp (Laminaria hyperborea) along the Norwegian coast. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 83, 687–699.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, K.R. and Gorley, R.N. (2001) Primer: user manual/tutorial. Plymouth, UK: PRIMER-E, Plymouth Marine Laboratory.Google Scholar
Clarke, K.R. and Warwick, R.M. (1994) Change in marine communities: an approach to statistical analysis and interpretation. Plymouth, UK: Plymouth Marine Laboratory.Google Scholar
Cruz Motta, J.J., Underwood, A.J., Chapman, M.G. and Rossi, F. (2003) Benthic assemblages in sediments associated with intertidal boulder-fields. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 285–286, 383–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edgar, P.J. (1983) The ecology of south-east Tasmanian phytal animal communities. I. Spatial organization on a local scale. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 70, 129–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gee, J.M. and Warwick, R.M. (1994) Metazoan community structure in relation to the fractal dimensions of the marine macroalgae. Marine Ecology Progress Series 103, 141–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodsell, P.J. and Connell, S.D. (2008) Complexity in the relationship between matrix composition and inter-patch distance in fragmented habitats. Marine Biology 154, 117–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hagerman, L. and Szaniawska, A. (1990) Anaerobic metabolic strategy of the glacial relict isopod Saduria (Mesidotea) entomon. Marine Ecology Progress Series 59, 91–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haque, A.M., Szymelfenig, M. and Węsławski, J.M. (1997) Spatial and seasonal changes in the sandy littoral zoobenthos of the Gulf of Gdansk. Oceanologia 39, 299–324.Google Scholar
Janas, U., Wacial, J. and Szaniawska, A. (2004) Seasonal and annual changes in the macrozoobenthic populations of the Gulf of Gdansk with respect to hypoxia and hydrogen sulphide. Oceanologia 46, 85–102.Google Scholar
Jażdżewski, K. and Konopacka, A. (1995) A catalogue of Polish fauna. Malacostraca except terrestial isopods. Muzeum i Inst. Zool, PAN 12, pp. 1–165. [In Polish.]Google Scholar
Jones, C.G., Lawton, J.H. and Shachak, M. (1994) Organisms as ecosystem engineers. Oikos 69, 373–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kotwicki, L. (1996) Macrobenthos of Puck Bay, online dataset. http://www.iopan.gda.pl/projects/puckbay/Pucka/pp4.ftmGoogle Scholar
Kotwicki, L. (1997) Macrozoobenthos of the sandy littoral zone of the Gulf of Gdansk. Oceanologia 39: 447–460.Google Scholar
Kraufvelin, P. and Salovius, S. (2004) Animal diversity in Baltic rocky shore macroalgae: can Cladophora glomerata compensate for lost Fucus vesiculosus? Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 61, 369–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruk-Dowgiallo, L. and Szaniawska, A. (2008) Gulf of Gdansk and Puck Bay. In Schiewer, U. (ed.) Ecology of Baltic coastal waters. Ecological studies 197. Berlin and Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, pp. 139–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuklinski, P. and Bader, B. (2007) Diversity, structure and interactions of encrusting lithophyllic macrofaunal assemblages from Belgica Bank, East Greenland. Polar Biology 30, 709–717.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Hir, M. and Hily, C. (2005) Macrofaunal diversity and habitat structure in intertidal boulder fields. Biodiversity and Conservation 14, 233–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Majewski, A. (1990) Gulf of Gdansk. Wydawnictwo Geologiczne. [In Polish.]Google Scholar
Norderhaug, K.M.Christie, H. and Fredriksen, S. (2007) Is habitat size an important factor for faunal abundances on kelp (Laminaria hyperborea)? Journal of Sea Research 58, 120–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norling, P. and Kautsky, N. (2007) Structural and functional effects of Mytilus edulis on diversity of associated species and ecosystem functioning. Marine Ecology Progress Series 351, 163–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nowacki, J. and Jarosz, E. (1998) The hydrological and hydrochemical division of the surface waters in the Gulf of Gdansk. Oceanologia 40, 261–272.Google Scholar
Osman, R.W. (1977) The establishment and development of a marine epifaunal community. Ecological Monographs 47, 37–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osowiecki, A. (2000) Directions in long-term changes of the macrozoobenthos structure of the Puck Bay. Crangon 3. [In Polish.]Google Scholar
Osowiecki, A. and Żmudziński, L. (2000) Natural valuation of the coastal waters of Kępa Redłowska reserve. Crangon 6. [In Polish.]Google Scholar
Parker, J.D., Emmett Duffy, J. and Orth, R.J. (2001) Plant species diversity and composition: experimental effects on marine epifauna assemblages. Marine Ecology Progress Series 224, 55–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seed, R. and O'Connor, R.J. (1981) Community organization in marine algal epifaunas. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 12, 49–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seed, R. (1996) Patterns of biodiversity in the macro-invertebrate fauna associated with mussel patches on rocky shores. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 76, 203–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soberón, J. and Lorente, L. (1993) The use of species accumulation functions for the prediction of species richness. Conservation Biology 7, 480–488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sousa, W.P. (1979) Disturbance in marine intertidal boulder fields: the nonequilibrium maintenance of species diversity. Ecology 60, 1225–1239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Underwood, A.J. and Chapman, M.G. (1998) A method for analysing spatial scales in variation in composition of assemblages. Oecologia 117, 570–578.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Väinölä, R., Witt, J.D.S., Grabowski, M., Bradbury, J.H., Jażdżewski, K. and Sket, B. (2008) Global diversity of amphipods (Amphipoda; Crustacea) in freshwater. Hydrobiologia 595, 241–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waage-Nielsen, E., Christie, H. and Rinde, E. (2003) Short-term dispersal of kelp fauna to cleared (kelp-harvested) areas. Hydrobiologia 503, 77–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenner, E.H., Hinde, P., Knott, D.M. and Van Dolah, R.F. (1984) A temporal and spatial study of invertebrate communities associated with hard-bottom habitats in the South Atlantic Bight. NOAA, Technical Reports NMFS 18, 104 pp.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.A. (1987) Ecological dynamics on pebbles, cobbles, and boulders. Palaios 2, 594–599.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, J.G. and Levin, S.A. (1994) A spatial patch dynamics modelling approach to pattern and process in an annual grassland. Ecological Monographs 4, 447–464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yakovis, E.L., Artemieva, A.V. and Fokin, M.V. (2004) Spatial pattern indicates an influence of barnacle and ascidian aggregations on the surrounding benthic assemblage. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 309, 155–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yakovis, E.L., Artemieva, A.V., Fokin, M.V., Grishankov, A.V. and Shunatova, N.N. (2005) Patches of barnacles and ascidians in soft bottoms: associated motile fauna in relation to the surrounding assemblage. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 327, 210–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yakovis, E.L., Artemieva, A.V., Shunatova, N.N. and Varfolomeeva, M.A. (2008) Multiple foundation species shape benthic habitat islands. Oecologia 155, 785–795.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Żmudziński, L. (1996) Macrozoobenthos in the Puck Bay in 1984–1985 as compared with 1962–1963. In Piesik, Z., Piesik, J. and Kurowska, M. (eds) International symposium EUCC, 23–25 May, 1996, Ustka-conference materials, Słupsk.Google Scholar