Spatial-temporal variability of Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck 1819 populations and their accumulated sediment in northern Portugal

PeerJ

article

Catarina Ramos-Oliveira¹  Leandro Sampaio¹  Marcos Rubal¹  Puri Veiga¹ 

[1] CIIMAR Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research;Deparment of Biology, University of Porto

关键词: Ecosystem engineer;    north east Atlantic;    Rocky shore;    Sediment stress;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.11499

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Mytilus galloprovincialis is an ecosystem engineer that provides habitat and generates environmental heterogeneity, increasing local biodiversity. Moreover, it is an economically important species representing 14% of the global production of marine bivalves. Natural drivers and the increase of anthropogenic pressures, such as sediment stress, influence its populations on rocky shores. The objective of this study was to explore the spatial-temporal patterns of different M. galloprovincialis attributes along the north of Portugal. For that purpose, six rocky shores were selected and sampled six times along the year 2019. The percentage of cover, density, spat density, condition index, clump thickness, size classes and clump sediment content were considered. Results showed the lack of seasonality in M. galloprovincialis along the north coast of Portugal. However, density, spat stage, clump thickness, condition index and size classes showed some variability among dates and shores. The percentage cover and sediment content only significantly differed among shores. Our results indicated an absence of seasonality for all the studied variables, probably because temperature was always within the optimum range for this species and the abundance of food supply in the study area independently of the season. The accumulated sediment on mussel clumps did not show any temporal variability with only significant differences among shores. The accumulated sediment was composed mainly by medium and coarse sand and it was correlated with mussel average size, condition index, but especially with the mussel clump thickness.

【 授权许可】

CC BY