Molluscs collected with otter trawl in the northern Alboran Sea: main assemblages, spatial distribution and environmental linkage


Published: May 31, 2018
Keywords:
Mollusc assemblage demersal biodiversity fisheries Alboran Sea
CRISTINA CIÉRCOLES
CRISTINA GARCÍA-RUIZ
MARIA GONZÁLEZ AGUILAR
JOSÉ M. ORTIZ DE URBINA GUTIERREZ
NIEVES MARIA LÓPEZ-GONZÁLEZ
JAVIER URRA RECUERO
JOSE LUIS RUEDA RUIZ
Abstract

Molluscan assemblages of circalittoral and bathyal soft bottoms of the northern Alboran Sea were studied using an experimental otter trawl. Samples of fauna were collected from 190 hauls during four MEDITS surveys carried out in spring between 2012 and 2015 at depths ranging from 30 to 800 m. Measurements of water column variables (temperature and salinity) and sediment samples were taken in the same locations where faunistic sampling was carried out. A total of 101 species grouped in 55 families were recorded. Cephalopods were the most abundant group, with Abralia veranyi dominating in abundance, Octopus vulgaris in biomass and Illex coindetii and Todarodes sagittatus being the most frequently collected species. Multivariate analyses carried out separately with abundance data of demersal species, benthic species, bivalves, gastropods and cephalopods as well as of all molluscs, generally resulted in three main molluscan assemblages corresponding to a shelf assemblage (30-200 m depth), an upper slope assemblage (201-350 m depth), and a middle slope assemblage (351-800 m depth). PERMANOVA test revealed that significant differences of different groups of molluscs in relation to depth were more acute than to geographical sectors of the Alboran Sea (eastern, central, eastern and insular sectors). Abundance, biomass and species richness decreased with depth with a clear dominance of cephalopods in the slope. Significant geographical differences were mainly detected for demersal and benthic species as well as for gastropods and cephalopods between the insular sector (Alboran Island) and the western and eastern continental sectors. Both depth and temperature were the most influencing variables in the different CCA analyses using datasets of molluscs with different life styles and from different classes, but sedimentological variables displayed a more acute significant relationship with the benthic molluscs than with the demersal ones.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Research Article
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Abad, E., Preciado, I., Serrano, A., Baro, J., 2007. Demersal and epibenthic assemblages of trawlable grounds in the northern Alboran Sea (western Mediterranean). Scientia Marina, 71, 513-524.
Abelló, P., Valladares, F.J., Castellón, A., 1988. Analysis of the structure of decapod crustacean assemblages off the Catalan coast (North-West Mediterranean). Marine Biology, 98(1), 39-49.
Anon, 2010. Draft final report of the 20th Century evolution of Mediterranean exploited demersal resources under increasing fishing disturbance and environmental change. EVOMED. Open call for tenders nº MARE/2008/11.
Argudo, M., 2012. Contribución de los organismos en la sedimentación carbonatada de la plataforma de la isla de Alborán. MSc Thesis. University of Málaga, Spain, 36 pp.
Ballesteros, E., 2006. Mediterranean coralligenous assemblages: A synthesis of present knowledge. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review, 44, 123-195.
Bellido, J.M., Santos, M.B., Grazia, M., Valeiras, X., Pierce, J.G., 2011. Fishery discards and bycatch: solutions for an ecosystem approach to fisheries management?. Hydrobiologia, 670, 317-333.
Bello, G., 2008. Cephalopoda. Biologia Marina Mediterranea, 15 (Suppl.), 318-322.
Bertrand, J.A., Gil de Sola, L., Papaconstantinou, C., Relini, G., Souplet, A., 2002. The general specifications of the MEDITS surveys. Scientia Marina, 66 (S2), 9-17.
Bianchi, C.N., Morri, C., 2000. Marine Biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: Situation, Problems and Prospects for Future Research. Marine pollution bulletin, 40(5), 367-376.
Blott, S., Pye, K., 2001. Gradistat: a grain size distribution and statistics package for the analysis of unconsolidated sediments. Earth surface processes and Landforms, 26(11), 1237-1248.
Borja, A. Elliott, M., Carstensen, J., Heiskanen, A.-S., Bund, W., 2010. Marine management-Towards an integrated implementation of the European Marine Strategy Framework and the Water Framework Directives. Marine pollution bulletin, 60, 2175-86.
Boudouresque, C.F., 2004. Marine biodiversity in the Mediterranean: status of species, populations and communities. Port-Cros National Park, Scientific report, No 20, 49pp.
Camiñas, J.A., Baro, J., Abad, R., 2004. La pesca en el Mediterráneo andaluz. Servicio de publicaciones de la Fundación Unicaja, Málaga, 264 pp.
Cartes, J.E., Maynou, F., Moranta, J., Massuti, E., Lloris, D. et al., 2004. Patterns of bathymetric distribution among deep-sea fauna at local spatial scale: comparison of mainland vs. insular areas. Progress in Oceanography, 60 (1), 29-45.
Clarke, K.R., 1993. Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure. Australian Journal of Ecology, 18 (1), 117-143.
Clarke, K.R., Warwick, R.M., 1994. Change in Marine Communities: An Approach to Statistical Analysis and Interpretation. Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Bournemouth, 144 pp.
Clarke, K.R., Warwick, R.M., 1998. A taxonomic distinctness index and its statistical properties. Journal of Applied Ecology, 35, 523-531.
Clarke, K.R., Warwick, R.M., 2001. Change in marine communities: an approach to statistical analysis and interpretation. PRIMER-E, Plymouth, 144 pp.
Coll, M., Piroddi, C., Steenbeek, J., Kaschner, K., Ben Rais Lasram, F. et al., 2010. The Biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: Estimates, Patterns and Threats. PloS ONE 5(8): e11842. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011842.
Díaz, A., Gallardo, M., Moya, E., Marina, P., Urra, J. et al., 2017. Variabilidad temporal y espacial de moluscos de fondos blandos circalitorales de la Bahía de Málaga. Temas de Oceanografía. Instituto Español de Oceanografía.
Ercilla, G., Alonso, B., Baraza, J., 1992. Sedimentary evolution of the northwestern Alboran Sea during the Quaternary. Geo-Marine Letters, 12, 144-149.
Fiorentini, L., Dremière, P.Y., Leonori, I., Salas, A., Palumbo, V., 1999. Efficiency of the bottom trawl used for the Mediterranean international trawl survey (MEDITS). Aquatic. Living Resources, 12 (3), 187-205.
Folk, R.L., 1954. The distinction between grain size and mineral composition in sedimentary rock nomenclature. Journal of Geology, 62 (4), 344-359.
García, T., Báez, J.C., Baro, J., García, A., Giraldez, A. et al., 2012. Fishery in Alboran Sea. Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Technical report, 18pp.
García Muñoz, J.E., Manjón-Cabeza, M.E., García Raso, J.E., 2008. Decapod crustacean assemblages from litoral bottoms of the Alborán Sea (Spain, west Mediterranean Sea): spatial and temporal variability. Scientia Marina, 72, 437-449.
García Raso, J.E., Gofas, S., Salas, C., Manjón-Cabeza, M.E., Urra, J. et al., 2010. El mar más rico de Europa: Biodiversidad del litoral occidental de Málaga entre Calaburras y Calahonda. Consejería de Medio Ambiente, Junta de Andalucía, Sevilla, 128pp.
García-Ruiz, C., 2012. Estudio de la distribución y diversidad ictiofaunística del mar de Alborán. PhD Thesis. University of Málaga, Spain, 331pp.
García-Ruiz, C., Lloris, D., Rueda, J.L., García-Martínez, M.C., Gil de Sola, L., 2015. Spatial distribution of ichthyofauna in the northern Alboran Sea (western Mediterranean). Journal of Natural History, 49 (19-20), 1191-1224.
Gofas, S., Moreno, D., Salas, C., 2011. Moluscos marinos de Andalucía. Volumen I y II. Servicio de Publicaciones e Intercambio Científico, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, 798 pp.
Gofas, S., Salas, C., Rueda, J.L., Canoura, J., Farias, C., Gil, J., 2014a. Mollusca from a species-rich deep-water Leptometra community in the Alboran Sea. Scientia Marina, 78(4), 537-553.
Gofas, S., Goutayer, J., Luque, Á.A., Salas, C., Templado, J., 2014b. Espacio Marino de Alborán. Proyecto LIFE+ INDEMARES. Fundación Biodiversidad del Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente publishers, Madrid, 129 pp.
González, M., Sánchez, P., 2002. Cephalopod assemblages caught by trawling along the Iberian Peninsula Mediterranean coast. Scientia Marina, 66 (2), 199-208.
Guerra, A., 1992. Fauna ibérica, vol.1: Mollusca Cephalopoda. Ramos, M.A. et al. (Eds). Museo Nacional de Ciéncias Naturales. CSIC Madrid. 327 pp.
Hemminga, M.A., Duarte, C.M., 2000. Seagrass Ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 298 pp.
Hernández-Molina, F.J., 1993. Dinámica sedimentaria y evolución durante el Pleistoceno terminal-Holoceno del Margen Noroccidental del Mar de Alborán. Modelo de Estratigrafía secuencial de muy alta resolución en plataformas continentales. PhD Thesis. University of Granada, Granada, 618 pp.
Hopkins, T.S., 1985. Physics of the sea. p. 100-125. In: Key environments: western mediterranean. Margalef, R (Ed.). Pergamon Press, New York.
Jennings, S., Smith, A.D., Fulton, E.A., Smith, D.C., 2014. The ecosystem approach to fisheries: management at the dynamic interface between biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1322 (1), 48-60.
Krebs, C.J., 1989. Ecological Methodology. Harper & Row, New York, 654 pp.
Marina, P., Urra, J., Rueda, J.L., Salas, C., 2012. Composition and structure of the molluscan assemblage associated with a Cymodocea nodosa bed in south-eastern Spain: seasonal and diel variation. Helgoland Marine Research, 66, 585-599.
Martins, R., Sampaio, L., Quintino, V., Rodrigues, A.M., 2014. Diversity, distribution and ecology of benthic molluscan communities on the Portuguese continental shelf. Journal of Sea Research, 93, 75-89.
McArdle, B., Anderson M., 2001. Fitting multivariate models to community data: a comment on distance-based redundancy analysis. Ecology, 82(1), 290-297.
Mendes, C.L.T., Tavares, M., Soares-Gomes, A., 2007. Taxonomic sufficiency for softbottom sublittoral mollusks assemblages in a tropical estuary, Guanabara Bay, Southeast Brazil. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 54, 377-384.
Moya-Urbano, E., Ciércoles, C., González, M., Gallardo-Nuñez, M., Ordines, F. et al., 2015. Contrasting molluscan fauna collected with beam trawl and otter trawl in circalittoral and bathyal soft bottoms of the northern Alboran Sea. Frontiers Marine Science. Conference Abstract: XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00103.
Oliverio, M., Villa, R., 1995. Familia Ovulidae. Aperiovula adriatica. Enumeratio Molluscorum Maris Nostri. AMI, Roma, 467, 1-6.
Peñas, A., Rolán, E., Luque, Á.A., Templado, J., Moreno, D. et al., 2006. Moluscos marinos de la isla de Alborán. Iberus, 24 (1), 23-151.
Pielou, E.C., 1969. An Introduction to Mathematical Ecology. Wiley-Interscience, New York, 285 pp.
Pikitch, E.K., Santora, C., Babcock, E.A., Bakun, A., Bonfil, R., et al., 2004. Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management. Science, 305, 346-347.
Quetglas, A., Carbonella, A., Sánchez, P., 2000. Demersal Continental Shelf and Upper Slope Cephalopod Assemblages from the Balearic Sea (North-Western Mediterranean). Biological Aspects of Some Deep-Sea Species. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 50, 739-749.
Quetglas, A., Valls, M., Ordines, F., De Mesa, A., Olivar, M.P. et al., 2014. Structure and dynamics of cephalopod assemblages in the water column on shelf-break and slope grounds of the western Mediterranean. Journal of Marine Systems, 138, 150-159.
Ramírez-Amaro, S., Ordines, F., Terrasa, B., Esteban, A., García-Ruiz, C. et al., 2015. Demersal chondrichthyans in the western Mediterranean: assemblages and biological parameters of their main species. Marine and Freshwater Research, 67 (5), 636-652.
Rey, J., Medialdea, T., 1989. Los sedimentos cuaternarios superficiales del Margen Continental Español. Publicaciones. Especiales Instituto Español de Oceanografía. 3, Madrid, 36 pp.
Robles, R., 2010. Conservación y desarrollo sostenible del mar de Alborán/Conservation et développement durable de la mer d'Alboran. UICN Publisher, Gland, Suiza and Malaga, 114pp.
Rodríguez, J., 1982. Oceanografía del mar Mediterráneo. Pirámide, Madrid, 177pp.
Rueda, J.L., Salas, C., 2003. Temporal dynamics of molluscan assemblages from soft and bioclastic bottoms in the Strait of Gibraltar. Cahiers de Biologie Marina, 44, 237-248.
Rueda, J.L., Urra, J., Salas, C., 2008. Diel and seasonal variation of a molluscan taxocoenosis associated with a Zostera marina bed in southern Spain (Alboran Sea). Helgoland Marine Research, 62, 227-240.
Rueda, J.L., Gofas, S., Urra, J., Salas, C., 2009. A highly diverse molluscan assemblage associated with eelgrass beds (Zostera marina L.) in the Alboran Sea: microhabitat preference, feeding guilds and biogeographical distribution. Scientia Marina, 73 (4), 669-700.
Rueda, J.L., Farias, C., Gallardo-Núñez, M., Gallardo-Roldán, H., Mateo, A. et al., 2015. Molluscan assemblages from circalittoral and bathyal soft bottoms of the northern Alboran Sea. p. 509-512. In: Resúmenes sobre el VIII Simposio MIA15, 21-23 Sept 2015, Málaga.
Sabelli, B., Taviani, M., 2014. The making of the mediterranean molluscan biodiversity. p. 285-306. In: The Mediterranean Sea: Its history and present challenges. Goffredo, S., Dubinsky, Z. (Eds.). Springer Netherlands.
Salas, C., 1996. Marine bivalves from off the southern Iberian Peninsula collected by the Balgim and Fauna I expeditions. Haliotis, 25, 33-100.
Sarhan, T., García-Lafuente, J., Vargas, J.M., Plaza, F., 2000. Upwelling mechanisms in the northwestern Alboran Sea. Journal of Marine Systems, 23, 317-331.
Serrano, A., Sánchez, F., García-Castrillo, G., 2006. Epibenthic communities of trawlable grounds of the Cantabrian Sea. Scientia Marina, 70 (S1), 149-159.
Serrano, A., Sánchez, F., Punzón, A., Velasco, F., Olaso, I., 2011. Deep-sea megafaunal assemblages off the northern Iberian slope related to environmental factors. Scientia Marina, 75 (3), 425-437.
Snelgrove, P.V., Butman, C.A., 1994. Animal-sediment relationships revisited: Causes versus effect. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review, 32, 111-177.
Spalding, M.D., Fox, H.E., Allen, G.R., Davidson, N., Ferdaña, Z.A. et al., 2007. Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas. BioScience, 57 (7), 573-583.
Templado, J., 1991. Las especies del genero Charonia (Mollusca: Gastropoda) en el Mediterráneo. p. 133-140. In: Les espèces marines à protéger en Méditerranée. Boudouresque, C.F., Avon, M., Gravez, V. (Eds). GIS Posidonie publisher. France.
Templado, J., 2011. La diversidad marina en España. p. 343-362. In: Biodiversidad: aproximación a la diversidad botánica y zoológica en España. Memoria Real Sociedad Española de Historia Natural, Segunda época, Tomo IX. Viejo, J.L. (Ed). Madrid.
Ter Braak, C.J.F., 1986. Canonical correspondence analysis: a new eigenvector technique for multivariate direct gradient analysis. Ecology, 67, 1167-1179.
Thrush, S.F., Dayton, P.K., 2002. Disturbance to marine benthic habitats by trawling and dredging: implications for marine biodiversity. Annual. Review Ecology and Systematics, 33 (1), 449-473.
Tyler, P.A., 2003. Ecosystems of the deep oceans. Elsevier, Amsterdam (The Netherlands), 569 pp.
Urra, J., Gofas, S., Rueda, J.L., Marina, P., 2011. Molluscan assemblages in littoral soft bottoms of the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean Sea). Marine Biology Research, 7, 27-42.
Urra, J., Rueda, J.L., Gofas, S., Marina, P., Salas, C., 2012. A species-rich molluscan assemblage in a coralligenous bottom of the Alboran Sea (Southwestern Mediterranean): intra-annual changes and ecological considerations. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 92 (4), 665-677.
Urra, J., Mateo-Ramírez, Á., Marina, P., Salas, C., Gofas, S. et al., 2013. Highly diverse molluscan assemblages of Posidonia oceanica meadows in northwestern Alboran Sea: seasonal dynamics and environmental drivers. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 117, 136-147.
Vargas, M., García, M.C., Moya, F., Tel, E., Parrilla, G. et al., 2007. Cambio climático en el Mediterráneo español. Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Madrid, 168 pp.
Vázquez, J.T., 2005. El margen continental del Mar de Alborán. p. 191-198. In: Mapa Geomorfológico de España y del margen continental. Martín-Serrano A. (Ed.). Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid.
Velasco, F., Olaso, I., Sanchez, F., 2001. The role of cephalopods as forage for the demersal fish community in the southern Bay of Biscay. Fisheries Research, 52, 65-77.
WoRMS Editorial Board, 2017. World Register of Marine Species. http://www.marinespecies.org (Accessed 12 January 2017).
Most read articles by the same author(s)