The Hard-Bottom Intertidal Communities Before and After to Removal Anthropogenic Disturbance: A Case Study in the Coast of Puerto Madryn (Patagonia, Argentina).

AMÉRICO I. TORRES; GUILLERMO M. CAILLE

Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía

Universidad de Valparaíso. Chile

Lugar: Valparaíso; Año: 2009 vol. 44 p. 517 - 521

0718-1957

In spite of the marked growth of the coastal cities in Patagonia, studies on the effects of the urban development upon marine intertidal communities are scarce. We evaluated the rocky-shore intertidal community composition during (June 1998) and after (June 2005) of exposure to a sewage discharge which was eliminated in 2001. A perturbed environment and a control site were analyzed. No significative differences were detected in species richness between sites and between years. However the species composition was different between sites in 1998 and was similar in 2005. These results suggest of using combined indicators in diagnostic studies on stressed environments.