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

ARRIGHETTI, F.; PENCHASZADEH, P. E.

JOURNAL OF THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

Cambridge University Press

Año: 2010 vol. 90 p. 933 - 939

0025-3154

The aim of this study is to characterize the different macrozoobenthos communities in Mar del Plata waters (SW 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 six 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; 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 serves as baseline information for this area strongly subjected to trawling perturbations.