Taxonomic and Functional Assessment of Subtidal Macrobenthic Communities in the Bahía Blanca Estuary (Argentina)

BRAVO, M. EMILIA; CARCEDO, M. CECILIA; DOS SANTOS, EDER P.; FIORI, SANDRA M.

The Bahía Blanca Estuary - Ecology and Biodiversity

Springer

Lugar: Cham; Año: 2021; p. 215 - 251

The macrobenthic communities in soft-bottom subtidal areas of the Bahía Blanca Estuary are dominated by polychaetes, crustaceans and molluscs. Species richness, abundance, biomass and taxonomic and functional diversity of the macrobenthic communities are different between myxohaline and euhaline zones, as well as near urban and industrial effluent discharge. For the whole studied area 107 morphospecies are listed, with dominance of the polychaetes Nicolea sp. and Leodamas verax in the mixohaline zone, Terebellides totae in the middle zone, and Axiothella sp. and the bivalve Corbula patagonica in the euhaline zone. Also, the polychaete Laeonereis acuta was dominant in the vicinity of sewage discharges. Most organisms are deposit-feeders and lack calcified bodies. There are more small-sized (