Impacto de un poliqueto exótico y formador de arrecifes

EVANGELINA SCHWINDT

Reserva de Biosfera Mar Chiquita: Características físicas, biológicas y ecológicas

Martin

Lugar: Mar del Plata; Año: 2001; p. 109 - 113

Ficopomatus enigmaticus is a cosmopolitan, reef-building serpulid polychaete introduced to the Mar Chiquita coastal lagoon, Argentina, before 1943 and each reef grows up to 7 m in diameter. The settlement sites for larvae of this polychaete are primarily shells of the gastropod Adelomelon brasiliana. Reefs are a refuge for many organisms such as polychaetes, adults and juveniles crabs, amphipods and gastropods. Reefs generate a topographical heterogeneity in the environment that affect the quantity of sediment and organism transport, the deposition and accumulation of sediment and hydrodynamic around the reefs. Reefs also have a positive effect on the density of adults of the omnivorous crab Cyrtograpsus angulatus, but crabs together with reefs have a negative effect on density of soft-bottom polychaetes. Density and size of the reefs have increased in the last 24 years and today reefs cover approximately 86 % of the lagoon. Not only F. enigmaticus is an exotic species in this environment, but also can be considered as a bioengineer organism by creating and modulating refuges for other species, altering the interactions between preexistent species and the physical factors in the environment. Therefore, the impact of this exotic species has to be considered for future conservation decisions.