Macrobenthic Communities of the Eastern Mediterranean Continental Shelf

Abstract. The results of a year long study in which soft-bottom epibenthic invertebrates were collected by grab, dredge and beam-trawl, along the southern Mediterranean coast of Israel, are described in this paper. The classificatory analysis used for both normal and inverse analyses used two measures of dissimilarity - Canberra metric and Bray-Curtis, and both group-average and nearest-neighbour clustering. The results were displayed as dendrograms. Four site groups and five species groups characterised a total of 58 site samples and 245 species. The prominent species in each of the five species groups are mentioned. The applicability of "community concepts" and the effects of sediment properties on community structure are discussed.     

Oceanographic influences on seabirds and cetaceans of the eastern tropical Pacific: A review

This paper is part of a comprehensive review of the oceanography of the eastern tropical Pacific, the oceanic region centered on the eastern Pacific warm pool, but also including the equatorial cold tongue and equatorial current system, and summarizes what is known about oceanographic influences on seabirds and cetaceans there. The eastern tropical Pacific supports on the order of 50 species of seabirds and 30 species of cetaceans as regular residents; these include four endemic species, the world’s largest populations for several others, three endemic sub-species, and a multi-species community that is relatively unique to this ecosystem. Three of the meso-scale physical features of the region are particularly significant to seabirds and cetaceans: the Costa Rica Dome for blue whales and short-beaked common dolphins, the Equatorial Front for planktivorous seabirds, and the countercurrent thermocline ridge for flocking seabirds that associate with mixed-species schools of spotted and spinner dolphins and yellowfin tuna. A few qualitative studies of meso- to macro-scale distribution patterns have indicated that some seabirds and cetaceans have species-specific preferences for surface currents. More common are associations with distinct water masses; these relationships have been quantified for a number of species using several different analytical methods. The mechanisms underlying tropical species–habitat relationships are not well understood, in contrast to a number of higher-latitude systems. This may be due to the fact that physical variables have been used as proxies for prey abundance and distribution in species–habitat research in the eastern tropical Pacific.Though seasonal and interannual patterns tend to be complex, species–habitat relationships appear to remain relatively stable over time, and distribution patterns co-vary with patterns of preferred habitat for a number of species. The interactions between seasonal and interannual variation in oceanographic conditions with seasonal patterns in the biology of seabirds and cetaceans may account for some of the complexity in species–habitat relationship patterns.Little work has been done to investigate effects of El Niño-Southern Oscillation cycles on cetaceans, and results of the few studies focusing on oceanic seabirds are complex and not easy to interpret. Although much has been made of the detrimental effects of El Niño events on apex predators, more research is needed to understand the magnitude, and even direction, of these effects on seabirds and cetaceans in space and time.     

A New Genus and Species of Rhynchonellid (Brachiopoda, Recent) from Submarine Caves in the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract. A new rhynchonellid brachiopod genus Tethyrhynchia , with type species Tethyrhynchia mediterranea n. sp., is described from specimens discovered in dark zones of submarine caves along the Mediterranean coast of France between Marseille and La Ciotat, and also at Zembra Island, off the Gulf of Tunis, Tunisia. Other brachiopods occurring with this diminutive rhynchonellid are also small and include the megathyridids Argyrotheca cistellula and Megathiris detruncata . This is the first recorded occurrence of a rhynchonellid from the Mediterranean Sea. The new form is apparently neotenous, in that the lophophore in adults never develops beyond the trocholophous stage. A new type of rhynchonellid crus, crescentic in profile and here named the lunifer type, is described. The new genus is assigned to the new family Tethyrhynchiidae , and comparisons are made with other extant rhynchonellid genera.     

Descriptive Analysis and Classification of Benthic Communities in Some Mediterranean Coastal Lagoons (Central Italy)

Abstract. Benthic samples were taken seasonally at 32 stations in five coastal lagoons of Central Italy (Fogliano, Monaci, Caprolace, Fondi, and Lungo) during a two-year period (1982–1984). Composition and distribution of benthic populations in each lagoon as well as seasonal trends of species richness, density, diversity, and redundancy are presented and discussed.
The faunal differentiation appeared to be mainly due to the different degree of water exchange, both with marine and continental systems.     

Seasonally Hypersaline Estuaries in Mediterranean-climate Regions

Data collected in three Californian estuaries indicate that hypersaline conditions exist during the dry summers typical of a Mediterranean climate. The generalised seasonal and longitudinal hydrographic structures are described and explained. It is argued that this seasonal hypersalinity is common and that it represents a major class of estuaries. The observed accumulation of salt indicates surprisingly long residence times in small basins which have free exchange with the ocean. This semi-isolation of the inner basin leads to a large build-up or severe depletion of nutrients, pollutants and plankton in these systems. Of concern are the trends to increase pollutant loading in the same systems that are experiencing an increase in residence times owing to freshwater extraction in the watershed.     

The Levant Slumps and the Phoenician Structures: collapse features along the continental margin of the southeastern Mediterranean Sea

Two distinct series of slumps deform the upper part of the sedimentary sequence along the continental margin of the Levant. One series is found along the base of the continental slope, where it overlies the disrupted eastern edge of the Messinian evaporites. The second series of slumps transects the continental margin from the shelf break to the Levant Basin. It seemed that the two series were triggered by two unrelated, though contemporaneous, processes. The shore-parallel slumps were initiated by basinwards flow of the Messinian salt, that carried along the overlying Plio-Quaternary sediments. Seawater that percolated along the detachment faults dissolved the underlying salt to form distinctly disrupted structures. The slope-normal slumps are located on top of large canyons that cut into the pre-Messinian sedimentary rocks. A layer of salt is found in the canyons, and the Plio-Quaternary sediments were deposited on that layer. The slumps are bounded by large, NW-trending faults where post-Messinian faulted offset was measured. We presume that the flow of the salt in the canyons also drives the slope-normal slumps. Thus thin-skinned halokynetic processes generated the composite post-Tortonian structural patterns of the Levant margin. The Phoenician Structures are a prime example of the collapse of a distal continental margin due to the dissolution of a massive salt layer.     

The annual cycle of Synechococcus (cyanobacteria) in the northern Levantine Basin shelf waters (Eastern Mediterranean)

Abundance of picoplanktonic chroococcoid marine cyanobacteria Synechococcus was monitored weekly over the year 1998 in shallow coastal waters of the northern Levantine Basin. The ambient physical, chemical and biological variables (temperature, salinity, Secchi disk depth, total suspended sediment, nitrate, phosphate, Chl a and phytoplankton) were also measured. Synechococcus was found to be more abundant during summer and early autumn and less during winter and early spring. At the surface and 15 m depth, cell concentrations were in the range 6.4 × 10³–1.5 × 10⁵ and 3.2 × 10³–1.6 × 10⁵ cells·ml⁻¹, respectively. Based on the Pearson product–moment correlation analysis, a highly significant correlation between Synechococcus abundance and ambient temperature was observed (n = 40, r = 0.558, P < 0.01). As Synechococcus forms blooms that usually do not last more than a week, the short time‐scale survey achieved in this study was appropriate to reveal its abundance dynamics. Several factors such as rapid changes in nutrient concentration (especially nitrate), phytoplankton, light availability, temperature, salinity, freshwater input and vertical mixing played a relevant role on the abundance of Synechococcus over the year in the highly dynamic shallow coastal waters of the Levantine Basin.     

Feeding Habits of Trisopterus minutus capelanus (Gadidae) Off the Eastern Coast of Spain (Western Mediterranean)

Abstract. The stomach contents of poor cod, Trisopterus minutus capelanus (Lacepède), were taken at monthly intervals off the eastern coast of the Gulf of Valencia (Spain). A total of 1276 were analyzed to determine diet according to fish size and season. The basic food consists of crustaceans (Mysidacea and Decapoda) and teleosts. Feeding habits varied with size: decapods and fishes were more abundant in the stomachs of larger specimens. Little seasonal variation in food habits was recorded.     

Vertical Distribution of Meiobenthos in Bathyal Sediments of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: Relationship with Labile Organic Matter and Bacterial Biomasses

Abstract. Quantitative information on the vertical distribution of meiofaunal abundances and biomass were obtained from samples collected at 3 bathyal stations in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea located at the same depth but characterized by different food supply. Vertical distribution patterns of nieiofauna were investigated in relation to the biochemical composition of the sediment organic matter (proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids) and compared to benthic bacterial standing stocks. No significant relationship between bacteria and meiofauna was found, whereas a significant relationship between protein and lipid concentrations and total meiofauna density was observed. These data suggest that labile organic matter. considered as material readily aVdihbk to benthic consumers, may be an important factor regulating meiofaunal abundance and vertical distribution in deep-sea sediments.