Diversity and temporal variation of peracarid fauna (Crustacea: Peracarida) in the shallow subtidal of a sandy beach: Playa América (Galicia, NW Spain) |
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Authors: | Juan Moreira,Loreto Gestoso,& Jesú s S. Troncoso |
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Affiliation: | Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Facultade de Ciencias, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain; Estación de Bioloxía Mariña da Graña, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Ferrol, Spain; Departamento de Zooloxía e Antropoloxía Física &Instituto de Acuicultura, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain |
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Abstract: | Peracarids (Crustacea: Peracarida) are an important component of soft-sediment faunas and are considered good indicators of quality of water and sediments. Nevertheless, little is known about diversity of peracarid crustaceans on the shallow subtidal sediments of Playa América, a sandy beach in the Ensenada de Baiona (Galicia, NW Spain). Therefore, the peracarid fauna of its shallow subtidal zone was studied in a fine-sand site at 4-m depth from February 1996 to February 1997. Monthly sampling yielded a total of 4753 individuals belonging to 60 species. Amphipods were dominant in number of individuals and species followed by cumaceans. The assemblage showed a stable composition in species through the year and was numerically dominated by a few species, namely the amphipods Siphonoecetes kroyeranus and Microprotopus maculatus and the cumacean Pseudocuma longicorne . These species showed large monthly fluctuations in abundance, with maximal values between summer and autumn. |
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Keywords: | Diversity Peracarida Playa América sandy beach temporal variation |
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