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Trends of persistence of kelp dominated habitats in the northern Portuguese coast

Emanuel Almada1*, João N. Franco1 and Isabel Sousa-Pinto1, 2
  • 1 Centro Interdisciplinar de Pesquisa Marine e Ambiental (CIIMAR), Portugal
  • 2 Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Departamento de Biologia, Portugal

Despite the evidence of trend of decreasing abundance of ecological important seaweeds such as kelps in different parts of the Iberian Peninsula, subtidal sampling/data, specially monitoring data are scarce preventing an adequate long term comparison, particularly in the continental Portuguese coast. This coast encompasses the southern distribution limit for many seaweeds including the kelp Laminaria hyberborea. Taking advantage of extensive video images provided by the project: “Study of characterization the habitats of the coastal band of the north coast of Portugal”, recorded in 2010 that have covered a coastal area of nearly 90 Km2, we will assess the current status of the perennial kelp species populations in the same area. Specifically, since 2017, we are revisiting the same locations using SCUBA diving census methods to assess the expansion or contraction of habitat dominated by the perennial kelps Laminaria hyperborea and Laminaria ochroleuca. This survey is still on-going but a substantial reduction of the habitat dominated by L. hyperborea, has already been registered. So far, our results are in line with recent publications that predict future distributional range contractions in Iberia for Laminaria hyperborea and Laminaria ochroleuca. Biotic and abiotic factors e.g. herbivory and increase of the seawater temperature are amongst the possible reasons contributing to this apparent trend of decline. However, continuous monitoring is crucial to understand if such trends are persistent or not.

References

Araújo, RM., et al. (2016). Status, trends and drivers of kelp forests in Europe: An expert assessment. Biodiversity and Conservation 25: 1319–1348.
Franco, JN., Tuya, F., Bertocci, I., et al. (2018). The ‘golden kelp’ Laminaria ochroleuca under global change: Integrating multiple eco- physiological responses with species distribution models. J Ecol.; 106:47–58.
Rodríguez, M, J.Z. Costa, Ó Monterroso, R. Riera, O. Pérez, A.T. Sacramento y E. Ramos. (2011). Estudo de caracterização dos habitats da faixa costeira do Litoral Norte de Portugal. CIMA S.L. - Informe Técnico 74: 149.
Tuya, F., Cacabelos, E., Duarte, P., Jacinto, D., Castro, J., Silva, T., Wernberg, T. (2012). Patterns of landscape and assemblage structure along a latitudinal gradient in ocean climate. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 466, 9–19.

Keywords: Brown seaweed, Laminariales, Southern Europe, subtidal, SCUBA, video monitoring

Conference: IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018, Peniche, Portugal, 5 Jul - 6 Jul, 2018.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Biodiversity, Conservation and Coastal Management

Citation: Almada E, N. Franco J and Sousa-Pinto I (2019). Trends of persistence of kelp dominated habitats in the northern Portuguese coast. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2018.06.00063

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Received: 02 May 2018; Published Online: 07 Jan 2019.

* Correspondence: Mx. Emanuel Almada, Centro Interdisciplinar de Pesquisa Marine e Ambiental (CIIMAR), Matosinhos, 4450-208, Portugal, emanueldealmada@hotmail.com