Studying fish communities associated to Posidonia oceanica meadows along the Catalan coast (NW Mediterranean)
Posidonia oceanica meadows are habitat creators for different kind of marine species, but it carries associated specific and characteristic fish populations (Garcia-Rubies & Corbera, 2002).
In July 2012 a comparative study of the fish fauna associated with four Posidonia oceanica meadows distributed along the Catalan coast was conducted made. Meadows studied had different protection status and fishing regulation: Medas Islands (Parc Natural del Montgrí, les Illes Medes i el Baix Ter), where fishing is prohibited; and Cala Montjoi (Parc Natural del Cap de Creus), l’Ametlla de Mar and Arenys de Mar, where fishing is allowed.
Following Harmelin-Vivien (1985), fish censuses were conducted with visual transects using scuba gear. Presence, abundance and size of the fish species were collected. Shannon-Wiener index was calculated for each studied meadow using abundance data. The biomass for each species was calculated using an allometric function, where the allometric exponents were taken from the size register (Froese & Pauly, 2016).
A total of 10 random transects were surveyed for each of the 4 studied meadows. 16 fish species were registered from 6 different families: Centracanthidae, Labridae, Moronidae, Mullidae, Serranidae and Sparidae.
A nonparametric ANOVA one factor, Kruskal-Wallis, was used to compare abundance and biomass data between fish populations of each studied meadow. Comparisons two-to-two of fish biomass between the studied meadows were made using a nonparametric test Man-Whitney (Victor Nestor et al., 2013; Harmelin-Viven et al., 2014).
Significant differences were observed in fish biomass between all studied meadows (Kruskal-Wallis, p-values=0.013), but not in abundance. Comparisons two-to-two for the biomass data were not significant between the meadows of Medas Islands and Cala Montjoi (both with protection status), but there were significant differences between the Medas Islands and Arenys de Mar (U Man-Witney, p-value=0.012) and between the Medas Islands and l’Ametlla de Mar, thus significant differences were observed between those meadows inside areas with protection status.
Considering the studied meadows inside areas with protection status (Medas Islands and Cala Montjoi) the diversity of Medas Islands (H=1.68) was higher than the diversity observed at Cala Montjoi (H=1.392), thus diversity was higher in that protected area with specific fishing regulations.
These results suggest that abundance it is not different among the studied meadows, but fish biomass increases in those with a protection status, and diversity is also higher in those where fishing is banned.
References
Froese, R. & Pauly, D. (Eds.), 2002. FishBase. www.fishbase.org.
Garcia-Rubies A. & Corbera J. (2002). Els peixos de l’alguer de Posidonia oceanica de Mataró. L’Atzavara, 10: 47-62.
Harmelin-Vivien M.L., Harmelin J.G., Chauvet C., Duval C., Galzin R., Lejeune P., Barnabé G., Blanc F., Chevalier R., Duclerc J. & Lasserre G. (1985). Evaluation visuelle des peuplements et populations de poisons: methods et problemes. Rev. Ecol. (Terre Vie), 40: 467-539.
Harmelin-Vivien M.L., Cottalorda J.M., Dominici J.M., Harmelin J.G., Le Diréach L. & Ruitton S. (2014). Effects of reserve protection level on the vulnerable fish species Spicara umbra and implcations for fishing management and policy. Global Ecology and Conservation 3: 279-287.
Nestor V., Isechal A.L., Koshiba S., Idechong J., Merep A., Mereb G. & Olsudong D. (2013). Marine Protected Area Effectiviness Report: Telueu Conservation Area. PICRC Technical Report 13-01.
Keywords:
Posidonia oceanica,
MPAs,
biomass,
abundance and diversity,
Fishes
Conference:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, Porto, Portugal, 5 Sep - 9 Sep, 2016.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
1. ECOLOGY, BIODIVERSITY AND VULNERABLE ECOSYSTEMS
Citation:
Mullor
NN,
Rosas
JS and
Perez
MG
(2016). Studying fish communities associated to Posidonia oceanica meadows along the Catalan coast (NW Mediterranean).
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00108
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Received:
27 Apr 2016;
Published Online:
03 Sep 2016.
*
Correspondence:
Mr. Natxo N Mullor, Employer, Barcelona, Spain, natxo.navarro.mullor@gmail.com