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Macroinvertebrate structure and trophic-functional organization in relation to environmental conditions in Dakhla Bay (southeast Morocco)

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Abstract

Benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages and environmental conditions were studied in Dakhla Bay (Morocco) to (1) characterize the macroinvertebrate composition and spatial distribution, (2) provide a species inventory, and (3) to assess the key environmental variables driving the observed patterns. We identified 9,288 individuals from 67 species. The most dominant taxa were molluscs, polychaetes and crustaceans. The most abundant species were (in this order) Peringia ulvae, Bittium reticulatum, Ophelia rathkei, Mesalia mesal and Maldane sarsi, while the most frequent were (in this order) M. sarsi, Ampelisca sp., Cyathura carinata, Naineris laevigata and Chondrochelia savignyi. The spatial distribution pattern was mainly driven by sediment grain-size and Chlorophyll-a, with hydrodynamics playing also a key role. This gives rise to a structure characterized by three different station clusters, well identified in the Hierarchical Ascending Classification analysis based on abundances, which correspond to a large moderately disturbed assemblage in the centre of the bay, a more disturbed assemblage in the extremes and a transition assemblage in between.

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Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

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Acknowledgements

We are deeply grateful to all INRH-Dakhla staff for their assistance with the sampling. We are grateful to Dr. Mohamed Menioui who helped us in the identifications of crustacean species. This study is a contribution of DM to the Consolidated Research Group on Marine Benthic Ecology of the Generalitat de Catalunya (2021SGR00405).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health and Environment Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences Ain Chock, University Hassan II, B.P. 5366 Maârif, 20100, Casablanca, Morocco

    Fatima El Asri & Ahmed Errhif

  2. Prospection of Littoral Resources Laboratory, National Institute for Fisheries Research (INRH), Road Sidi Abderrahmane Club Equestre Ould Jmel, Casablanca, Morocco

    Fatima El Asri & Hakima Zidane

  3. Marine Aquaculture Technologies Laboratory, National Fisheries Research Institute, M’diq, Morocco

    Mohamed-Naoufal Tamsouri

  4. Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Accés a la Cala St. Francesc, 14 Blanes, 17300, Girona, Spain

    Daniel Martin

  5. UMR 6554 LETG-Nantes, University of Nantes, BP 81227, 44312, Nantes, France

    Mohamed Maanan

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  1. Fatima El Asri
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  2. Ahmed Errhif
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  3. Mohamed-Naoufal Tamsouri
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  4. Daniel Martin
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Contributions

HZ conceived the ideas and designed methodology; HZ, MNT and FE collected the data; AE and MM analysed the data; FE and DM and MNT led the writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.

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Correspondence to Fatima El Asri.

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El Asri, F., Errhif, A., Tamsouri, MN. et al. Macroinvertebrate structure and trophic-functional organization in relation to environmental conditions in Dakhla Bay (southeast Morocco). Biologia 79, 123–134 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-023-01508-1

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