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Wanted dead or alive: high diversity of macroinvertebrates associated with living and ‘dead’ Posidonia oceanica matte

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Abstract

The Mediterranean endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica forms beds characterised by a dense leaf canopy and a thick root-rhizome ‘matte’. Death of P. oceanica shoots leads to exposure of the underlying matte, which can persist for many years, and is termed ‘dead’ matte. Traditionally, dead matte has been regarded as a degraded habitat. To test whether this assumption was true, the motile macroinvertebrates of adjacent living (with shoots) and dead (without shoots) matte of P. oceanica were sampled in four different plots located at the same depth (5–6 m) in Mellieha Bay, Malta (central Mediterranean). The total number of species and abundance were significantly higher (ANOVA; P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively) in the dead matte than in living P. oceanica matte, despite the presence of the foliar canopy in the latter. Multivariate analysis (MDS) clearly showed two main groups of assemblages, corresponding to the two matte types. The amphipods Leptocheirus guttatus and Maera grossimana, and the polychaete Nereis rava contributed most to the dissimilarity between the two different matte types. Several unique properties of the dead matte contributing to the unexpected higher number of species and abundance of motile macroinvertebrates associated with this habitat are discussed. The findings have important implications for the conservation of bare P. oceanica matte, which has been generally viewed as a habitat of low ecological value.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mike Kendall (Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK), Maria Beatrice Scipione (Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Ischia, Naples) and Constantine Mifsud (Malta) for help with identification of macrofauna. J. A. Borg received financial support from the University of Malta. The experiments carried out as part of this study comply with the laws of Malta, where they were held. This paper benefited from the suggestions of two anonymous referees.

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Author notes

  1. A. A. Rowden

    Present address: National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 14-901, Wellington, New Zealand

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, PL4 8AA, Plymouth, UK

    J. A. Borg, A. A. Rowden, M. J. Attrill & M. B. Jones

  2. Department of Biology, University of Malta, Msida, Malta

    J. A. Borg & P. J. Schembri

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  1. J. A. Borg
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Correspondence to J. A. Borg.

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Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe

Appendix

Appendix

Motile macroinvertebrates recorded exclusively from either dead or living Posidonia oceanica matte. The total number of individuals (from all 16 cores) for species collected on the respective matte type is indicated. Sp. ‘A’ and ‘B’ refer to unidentified species of the respective family.

Taxon

Dead matte

Living matte

Polychaeta

 Aphroditidae sp.

 

2

 Arabella sp.

4

 

 Capitellidae sp.

 

1

 Diopatra sp.

 

7

 Eunice sp.

3

 

 Glycera sp.

8

 

 Goniada emerita Audouin & Milne-Edwards, 1833

2

 

 Lepidonotus squamatus (Linnaeus, 1758)

2

 

 Lumbriclymene cf minor Arwidsson, 1907

2

 

 Lysidice ninetta Audouin & Milne-Edwards, 1833

 

1

 Marphysa sanguinea (Montagu, 1815)

1

 

 Nepthys sp.

3

 

 Nepthydae sp. A

 

1

 Nereidae sp. B

1

 

 Polyopthalmus sp.

1

 

 Phyllodocidae sp. A

1

 

 Phyllodocidae sp. B

1

 

 Serpulidae sp.

 

2

 Total

29

14

Mollusca

 Leptochiton cancellatus (Sowerby, 1840)

 

1

 Lepidopleurus cajetanus (Poli, 1791)

 

1

 Aclis ascaris (Turton, 1819)

3

 

 Alvania discors (Allan, 1818)

 

25

 Berthella sp.

 

1

 Bittium latreillii (Payraudeau, 1826)

1

 

 Bulla striata Bruguière, 1792

1

 

 Cerithium vulgatum Bruguière, 1792

4

 

 Colubraria reticulata (de Blainville, 1826)

1

 

 Emarginula octaviana Coen, 1939

1

 

 Gibbula guttadauri (Philippi, 1836)

2

 

 Gibbula umbilicaris (Linnaeus, 1758)

 

3

 Haminoea hydatis (Linnaeus, 1758)

23

 

 Hexaplex trunculus (Linnaeus, 1758)

 

2

 Mangelia sp.

1

 

 Mangiliella taeniata (Deshayes, 1835)

5

 

 Mitra corniculum (Linnaeus, 1758)

1

 

 Mitrella minor (Scacchi, 1836)

6

 

 Ocinebrina edwardsi (Payraudeau, 1826)

1

 

 Odostomia conoidea (Brocchi, 1814)

1

 

 Parvioris anderswareni Van Artsen & Savelli, 1991

 

1

 Philine aperta (Linnaeus, 1767)

2

 

 Raphitoma codieri (Payraudeau, 1826)

1

 

 Raphitoma philberti (Michaud, 1829)

1

 

 Thracia papyracea (Poli, 1791)

1

 

 Tricolia speciosa (Von Mühlfeldt, 1824)

 

11

 Trivia pulex (Solander in J. E. Gray, 1828)

1

 

 Turbonilla jeffreysii (Jeffreys, 1848)

1

 

 Turbonilla lactea (Linnaeus, 1758)

 

1

 Vitreolina philippi (Rayneval & Ponzi, 1854)

 

1

 Ascobulla fragilis (Jeffreys, 1856)

1

 

 Glans aculeata (Poli, 1795)

3

 

 Lima hians (Gmelin, 1791)

6

 

 Loripes lucinalis (Lamarck, 1818)

 

2

 Modiolus barbatus (Linnaeus, 1758)

1

 

 Tellina balaustina (Linnaeus, 1758)

1

 

 Sepia sp.

 

1

 Total

70

50

Crustacea

 Cumacea sp.

 

2

 Nebalia bipes (O. Fabricius, 1780)

 

8

 Ampelisca cf rubella A. Costa, 1864

 

60

 Amphithoe helleri G. Karaman, 1975

11

 

 Atylus guttatus (A. Costa, 1851)

 

5

 Atylus vedlomensis (Bate & Westwood, 1862)

 

3

 Caprella acanthifera Leach, 1814

45

 

 Dexamine cf spiniventris (A. Costa, 1853)

1

 

 Harpinia sp.

1

 

 Iphimedia minuta G.O. Sars, 1864

 

3

 Leptocheirus guttatus (Grube, 1864)

554

 

 Lysianassa costae Milne Edwards, 1830

105

 

 Lysianassa longicornis Lucas, 1849

46

 

 Melita hergensis Reid, 1939

  

 Pereionotus testudo (Montagu, 1808)

3

1

 Phoxocephalidae sp.

2

 

 Stenothoe sp.

3

 

 Urothoe cf intermedia Bellan Santini & Ruffo, 1986

2

 

 Dynamene tubicauda Holdich, 1968

1

 

 Eurydice sp.

 

2

 Gnathia sp.

13

 

 Idotea cf emarginata (Fabricius, 1793)

 

1

 Synisoma cf lancifer (Miers, 1881)

 

1

 Zenobiana prismatica (Risso, 1826)

 

2

 Alpheus macrocheles (Hailstone, 1835)

4

 

 Anapagurus sp.

4

 

 Galathea bolivari Zariquiey Alvarez, 1950

93

 

 Gourretia denticulata (Lütze, 1937)

3

 

 Ilia nucleus (Linnaeus, 1758)

1

 

 Paguristes cf eremita (Linnaeus, 1767)

1

 

 Palaemon xiphias Risso, 1816

 

2

 Philocheras fasciatus (Risso, 1816)

 

4

 Thoralus cranchii (Leach, 1817)

14

 

 Upogebia mediterranea Noël, 1992

15

 

 Total:

1062

194

Echinodermata

 Ophiomyxa pentagona (lamarck, 1816)

5

 

 Asterina gibbosa (Pennant, 1777)

 

9

 Total

5

9

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Borg, J.A., Rowden, A.A., Attrill, M.J. et al. Wanted dead or alive: high diversity of macroinvertebrates associated with living and ‘dead’ Posidonia oceanica matte. Mar Biol 149, 667–677 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-006-0250-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-006-0250-3

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