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Macroalgal responses to coastal urbanization: relative abundance of indicator species

  • VI REDEALGAS WORKSHOP (RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL)
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Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate and compare the intertidal macroalgae community from reef structures subject to different urbanization degrees. Samplings were made in 11 beaches from the Pernambuco coast, northeastern Brazil. The sites were classified according to the level of urbanization into three classes of increasing urbanization pressure: non urbanized (NU), in urbanization process (UP), and consolidated urbanization (UC). Macroalgae were identified in situ non-destructively. A total of 53 taxa were identified, 41 of these were macroalgae. Significant differences were observed in the composition of macroalgae according to the urbanization levels, with Palisada perforata, Gelidiella acerosa, and Caulerpa spp. dominating NU and UP sites, whereas Chondracanthus acicularis, Bryopsis sp., and Ulva spp. dominated UC sites. This work shows that urbanization can have a strong effect on the structure of rocky intertidal macroalgal assemblages and highlights some macroalgae species that can be used as bioindicators for assessing the impact of urbanization on coastal shores.

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Acknowledgments

The first author thanks the Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia de Pernambuco (FACEPE) for the PhD Scholarship and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for the Science without Frontier Scholarship. MTF thanks CNPq for the Productivity Fellowship (Proc. 303915/2013-7). The authors thank Souza-Filho JS, Neumann-Leitão S, Feitosa FA, Rosa-Filho JS for helpful advice and comments.

Funding

This work was supported by research grants from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq-Proc. 484647/2012-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

    Edson Régis Tavares Pessoa Pinho de Vasconcelos, Juliane Bernardi Vasconcelos, Thiago Nogueira de Vasconcelos Reis & Adilma de Lourdes Montenegro Cocentino

  2. Instituto de Oceanologia, Universidad de La Habana, Habana, Cuba

    Arsenio José Areces Mallea

  3. CE3C-Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes/Azorean Biodiversity Group and Departamento de Biologia, Universidade dos Açores, Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal

    Gustavo M. Martins & Ana Isabel Neto

  4. Núcleo de Pesquisa em Ficologia, Instituto de Botânica, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Mutue Toyota Fujii

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  1. Edson Régis Tavares Pessoa Pinho de Vasconcelos
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Correspondence to Edson Régis Tavares Pessoa Pinho de Vasconcelos.

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de Vasconcelos, E.R.T.P.P., Vasconcelos, J.B., Reis, T.N.d. et al. Macroalgal responses to coastal urbanization: relative abundance of indicator species. J Appl Phycol 31, 893–903 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-018-1639-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-018-1639-3

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