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Bathymetric variation of epiphytic assemblages on Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile leaves in relation to anthropogenic disturbance in the southeastern Mediterranean

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Abstract

A survey of the epiphytic leaves of Posidonia oceanica was conducted along a depth transect at both the control station Attaya in the Kerkennah Islands and the disturbed Mahres station on the Sfax coast (Tunisia). Samples were collected by scuba divers at depths of 5, 10, 15, and 20 m in July 2008. We evaluated whether the pattern of spatial variability of the macroepiphyte assemblages of leaves of Posidonia oceanica differed in relation to anthropogenic interference. The results indicate that the decrease in shoot density and leaf length according to depth was low at Mahres. The biomass of epiphytic leaves and the percentage cover of epiphytic assemblages decreased with depth for both stations and heavily at Mahres, this decline being related to anthropogenic disturbance. This study shows that the highest values of epifauna and epiflora were detected at the disturbed station Mahres. Macroalgae assemblages decreased with depth at both stations and were dominated by Rhodophyta, whereas the percentage cover of the epifauna leaf that decreases according to depth was dominated by Hydrozoa and Bryozoa. Changes in epiphyte assemblages, epiphytic biomass, percentage cover, and species richness in proportion to Heterokontophyta, Rhodophyta, Cyanobacteria, Hydrozoa, Porifera, and Tunicata between the two stations constitute promising tools for detecting environmental disturbance.

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Acknowledgments

This investigation was supported by the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and ESREB project (Étude des Stocks et des Ressources Exploitables des Bivalves) in Tunisia. It was conducted as part of a collaborative project between the Université de Franche-Comté, Laboratoire de Chrono-Environnement, UMR CNRS 6249 and the INSTM (Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer) and the Faculty of Sciences of Sfax (Tunisia).

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  1. Faculté des Sciences Sfax, Université de Sfax, Route Soukra Km 3.5, BP 802, 3018, Sfax, Tunisia

    Mounir Ben Brahim & Abderrahmane Bouain

  2. Centre de Sfax, Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer, Rue Madagascar, BP 1035, 3018, Sfax, Tunisia

    Lotfi Mabrouk, Asma Hamza & Mabrouka Mahfoudi

  3. Laboratoire de Chrono-Environnement, Université de Franche-Comté, UMR CNRS 6249, 16, route de Gray, 25030, Besançon Cedex, France

    Lotfi Aleya

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  1. Mounir Ben Brahim
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  2. Lotfi Mabrouk
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Brahim, M.B., Mabrouk, L., Hamza, A. et al. Bathymetric variation of epiphytic assemblages on Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile leaves in relation to anthropogenic disturbance in the southeastern Mediterranean. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 13588–13601 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3315-8

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