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Seasonal variations in the diversity and structure of decapod communities in the changing hydrological scenario of the northwest African upwelling

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Abstract

Multidisciplinary surveys conducted on-board RV Dr Fridtjof Nansen in the northwest Africa region during November 2011 and June 2012 allowed exploration for the first time of seasonal variations in diversity and structure of decapod communities inhabiting the changing hydrological scenario of the shelf and upper slope off Mauritania (20–750 m depth). Decapods were gathered with a commercial bottom trawl at 95 stations, 39 of which were visited in both surveys. In addition, 249 oceanographic profiles and 95 sediment samples were collected. Shelf and slope assemblages, respectively characterized by the dominance of benthic (63 species) and swimming decapods (37 species), were segregated at 100–150 m depth, coinciding with the shelf-break and the hydrological frontier separating the surface mixed layer from the deeper water masses. The assemblages showed a certain stability in their structure but significant seasonal differences in their composition. Abundance and biomass, and in particular specific richness, were strongly correlated with depth in the case of swimming decapods, which were clearly dominant during the warm season, especially in the southern zone. The most significant seasonal variations were mainly due to the Penaeidae family and its associated species,  Parapenaeus longirostris (Lucas, 1846). The latitudinal decreasing trend in upwelling permanence and productivity toward the south, responding to the strength and displacement of trade winds along the Mauritanian coast, which are observable at the surface and sea-bottom, were the main reason explaining the seasonal variations observed in the distribution patterns and assemblages structure of Mauritania decapods.

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Acknowledgements

This work would not have been possible without the help in species identification of our colleagues from the Marine Zoology Laboratory of the Faculty of Marine Sciences at the University of Vigo (Spain). Sincere thanks to the University of Vigo and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography who, through the EcoAfrik Project, provided scientific support during the visits in Spain. Special thanks to the EAF-Nansen and CCLME projects of the FAO that supported the two regional surveys in northwest Africa. We would also like to thank our colleagues, Drs Josep Lluis Pelegrí and Desmond Barton, for providing oceanographic support and to the reviewers for their helpful comments that have improved the paper. This paper constitutes EcoAfrik publication No 43.

Funding

The Mauritanian Institute of Oceanographic Research and Fishing (IMROP) of Mauritania and the CCLME Project and the EAF-Nansen Mentoring Programme of the FAO funded the annual doctoral stays of SMMM in Vigo (Spain).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Mauritanien de Recherches Océanographiques et des Pêches, BP 22, Nouadhibou, Mauritania

    Sidi M. Mohamed Moctar

  2. Universidade de Vigo, Campus Lagoas˗Marcosende, 36310, Vigo, Pontevedra, Spain

    Sidi M. Mohamed Moctar, Ana Ramos, Susana S. de Matos-Pita & Fran Ramil

  3. Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Subida a Radio Faro, 50˗52, 36390, Vigo, Pontevedra, Spain

    Ana Ramos & Susana S. de Matos-Pita

  4. Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 1870, Nordnes, 5817, Bergen, Norway

    Jens-Otto Krakstad

Authors
  1. Sidi M. Mohamed Moctar
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  2. Ana Ramos
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  3. Susana S. de Matos-Pita
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  4. Fran Ramil
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Correspondence to Ana Ramos.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

No animal testing was performed during this study.

Sampling and field studies

Sampling was carried out in Mauritanian waters in the framework of two regional collaborative surveys of the EAF-Nansen program of the FAO. Official permission to conduct the research was given by the Mauritanian Government.

Data availability

Datasets will be published in OBIS using the Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT), developed by GBIF, and metadata will be published as a data paper.

Author contributions

SMMM and AR conceived the study; all authors carried out the collection of faunistic material and data on-board RV Dr Fridtjof Nansen, under the leadership of JOK; SMMM, SSMP and FR conducted taxonomic identification; SMMM and AR performed biological analyses and led the writing of the manuscript with contributions from all authors; JOK was responsible for the oceanographic data; all authors contributed to the final version of the manuscript and gave final approval for publication.

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Communicated by E. Macpherson

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Mohamed Moctar, S.M., Ramos, A., de Matos-Pita, S.S. et al. Seasonal variations in the diversity and structure of decapod communities in the changing hydrological scenario of the northwest African upwelling. Mar. Biodivers. 50, 37 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-020-01058-8

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