Spatial variability in intertidal macroalgal assemblages on the North Portuguese coast: consistence between species and functional group approaches

• Tipo: Artigo em Revista Científica Internacional
• Data: 2013

Autores

Veiga, P (Autor) Outra; M Rubal (Autor) FCUP; Vieira, R (Autor) Outra; Arenas, F (Autor) Outra; Sousa Pinto, I (Autor) FCUP

Revista

A Revista está pendente de validação pelos Serviços Administrativos.

Título: HELGOLAND MARINE RESEARCH

Vol. 67

Páginas: 191-201

ISSN: 1438-387X

Indexação

ISI Web of Knowledge - 22 Citações

Scopus - 24 Citações

Classificação Científica

FOS: Ciências exactas e naturais > Ciências da terra e ciências do ambiente

Outras Informações

ID Authenticus: P-002-05M

DOI: 10.1007/s10152-012-0315-2

Abstract (EN): Natural assemblages are variable in space and time; therefore, quantification of their variability is imperative to identify relevant scales for investigating natural or anthropogenic processes shaping these assemblages. We studied the variability of intertidal macroalgal assemblages on the North Portuguese coast, considering three spatial scales (from metres to 10 s of kilometres) following a hierarchical design. We tested the hypotheses that (1) spatial pattern will be invariant at all the studied scales and (2) spatial variability of macroalgal assemblages obtained by using species will be consistent with that obtained using functional groups. This was done considering as univariate variables: total biomass and number of taxa as well as biomass of the most important species and functional groups and as multivariate variables the structure of macroalgal assemblages, both considering species and functional groups. Most of the univariate results confirmed the first hypothesis except for the total number of taxa and foliose macroalgae that showed significant variability at the scale of site and area, respectively. In contrast, when multivariate patterns were examined, the first hypothesis was rejected except at the scale of 10 s of kilometres. Both uni- and multivariate results indicated that variation was larger at the smallest scale, and thus, small-scale processes seem to have more effect on spatial variability patterns. Macroalgal assemblages, both considering species and functional groups as surrogate, showed consistent spatial patterns, and therefore, the second hypothesis was confirmed. Consequently, functional groups may be considered a reliable biological surrogate to study changes on macroalgal assemblages at least along the investigated Portuguese coastline.

Idioma: Inglês

Tipo (Avaliação Docente): Científica

Nº de páginas: 11