Abstract
Marine ecosystems worldwide are affected by both natural variation and human activities; to disentangle and understand their individual role in influencing the macrobenthic community composition is challenging. The relationship between interannual variability in atmospheric circulation, dictated by the climatic oscillation indices, and the benthic macrofauna composition was assessed at four sampling sites located in the Bay of Banyuls‐sur‐Mer (NW Mediterranean Sea). Between 2004 and 2013, these sites were sampled annually during autumn/winter and analyzed for sediment grain‐size and benthic macrofauna composition (species richness, abundance, and biomass). Temporal changes in these descriptors were correlated with two climatic indices (NAO and WeMO indices) and a set of environmental parameters integrated over three different time periods (i.e., whole year, springtime, and wintertime). Our results confirm the occurrence of major temporal changes in the composition of macrobenthic communities within the Gulf of Lions. More specifically, the results indicate that (a) the WeMO appears to be more closely related to benthic macrofauna composition in the Bay of Banyuls‐sur‐Mer than the NAO, (b) winter is a better integration period than spring or the whole year as a proxy for community composition changes, and (c) Rhône River water flow is likely involved in the control of benthic macrofauna composition in the whole Gulf of Lions. The present study highlights the importance of WeMO as a regional proxy, which can be used to evaluate changes in benthic macrofauna linked to climatic variability.
Highlights
As the impact of human activities on marine ecosystems is increasing, ecological assessment is becoming a central topic for the management of European seas (De Backer, Van Hoey, Coates, Vanaverbeke,& Hostens, 2014; MSFD, 2008; Vačkář, ten Brink, Loh, Baillie, & Reyers, 2012; WFD, 2000)
The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index provides a good summary of general weather patterns influencing marine ecosystems and affecting the abundance, biomass, growth, and survival rates of marine organisms (Drinkwater et al, 2003; Fromentin & Planque, 1996; Kröncke, Dippner, Heyen, & Zeiss, 1998; Shojaei et al, 2016)
Several studies have highlighted the consequences of changes in meteorological parameters and, of NAO on (a) zooplankton communities in the western Mediterranean (Fernández de Puelles, Valencia, & Vincent, 2004); the North Atlantic and the North Sea (Fromentin & Planque, 1996); (b) fisheries in the NW Mediterranean Sea (Lloret, Lleonart, Sole, & Fromentin, 2001); (c) recruitment of anchovy (Santojanni et al, 2006) in the Adriatic Sea; (d) physical condition of migratory bullet tuna stock during pre‐ and postreproductive movement (Muñoz‐Expósito et al, 2017) in the western Mediterranean; and (e) benthic macrofauna composition in the North Sea (Hagberg & Tunberg, 2000; Kröncke et al, 1998, 2011; Kröncke, Zeiss, & Rensing, 2001; Rees et al, 2006; Shojaei et al, 2016; Tunberg & Nelson, 1998)
Summary
As the impact of human activities on marine ecosystems is increasing, ecological assessment is becoming a central topic for the management of European seas The underlying hypothesis put forward from this work was that the low frequency of resuspension events, especially during springtime, contributes to favorable conditions, resulting in a good recruitment of benthic macrofauna They suggested that the positive periods of NAO index would indirectly and positively affect the abundance of benthic macrofauna as observed for the polychaete Ditrupa arietina, one of the most abundant species found in sandy sampling sites during 1994 and 2003. The present study focuses on benthic macrofauna composition at four sampling sites, which are representative of the main benthic communities described by Guille (1970)
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