Abstract
Nowadays, coastal urbanization is one of the most serious and prevalent pressures on marine ecosystems, impacting their biodiversity. The objective of this study was to explore differences in attributes and biodiversity associated with an intertidal ecosystem engineer, the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck, 1819 between urban and non-urban shores. For this, mussel attributes and their associated macrofauna were compared between urban and non-urban rocky shores in the north of Portugal. Results showed that the largest sized mussels were more frequent on urban shores, whereas the smallest size class was only present in non-urban shores. Regarding macrofauna associated with mussels, the number of taxa was significantly higher on non-urban shores. Moreover, the structure of the macrobenhic assemblages was significantly different between urban and non-urban shores. Most important taxa responsible for differences were more abundant on non-urban shores except for Nucella lapillus, Idotea pelagica and Oligochaeta that were more abundant on urban shores. Therefore, our results showed that the mussel size frequency and the structure of the associated macrobenthic assemblages changed in urban shores. Considering the relevance of mussel beds for biodiversity and human well-being, our results indicate the need of adopting proper management plans to minimize these effects on urban intertidal ecosystems.
Highlights
Organisms that through their behavior and/or morphology can directly or indirectly control the resources available to other species are considered ecosystem engineers [1,2]
Bivalve mollusks that form aggregates and increase substrate complexity are considered ecosystem engineers [4–6]
Bivalves are relevant as ecosystem engineers on intertidal habitats because they are capable of ameliorating the high environmental stress during low tide or the abiotic and biotic pressures during high tide [3]
Summary
Organisms that through their behavior and/or morphology can directly or indirectly control the resources available to other species are considered ecosystem engineers [1,2]. These organisms can modulate, maintain or create habitats, increasing heterogeneity and biodiversity [3]. Bivalve mollusks that form aggregates and increase substrate complexity are considered ecosystem engineers [4–6]. Their filter feeding activity improves the benthic-pelagic coupling and intensifies the input of food [7]. Bivalves are relevant as ecosystem engineers on intertidal habitats because they are capable of ameliorating the high environmental stress during low tide (e.g., thermal stress, desiccation, heavy rains) or the abiotic and biotic pressures during high tide (e.g., wave action, predation) [3]. Mussel beds are one of the most frequent bivalve aggregations on intertidal habitats, harboring diverse assemblages of invertebrates e.g., [6,8–10]
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