Dynamics of polychaete communities in the intertidal soft bottom of Alexandria coast, Egypt

Abstract

The species composition and abundance of polychaetes in the soft bottom intertidal zone of Alexandria coast were studied bi-monthly from August 2018 to June 2019. This study identified 42 species, including five newly recorded species for the Egyptian Mediterranean waters, which could be introduced either from the Western Mediterranean, Atlantic waters, or the Indo-Pacific Region. Furthermore, species diversity and numerical abundance of polychaetes showed significant temporal and spatial variations, which appeared to be related to environmental variability in the study area. The statistical analyses showed significant variations in polychaete assemblages and discriminated to some extent between locations that are subjected to anthropogenic impact and less impacted locations. Tolerant species contributed mainly to the abundance of the polychaete assemblages of impacted sites, in contrast with sensitive polychaetes species, which contributed mainly to the assemblages of less impacted sampling sites.