Abstract
Structural patterns of a sublittoral community were analyzed through a two-year series of samples in the Southwestern Gulf of Mexico. The groups involved in the study comprise fishes, molluscs, echinoderms and crustaceans. The time-space progressions of Second Order diversity values range between N2=5.3 and N2=9.8 at depths of 40 and 20 m respectively, through the first year of samples. In the second year the highest value (N2=22.2) was found at 30 m. The community ordination data through cluster and principal components analysis show five assemblages: benthic, benthic-demersal, demersal, mid water column, and temporary. There is a striking difference in trophic web structure between the dry season and rainy season. Fish community resource partitioning shows that the components are organized in three guilds: ichthyophagous, carcinophagous and omnivorous. However, a partial overlap of niches was commonly observed, and juvenile stages showed a narrower trophic spectrum than adults.
Highlights
The Veracruz shelf environment is a complex interaction of adjacent land masses, coastal waters near shore influenced by estuarine systems and their inherent high productivity, coastal lagoon input, and dynamics of open Gulf of Mexico waters
The present paper presents a space‐time analysis of a sublittoral community abundance, in a coastal area of the SW Gulf of Mexico
The interannual fluctuations were more evident with the temperature, which can be originated by the influence of natural events like are the tropical north and storms that are frequent in this zone and which they frequently carry cold winds, which affects in a determining way the first layers of the water column (Guido and Mathews 2000)
Summary
The Veracruz shelf environment is a complex interaction of adjacent land masses, coastal waters near shore influenced by estuarine systems and their inherent high productivity, coastal lagoon input, and dynamics of open Gulf of Mexico waters. High surface water temperatures of the Gulf bring about a great warming and an increase in moisture content in overlaying air masses. Water mass distribution in open Gulf waters results from inflow through the Yucatan Channel, outflow through the Straits of Florida, surface conditions created by local air-sea exchange processes, and internal mixing of three welldefined water masses from the bottom up: Gulf basin water, a layer of the Antarctic intermediate water and a Mid-Atlantic element (Merino 1986). The variability in spatial and seasonal production of the demersal fauna along the shelf is important in the balance of organic matter in the water column (Merino 1987)
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