Gorgan Bay: a microcosm for study on macrobenthos species-environment relationships in the southeastern Caspian Sea
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Gorgan Bay: a microcosm for study on macrobenthos speciesenvironment relationships in the southeastern Caspian Sea GHASEMI Amir Faraz1*, TAHERI Mehrshad1, FOSHTOMI Maryam Yazdani1, NORANIAN Majid1, MIRA Seyed Sahab2, JAM Armin1 1 Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Science (INIOAS), Tehran 1411813389, Iran 2 Department of the Environment Golestan Province, Gorgan 4917145185, Iran
Received 7 May 2014; accepted 5 November 2014 ©The Chinese Society of Oceanography and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016
Abstract
The relationship between spatial patterns of macrobenthos community characteristics and environmental conditions (salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, organic matter content, sand, silt and clay) was investigated throughout the Gorgan Bay in June 2010. Principal components analysis (PCA) based on environmental data separated eastern and western stations. The maximum (4 500 ind./m2) and minimum (411 ind./m2) densities were observed at Stas 1 and 6, respectively. Polychaeta was the major group and Streblospio gynobranchiata was dominant species in the bay. According to Distance Based Linear Models results, macrofaunal total density was correlated with silt percentage and salinity and these two factors explaining 64% of the variability while macrofaunal community structure just correlated with salinity (22% total variation). In general, western part of the bay showed the highest number of species and biodiversity while, the highest density was found at Sta. 1 and in the middle part of the bay. Furthermore, relationship between diversity indices and macrobenthic species with measured factors is also discussed. Our results confirm the effect of salinity as an important factor on distribution of macrobenthic fauna in south Caspian brackish waters. Key words: salinity, macrobenthos, species-environment relationship, Gorgan Bay, Caspian Sea Citation: Ghasemi Amir Faraz, Taheri Mehrshad, Foshtomi Maryam Yazdani, Noranian Majid, Mira Seyed Sahab, Jam Armin. 2016. Gorgan Bay: a microcosm for study on macrobenthos species-environment relationships in the southeastern Caspian Sea. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 35(4): 82–88, doi: 10.1007/s13131-015-0728-2
1 Introduction The macrofauna play important roles in marine ecosystems, involving nutrient cycling, dispersion, sediment burial, and secondary production. Distribution patterns in general are related to environmental factors such as tidal currents, depth, food supply, salinity, sediment texture, organic matter content and current velocity (Gogina et al., 2010; Baldanzi et al., 2013; Nicastro and Bishop, 2013). Hence, any changes in environmental conditions can be reflected in macrofauna community characteristics. Response of macrobenthic species to these conditions is different and related to their adaptation strategies (Veloso and Cardoso, 2001; Baldanzi et al., 2013; Conde et al., 2013). In fact, most of the species can not migrate out of the habitat, and adapt to the changes of environmental conditions (Dauer, 1993). Therefore, there is a
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