Benthic Macrofauna in the Loukkos Estuary, Morocco: Patterns and Environmental Drivers
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Area
2.2. Sampling of Benthic Macrofauna
2.3. Environmental Data
2.4. Statistical Analyses
3. Results
3.1. Structure and Diversity Patterns of Benthic Communities
3.2. Spatio-Temporal Organization of Benthic Communities
3.3. Environmental Drivers of Benthic Community Structure
4. Discussion
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Molluscs | Polychaetes |
Bivalves | Capitella capitata (Fabricius, 1780) |
Abra alba (W. Wood, 1802) | Chaetopterus sp. |
Cerastoderma edule (Linnaeus, 1758) | Diopatra neapolitana (Delle Chiaje, 1841) |
Donax trunculus (Linnaeus, 1758) | Glycera tridactyla (Schmarda, 1861) |
Mactra stultorum (Linnaeus, 1758) | Hediste diversicolor (O.F. Müller, 1776) |
Mytilus galloprovincialis (Lamarck, 1819) | Heteromastus filiformis (Claparède, 1864) |
Ruditapes decussatus (Linnaeus, 1758) | Lagis koreni (Malmgren, 1866) |
Scrobicularia plana (da Costa, 1778) | Nephtys hombergii (Lamarck, 1818) |
Solen marginatus (Pulteney, 1799) | Perinereis cultrifera (Grube, 1840) |
Venus verrucosa (Linnaeus, 1758) | Prionospio sp. |
Spisula subtruncata (da Costa, 1778) | Scoloplos armiger (Müller, 1776) |
Gastropods | Crustaceans |
Aplysia sp. | Afruca tangeri (Eydoux, 1835) |
Bittium reticulatum (da Costa, 1778) | Callinectes sapidus (Rathbun, 1896) |
Bulla striata (Bruguière, 1792) | Carcinus maenas (Linnaeus, 1758) |
Haminoea navicula (da Costa, 1778) | Cyathura carinata (Krøyer, 1847) |
Littorina obtusata (Linnaeus, 1758) | Idotea chelipes (Pallas, 1766) |
Neverita sp. | Gammarus sp. |
Peringia ulvae (Pennant, 1777) | Melita palmata (Montagu, 1804) |
Phorcus turbinatus (Born, 1778) | Palaemon elegans (Rathke, 1836) |
Rissoa parva (da Costa, 1778) | Sphaeroma sp. |
Steromphala umbilicalis (da Costa, 1778) | Upogebia pusilla (Petagna, 1792) |
Tritia reticulata (Linnaeus, 1758) | Others |
Tritia incrassata (Strøm, 1768) | Ophiura ophiura (Linnaeus, 1758) |
Dolichopodidae larave | |
Larvae Pisces | |
Nemertea ind. |
Group | Stations | SIMPER Analysis | IndVal Analysis | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dissimilarities Between Groups | Similarity Within Group | Dominant Species (Contribution > 5%) | Indicator Species with p-Value and Significance | ||
G1 | ST1-WS ST1-DS | 100% dissimilarity with G4 >94% with G2 and G3 | 18.6% | C. edule (49.6%) | D. trunculus (p = 0.043 *) |
S. marginatus (32.1%) | S. armiger (p = 0.043 *) | ||||
N. hombergii (6.1%) | |||||
G2 | ST2-WS ST2-DS | 88.45% dissimilarity with G3 >94% with G4 | 48% | B. reticulatum (77.2%) | A. alba (p = 0.025 *) |
L. koreni (p = 0.025 *) | |||||
R. parva (p = 0.025 *) | |||||
B. reticulatum (p = 0.027 *) | |||||
P. ulvae (p = 0.021 *) | |||||
T. reticulata (p = 0.015 *) | |||||
I. chelipes (p = 0.034 *) | |||||
D. neapolitana (p = 0.031 *) | |||||
R. decussatus (p = 0.024 *) | |||||
H. navicula (p = 0.034 *) | |||||
(Shared with G1) | |||||
N. hombergii (0.004, **) | |||||
S. marginatus (0.020 *) | |||||
G3 | ST3-WS ST3-DS ST4-WS ST4-DS ST6-WS | 65.15% dissimilarity with G4 | 20.7% | S. plana (60.7%) | (Shared with G2) |
H. diversicolor (22.8%) | C. carinata (p = 0.035 *) | ||||
C. carinata (8.9%) | C. capitata (p = 0.040 *) | ||||
G4 | ST5-WS ST5-DS ST6-DS | 100% dissimilarity with G1 >94% with G2 | 34.5% | H. diversicolor (85.9%) | No exclusive indicator species detected |
D. larvae (9.9%) |
F | Pr(>F) | % Variance Explained | % Cumulative Variance | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Global Model test | 2.2254 | 0.042 | - | - |
Variables | ||||
Salinity (Sal) | 5.0110 | 0.004 | 20.85 | 20.85 |
Vegetation (VEG) | 4.2268 | 0.005 | 17.59 | 38.44 |
pH | 2.2298 | 0.074 | 9.28 | 47.72 |
Total hardness (TH) | 1.8067 | 0.163 | 7.52 | 55.24 |
Phosphate (PO42−) | 1.7600 | 0.170 | 7.32 | 62.56 |
Nitrate (NO3−) | 1.5345 | 0.237 | 6.39 | 68.95 |
Clay (%) | 1.4628 | 0.259 | 6.09 | 75.04 |
Ammonium (NH4+) | 1.3796 | 0.276 | 5.74 | 80.78 |
Organic matter (MO) | 0.6172 | 0.756 | 2.57 | 83.35 |
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Touhami, F. Benthic Macrofauna in the Loukkos Estuary, Morocco: Patterns and Environmental Drivers. Ecologies 2025, 6, 53. https://doi.org/10.3390/ecologies6030053
Touhami F. Benthic Macrofauna in the Loukkos Estuary, Morocco: Patterns and Environmental Drivers. Ecologies. 2025; 6(3):53. https://doi.org/10.3390/ecologies6030053
Chicago/Turabian StyleTouhami, Feirouz. 2025. "Benthic Macrofauna in the Loukkos Estuary, Morocco: Patterns and Environmental Drivers" Ecologies 6, no. 3: 53. https://doi.org/10.3390/ecologies6030053
APA StyleTouhami, F. (2025). Benthic Macrofauna in the Loukkos Estuary, Morocco: Patterns and Environmental Drivers. Ecologies, 6(3), 53. https://doi.org/10.3390/ecologies6030053