Marine biodiversity on the Algerian Continental Shelf (Mediterranean Sea) |
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Authors: | Jean-Claude Dauvin Samir Grimes Ali Bakalem |
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Affiliation: | 1. Université Caen Basse-Normandie, Laboratoire Morphodynamique Continentale et C?tière UMR 6143 M2C , 24 rue des Tilleuls, F-14000 , Caen , France;2. CNRS, UMR 6143 M2C , 24 rue des Tilleuls, F-14000 , Caen , France jean-claude.dauvin@unicaen.fr;4. Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Sciences de la Mer et de l'Aménagement du Littoral (ENSSMAL), BP 19, Campus universitaire de Dely Brahim , Bois des Cars, Algiers , Algeria;5. Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique (ENSA), Avenue Hassan Badi , 16200 El Harrach, Algiers , Algeria |
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Abstract: | The Mediterranean Sea is known as a biodiversity hot spot, with 16,848 species reported. Biodiversity is higher in coastal areas and decreases with depth. However, knowledge about the southwestern sector remains scarce. For the last three decades, sampling of soft-bottom communities along the 1180 km of the shallow Algerian coast (0–136 m) has recorded 1642 macrobenthic species. There is a decreasing west–east species-richness gradient, especially for the total species richness and the amphipods. In addition, quantitative sampling in Bou Ismail Bay in summer 1988 (98 sampling sites for a total of 841 species) shows that diversity indices (i.e. species richness, >100 species for 0.2 m?2; Shannon diversity, >6.0; and ES50, >34) are among the highest for similar sand and muddy-fine sand communities in the Mediterranean Sea and the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Bou Ismail Bay appears to have the highest species richness among Algerian bays, probably because of its variety of benthic habitats and the absence of significant pollution in this area. Monitoring must be undertaken to survey this high biodiversity, and a national strategy should be proposed to preserve high diversity zones. |
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Keywords: | species diversity soft-bottom benthic communities Mediterranean Sea Algerian coast species distribution |
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