%0 Journal Article %J Ecological Indicators %D 2018 %T Benthic foraminifera to assess Ecological Quality Statuses in Italian transitional waters %A Vincent M.P. Bouchet %A Goberville, Eric %A Fabrizio Frontalini %K Diversity index %K Ecological quality status %K Italian transitional waters %K Living benthic foraminifera %K Marine strategy framework directive %K Water framework directive %X

Estuaries, lagoons and lakes, identified as transitional waters (TWs), are fragile ecotones at the interface between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The assessment of their Ecological Quality status (EcoQ), required by marine legislations, is rather uncertain when based on traditional benthic macrofaunal indices. This study proposes to assess the EcoQ of marine waters using the diversity index Exp(H'bc) based on living benthic foraminifera. By testing this method on datasets from five Italian TWs, we showed that EcoQ's assessment based on foraminifera reflected changes in environmental conditions. Benthic foraminifera highlighted the degradation of most, if not all, study sites, ranking most of the TWs in “Moderate” to “Bad” EcoQs. Although the assessment of EcoQs estimated from diversity indices was similar when based on benthic foraminifera or macrofauna, discrepancies occurred if diversity index calculated on foraminifera and sensitivity-based indices applied on macrofauna were compared. Our results demonstrated that the Exp(H'bc) index based on living benthic foraminifera is a promising approach to assess EcoQs. Finally, we argue that benthic foraminifera, for their preservation potential as fossil within sediment, are a reliable option to define reference conditions and targets.

%B Ecological Indicators %V 84 %G eng %U https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X17304685 %R 10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.07.055 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Sea Research %D 2017 %T Regional and latitudinal patterns of soft-bottom macrobenthic invertebrates along French coasts: Results from the RESOMAR database %A Régis K. Gallon %A Nicolas Lavesque %A Jacques Grall %A Céline Labrune %A Antoine Grémare %A Guy Bachelet %A Hugues Blanchet %A Paulo Bonifácio %A Vincent M.P. Bouchet %A Jean-Claude Dauvin %A Nicolas Desroy %A Franck Gentil %A Laurent Guerin %A Céline Houbin %A Jérôme Jourde %A Sandrine Laurand %A Michel Le Duff %A Vincent Le Garrec %A Xavier de Montaudouin %A Frédéric Olivier %A Francis Orvain %A Pierre-Guy Sauriau %A Eric Thiébaut %A Olivier Gauthier %K France %K Latitudinal pattern %K Regional pattern %K Soft-bottom %K Species richness %K Zoobenthos %X

This study aims to describe the patterns of soft bottom macrozoobenthic richness along French coasts. It is based on a collaborative database developed by the “Réseau des Stations et Observatoires Marins” (RESOMAR). We investigated patterns of species richness in sublittoral soft bottom habitats (EUNIS level 3) at two different spatial scales: 1) seaboards: English Channel, Bay of Biscay and Mediterranean Sea and 2) 0.5° latitudinal and longitudinal grid. Total observed richness, rarefaction curves and three incidence-based richness estimators (Chao2, ICE and Jacknife1) were used to compare soft bottom habitats species richness in each seaboard. Overall, the Mediterranean Sea has the highest richness and despite higher sampling effort, the English Channel hosts the lowest number of species. The distribution of species occurrence within and between seaboards was assessed for each major phylum using constrained rarefaction curves. The Mediterranean Sea hosts the highest number of exclusive species. In pairwise comparisons, it also shares a lower proportion of taxa with the Bay of Biscay (34.1%) or the English Channel (27.6%) than that shared between these two seaboards (49.7%). Latitudinal species richness patterns along the Atlantic and English Channel coasts were investigated for each major phylum using partial LOESS regression controlling for sampling effort. This showed the existence of a bell-shaped latitudinal pattern, highlighting Brittany as a hotspot for macrobenthic richness at the confluence of two biogeographic provinces.

%B Journal of Sea Research %V 130 %P 96 - 106 %G eng %U http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1385110116302660 %R https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seares.2017.03.011