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NEKTON-HABITAT ASSOCIATIONS IN A PACIFIC NORTHWEST (USA) ESTUARY
Citation:
FERRARO, S. P. AND F. A. COLE. NEKTON-HABITAT ASSOCIATIONS IN A PACIFIC NORTHWEST (USA) ESTUARY. Presented at Estuarine Research Federation 2007, Providence, RI, November 04 - 08, 2007.
Impact/Purpose:
To determine Nekton−habitat associations.
Description:
Nekton−habitat associations were determined in Yaquina Bay, Oregon, United States, using a stratified-by-habitat, random, estuary-wide sampling design. Three habitats (intertidal eelgrass [Zostera marina], mud shrimp [Upogebia pugettensis], and ghost shrimp [Neotrypaea californiensis]) were sampled during 2 sampling periods (July-September) in 1998 and the same 3 habitats plus intertidal unvegetated sand habitat during 4 sampling periods (June-November) in 1999 and 2000, for a total of 10 sampling periods spanning 3 years. A total of 10,523 individuals and 64 nekton taxa, including 17 fish and 10 crab species, were collected in 454 samples. Nekton species composition and absolute abundance varied temporally, yet the relative means of 10 community-level ecological indicators (total nekton mean number of species [S], abundance [A], biomass [B], and Brillouin’s diversity index [H], fish community S, A, and B, and crab community S, A, and B) and the relative mean abundances of several common nekton species were not significantly different across habitats in all 10 sampling periods, indicating temporally consistent nekton−habitat associations. The habitat rank order on ecological indicators associated with high total nekton, fish, and crab community productivity and diversity (high S, A, B, H) was eelgrass > mud shrimp ghost shrimp unvegetated sand.