Título del libro: 13th International Medcoast Congress On Coastal And Marine Sciences, Engineering, Management And Conservation, Medcoast 2017
Título del capítulo: Molluscs of the underwater museum of art, Mexico
VIVIANE SOLIS WOLFOWITZ; ARTURO GUSTAVO TOLEDANO GRANADOS;
Autores externos:
Idioma:
Inglés
Año de publicación:
2017
Palabras clave:
Algae; Aluminum; Animals; Biodiversity; Ecosystems; Museums; Reefs; Substrates; Artificial substrates; Coral reef; Dominant species; Hard substrate; Lobophora variegata; Natural habitat; Scuba diving; Seagrass beds; Molluscs
Resumen:
In this study, we present all the species of the Phylum Mollusca identified in the sculptures of the Underwater Museum of Art located in Cancun, Mexico, and we compare them to the mollusc fauna found in the coral reefs by Humann et al. in his recent compilation of 2013. The aim was to determine possible differences in diversity between these artificial substrates and the natural ones in the Caribbean. Sampling was performed weekly with SCUBA diving during 2013 and 2014 with a quadrat (22X22 cm.) on the dominant algae (Lobophora variegata and Dictyota bartrayresii) and sponges (Amphimedon compressa) growing in the statues. The big solitary Molluscs were photographed and/or collected to ensure proper identification. From the 262 species registered by Humann et al. in 80 families, the gastropods are the most diverse with 241 spp. (82.5%). In MUSA, from the 100 species identified to date, the gastropods also dominate with 75 spp. (75 %). The five Classes: Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Polyplacophora, Scaphopoda and Cephalopoda, are represented in both cases. However, only 7% of the species are common to MUSA and Humann et al. compilation. This is probably because, unlike us, they only considered macromolluscs and we have 33% of micromolluscs, and because the sculptures habitat probably differs more from the hard corals than thought at first sight, at least in its malacofauna. In our samplings, the macromolluscs reached 67% of the total. The dominant species in the MUSA, Cerithium litteratum (Cerithiidae), constituted 65.38 % of the total; it was found everywhere, as it is in the Caribbean at large. It is followed in abundance by the micromolluscs Tricolia thalassicola with 6.18 % and Amphithalamus rauli with 5.53 %. Both lists of species were compared. The much larger biodiversity recorded by Humann et al. compared to our study, even in the same environment is probably because we only sampled the fauna associated to the concrete statues, their algae and sponges, but not the other substrates that he analysed. There is also the fact that the habitat associated with the statues, although also hard substrate and very close physically to the natural reefs, in the area called "Manchones" but mainly dominated by algae and sponges, is different from the coral reefs and from the other natural habitats of the area, such as seagrass beds and bare sands. However, these sculptures that were submerged to form the Underwater Museum, undoubtedly help in conservation and create biodiversity in a scale only comparable to that of the reef itself.
Entidades citadas de la UNAM:
ISBN:
9786058565272
Editorial:
Mediterranean Coastal Foundation
Tipo de producto:
Conference Paper
