Publicação
Ecologic relevance of small estuarine systems from portuguese south and southwest coasts : structure, function and ecologic integrity comparative analysis based on fish and macroinvertebrate benthic communities
| Resumo: | Estuarine ecosystems are amongst the most valuable environments in the world because of their high productivity and their fundamental role concerning ecosystem services for coastal communities. These systems are historically under high levels of human induced impacts which drove to the acknowledgement that management measures must be taken. Within the European context, the Water Framework Directive established goals to preserve estuarine systems’ integrity and tools were developed by the scientific community to respond to those goals and produce some measurement of the systems’ ecological quality. For the establishment of ecological integrity, knowledge on systems ecological communities is fundamental. This work aimed to contribute to the actual knowledge on small estuarine systems of the Portuguese south and southwestern coasts highlighting their ecological relevance. Fish and benthic macroinvertebrate communities from five small estuarine systems were analysed since they are considered fundamental ecological indicators. Results showed that these small estuarine systems provide temporary habitats, shelter and feeding grounds to coastal fish communities. Seasonal patterns were important to the diversity values found for fish communities. For benthic communities, results indicated sediment components are important to explain differences between systems. With this knowledge support, tools to assess ecological quality were chosen and applied, for both fish and macroinvertebrate communities. Result interpretations were not straightforward to the assessment of ecological quality status in systems with high natural perturbations indices. Nevertheless, analyses of all metrics included was highly informative and enabled, to some extent, differentiating ecological conditions between systems. An assessment of systems vulnerability was made which allowed setting guidelines and recommendations for management and preservation of each system. |
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| Autores principais: | Cardoso, Inês |
| Assunto: | Macroinvertebrados Peixes Sistemas estuarinos Ecologia aquática Vulnerabilidade Teses de doutoramento - 2011 |
| Ano: | 2011 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | tese de doutoramento |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade de Lisboa |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa |
| Resumo: | Estuarine ecosystems are amongst the most valuable environments in the world because of their high productivity and their fundamental role concerning ecosystem services for coastal communities. These systems are historically under high levels of human induced impacts which drove to the acknowledgement that management measures must be taken. Within the European context, the Water Framework Directive established goals to preserve estuarine systems’ integrity and tools were developed by the scientific community to respond to those goals and produce some measurement of the systems’ ecological quality. For the establishment of ecological integrity, knowledge on systems ecological communities is fundamental. This work aimed to contribute to the actual knowledge on small estuarine systems of the Portuguese south and southwestern coasts highlighting their ecological relevance. Fish and benthic macroinvertebrate communities from five small estuarine systems were analysed since they are considered fundamental ecological indicators. Results showed that these small estuarine systems provide temporary habitats, shelter and feeding grounds to coastal fish communities. Seasonal patterns were important to the diversity values found for fish communities. For benthic communities, results indicated sediment components are important to explain differences between systems. With this knowledge support, tools to assess ecological quality were chosen and applied, for both fish and macroinvertebrate communities. Result interpretations were not straightforward to the assessment of ecological quality status in systems with high natural perturbations indices. Nevertheless, analyses of all metrics included was highly informative and enabled, to some extent, differentiating ecological conditions between systems. An assessment of systems vulnerability was made which allowed setting guidelines and recommendations for management and preservation of each system. |
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