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Large-Scale Spatial Pattern of the Macrobenthic Diversity in the Eastern English Channel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Laura Añorve-Sanvicente ,
Alain Leprêtre  and
Dominique Davoult
Laura Añorve-Sanvicente
Affiliation:
Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Numérique SN3, URA-CNRS 1363, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France.
Alain Leprêtre
Affiliation:
Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Numérique SN3, URA-CNRS 1363, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France.
Dominique Davoult
Affiliation:
Station Marine de Wimereux, BP 80, URA-CNRS 1363, 62930 Wimereux, France
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Extract

A description is provided of the large-scale spatial distribution of the diversity of the benthic macrofauna in the eastern English Channel. Data from the oceanographic cruises of the RCP (Recherche Coopérative sur Programme) Benthos de la Manche Research Programme were obtained during the summers of 1971 to 1975. A total of 707 samples were analysed.

Diversity of each sample was measured by means of the species richness (i.e. the total number of species present), the Shannon-Weaver diversity index and Pielou's evenness index. Diversity values were plotted for all 707 oceanographic stations in the area, following a smoothing procedure. Large-scale spatial trends of diversity of the benthic macrofauna were analysed in relation to sediment and species assemblage distribution, but no spatial correlation was found between the two factors. These results indicate that mechanisms affecting large-scale spatial distribution of the diversity are different from those acting on a smaller scale. The role of the hydro-sedimentary processes acting at the geographic scale of the eastern English Channel as presumptive causes of this large-scale pattern of the macrobenthic diversity is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 76 , Issue 1 , February 1996 , pp. 153 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1996

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