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Article Dans Une Revue Cahiers de Biologie Marine Année : 2014

The evolution of habitat areas and carrying capacity for Western Cotentin Estuaries (North-Western France)

Résumé

On the western coast of the Cotentin peninsula (English Channel, France), small estuaries, called havres, were transitional systems between terrestrial and aquatic habitats. This study concerns the macrobenthos and the evolution of the habitat areas of two estuaries: Blainville and Regnéville. In 2002, 2007 and 2010, aerial photographs showed that the total areas for both estuaries were stable for the last 10 years. Macrofauna characteristics (e.g., species richness, abundance, and biomass) and habitat areas were used to estimate the carrying capacity of both Blainville and Regnéville estuaries in 2010 as an indicator of their trophic value. The estimated carrying capacities showed the importance of salt marshes in both estuaries. However, the carrying capacity was higher in Regnéville (0.408 tAFDW.ha-1) than in Blainville (0.147 tAFDW.ha-1), which was due to the high degree of anthropogenic changes in the Blainville estuary. Salt marsh data revealed the dominance of typical north-eastern Atlantic estuarine species, (i.e., Carcinus maenas, Orchestia gammarellus and Talitrus saltator), with 135 to 1,000 ind.m-2 and a biomass between 23 to 80 g AFDW.m-2. The abundances and biomasses per m² of the macrofauna observed in those small estuaries were similar to those observed in other larger north-western Atlantic estuaries and provide similar services such as feeding zones for fishes and birds. In the future, the Regnéville habitat areas must be preserved to maintain high benthic biomasses.
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Dates et versions

hal-00925452 , version 1 (08-01-2014)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-00925452 , version 1

Citer

Jean-Claude Dauvin, J.B. Delhay, P. Hacquebart, E.D. Saint-Leger, G. Izabel, et al.. The evolution of habitat areas and carrying capacity for Western Cotentin Estuaries (North-Western France). Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 2014, 55, pp.77-89. ⟨hal-00925452⟩
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