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Marine Biodiversity

, Volume 49, Issue 1, pp 221–233 | Cite as

Diversity and ecology of crustaceans from shallow rocky habitats along the Mediterranean coast of Egypt

  • Rasha Hamdy
  • Joachim LangeneckEmail author
  • Manal Mohamed Atta
  • Mohamed Moussa Dorgham
  • Hoda Hassan El-Rashidy
  • Luigi Musco
Original Paper
First Online:
  • 188 Downloads

Abstract

Spatio-temporal patterns of the distribution of crustaceans from shallow hard bottoms along the Alexandria coast (Egypt, Mediterranean Sea) were studied during a complete year cycle and also in relation to potential drivers of change (both biotic and abiotic), including variation in habitat-forming species. Overall, the crustacean assemblages appeared poor, including only 14 species belonging to Amphipoda (five species), Isopoda (five species), Tanaidacea (two species), Cirripedia and Decapoda (one species each). The distribution patterns of crustacean assemblages appeared significantly variable both in the spatial and in the temporal dimension on a rather unpredictable basis, albeit variation was related to changes in dominant algal and invertebrate habitat formers. High variability and low species richness observed suggest that the analyzed assemblages are selected by local unfavorable environmental conditions. In fact, the crustacean hard bottom fauna is composed by a bulk of tolerant forms, including the dominant Tanais dulongi, Apohyale perieri, Dynamene bidentata, Sphaeroma serratum, Elasmopus pectenicrus, and Jassa marmorata. Their spatio-temporal dynamics, as well as those of the remaining species, and correlations with the variation of habitat formers and environmental variables are reported. This is a baseline assessment of the crustacean diversity along the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, thus having paramount importance for understanding the predicted future changes of biodiversity for the area.

Keywords

Crustacea Levantine Sea Amphipoda Isopoda Tanaidacea 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

We are indebted to the two anonymous reviewers who greatly contributed to improving our paper.

Funding

No funding to declare.

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

No conflict of interest to declare.

Ethical approval

All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed by the authors.

Field study

Permits and approval of field or observational studies have been obtained by the authors.

Supplementary material

12526_2017_787_MOESM1_ESM.doc (792 kb)
ESM 1 (DOC 792 kb)

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© Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Oceanography, Faculty of ScienceAlexandria UniversityAlexandriaEgypt
  2. 2.Dipartimento di BiologiaUniversità di PisaPisaItaly
  3. 3.Stazione Zoologica Anton DohrnNaplesItaly

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