Abstract
Maërl habitats are of great biological value due to their high biodiversity and productivity, but they are also very fragile. The subaqueous dune field on the continental shelf off the Mar Menor exhibits sediment characteristics that favour the presence of maërl habitats. However, this seabed is altered by two kinds of disturbance: biogenic disturbance caused mainly by the feeding and burrowing activities of the sea urchin Spatangus purpureus, and anthropogenic disturbance caused by trawling activities.
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Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the FORMED project (CGL2012-33989). The crew of the RV García del Cid are thanked for their help and enthusiasm during the sample cruise. The authors thank S. de Juan for useful comments on an early draft. R. Durán is supported by a CSIC JAE-Doc contract co-funded by the FSE.
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Demestre, M. et al. (2017). Bio and Anthropogenic Disturbance of Maërl Communities Settled on Subaqueous Dunes on the Mar Menor Continental Shelf (Western Mediterranean). In: Guillén, J., Acosta, J., Chiocci, F., Palanques, A. (eds) Atlas of Bedforms in the Western Mediterranean. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33940-5_33
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33940-5_33
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