Meeting Abstract

P1.16  Jan. 4  Latitudinal variation of the associated macrofauna to biological substrata SEP�LVEDA, R.D.; Universidad Austral de Chile rogersepulveda@uach.cl

The marine biological substrata are defined as species of marine organisms that generate secondary substrata where inhabit others invertebrates species. The aim of this study was to determine the associated fauna to the different biological substrata in a latitudinal gradient, comparing this associated fauna with fauna from non-biological substrata (primary substrata). For this, biological substrata of different marine animals and algal species (i.e., the mytilids Perumytilus purpuratus and Aulacomya ater, the ascidian Pyura chilensis, and the algae Macrocystis integrifolia and turf algae were sampled in three localities in the northern Chile (latitude 20�S, 23�S and 29�S). Alternatively, intertidal and subtidal primary substrata were sampled in the same localities. The results showed that, at all localities, the biological substrata have major diversity than the primary substrata, with exception of turf algae that did not showed high abundances of the associated groups in comparison with the associated fauna to the intertidal and subtidal zones. Latitudinally, the macro-faunistic analysis showed that the abundance of mean groups of associated invertebrates (i.e., Polychaeta, Gastropoda and Amphipoda) varying with the latitude, showing spatial distributional patterns similar in all groups. I discuss about the intrinsically mechanism and processes generated by the biological substrata, and the mean function that biological substrata represent for the associated fauna. Support: DID 01-2006 Project and CONICYT-Chile Doctoral Fellowship to the author.