Water quality affects the structure of copepod assemblages along the Sfax southern coast (Tunisia, southern Mediterranean Sea)
- Drira, Zaher
- Kmiha-Megdiche, Salma
- Sahnoun, Houda
- Pagano, Marc
- Tedetti, Marc
- Ayadi, Habib
DOIAbstract
International audienceThe Sfax southern coast (Gulf of Gabes, Mediterranean Sea) has been under increased anthropogenic pressure for many years. In the present study we investigated the effects of this anthropisation on the spatial distribution of copepod assemblages in relation to the physicochemical features of seawater at 20 stations sampled on 19 March 2013. Copepods represented 73% of total zooplankton abundance. Small planktonic copepods (<1.45 mm), including pollution-tolerant species (e.g. Oithona nana, Paracalanus parvus, Harpacticus littoralis and Tisbe battagliai), proliferated exclusively in stations of ~0.5-m depth characterised by high coastal anthropogenic inputs. The largest copepod species were dominated by Calanus helgolan...
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