AMPHIPOD COMMUNITY ASSOCIATED TO CANOPY-FORMING ALGAE

Denada SOTA, Ina NASTO, Brunilda VASHAJ, Anxhela KAMBERAJ, Kristiana LUSHNJARI, Mariola ISMAILAJ

Abstract

In the Mediterranean Sea, the canopy-forming algae formerly belonging to the genus Cystoseira sensu lato, are the most important algal canopy-forming underwater forests. Given the importance of these canopy-form algae and the habitat they constitute, it is important to know the species that these algae are associated with. A study was conducted to investigate the amphipod species associated with four species of Cystoseira sensu lato overo Cystoseira compressa, Ericaria crinita and E. amentacea and Gongolaria barbata, near Vlora Bay, in Southern Albania. The samples were collected in the spring and autumn of 2021. In 4 different algal species of the genus Cystoseira sensu lato, 1448 individuals were collected in two sampling seasons (965 in spring and 483 in autumn), belonging to 52 Amphipoda species. An attempt to study the spatiotemporal variability and faunal composition of each alga has been made. In addition, the Bray – Curtis Similarity index was calculated to compare the distance between the four species of canopy-forming algae. According to the frequency analysis, it emerges that on average there are only one or two species that populate these algae with greater frequency (more than 30% of the total sample), instead the other species of amphipods occur with a minimum frequency of less than 5% of the sample. However, the composition of the dominant species in each algal species is different.

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