Repositorio Digital Marítimo, Fluvial y Costero

Vásquez, Julio A and Vega, J. M. Alonso. (2004). El Niño 1997-1998 in northern Chile: effects on the structure and organization of subtidal communities dominated by kelps. El Niño-La Niña 1997-2000. Sus Efectos en Chile.. pp. 119-135.

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Abstract

This study analyzes the effects of the 1997-98 El Niño on coastal subtidal communities in northern Chile, emphasizing changes recorded on the patterns of abundance and temporal distribution of subtidal hardbottom communities dominated by Lessonia trabeculata and Macrocystis integrifolia. Specifically, the before, during,and aftereffects generated by 1997-98 El Niño were intercompared in different groups of benthic organisms. These included grazers, predators, organisms dominant in biomass, and assemblages of macroinvertebrates performing key roles in the stucture and organization of the subtidal communities. This study is one of the few which documents changes over time in shallow subtidal communities in northern Chile from the before, during, and after-ENSO perspective. In contrast to reports made at other latitudes during the 1997-98 ENSO and previous ENSO phenomena, the El Niño of ’97-98 did not cause the complete disappearance of subtidal seaweed beds in northern Chile. The destruction of the seaweed beds a year after the main expression of the 1997-98 ENSO was the result of an increase in the densities of grazers and the disappearance of a guild of high-level predators, the sea-stars. These changes in key species in the subtidal seaweed beds produced a modification in the assemblages of macroinvertebrates and a loss of seasonality in abundances of invertebrates following the 1997-98 ENSO. The ENSO phenomenon should be incorporated as one more factor operative in the interannual variability to which marine organisms of coastal marine environments must be adapted.

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Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Macrocystis. Lessonia. Herbivoría. Comunidades costeras. Submareales
Geographical coverage :	Chile
Depositing User:	Alianza Regional del Sistema Mundial de Observación de los Océanos (GOOS) para el Pacífico Sudeste - GRASP
ISSN:	956-235-024-X
Official URL:	http://www.cona.cl/pub/detalle_cientifica.php?pub=...

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