Distribution space and competitive interactions in zoantÃdeos (CNIDARA: ZOANTHIDAE) in an environment of reefs of sandstone in northeastern Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Emanuelle Fontenele Rabelo
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFC
• Texto Completo: http://www.teses.ufc.br/tde_busca/arquivo.php?codArquivo=1726
• topic: ECOLOGIA

Consolidated marine environments allow a great diversity of benthic species, each distributed according to their ability to adapt to adverse environmental factors such as high salinity and desiccation. This work deals with the spatial distribution of three species of zoantÃdeos (Palythoa caribaeorum, Protopalythoa variabilis and Zoanthus sociatus) over an environment made up of sandstone reefs on the coast of the state of Ceara, northeastern Brazil. The zoantÃdeos showed a clear zonaÃÃo horizontally over the reefs of sandstone, with species less tolerant than others to environmental changes caused by the rise and fall of the tide. The distribution of species of zoantÃdeos seems to be directly affected by desiccation, type of substrate and the interspecific competition. There is a tendency for these species colonizem the regions of mesolitoral middle and lower, which is less drying. Z. sociatus apparently has increased resistance to desiccation, P. caribaeorum is the least tolerant species. The more abundant and often were recorded for P. variabilis which occurred primarily in medium mesolitoral colonizing areas with large depositions of sediment inconsolidado. The desiccation was the limiting factor of the spatial distribution of these species, however, the type of substrate and competition with macroalgal also shown as limiting factors.