Exploring macroinvertebrate species distributions at regional and local scales across a sandy beach geographic continuum.

ABSTRACT: Exposed sandy beaches are highly dynamic ecosystems where macroinvertebrate species cope with extremely variable environmental conditions. The majority of the beach ecology studies present exposed beaches as physically dominated ecosystems where abiotic factors largely determine the structure and distribution of macrobenthic communities. However, beach species patterns at different scales can be modified by the interaction between different environmental variables, including biotic interactions. In this study, we examined the role of different environmental variables for describing the regional and local scale distributions of common macrobenthic species across 39 beaches along the North coast of Spain. The analyses were carried out using boosted regression trees, a relatively new techniqu

SUBMITTER: Rodil IF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3382464 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature