Event Abstract

Back to Event

Changes in the historical distribution of Littorina littorea (Linnaeus, 1758) along the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula

Marcos Rubal1*, Puri Veiga1, Juan Moreira2, Isabel Sousa-Pinto1 and Jesus S. Troncoso3
  • 1 Ciimar, Portugal
  • 2 Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Departamento de Biología (Zoología), Spain
  • 3 Universidade de Vigo, Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Spain

During the first half of the last century, the intertidal gastropod Littorina littorea was very common both in intertidal rocky shores and estuarine soft bottoms of the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula (Hidalgo, 1917; Nobre, 1940). In the second half of the last century, Fischer-Piette (1963) reported a local extinction of L. littorea from rocky shores along the North coast of the Iberian Peninsula but, he found healthy populations within estuaries. In a recent study Rubal et al. (2013) just reported one population of L. littorea in Viana. However, in that study estuaries and more sheltered shores were not included. In order to improve our knowledge about the actual distribution of L. littorea, we sampled the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula from Ribadeo (North Galicia) to Sagres (south Portugal). Thus, 200 rocky shores and 20 soft bottom estuarine shores, (where rocky shore was not available) were visited during 2014 and 2015. The southernmost population of L. littorea was found at Obidos lagoon (Portugal); additional populations in Portugal were found at the Mondego estuary and Ria de Aveiro. Curiously, no populations were found in northern estuaries of Portugal where Nobre (1940) found high densities of L. littorea (e.g. Minho, Âncora). In rocky shores, a single population of L. littorea was found at Viana but, in the last years, isolated individuals of L. littorea have been found in rocky shores between Aguda and Moledo (North Portugal). Along the Galician shores, L. littorea showed abundant populations on rocky shores within the rías and locally on rocky shores out of rías where sheltered areas are available. This pattern was observed from the Minho estuary in the South to the Ría de Ferrol in the Northwest. However, in the northern coasts of Galicia L. littorea was only found associated to estuarine soft bottoms. In conclusion, there is a significant regression in the distribution of L. littorea along the Atlantic shores of the Iberian Peninsula. Current populations seem to be restricted to sheltered areas.

References

Fischer-Piétte, E., (1963). La distribution des principaux organismes intercotidaux nord-iberiques en 1954-1955. Ann.Inst. Océanogr. Paris 150, 165–311

Hidalgo, J.G. (1917). Fauna malacológica de España, Portugal y las Baleares. Moluscos testáceos marinos. Trab. Mus. Nac. Cien. Nat. 30, 1–752.

Nobre, A. (1940). Moluscos marinhos e das águas salobras. Companhia editora do Minho, Barcelos.

Rubal, M., Veiga, P., Cacabelos, E., Moreira, J., and Sousa-Pinto, I. (2013). Increasing sea surface temperature and range shifts of intertidal gastropods along the Iberian Peninsula. J. Sea Res. 77, 1–10. doi:10.1016/j.seares.2012.12.003

Keywords: NE Atlantic, Littorina littorea, intertidal, Distribution range, Exposure

Conference: XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, Porto, Portugal, 5 Sep - 9 Sep, 2016.

Presentation Type: Oral Presentation

Topic: 1. ECOLOGY, BIODIVERSITY AND VULNERABLE ECOSYSTEMS

Citation: Rubal M, Veiga P, Moreira J, Sousa-Pinto I and Troncoso JS (2016). Changes in the historical distribution of Littorina littorea (Linnaeus, 1758) along the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00017

Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.

The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.

Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.

For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.

Received: 16 May 2016; Published Online: 02 Sep 2016.

* Correspondence: Dr. Marcos Rubal, Ciimar, Porto, Portugal, mrubalg@hotmail.com