EFEITO DAS PERDAS DE COBERTURA DE PRADOS DE ANGIOPERMAS MARINHAS SOBRE A MACROFAUNA BENTÔNICA

In order to evaluate the effect of recent losses of seagrass areas among the associated benthic macrofauna, the faunistic assemblages associated with the vegetated areas and areas with recent losses of vegetal coverage were evaluated in Catuama Beach, northern coast of Pernambuco, Brazil. In May 2010, ten samples were collected within the Halodule wrightii meadow and other ten samples in areas no more occupied by the meadow (non-vegetated), with the help of a PVC collection tube, for analyses of the plants and the fauna captured in a 0.5 mm mesh. The macrofauna was composed by 2566 specimens, being 2493 in vegetated areas and 73 in areas without vegetation. Only annelids and molluscs were found in both environments, but the total abundance (H=15.310; p<0.001) and the number of taxa (H=13.740; p<0.001) were significantly higher in the vegetated areas. Thus, the study demonstrated that the non-vegetated areas, where a recent loss of vegetal coverage occurred, were significantly less inhabited, reinforcing the need of conservation of these meadows and, consequently, the maintenance of their services for the ecosystem as the associated fauna.