Browsing by Author "Miranda, Carolina Isabel Teixeira de"
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- Understanding the thermal amelioration provided by algae cover in rocky shore habitatsPublication . Miranda, Carolina Isabel Teixeira de; Lima, FernandoIntertidal rocky shores are among the harsher and more variable habitats in the world as they lie in the interface between air and water. Temperature plays an important role in the function and structure of these ecosystems, and they are highly influenced by spatial variation at different scales. At the microhabitat scale, algae may act as thermal buffers for associated communities, but this has been rarely quantified. With this in mind, this study focuses on establishing the role of algae as a refuge, as well as quantifying the thermal variations between different intertidal microhabitats. Overall, 144 temperature data loggers were installed in three regions along the Portuguese west coast, on a total of six sites. Temperature was registered every hour within eight different microhabitats, each one with three pairs of loggers (one logger under algae and one on bare rock). Data on the diversity of associated fauna and flora was also obtained during in situ fieldwork. The results showed greater temperature variability in the upper intertidal exposed to the sun, especially during the summer. Latitudinally, daily maximum temperature increases towards the south and, on the other hand, temperature difference within pairs decreases. There was also inter-annual variation, with the summer of 2023 recording a lower maximum temperature than the summer of 2022 in the northern region. All algae presented a significant effect on temperature measurements, especially Ascophyllum nodosum. During summer, their buffer effect varied between 32,20% to 69,37% in top levels and 3,90% to 25,20% in low level. Regarding the biodiversity of each region, the north presented the lowest species richness among all, in contrast, presented a higher volume of algae cover on the upper intertidal. Despite the difficulty in maintaining loggers covered with algae along the year in situ dataloggers proved to be essential to provide precise and continuous monitoring of temperature in complex habitats, such as intertidal rocky shores. Moreover, understanding how certain species tend to ameliorate the effects of increasing warming conditions is very important to carry out conservation measures, to evaluate the effect of future heat waves or to predict future latitudinal transitions in coastal communities.