Spatial patterns of macrofaunal community structure in coastal lagoons of Uruguay

The study analyzed macrobenthic communities in five Uruguayan coastal lagoons across three spatial scales and four months in 2005. It found that community structure is primarily driven by spatial variation rather than short-term temporal changes, with the most significant differences occurring between the closed, eutrophic Diario lagoon and those intermittently connected to the ocean. Key environmental drivers include total suspended solids, conductivity, sediment organic matter, phytobenthic chlorophyll a, and macrophyte total biomass.

• The macrobenthic community is characterized by high dominance and a low number of species. The most significant difference in community structure was found between the closed, eutrophic Diario lagoon and the other lagoons that maintain intermittent connections with the ocean.
• Spatial variation is a more significant driver of community structure than short-term temporal variability. The highest levels of variability were observed at the largest scale (between lagoons) and the smallest scale (between replicates), suggesting that both large- and small-scale processes influence spatial patterns.
• The macrobenthic community structure is best explained by five specific environmental variables: conductivity, total suspended solids, sediment organic matter, macrophyte total biomass, and phytobenthic chlorophyll a.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2025). Spatial patterns of macrofaunal community structure in coastal lagoons of Uruguay. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/spatial-patterns-of-macrofaunal-community-structure-in-coastal-lagoons-of-uruguay/

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Spatial patterns of macrofaunal community structure in coastal lagoons of Uruguay. 2025. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/spatial-patterns-of-macrofaunal-community-structure-in-coastal-lagoons-of-uruguay/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Spatial patterns of macrofaunal community structure in coastal lagoons of Uruguay |date=17 January 2025 |url=https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/spatial-patterns-of-macrofaunal-community-structure-in-coastal-lagoons-of-uruguay/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2025spatial, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Spatial patterns of macrofaunal community structure in coastal lagoons of Uruguay}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/spatial-patterns-of-macrofaunal-community-structure-in-coastal-lagoons-of-uruguay/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }