Life history, reproduction, and production of Gammarus chevreuxi (Amphipoda : Gammaridae) in the Ria de Aveiro, northwestern Portugal

We quantified abundance and biomass of the amphipod Gammarus chevreuxi Sexton from benthic cores, sampled monthly over 1 y in the upper reaches of Canal de Mira, the southern arm of the Ria de Aveiro, Portugal. Abundance and biomass showed no clear seasonal patterns but were associated with variation in salinity, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll a concentration. Maximum abundance and biomass occurred at relatively low temperature and high food availability, conditions that likely increased survival and/or reproduction. The population showed a semiannual, iteroparous life cycle. Mean life span was similar to6 mo, with overwintering individuals hatched in autumn showing higher longevity than individuals hatched in spring. Breeding was continuous, although juvenile recruitment peaked in early autumn, winter, and early spring. Sudden fluctuations in abundance and size structure of the population may have resulted from immigration during autumn and emigration during winter. Mean fecundity (8 embryos/brood) and intramarsupial loss (0-18%) were low cornpared with studies of other Gammarus species. Variation in fecundity and intramarsupial loss was mostly explained by size of incubating females. The volume of the embryos was highly variable but not significantly correlated with female size or other reproductive traits. The Hynes and the Morin-Bourassa methods yielded similar estimates of annual production (similar to46 g AFDM m(- 2) y(- 1)) and P/B ratio (11/y)

Exploring gaps in mapping marine ecosystem services: A benchmark analysis

12 pages, 5 figures, 1 tableWe assessed the gaps between current and “model mapping routines”, which represent a benchmark for mapping marine ecosystem services (ESs). Model mapping routines comprised 17 selected variables and their best-rated alternatives depending on the mapping purpose, namely, marine spatial planning, environmental impact assessment, vulnerability and risk analysis, marine protected areas management, payments for ecosystem services, and natural resources management. We conducted a systematic search of articles (n = 64) from which information on the 17 variables and their alternatives was retrieved. We assessed gaps using similarity matrices, according to the co-occurrence index. The largest gaps (as measured by average distances >0.5 between actual and best options) occurred in articles reporting natural resources management as purpose, whereas the smallest were related to marine protected areas management and payments for ecosystem services. The gaps were due to departures in different individual variables. For example, in the case of marine spatial planning the omission of tradeoffs, scenario analysis, multiple scales, and threshold analyses explained the gap, whereas in vulnerability and risk assessment the omission of thresholds, the lack of consistency of the indicators used, and the absence of a definition of ESs explained the gap. We trust that this study will help to recognize that ESs mapping studies should be guided by the purpose of a given intervention rather than by the technical capacities and disciplines of the researchers, if the ESs approach expects to reach a real impact into public policiesLN, G.C, X.V and F.B were funded by CONICYT Chile through FONDAP Grant 15150003; MDS was funded by Fondecyt 1130580. MDS and MF received funding from Fondecyt 1171603 grants and ICM grant CCM – RC130004 from Ministerio de Economía, Fomento y Turismo (Chilean Government). SV acknowledges the financial support of the European COST Action “Ocean Governance for Sustainability - challenges, options and the role of science”, the ICES Science Fund Project “Social Transformations of Marine Social-Ecological Systems”, and the CYTED program for the ECOMAR NetworkPeer reviewe