Calderon, J.

Cornejo, M.d.P.

Degraer, S.

Santos, J.L.

Vanagt, T.

Vincx, M.

Wittoeck, J.

Open Marine Archive

EFFECTS OF EL NIÑO ON MACROBENTHIC COMMUNITIES FROM SANDY 
BEACHES IN ECUADOR: A RESEARCH PREVIEW 
Vanagt Thomas1, Jan Wittoeck1, Maria del Pilar Cornejo2, Jose Luis Santos2, Jorge 
Calderon3, Steven Degraer1 and Magda Vincx1
1 Ghent University (RUG), Biology Department, Marine Biology Section 
  Campus De Sterre, Krijgslaan 281/S8, B-9000 Gent, Belgium 
 E-mail: thomas.vanagt@rug.ac.be 
 
2 Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL), Facultad de Ingeniería Marítima y Ciencias del Mar 
 (FIMCM), Campus Gustavo Galindo, ,Km. 30.5 Via Perimetral, PO Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, , 
 Ecuador 
 
3 Centro Nacional de Acuicultura e Investigaciones Marinas (CENAIM), Campus Gustavo Galindo
 Km. 30.5 Via Perimetral, PO Box 09-01-4519, Guayaquil, Ecuador  
 
ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) is a well documented climatological phenomenon, 
composed of El Niño en La Niña, with a major impact on both human society and biological 
communities. An El Niño event is mainly characterised by a raise in temperature, 
accompanied by high precipitation and changes in the currents off the South-American west 
coast. The subsequent La Niña has opposite characteristics. Periodicity of ENSO ranges 
between 3 and 7 years. 
In 1994 an international network of universities and research institutes in Western South-
America, RIBEN, was established, with the purpose of investigating the influence of ENSO on 
biological communities. So far, the effects of ENSO on pelagic communities have drawn a lot 
of attention. Yet, evidence is accumulating that El Niño also has a strong influence on benthic 
communities. 
In this study, a link between ENSO and the macrobenthic communities of sandy beaches 
along the Ecuadorian coast will be investigated. Three beaches in Ecuador and one on the 
Galapagos Islands are being monitored both quantitatively and qualitatively during a 5-year 
period, started in 2000 and containing the current 2003 El Niño. Sampling takes place on a 
monthly basis with replicate sampling of a 0.1m² surface at low tide. This sampling strategy 
will allow us to follow the changes in densities of the macrobenthos over a whole ENSO-
cycle. 
An intensive monitoring of one beach over a period of 13 months, with bi-weekly replicate 
transect sampling, was performed in 2000-2001 and will be repeated in 2003 and 2005. 
The aim of this sampling strategy is to investigate in detail the community structure and the 
population dynamics of several important species with respect to short and medium long 
period fluctuations. 
In a second phase of the project, the trends and hypotheses found during the field campaigns 
will be tested accordingly with both in situ and mesocosmos experiments. 
 
 
Keywords: Macrobenthos; Sandy beaches; El Niño; Ecuador. 
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Effects of El Niño on macrobenthic communities from sandy beaches in Ecuador: a research preview

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