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Multivariate substrate characterization: The case of shellfish harvesting areas in the Rías Altas (north‐west Iberian Peninsula)
Author(s) -
CerdeiraArias JosÉ Daniel,
Otero Jaime,
ÁlvarezSalgado XosÉ AntÓn,
Mena RodrÍguez Anxo,
Nombela Miguel Ángel
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
sedimentology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.494
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1365-3091
pISSN - 0037-0746
DOI - 10.1111/sed.12799
Subject(s) - intertidal zone , principal component analysis , ordination , multivariate statistics , geology , peninsula , inlet , substrate (aquarium) , carbonate , oceanography , mineralogy , physical geography , geography , ecology , archaeology , chemistry , biology , mathematics , statistics , organic chemistry
The productivity of intertidal shellfish banks is affected by a wide variety of environmental parameters. In this study, a battery of multivariate analyses including generalized linear mixed models, hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis were performed to define the spatial organization of sandbanks and to identify the variables driving the grouping. Grain‐size distribution and calcium carbonate, organic matter, Si and Al oxides, and trace metals content were the variables used to characterize the intertidal sediments. Field data were collected through the upper 50 cm in 57 sites located in shellfish sandbanks from five coastal inlets of the western Cantabrian coast (Rías Altas, north‐west Iberian Peninsula). Generalized linear mixed models showed that hardly any variable differed with core depth, and the hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis revealed that the banks organized around four clusters. This grouping was dictated by the influence of the imprint of the Cabo Ortegal complex material (with high levels of MgO, Mn, Cr, Ni, V and Fe 2 O 3 ) or by the imprint of the Ollo de Sapo and Manto de Mondoñedo (high levels of SiO 2 , Rb, K 2 O and Ba). The multivariate analysis also separated the sandbanks with higher terrestrial influence in the inner part of the inlets (high levels of Al 2 O 3 , Zn, Ba and TiO 2 ) from those with higher marine influence, which were located in the outer part (high levels of Sr, CaO and CaCO 3 ). Furthermore, it was observed that both axes of main ordination were related to the annual average concentration of chlorophyll‐ a and inorganic nitrogen in the water column above those sediments, highlighting the interdependence between chemical composition of the overlying water and sediments’ characteristics. This approach, combining parametric models and multivariate analyses of textural and geochemical sediment composition data, proved to be useful for characterizing intertidal substrates where shellfish species live.