Open AccessAbundance Estimation Of Gigartina Canaliculata Harvey, In San Quintin Bay, Baja California, Mexico
Author(s) -
G. Ballesteros-Grijalva,
G. Chauvet-Allard,
E. Durazo-Beltrán
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ciencias marinas
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.215
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 2395-9053
pISSN - 0185-3880
DOI - 10.7773/cm.v17i2.792
Subject(s) - bay , dry weight , upwelling , biomass (ecology) , zoology , homogeneous , dry season , frond , abundance (ecology) , biology , environmental science , geography , horticulture , botany , oceanography , ecology , mathematics , geology , combinatorics
Bimonthly samplings were carried out from March 1987 to January 1988 in San Quintín Bay, B.C., in order to determine the abundance of the alga Gigartina canaliculata Harvey (Bhodophyceae-Gigartinales). The highest biomass values obtained, expressed in dry weight, were 475 + 49 g/m2 in May, 545 ±88 g/m2 in July and 377 ± 47 g/m2 in September. Extrapolated to the total area of 400,000 m2, this represents 190 ± 19 tons, 218 ± 35 tons and 150 ± 19 tons, respectively. The lowest biomass value obtained was 120 ± 35 g/m2 in January, which extrapolated to the 400,000 m2, represents 48 ± 5.2 tons. The upwelling events that occur in San Quintín Bay at the end of spring and beginning of summer (Dawson, 1951; Alvarez-Borrego and Alvarez-Borrego, 1982) coincided with the highest biomass values recorded. The functional relation of wet weight versus dry weight had a regression coefficient r = 0.94 and was expressed by the equation y = 1.75 + 0.19 x. Sexual reproduction was maximum from September to January with 95% of the cystocarpic plants and minimum in May with 50%. The minimum reproduction in May and the highest percentage of sexually mature plants found during the autumn-winter season indicate a shift in the life cycle of G. canaliculata, caused in tum by a shift in seawater temperature which is controlled by upwelling events. The plants presented a quasi-homogeneous growth throughout the year (% proteins/% carbohydrates), with a growth index of 0.22-0.29 (0.29 corresponding to March).