Temporal Changes in Mollusk and Polychaete Communities in the Soft Bottom of Cullera Bay (Western Mediterranean)

Abstract This study identifies the most abundant and significant species—from an ecological point of view—in the soft bottom of Cullera Bay (Spain) in order to study the seasonal (summer–winter) variations in the local communities of polychaete annelids and bivalve mollusks. This paper presents the results of the analysis of samples taken during two field campaigns (July 2002 and February 2003) of a series of five campaigns carried out in 2002 and 2003. For these field observations, twelve sampling stations were set up in the bay along three transects. At these stations, macrobenthos was collected using a Ponar grab. Only polychaete annelids and bivalve mollusks were selected from the sampl…