Are amphipods influenced by Posidonia oceanica seagrass features?

In the Mediterranean Sea, the seagrass Posidonia oceanica plays an important role as habitat for invertebrates, among which amphipod crustaceans represent a dense and diverse assemblage. Recent studies have observed that amphipod density and biomass vary significantly on small spatial scales. This patchiness may be caused by different factors, such as recruitment, competition, and predation; however, habitat features, resulting in availability of resources such as food or shelter, may also be important in structuring these assemblages. This study examined the relationships between amphipod and habitat features in a P. oceanica meadow of the Revellata Bay (Corsica). The sampling was carried out in a continuous meadow colonizing soft substrates at constant depth in August 2008. We quantified the density and biomass of each amphipod species, as well as habitat features, namely shoot density, leaf and epiphyte biomasses, percentage of leaves per shoot having alteration marks and litter biomass. Using multiple regression analyses, few weak significant relationships were identified between amphipod and habitat features. The number of species and the diversity appeared unaffected by the measured habitat features. In contrast, total amphipod density and biomass were generally positively related to the shoot density and epiphyte biomass of P. oceanica, respectively. Overall, habitat features accounted for 0-30% of the variation in the densities of the amphipod species. A distance-based linear model explained a total of 25.8% of the variation of the amphipod assemblages (of which 18.6% was explained by litter biomass). Amphipods are therefore influenced by some P. oceanica features, but only weakly. Furthermore, some features appeared to influence individual species whereas others functioned at the assemblage level. The main challenge remains in evaluating the scale at which these features act and the way in which they influence the structure of assemblages.