Mateus, M. Caracterização das comunidades de macrofauna epibentónica do Estuário do Rio Arade". MSc Thesis Marine Biology. University of Algarve.64p.

The present work had as the objective the characterization of the communities of epibentónic macroinvertebrates of the estuary of the River Arade, in terms of its specific composition, special and seasonal variation and, structure and dynamics of the communities, analyzing the relation between the distribution of the communities and the estuarine ambient parameters. The sampling period was extended since January of 2004 to April of 2005, to get an annual characterization of the communities. In the totality of the samplings 88111 individuals were captured and 228 taxa had been identified. The specie Crangon crangon dominated the abundance and the occurrence frequency, however, the biomass was dominated by the specie Microcosmus exasperatus. Throughout the Estuary a community structure was observed, being A2 zone (main canal) dominant in diversity. For the opposite, the zone of PnVinf (saltmarsh) was presented as poorest in all aspects. The organization of the communities showed a relation with the factors salinity and depth. It was observed seasonal variation existing differences between Winter - Summer and Spring ? Autumn.The use of the ABC method did not show results able to be interpreted. The continuity of this study is necessary in order to be able to evaluate more correctely the temporal component and to minimize the errors observed in some of the sampling methods. Key-words: epibentónicos macroinvertebrates, estuarinos estruturação of the communities, ecosystems, Estuary of the River Arade.