Proceedings of the Second Mediterranean Symposium on Marine

Padina pavonica and Halopteris scoparia species covered <strong>the</strong> open spaces. At stations
2 and 3 <strong>the</strong> bushy layer was <strong>the</strong> only important stratum <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> vegetation. In <strong>the</strong>se cases
<strong>the</strong> species Corallina elongata and Ulva rigida were dominant
The number <strong>of</strong> species per sampling ranged from 9 (September ’01 at Site 2) to 29
(March ’99 at Site 5). A statistically significant increase <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> total number <strong>of</strong> species
was noticed from <strong>the</strong> Inner Saronikos Gulf sampling sites (Site 1, Site 2 and Site 3)
towards <strong>the</strong> Outer Saronikos and S. Evoikos gulfs (Site 4, Site 5 and Site 6). Minimum
and maximum species numbers were found at Site 2 and 5, respectively (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3: Structural and functional indices variation in <strong>the</strong> studied stations. Statistical significant variations are
marked with **. H’=Shannon-Weaver index, J’=Pielou eveness index, EEI=Ecological Evaluation Index.
Coverage values per sampling ranged from 90% (June ’01, Site 6) to 342% (June ’99,
Site 5). Although <strong>the</strong>re is a trend <strong>of</strong> decrease in coverage values from <strong>the</strong> Inner Saronikos
towards <strong>the</strong> Outer Saronikos and S. Evoikos gulfs, no statistically significant differences
among <strong>the</strong> studied sites were found.
The values <strong>of</strong> H’ and J’ presented a similar pattern <strong>of</strong> variation: <strong>the</strong>y are decreasing from
Site 1 towards Site 4, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong>y are increasing towards Site 5 and finally <strong>the</strong>y decrease
ACTES DU DEUXIEME SYMPOSIUM MEDITERRANEEN SUR LA VEGETATION MARINE (ATHENES, 12-13 DECEMBRE 2003)
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