Macrofauna as a model for assessing the effects of coastal urbanization on sandy beaches: a case study in Baixada Santista, SP
The sandy beaches ecossystems is subject to a lot of anthropogenic pressures resulting from urbanization, which can disturb the fauna and modify community structure. Urbanization occurs at different levels along the coast and its impact on the community may vary depending on this. Some pressures resulting from urbanization, such as trampling and artificial lighting, are common on urbanized beaches, but still require further studies. In this context, we conducted an assessment of the structure of benthic macrofauna communities along an urbanization gradient in Baixada Santista and examined the effect of different intensities and frequencies of trampling on macrofauna. We also investigated the effect of artificial lighting and trampling on the macrofauna community. Our results indicate that less urbanized beaches have higher species richness and abundance than highly urbanized beaches, and the composition of the fauna varies between these categories. Additionally, while trampling frequency reduces species abundance and richness, intensity has the opposite effect on richness, and the interaction between factors negatively affects crustaceans but benefits polychaetes when trampling frequency increases.