Soft-bottom macrobenthic communities of the coastal marine ecosystem of Chrysi Island (southeast coast of Crete, Greece).

Authors

Maria Maidanou, Giorgos Chatzigeorgiou, Panayota Koulouri

Published in

Biodiversity data journal. Volume 14. Pages e202544. Epub Jul 22, 2026.

Abstract

Chrysi Island, an area also including the island of Mikronisi, is located in the southeast of Crete (Greece, eastern Mediterranean). It is a protected ecosystem within the Natura 2000 network (GR4320003), renowned for its diverse marine environment. However, this coastal marine ecosystem, primarily influenced by strong hydrodynamism and characterised by oligotrophy, has never been studied before despite the presence of diverse habitats, such as subtidal rocky reefs associated with communities of macroalgae and sandy soft bottoms covered by Posidonia oceanica beds. Amongst the key biological components of this ecosystem, soft-bottom macrobenthic communities are important indicators of environmental stress and human-induced disturbances particularly in the Mediterranean biodiversity and climate-change hotspot.
The present study investigates for the first time the shallow marine environment surrounding the islands of Chrysi and Mikronisi focusing on composition, diversity and distribution patterns of macrobenthic communities inhabiting the sandy soft-bottom sediments, aiming to address one of the important knowledge gaps of the study area. The outcomes of this study are expected to support ongoing conservation efforts and contribute to informed management strategies for safeguarding this coastal marine ecosystem.A total of eleven sampling stations were established around Chrysi and Mikronisi islands, covering depths ranging from approximately 10 to 30 m and soft substrates consisting mainly of 60 to 90% coarse sand (Koulouri et al. 2023). Sampling was conducted during the spring of 2023 (from 04-23 to 05-01) and funded by the Region of Crete (sub-regional Unit of Lasithi). Soft-bottom sediment samples were collected using standardised benthic sampling procedures and subsequently processed for macrobenthic analysis.All organisms retained were identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level. In total, 588 individuals were recorded, representing 80 distinct taxa distributed across five major macrobenthic groups: the phyla Annelida, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Echinodermata and a group categorised as "Others". Amongst these, the class of Malacostraca of the phylum Arthropoda emerged as the most abundant and dominant group across all sampling stations.

PMID:
42534764
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 31 Jul 2026.

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