Mollusc diversity associated with the non-indigenous macroalga Asparagopsis armata Harvey, 1855 along the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula

The aims of this study were to explore mollusc assemblages associated with the non-indigenous macroalga Asparagopsis armata, to compare them with those on other macroalgae at the study region and to explore potential differences on mollusc assemblages between two regions in the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, where A. armata is present. To achieve this, at each region, four intertidal shores were sampled. Twenty-nine mollusc species were reported and thus, A. armata harboured similar or higher diversity than other annual macroalgae in this area. When compared with perennial macroalgae, results depend on the species and studied area. Moreover, significant differences in structure of mollusc assemblages between the two studied regions were found. However, these were due to differences in the relative abundance of species rather than the presence of exclusive species at each region. © 2018 Elsevier

We would like to thank the great support of Dr. Juan Moreira (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain) during sampling at the centre and south of Portugal and his critical comments on the first draft of this manuscript. We are also grateful to two anonymous referees for helpful comments and suggestions, which greatly improved this paper. This research was partially supported by the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2013 through national funds provided by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) , in the framework of the programme PT2020. During this study, P. Veiga ( SFRH/BPD/81582/2011 ) and M. Rubal ( SFRH/BDP/104225/2014 ) were supported by postdoctoral grants awarded by Fundacão para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) . Appendix A