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¹ Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas

 For the Cuban littorals in the Caribbean Sea, information on benthic diatoms is scarce, and hitherto non-existent for natural protected areas. Thus, to describe the structure of benthic diatom associations (BDAs) from a marine protected area in Cuba, sediment samples were collected in Playa Las Gaviotas (Refugio de Vida Silvestre Cayo Santa María) during dry (November) and rainy (July) seasons. Diatoms were separated, mounted in synthetic resin and identified under light microscopy. Species diversity of the BDA was estimated using Shannon (H'), Simpson (1 - ?) and Pielou evenness (J') indices. We identified 354 taxa including 200 new records for Cuba; the nomenclature of 45 previously recorded taxa was updated. The currently recorded species richness of marine benthic diatoms for Cuba is 595. The most abundant taxa were Amphora cf. copulata, A. proteus, Diploneis smith var. pumila, Halamphora turgida, H. coffeiformis, Navicula zostereti, Nitzschia marginulata var. didyma and Psammodictyon panduriforme. The best-represented genus wasMastogloia with 70 taxa. Similarity values indicated homogeneous distribution of epipelic diatom taxa along the sandy bottom, suggesting a single diatom association. Mean values of H' ranged from 4.91 bit/taxon in November to 4.95 bit/taxon in July. Structure analysis suggests a stable BDA with high species diversity characteristic of productive, pristine environments.

Palabras clave: association structure; Bacillariophyceae; Caribbean Sea; floristics

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