[Structure and bioassessment of benthic communities of a lagoonal ecosystem of the Atlantic Moroccan coast].

The Merja Zerga lagoon is a semi-enclosed marine ecosystem in which various types of human activities have been developed. This paper characterizes the biosedimentary units of the lagoon and defines a reference status of the quality and health of the macrozoobenthic communities that can be used as bioindicators of the quality of the global marine environment. Specific and functional diversity were high: 147 taxa were identified; they were distributed within seven main trophic groups.