Sandy bottoms have limited species richness but substantially contribute to the regional coastal fish β-diversity: A case study of the Central Mediterranean Sea
{"title":"Sandy bottoms have limited species richness but substantially contribute to the regional coastal fish β-diversity: A case study of the Central Mediterranean Sea","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106701","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Global marine biodiversity loss impairs entire ecosystems and their stability. Robust biodiversity estimates are key to inform policies and management strategies, and need to consider the contribution of diverse habitats, including those for which estimates of biodiversity are scattered or totally absent. This study assessed the fish diversity associated with three main coastal habitats (rocky bottoms, <em>Posidonia oceanica</em> meadows, sandy bottoms), and their role in shaping the overall coastal fish diversity, also in relation to potential environmental and anthropogenic drivers affecting patterns of fish diversity in coastal areas. Using underwater visual census, we sampled 62 sites distributed on the three habitats, for a total of 496 replicates. We assessed the contribution of each habitat to β-diversity, divided into Local Contribution to β-diversity (LCBD), a comparative indicator of the contributions to β-diversity of each habitat, and Species Contribution to β-diversity (SCBD), which measures the relative importance of each species in affecting β-diversity. Finally, we modelled species diversity in relation to potential environmental and anthropogenic drivers. Overall, 72 species were recorded, with the highest species richness observed on rocky bottoms (56 species, 16 unique to this habitat), followed by <em>P. oceanica</em> (38 species, 0 unique) and sandy bottoms (32 species, 14 unique). Sandy bottom assemblages had a significantly higher contribution to LCBD than <em>P. oceanica</em> meadows and rocky bottoms, and two of the five species with the highest contribution to SCBD are exclusively associated with sandy bottoms. Finally, sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity, and habitat were highlighted as significant predictors of species richness. Our findings, aside from highlighting the environmental drivers of coastal fish diversity in the Mediterranean Sea, unravel the potential key role of sandy bottoms in contributing to overall coastal fish diversity and can inform conservation planning.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18204,"journal":{"name":"Marine environmental research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141113624003623/pdfft?md5=009e3f9b845cef9d8be3b696724d8c11&pid=1-s2.0-S0141113624003623-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Marine environmental research","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141113624003623","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Global marine biodiversity loss impairs entire ecosystems and their stability. Robust biodiversity estimates are key to inform policies and management strategies, and need to consider the contribution of diverse habitats, including those for which estimates of biodiversity are scattered or totally absent. This study assessed the fish diversity associated with three main coastal habitats (rocky bottoms, Posidonia oceanica meadows, sandy bottoms), and their role in shaping the overall coastal fish diversity, also in relation to potential environmental and anthropogenic drivers affecting patterns of fish diversity in coastal areas. Using underwater visual census, we sampled 62 sites distributed on the three habitats, for a total of 496 replicates. We assessed the contribution of each habitat to β-diversity, divided into Local Contribution to β-diversity (LCBD), a comparative indicator of the contributions to β-diversity of each habitat, and Species Contribution to β-diversity (SCBD), which measures the relative importance of each species in affecting β-diversity. Finally, we modelled species diversity in relation to potential environmental and anthropogenic drivers. Overall, 72 species were recorded, with the highest species richness observed on rocky bottoms (56 species, 16 unique to this habitat), followed by P. oceanica (38 species, 0 unique) and sandy bottoms (32 species, 14 unique). Sandy bottom assemblages had a significantly higher contribution to LCBD than P. oceanica meadows and rocky bottoms, and two of the five species with the highest contribution to SCBD are exclusively associated with sandy bottoms. Finally, sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity, and habitat were highlighted as significant predictors of species richness. Our findings, aside from highlighting the environmental drivers of coastal fish diversity in the Mediterranean Sea, unravel the potential key role of sandy bottoms in contributing to overall coastal fish diversity and can inform conservation planning.
期刊介绍:
Marine Environmental Research publishes original research papers on chemical, physical, and biological interactions in the oceans and coastal waters. The journal serves as a forum for new information on biology, chemistry, and toxicology and syntheses that advance understanding of marine environmental processes.
Submission of multidisciplinary studies is encouraged. Studies that utilize experimental approaches to clarify the roles of anthropogenic and natural causes of changes in marine ecosystems are especially welcome, as are those studies that represent new developments of a theoretical or conceptual aspect of marine science. All papers published in this journal are reviewed by qualified peers prior to acceptance and publication. Examples of topics considered to be appropriate for the journal include, but are not limited to, the following:
– The extent, persistence, and consequences of change and the recovery from such change in natural marine systems
– The biochemical, physiological, and ecological consequences of contaminants to marine organisms and ecosystems
– The biogeochemistry of naturally occurring and anthropogenic substances
– Models that describe and predict the above processes
– Monitoring studies, to the extent that their results provide new information on functional processes
– Methodological papers describing improved quantitative techniques for the marine sciences.