Integrative assessment of fish diversity in abalone raft culture areas of the Pingtan Sea, China, based on traditional fishing and eDNA metabarcoding

IF 3 2区生物学 Q1 MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY

Frontiers in Marine Science Pub Date : 2026-04-28 DOI:10.3389/fmars.2026.1806085

Chao Ma, Tongjin Wu, Yong Liu, Chunyan Xu, Zhidong Zhuang, Sunzhong Ye, Jiandi Cai

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

As offshore aquaculture expands globally, understanding how farming facilities integrate into and influence marine ecosystems is critical. This study evaluated the ecosystem functions of abalone raft culture in the Pingtan sea area, China, by employing an integrative framework that combined traditional sampling (gillnets and pots) with environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding. Surveys were conducted from March to August 2024 to compare fish diversity and community characteristics between a raft culture area (RA) and a control area (CA). Traditional surveys identified 35 fish species in the RA, significantly higher than the 27 species found in the CA. The dominant species in the RA were identified as Sebastiscus marmoratus and Siganus fuscescens. In the RA, both the Margalef richness (2.326) and Shannon-Wiener diversity (1.853) indices were significantly higher than those in the CA ( P< 0.05), while the catch per unit effort (CPUE) for gillnets and pots increased by 25.7% and 33.0%, respectively. In parallel, eDNA metabarcoding detected 68 fish species across 12 orders and 41 families, successfully identifying key pelagic species such as Sardinella aurita and Clupanodon punctatus that were frequently missed by traditional gear. Alpha diversity analysis confirmed a significantly higher diversity level in the RA, and Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) revealed a profound separation in community structure between the two habitats ( P < 0.0001). These results demonstrate that abalone raft culture facilities significantly enhance fish diversity (as shown by eDNA and traditional surveys) and resource abundance (as indicated by higher CPUE in traditional surveys) by increasing habitat heterogeneity through physical structures and restructuring food webs via nutrient enrichment. These findings suggest that these facilities function as “de facto” artificial reefs, providing a scientific basis for the “aquaculture-ranching” integration model and offering a standardized monitoring paradigm for the ecological management of coastal aquaculture zones globally.

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基于传统捕捞和eDNA元条形码的平潭海鲍鱼筏养鱼区鱼类多样性综合评价

随着近海水产养殖在全球范围内的扩张，了解养殖设施如何融入并影响海洋生态系统至关重要。本研究采用传统取样（刺网和锅）与环境DNA元条形码相结合的综合框架，对平潭海域鲍鱼筏式养殖的生态系统功能进行了评价。于2024年3月至8月对筏式养殖区（RA）和对照区（CA）的鱼类多样性和群落特征进行了调查比较。传统调查共鉴定出35种鱼类，显著高于27种，其中优势种为marmoratus和fuscescens。湿地的Margalef丰富度指数（2.326）和Shannon-Wiener多样性指数（1.853）均显著高于湿地（P< 0.05），单位努力渔获量（CPUE）分别提高了25.7%和33.0%。与此同时，eDNA元条形码检测了41科12目68种鱼类，成功鉴定了传统渔具经常遗漏的关键远洋物种，如aurita沙丁鱼和Clupanodon punctatus。α多样性分析证实了RA的多样性水平显著高于其他生境，主坐标分析（PCoA）显示了两个生境在群落结构上的深刻差异（P < 0.0001）。这些结果表明，鲍鱼筏养殖设施通过物理结构增加生境异质性，通过营养富集重组食物网，显著提高了鱼类多样性（eDNA和传统调查显示）和资源丰度（传统调查显示较高的CPUE）。这些研究结果表明，这些设施具有“事实上”的人工鱼礁功能，为“养殖-牧场”一体化模式提供了科学依据，并为全球沿海水产养殖区的生态管理提供了标准化的监测范式。

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来源期刊

Frontiers in Marine Science Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Aquatic Science

CiteScore

5.10

自引率

16.20%

发文量

2443

审稿时长

14 weeks

期刊介绍： Frontiers in Marine Science publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research that advances our understanding of all aspects of the environment, biology, ecosystem functioning and human interactions with the oceans. Field Chief Editor Carlos M. Duarte at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Thuwal is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international researchers. This multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, policy makers and the public worldwide. With the human population predicted to reach 9 billion people by 2050, it is clear that traditional land resources will not suffice to meet the demand for food or energy, required to support high-quality livelihoods. As a result, the oceans are emerging as a source of untapped assets, with new innovative industries, such as aquaculture, marine biotechnology, marine energy and deep-sea mining growing rapidly under a new era characterized by rapid growth of a blue, ocean-based economy. The sustainability of the blue economy is closely dependent on our knowledge about how to mitigate the impacts of the multiple pressures on the ocean ecosystem associated with the increased scale and diversification of industry operations in the ocean and global human pressures on the environment. Therefore, Frontiers in Marine Science particularly welcomes the communication of research outcomes addressing ocean-based solutions for the emerging challenges, including improved forecasting and observational capacities, understanding biodiversity and ecosystem problems, locally and globally, effective management strategies to maintain ocean health, and an improved capacity to sustainably derive resources from the oceans.