Taxonomic richness and its relationship to the functional diversity of polychaetes in tropical estuaries

Abstract

Biological diversity can be evaluated by the taxonomic and functional components. This study aimed to assess the relationship between taxonomic richness with the functional diversity components [functional richness (FRic), functional evenness (FEve) and functional divergence (FDiv)] and the functional trait dominance of polychaetes. In addition, we evaluated the environmental parameters that shape the functional structure in six tropical estuaries in north-eastern Brazil. Three estuaries have a continuous environmental gradient (typical tropical), and the other three estuaries have no defined environmental gradient (semiarid tropical). We identified significant differences in the dominance of feeding strategy and habitat between estuaries, demonstrating that the functional space of the communities is not equally occupied. Also, the substrate particle size composition was correlated with the functional structure. FRic showed a positive relationship with taxonomic richness, regardless of the type of estuary. As taxonomic richness increases, the probability of different combinations of functional categories added to a community also increases. FEve and FDiv seem to be independent of taxonomic richness. Therefore, it is important to simultaneously evaluate diversity's taxonomic and functional components, considering the complementarity of the information provided by these diversity measures.