Secondary engineering of rhodolith beds by the sand tilefish Malacanthus plumieri generates distinctive habitats for benthic macroinvertebrates and fish

IF 3 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION Biodiversity and Conservation Pub Date : 2024-03-21 DOI:10.1007/s10531-024-02821-0

{"title":"Secondary engineering of rhodolith beds by the sand tilefish Malacanthus plumieri generates distinctive habitats for benthic macroinvertebrates and fish","authors":"","doi":"10.1007/s10531-024-02821-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Abstract</h3> Whilst the importance of foundation species for biodiversity conservation has been largely acknowledged (e.g., coral and bivalve reefs, seagrass, kelp and rhodolith beds), the role of their associated species as secondary habitat engineers has just begun to be appreciated. Here, we evaluated whether secondary engineering of rhodolith beds by the sand tilefish Malacanthus plumieri influences the composition and β-diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates and reef fish assemblages. Our findings indicate that, by selecting, relocating, and rearranging rhodoliths into mounds, M. plumieri creates a distinctive habitat for macroinvertebrates and fishes. M. plumieri mounds increase fish abundance by 57% in rhodolith beds, with an 82% species turnover rate between mounds and non-mounded areas. In contrast, the macroinvertebrates in M. plumieri mounds are largely a subset of the species from non-mounded areas, with an 86% species nestedness rate. Despite decreasing the abundance of macroinvertebrates in the mounds by half, M. plumieri increases the heterogeneity and structural complexity of rhodolith beds, affecting the composition of associated fish assemblage at a larger spatial scale. Our results suggest that, by increasing the structural complexity of rhodolith beds and shaping their associated biodiversity, the abundance of M. plumieri mounds could be a useful proxy to define priority areas for conservation across the South Atlantic rhodolith beds, especially in the light of ongoing impacts related to offshore oil exploitation, overfishing and carbonate mining.","PeriodicalId":8843,"journal":{"name":"Biodiversity and Conservation","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biodiversity and Conservation","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-024-02821-0","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Whilst the importance of foundation species for biodiversity conservation has been largely acknowledged (e.g., coral and bivalve reefs, seagrass, kelp and rhodolith beds), the role of their associated species as secondary habitat engineers has just begun to be appreciated. Here, we evaluated whether secondary engineering of rhodolith beds by the sand tilefish Malacanthus plumieri influences the composition and β-diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates and reef fish assemblages. Our findings indicate that, by selecting, relocating, and rearranging rhodoliths into mounds, M. plumieri creates a distinctive habitat for macroinvertebrates and fishes. M. plumieri mounds increase fish abundance by 57% in rhodolith beds, with an 82% species turnover rate between mounds and non-mounded areas. In contrast, the macroinvertebrates in M. plumieri mounds are largely a subset of the species from non-mounded areas, with an 86% species nestedness rate. Despite decreasing the abundance of macroinvertebrates in the mounds by half, M. plumieri increases the heterogeneity and structural complexity of rhodolith beds, affecting the composition of associated fish assemblage at a larger spatial scale. Our results suggest that, by increasing the structural complexity of rhodolith beds and shaping their associated biodiversity, the abundance of M. plumieri mounds could be a useful proxy to define priority areas for conservation across the South Atlantic rhodolith beds, especially in the light of ongoing impacts related to offshore oil exploitation, overfishing and carbonate mining.

查看原文

微信好友朋友圈 QQ好友复制链接

本刊更多论文

沙瓦鱼（Malacanthus plumieri）对菱形石床的二次工程为底栖大型无脊椎动物和鱼类创造了独特的栖息地

摘要虽然基础物种（如珊瑚礁和双壳珊瑚礁、海草、海带和菱形石床）对生物多样性保护的重要性已得到广泛认可，但其相关物种作为次生生境工程的作用才刚刚开始受到重视。在这里，我们评估了沙瓦鱼（Malacanthus plumieri）对菱形石床的二次工程是否会影响底栖大型无脊椎动物和珊瑚鱼群的组成和β-多样性。我们的研究结果表明，通过选择、迁移和重新排列菱形石形成石堆，M. plumieri 为大型无脊椎动物和鱼类创造了一个独特的栖息地。在菱锰矿石堆中，鱼类的数量增加了 57%，而在菱锰矿石堆与非菱锰矿石堆区域之间，鱼类的物种更替率高达 82%。相比之下，M. plumieri土墩中的大型无脊椎动物基本上是非土墩区域物种的子集，物种嵌套率为86%。尽管丘中大型无脊椎动物的丰度减少了一半，但梅花虫增加了菱铁矿床的异质性和结构复杂性，在更大的空间尺度上影响了相关鱼类的组成。我们的研究结果表明，通过增加菱锰矿石床的结构复杂性并塑造其相关的生物多样性，菱锰矿石堆的丰度可以成为确定南大西洋菱锰矿石床优先保护区域的有用替代物，特别是考虑到与近海石油开采、过度捕捞和碳酸盐开采相关的持续影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文去求助

来源期刊

Biodiversity and Conservation 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

6.20

自引率

5.90%

发文量

153

审稿时长

9-18 weeks

期刊介绍： Biodiversity and Conservation is an international journal that publishes articles on all aspects of biological diversity-its description, analysis and conservation, and its controlled rational use by humankind. The scope of Biodiversity and Conservation is wide and multidisciplinary, and embraces all life-forms. The journal presents research papers, as well as editorials, comments and research notes on biodiversity and conservation, and contributions dealing with the practicalities of conservation management, economic, social and political issues. The journal provides a forum for examining conflicts between sustainable development and human dependence on biodiversity in agriculture, environmental management and biotechnology, and encourages contributions from developing countries to promote broad global perspectives on matters of biodiversity and conservation.