scholarly journals Macroalgal vegetation on a north European artificial reef (Loch Linnhe, Scotland): biodiversity, community types and role of abiotic factors

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 1353-1363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Tsiamis ◽  
Maria Salomidi ◽  
Vasilis Gerakaris ◽  
Andrew O. M. Mogg ◽  
Elizabeth S. Porter ◽  
...  

AbstractVery little is known about the marine macroalgae of artificial reefs—especially in the North Atlantic—despite the growing number and extent of man-made structures in the sea, and even though seaweed communities have paramount importance as primary producers, but also as feeding, reproductive and nursery grounds in coastal ecosystems. This paper explores the macroalgal diversity of a large system of artificial reefs in Loch Linnhe, on the west coast of Scotland, in a quantitative and qualitative study based on diving surveys and correlates the observations with the prevalent abiotic factors. The study was conducted in order to test the hypothesis that artificial reefs can enhance seaweed habitats—in particular, for kelps—and that there is a clear correlation with substrate type. While the reef is home to a large range of biota and abundance of early-successional species of turf and bushy macroalgae, totalling 56 taxa and with Delesseria sanguinea as the dominant species, canopy-forming perennial kelp species are conspicuously relatively rare. Macroalgal vegetation is explored in correlation with reef geometry/geography and depth. Statistical analysis shows benthic communities were strongly affected by substrate type, with turf algae and invertebrates dominating the artificial reefs, while bushy algae dominate the natural ones. Common macroinvertebrates associated with the phytobenthic communities are assessed qualitatively.

Author(s):  
Alistair Becker ◽  
Michael B Lowry ◽  
D Stewart Fielder ◽  
Matthew D Taylor

Fisheries enhancement initiatives including marine stocking and artificial reef deployments are becoming increasingly common in many parts of the world. Combining the two by releasing hatchery reared fish onto artificial reefs is used in sea-ranching operations but is an approach rarely adopted for recreational fisheries. Yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi) form a valuable recreational fishery in Australia and in 2018 a pilot stocking program was initiated to enhance this fishery. Fish were released onto estuarine artificial reefs in Botany Bay to evaluate if estuarine artificial reefs are suitable release habitat for juvenile yellowtail kingfish and to monitor their dispersal patterns using acoustic telemetry and a tag-recapture program. Both approaches showed similar patterns, indicating juvenile yellowtail kingfish rapidly dispersed from the release location and can travel at least 60 km during their first weeks in the wild. Twenty percent of the acoustically tagged fish entered nearby estuaries to the north and south and tagged fish were also recaptured in these estuaries, indicating that the estuaries provide habitat for juveniles. There was little interaction between stocked fish and two large coastal artificial reefs positioned near Botany Bay. Stocked yellowtail kingfish will likely disperse rapidly from release locations which is consistent with their pelagic life history. While this may present challenges to fisheries managers, increasing release numbers to maintain stocking densities over a broader area may provide a solution. Future releases of fish on coastal natural and artificial reefs are an important next step in refining stocking practices for this species and will help further identify key juvenile habitats.


2011 ◽  
Vol 92 (6) ◽  
pp. 1289-1299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilana Rosental Zalmon ◽  
Catarina Dalvi Boina ◽  
T.C.M. Almeida

There have been many efforts to appraise the extent to which artificial reefs affect the surrounding community, but few studies addressed whether benthic assemblages change with distance from the reef. We experimentally assessed the relationship between infauna abundance and richness with increased distance (0, 5, 25, 50, 100 and 300 m) from reefballs deployed on a flat and homogeneous bottom, 9-m deep, on the north coast of Rio de Janeiro, south-eastern Brazil. Benthic taxon richness and abundance varied significantly between surveys with higher values in February 2007. Both numerical indicators changed similarly with distance, but more noticeably between 300 m and the other distance treatments where abundance was highest. A non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination revealed that macrobenthic assemblages were very heterogeneous with significant differences between surveys but not among sampling distances. A canonical correspondence analysis including species, distances and sediment variables showed that the distances 5, 25 and 100 m were related to organic matter and mud (fine sediment), while 0 and 300 m distances were more related to the non-organic variables, such as the percentage of gravel, sand and calcium carbonate. Spatial variations in the parameters of the sediment alone did not explain the distribution of the associated infauna, given the similarity of the community at different distances. It is suggested that the influence of artificial reefs is quickly dissipated due to strong bottom sea currents, indicating a reduced impact or influence of these reefs on the surrounding infauna.


Author(s):  
Svetlana V. Malavenda

The spatial and species structure of fucus algae communities in littoral phytocenoses of Eastern Murmansk is studied. This is the North-Eastern border of Fucus communities. 87 species of macrophyte algae were identified in the communities. The variation of species diversity as an indicator of community structure is determined depending on the leading abiotic factors – salinity, surf content, and substrate type. The species diversity of macrophyte algae in the littoral of the Eastern Murmansk is determined primarily by surf activity. Under similar hydrological conditions, soil features determine the density of thickets and, consequently, the number of species found in a single sample. Salinity fluctuations at which it drops below 15‰ are critical for most species and fundamentally change the structure of communities. The highest values of the indices of species diversity were observed in the littoral areas of the coast that are poorly protected from the surf.


2007 ◽  
pp. 13-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. K. Yurkovskaya

I have focused only on some features of structure in the taiga vegetation cover. In conclusion I would like to tell some words about the causes of complicated space structure of the taiga and tundra vegetation cover. The causes of latitudinal differentiation are climatic undoubtedly, but heterogeneity of vegetation cover within the limits of tundra and taiga subzones is accounted for different factors. In tundra abiogenic factors prevail, first of all the permafrost processes. That is the reason why tundra vegetation cover is so sensible to any disturbances and so hard regenerates after various transformations. In taiga the space structure is mostly the result of self-regulation and self- restoration of biota. The abiotic factors, certainly, play significant role, but they recede to the second plan. So we showed that in the north and middle taiga the structure of vegetation cover, during the Holocene up to present time, is determined in many respects by the increasing role of mires. Suffice it to look at the map of distribution of mires in order to estimate their role in vegetation cover of the easteuropean taiga (Yurkovskaya, 1980). So, the increase of mire area on the Russian Plain in m2/year per 1000 ha varies between 200 and 700, the average increas is ca 300—400 m2/year (Elina et all., 2000). The mires favour peniplenization and unite the separate areas of forest communities into the whole by means of forming the buffer paludificated territories (various hydrophilous variants of forest communities). But if mires, at all their stability, after destroying practically don't restore, the forests even after continuous cuttings restore their structure and composition through the series of successional stages unless an ecotope is damaged completely. Hence the space structure of taiga is the result, first of all, self development and self regulation of its vegetation cover. But, as it is known, at present time the process of destruction of natural biota has gone too far that the question arises not only about supporting its state and structure but also about the survival of the mankind itself. In this regard the vegetation map of Europe is the invaluable basis, which gives the starting point for all conservational, ecological and economical measures. But it is important to learn reading and using the map. And this is one of our actual goals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 213 ◽  
pp. 105854
Author(s):  
Bianca Reis ◽  
Pieter van der Linden ◽  
Isabel Sousa Pinto ◽  
Emanuel Almada ◽  
Maria Teresa Borges ◽  
...  

1988 ◽  
Vol 1 (21) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Toru Sawaragi ◽  
Ichiro Deguchi ◽  
San-Kil Park

A wave overtopping rate from a sea dike of various toe depths is formulated based on a weir model in an unidirectional flow. To evaluated the wave overtopping rate from a seadike on an artificial reef by the weir model, a numerical procedure for predicting wave transformations including the effect of forced wave breaking on the reef is constructed. After confirming the applicability of the model through experiments with regular and irregular waves, the effect of artificial reef on wave overtopping is discussed. So-called individual wave analysis method is shown to he applicable to the wave overtopping caused by irregular waves.


Rodriguésia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Martín Costas ◽  
Norma Canton ◽  
Juan Manuel Rodríguez

Abstract The altitudinal patterns of lichen communities in altitudinal gradients are very variable. The changes that occur along the mountains depend on climatic factors but also on microsite variables such as substrate type and aspect. The effect of altitude and aspect on richness, cover and composition of saxicolous lichens communities along an elevation gradient in extra Andean mountains from the central-west of Argentina was studied. Rock outcrops on the north and south aspect of three mountain summits distributed between 2,500 and 4,500 m.a.s.l. were sampled. Lichen species present in a 20 × 20 cm square were identified and the relative cover was measured using digital photography. Richness, cover and composition were analyzed through linear models and multivariate analysis. Fifty-eight saxicolous lichen species were identified between the three sites. Richness and cover were maximum at middle altitude. Also compositional differences among communities of each mountain summit were found. Finally, the effect of the aspect was significant at lower altitudes for cover and composition.


Author(s):  
Robert Y. George ◽  
Robert J. Menzies

SynopsisIn this paper the subject of faunal zonation in the ocean floor from the intertidal, and over the continental shelf, slope and rise and to the abyssal plain is examined on the basis of faunal change at the generic and species level. The region investigated over a period of five years aboard R/V Eastward is a Beaufort-Bermuda transect, approximately 75 kilometres wide and 500 kilometres long and bounded between 32° and 36°N latitude and 64° and 79°W longitude. A new method, involving numerical indices reflecting changes in the composition of taxa, endemism and diversity between adjacent depth levels, was developed for defining faunal boundaries. Isotherms and isobaths utilised by earlier authors for characterising deep-sea boundary on a global scale do not coincide with natural faunal boundaries. This study analyses the vertical distribution of 128 species of isopod crustaceans and 28 species of large epibenthic invertebrates. The zonation patterns seem to correspond with correlations in environmental conditions such as currents, topography and sediments.We suggest four major vertical faunal provinces, characterised at the generic level, namely (1) the Intertidal Faunal Province; (2) the Shelf Faunal Province; (3) the Archibenthal Zone of Transition; and (4) the Abyssal Faunal Province and internal zones within these characterised at the species level. The main aspects of interest include the presence of a narrow ‘meso abyssal zone’ with a species maximum, the demonstration of the true transitional nature of the Archibenthal Zone in biotic and abiotic factors and the characteristic low-biomass Red Clay environment showing definite faunal isolation from the continental margin.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Åse Hestnes ◽  
Deta Gasser ◽  
Thomas Scheiber ◽  
Joachim Jacobs ◽  
Anna K. Ksienzyk ◽  
...  

<p>Brittle fracture and fault networks control the location of topographic features such as valleys and ridges and active faulting can lead to topographic rejuvenation. In Western Norway, however, it is debated how much faulting has contributed to rejuvenating of the topography during the late Mesozoic and Cenozoic. Geometric and temporal constraints on the brittle evolution are therefore important to obtain a comprehensive picture of the post-Caledonian topographic evolution of this region. In this study, we combine remote sensing, structural field measurements, paleo-stress analysis and isotopic dating to study the brittle evolution of a larger region of Western Norway. The region spans from the Sognefjord in the south to the Møre margin in the north. Lineament studies reveal important lineament sets trending N-S, NE-SW, E-W and NW-SE. Field observations show that these lineament sets correspond to both dip-slip and strike-slip faults, some of them parallel to ductile precursor structures and some cutting the ductile fabric. Epidote, chlorite, quartz and zeolite are the dominant mineralizations on fracture and fault surfaces. There is no clear correlation between the type of mineralization and fracture orientation in the region. Paleostress analysis on fault-slip data (n = 173), including faults reactivating older structures, show a good fit with a general E-W extensional regime. However, a considerable amount of faults (n = 115) formed under a strike-slip regime, which has so far not been documented in the region. We combine these findings with K-Ar fault gouge dating from six faults where five fractions (6-10 µm, 2-6 µm, 0.4-2 µm, 0.1-0.4 µm, <0.1µm) from each sample were analysed. These faults represent two of the four fracture sets observed, trending N-S and NE-SW, respectively, and show either strike-slip or dip-slip kinematics. XRD-data from these gouges show that K-feldspar and smectite are the main sources of potassium. The ages show a spread from the Triassic to the Cretaceous, where older ages can be affected by K-feldspar inherited from the host rock. Our results point to an important phase of Mesozoic strike-slip faulting in the region, with steep faults controlling the location of several major valleys. Extensional dip-slip faults might have contributed to the rejuvenation of the footwall topography.</p>


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