scholarly journals Estuarine Infauna Within Incidentally Retained Sediment in Artificial Rockpools

2022 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica R. Bone ◽  
Rick Stafford ◽  
Alice E. Hall ◽  
Ian Boyd ◽  
Nigel George ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Organic Matter Content ◽  
Assemblage Structure ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Rocky Shores ◽  
Benthic Assemblages ◽  
Benthic Species ◽  
Lower Shore ◽  
Flood Defence

Artificial coastal structures (ACSs) are primarily designed to provide services for human use, such as flood defence or shipping, and are generally poor for marine biodiversity. Consequently, there has been significant research effort to enhance these hard structures to increase biodiversity and habitat availability via eco-engineering. On seawalls and breakwaters, this has included the creation of habitats for benthic species found on natural rocky shores, including the provision of cracks, crevices and water retaining features, such as artificial rockpools. When sediment retention in these features has occurred, it has often been deemed detrimental to the overarching aim of the intervention. Yet, it is soft sediment habitat that is impacted the most through coastal construction. As ecological enhancement of a flood defence scheme, nine concrete retrofit rockpools were installed at three different tidal elevations between mean high water neap tide and mean tide level on steel sheet piling on the Arun Estuary in Littlehampton Harbour, United Kingdom, which naturally filled with mud 1 year after installation. To explore how analogous the faunal assemblages and sediment profile of rockpool mud were to two local mudflats, core samples were taken and analysed for species richness, abundance, biomass, assemblage structure, median grain size, and organic matter content. More benthic species were observed in the artificial rockpool than in the local mudflats. Although the rockpools were placed at higher tidal levels than the lower shore mudflat, their assemblage structure and species richness were more similar to the lower shore mudflat at the base of the sheet piling than the upper shore mudflat. This study demonstrates that retained sediment within eco-engineered features on hard ACSs can create habitat for benthic assemblages. Providing sediment-retentive features on ACSs has the potential to provide a novel eco-engineering option that may be appropriate for some heavily modified waterbodies on sheltered, depositional coasts.

Patterns Of Biodiversity In The Macro-Invertebrate Fauna Associated With Mussel Patches On Rocky Shores

1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Seed
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Rocky Shores ◽  
Invertebrate Fauna ◽  
Marine Mussels ◽  
High Species Richness ◽  
Global Patterns ◽  
Abundance And Diversity

Marine mussels are widely distributed and have been used extensively as environmental biomonitors. Communities associated with mussel patches have a high species richness but are typically dominated by a few very abundant species. These communities exhibit significant temporal and small-scale spatial variations in abundance and diversity which should be recognized when considering global patterns of marine biodiversity. Many of the species associated with tropical mussel beds are also represented by taxonomically and functionally equivalent species in mussel communities from temperate waters. The phenomenon of ‘parallel communities’ on rocky shores is thus apparently replicated on a finer spatial scale within mussel patches.

scholarly journals Mollusk Species Richness on the Rocky Shores of the State of Guerrero, Mexico, as Affected by Rains and Their Geographical Distribution

2012 ◽  
Vol 03 (04) ◽  
pp. 248-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flores-Rodríguez Pedro ◽  
Flores-Garza Rafael ◽  
García-Ibánez Sergio ◽  
Valdés-González Arcadio ◽  
Violante-González Juan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
The State ◽  
Rocky Shores ◽  
Mollusk Species

scholarly journals Global pattern of phytoplankton diversity driven by temperature and environmental variability

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. eaau6253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damiano Righetti ◽  
Meike Vogt ◽  
Nicolas Gruber ◽  
Achilleas Psomas ◽  
Niklaus E. Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Marine Phytoplankton ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Phytoplankton Species ◽  
Global Pattern ◽  
Phytoplankton Diversity ◽  
Biogeographic Patterns ◽  
Theoretical Predictions

Despite their importance to ocean productivity, global patterns of marine phytoplankton diversity remain poorly characterized. Although temperature is considered a key driver of general marine biodiversity, its specific role in phytoplankton diversity has remained unclear. We determined monthly phytoplankton species richness by using niche modeling and >540,000 global phytoplankton observations to predict biogeographic patterns of 536 phytoplankton species. Consistent with metabolic theory, phytoplankton richness in the tropics is about three times that in higher latitudes, with temperature being the most important driver. However, below 19°C, richness is lower than expected, with ~8°– 14°C waters (~35° to 60° latitude) showing the greatest divergence from theoretical predictions. Regions of reduced richness are characterized by maximal species turnover and environmental variability, suggesting that the latter reduces species richness directly, or through enhancing competitive exclusion. The nonmonotonic relationship between phytoplankton richness and temperature suggests unanticipated complexity in responses of marine biodiversity to ocean warming.

scholarly journals The Coral Triangle Initiative: what are we missing? A case study from Aceh

Oryx ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 482-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edi Rudi ◽  
Stuart J. Campbell ◽  
Andrew S. Hoey ◽  
Nur Fadli ◽  
Matthew Linkie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Western Indian Ocean ◽  
Andaman Sea ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Coral Triangle ◽  
Coral Fauna ◽  
High Conservation ◽  
Reef Fauna

AbstractThe Coral Triangle Initiative is an ambitious attempt to conserve the marine biodiversity hotspot known as the Coral Triangle. However, the reef fauna in many nearby regions remains poorly explored and, consequently, the focus on the Coral Triangle risks overlooking other areas of high conservation significance. One region of potential significance, Aceh, Indonesia, has not been visited by coral taxonomists since the Dutch colonial period. Here we document the species richness of scleractinian corals of Pulau Weh, Aceh. We also compare the species richness of the genus Acropora at 3–5 sites in each of nine regions in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Although dominated by widespread Indo-Pacific species, the coral fauna of Pulau Weh is also the eastern and western boundary for many Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean species, respectively. We identified a total of 133 scleractinian species, of which three have been previously recorded only in the western Indian Ocean and five are presently undescribed. The mean species richness of the Acropora at Pulau Weh is similar to regions within the Coral Triangle. This high species richness plus the high proportion of endemics suggests that the Andaman Sea is of similarly high conservation value to the Coral Triangle. We suggest that an international initiative similar to the Coral Triangle Initiative is required to conserve this region, which includes the territorial waters of six countries.

scholarly journals The origin and evolution of coral species richness in a marine biodiversity hotspot*

Evolution ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danwei Huang ◽  
Emma E. Goldberg ◽  
Loke Ming Chou ◽  
Kaustuv Roy
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Coral Species ◽  
Biodiversity Hotspot ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Origin And Evolution

scholarly journals Marine biodiversity–ecosystem functions under uncertain environmental futures

2010 ◽  
Vol 365 (1549) ◽  
pp. 2107-2116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark T. Bulling ◽  
Natalie Hicks ◽  
Leigh Murray ◽  
David M. Paterson ◽  
Dave Raffaelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Species Richness ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Nutrient Release ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Invertebrate Species ◽  
Atmospheric Carbon

Anthropogenic activity is currently leading to dramatic transformations of ecosystems and losses of biodiversity. The recognition that these ecosystems provide services that are essential for human well-being has led to a major interest in the forms of the biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationship. However, there is a lack of studies examining the impact of climate change on these relationships and it remains unclear how multiple climatic drivers may affect levels of ecosystem functioning. Here, we examine the roles of two important climate change variables, temperature and concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, on the relationship between invertebrate species richness and nutrient release in a model benthic estuarine system. We found a positive relationship between invertebrate species richness and the levels of release of NH 4 -N into the water column, but no effect of species richness on the release of PO 4 -P. Higher temperatures and greater concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide had a negative impact on nutrient release. Importantly, we found significant interactions between the climate variables, indicating that reliably predicting the effects of future climate change will not be straightforward as multiple drivers are unlikely to have purely additive effects, resulting in increased levels of uncertainty.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document