Assessment of the subtidal macrobenthic community functioning of a temperate estuary following environmental restoration

Veríssimo, Helena; Bremner, Julie; Garcia, Cécile; Patrício, Joana; Linden, Pieter van der; Marques, João Carlos

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.04.020

Cited by 58 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…To our knowledge, this is the first study comparing long‐term trends and multi‐decadal dynamics in multiple dimensions of functional community change across trophic groups and areas. Previous trait‐based studies on long‐term functional community change have focused on single organism groups separately, either zoobenthos (Gogina, Darr, & Zettler, ; Neumann & Kröncke, ; Veríssimo et al, ; Weigel, Blenckner, & Bonsdorff, ) or fish (Baptista, Martinho, Nyjtrai, Pardal, & Dolbeth, ; Barcelo, Ciannelli, Olsen, Johannessen, & Knutsen, ; Dencker et al, ; Frelat et al, ), and particularly multi‐trait compositional changes on local scale (Clare, Robinson, & Frid, ; Frid & Caswell, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Four decades of functional community change reveals gradual trends and low interlinkage across trophic groups in a large marine ecosystem

Törnroos

Pécuchet

Olsson

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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The rate at which biological diversity is altered on both land and in the sea, makes temporal community development a critical and fundamental part of understanding global change. With advancements in trait‐based approaches, the focus on the impact of temporal change has shifted towards its potential effects on the functioning of the ecosystems. Our mechanistic understanding of and ability to predict community change is still impeded by the lack of knowledge in long‐term functional dynamics that span several trophic levels. To address this, we assessed species richness and multiple dimensions of functional diversity and dynamics of two interacting key organism groups in the marine food web: fish and zoobenthos. We utilized unique time series‐data spanning four decades, from three environmentally distinct coastal areas in the Baltic Sea, and assembled trait information on six traits per organism group covering aspects of feeding, living habit, reproduction and life history. We identified gradual long‐term trends, rather than abrupt changes in functional diversity (trait richness, evenness, dispersion) trait turnover, and overall multi‐trait community composition. The linkage between fish and zoobenthic functional community change, in terms of correlation in long‐term trends, was weak, with timing of changes being area and trophic group specific. Developments of fish and zoobenthos traits, particularly size (increase in small size for both groups) and feeding habits (e.g. increase in generalist feeding for fish and scavenging or predation for zoobenthos), suggest changes in trophic pathways. We summarize our findings by highlighting three key aspects for understanding functional change across trophic groups: (a) decoupling of species from trait richness, (b) decoupling of richness from density and (c) determining of turnover and multi‐trait dynamics. We therefore argue for quantifying change in multiple functional measures to help assessments of biodiversity change move beyond taxonomy and single trophic groups.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Four decades of functional community change reveals gradual trends and low interlinkage across trophic groups in a large marine ecosystem

Törnroos

Pécuchet

Olsson

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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“…This is the first time that functional diversity of macrobenthic assemblages (BTA and functional diversity indices) was assessed in sewage-affected rocky shores of the SW Atlantic. To date, the use of functional-based approaches has been widely used in terrestrial and freshwater ecology (Grime 1974;Southwood 1977;Statzner et al 1994;Charvet et al 2000;Menezes et al 2010) and more recently in soft-bottom benthos of transitional and coastal waters (Bremner et al 2003;Bremner 2005Bremner , 2008Veríssimo et al 2012;Gusmao et al 2016;Van der Linden et al 2016). Only one work has used this approach on rocky shores in the western Portuguese coast (Vinagre et al 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In aquatic environments, the largest amount of studies related to functional diversity has been developed in riparian macroinvertebrates (Heino 2005(Heino , 2008Heino et al 2007), as well as in coastal rocky substrate areas (Crowe and Russell 2009;Pacheco et al 2011) and estuaries (Villéger et al 2008(Villéger et al , 2010McLenaghan et al 2011). In particular, in marine benthic environment, studies with functional approach have been proved useful to: (1) assess fishing effects on benthic fauna (e.g., Bremner et al 2003;Tillin et al 2006), (2) assess sewage discharges effects on macrobenthic assemblages (Gusmao et al 2016;Vinagre et al 2017), (3) investigate the effects of climate change (e.g., Neumann and Kröncke, 2010), (4) use for management and conservation purposes (e.g., Bremner 2008;Frid et al 2008;Veríssimo et al 2012), and (5) assess functional diversity in different species assemblages (e.g., Bremner et al 2003;Hewitt et al 2008;Van der Linden et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing functional diversity of macrobenthic assemblages in sewage-affected intertidal shores

et al. 2018

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Functional diversity is the component of diversity that influences ecosystem dynamics, stability, productivity, nutrient balance, and other aspects of ecosystem functioning. We evaluate the spatio-temporal variability of the functional traits (biological traits analysis), functional diversity indices (functional richness, functional evenness, functional divergence and functional dispersion) and AZTI marine biotic index in response to the distinct levels of sewage contamination at different sites on intertidal abrasion platforms. Variations in macrobenthic functional structure between reference and impacted sites were evident in the study area. The functional richness showed a pattern with higher values in the reference sites; Functional evenness showed a similar pattern, but only during spring. Functional divergence presented lower values in the impacted sites during autumn and spring. The functional diversity indices (functional richness and functional evenness) and the AZTI marine biotic index presented a negative relationship, indicating that functional diversity is related to benthic environmental health. Thus, biological traits analysis and functional diversity indices, especially FRic that reveals differences in macrobenthic functional structure between impacted and reference sites during all seasons, represent an informative and useful tool to describe the different aspects of sewage impacts in benthic assemblages on rocky shores. These analyses have a high potential for future monitoring programmes.

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“…Many scientists have collected valuable information about the estuary over the last 30 yr, including data on physical conditions, primary producers, zooplankton, benthic macrofauna, fish and birds (e.g. Marques et al 2003, Patrício et al 2004, 2009, Lopes et al 2005, Dolbeth et al 2007, Martinho et al 2007, Cardoso et al 2010, Falcão et al 2012, Veríssimo et al 2012). The .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reaction of an estuarine food web to disturbance: Lindeman’s perspective

Niquil¹,

Baeta²,

Marques³

et al. 2014

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Currently, a central demand of coastal and marine food web researchers is the search for holistic and functional ecosystem health indicators. Based on concepts directly derived from R. L. Lindeman's work (Lindeman 1942; Ecology 23:399-418), 6 estuarine food web models were analysed to assess the potential impact of multiple disturbances on the trophic state of food webs. The models described a Zostera noltii meadow and a bare sediment site in the Mondego estuary, Portugal, during 3 distinct time periods corresponding to (1) nutrient enrichment, (2) the implementation of mitigation measures, and (3) after a centenary flood. We tested 4 candidate metrics, directly derived from the trophic-dynamic concepts proposed by Lindeman (1942): food chain length, the detritivory/herbivory ratio, trophic efficiency per trophic level and mean trophic efficiency. Based on this case study, none of the metrics are yet ready to be used per se as operational metrics to quantify and interpret the impact of disturbances on the ecosystem's trophic state. Trophic efficiency appeared to be sensitive to external pressures. However, the mean trophic efficiency of the system might not be sufficient to draw conclusions about the trophic efficiency of the ecosystem: trophic efficiency should be observed at the trophic level in order to better understand cascading effects within food webs.

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Assessment of the subtidal macrobenthic community functioning of a temperate estuary following environmental restoration

Cited by 58 publications

References 69 publications

Four decades of functional community change reveals gradual trends and low interlinkage across trophic groups in a large marine ecosystem

Four decades of functional community change reveals gradual trends and low interlinkage across trophic groups in a large marine ecosystem

Assessing functional diversity of macrobenthic assemblages in sewage-affected intertidal shores

Reaction of an estuarine food web to disturbance: Lindeman’s perspective

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