Diversity in fragments of artificial and natural marine habitats

Goodsell, Paris J.

doi:10.3354/meps08037

Cited by 12 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…Patchiness of habitat has important influences on distributions and abundances of organisms that live in a mosaic with different habitats of varying structure and composition [1], [2], [3], [4]. Knowledge of how organisms are distributed in relation to spatial heterogeneity of their environment is fundamental to ecology and has been of concern for many decades (see references in [3]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat-Associations of Turban Snails on Intertidal and Subtidal Rocky Reefs

Smoothey

2013

PLoS ONE

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Patchiness of habitat has important influences on distributions and abundances of organisms. Given the increasing threat of loss and alteration of habitats due to pressures associated with humans, there is a need for ecologists to understand species' requirements for habitat and to predict changes to taxa under various future environmental conditions. This study tested hypotheses about the generality of patterns described for one species of marine intertidal turban snail for a different, yet closely-related species in subtidal habitats along the coast of New South Wales, Australia. These two closely-related species live in similar habitats, yet under quite different conditions, which provided an opportunity to investigate how similar types of habitats influence patterns of distribution, abundance and size-structure in intertidal versus subtidal environments. For each species, there were similar associations between biogenically structured habitat and densities. The intertidal species, Turbo undulates, were more abundant, with greater proportions of small individuals in habitats formed by the canopy-forming alga, Hormosira banksii, the solitary ascidian, Pyura stolonifera or the turfing red alga, Corallina officinalis compared to simple habitat (bare rock). Similarly, more Turbo torquatus were found in biogenically structured subtidal habitat, i.e. canopy-forming algae, Ecklonia radiata, mixed algal communities (‘fringe’), or turfing red algae (Corallina officinalis and Amphiroa aniceps) than where habitat is simple (barrens). Small T. torquatus were more abundant in areas of turf and ‘fringe’, while large snails were more abundant in areas of kelp and barrens. These patterns were found at each location sampled (i.e. eight intertidal and two subtidal rocky reefs) and at all times of sampling, across each environment. This study highlighted the consistent influence of biogenically structured habitats on the distribution, abundance and size-structure of intertidal and subtidal turban snails and forms a basis for increasing the understanding of the potential underlying processes causing such patterns.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat-Associations of Turban Snails on Intertidal and Subtidal Rocky Reefs

Smoothey

2013

PLoS ONE

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“…Sydney Harbour is a highly urbanized marine estuary where much of the foreshore is made up of seawalls, pontoons, pilings and wharfs (Goodsell, ). In addition to these hard substrates, several of the harbour beaches feature swimming enclosures constructed by hanging nets (nylon or polyethylene) between pylons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, the construction of mimic rock pools has been shown to successfully increase the diversity of algae and invertebrates on intertidal seawalls (Chapman and Blockley, 2009). Sydney Harbour is a highly urbanized marine estuary where much of the foreshore is made up of seawalls, pontoons, pilings and wharfs (Goodsell, 2009). In addition to these hard substrates, several of the harbour beaches feature swimming enclosures constructed by hanging nets (nylon or polyethylene) between pylons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Manipulating artificial habitats to benefit seahorses in Sydney Harbour, Australia

Hellyer

Harasti²,

Poore

2011

Aquatic Conserv: Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst.

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ABSTRACT1. Artificial habitats are a common feature of urban marine environments and usually support different assemblages of marine organisms in contrast to neighbouring natural habitats. Despite these differences, artificial habitats can be managed to benefit biodiversity, either by the addition of structures to provide habitat where little natural habitat remains, or by engineering existing structures to better support native populations.2. Seahorses are listed as protected species in New South Wales, Australia, and are of conservation concern worldwide. The physical structure of nets used to protect popular swimming beaches in a highly urbanized estuary, Sydney Harbour, was manipulated to test the hypotheses that more structurally complex habitats would support higher abundances of the seahorse Hippocampus whitei that use these structures and their potential prey (mobile crustaceans).3. The simple addition of frayed net material to construct a more structurally complex net habitat supported higher abundances of H. whitei than unmanipulated nets in a field experiment over 53 days. Habitat preference assays in the laboratory supported the hypothesis that the patterns of distribution observed in the field were due to the preferences of individual seahorses for the more complex habitats.4. The habitats manipulated to add structural complexity supported much higher abundances of the mobile epifauna (amphipods, copepods) that are consumed by seahorses. The potential therefore exists to engineer artificial structures in urban estuaries to provide habitats that are preferred by vulnerable fauna and their food sources.

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“…As developed surfaces and hardened shorelines accumulate across coastal landscapes, natural salt-marsh habitats become increasingly patchy and isolated within an unsuitable habitat matrix (i.e., fragmentation ;Fahrig 2003). This leads to compromised nekton recruitment (Eggleston et al 1998), altered faunal assemblage structure and diversity (Layman et al 2004;Partyka and Peterson 2008;Goodsell 2009), reduced production of commercially important nekton species (Valentine-Rose et al 2007), and modified trophic interactions ) in urbanized and fragmented intertidal habitats, such as salt marshes.…”

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confidence: 99%

Effects of Coastal Urbanization on Salt‐Marsh Faunal Assemblages in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Lowe¹,

Peterson²

2014

Mar Coast Fish

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Coastal landscapes in the northern Gulf of Mexico, specifically the Mississippi coast, have undergone rapid urbanization that may impact the suitability of salt‐marsh ecosystems for maintaining and regulating estuarine faunal communities. We used a landscape ecology approach to quantify the composition and configuration of salt‐marsh habitats and developed surfaces at multiple spatial scales surrounding three small, first‐order salt‐marsh tidal creeks arrayed along a gradient of urbanization in two river‐dominated estuaries. From May 3 to June 4, 2010, nekton and macroinfauna were collected weekly at all six sites. Due to the greater abundance of grass shrimp Palaemonetes spp., brown shrimp Farfantepenaeus aztecus, blue crab Callinectes sapidus, Gulf Menhaden Brevoortia patronus, and Spot Leiostomus xanthurus, tidal creeks in intact natural (IN) salt‐marsh landscapes supported a nekton assemblage that was significantly different from those in partially urbanized (PU) or completely urbanized (CU) salt‐marsh landscapes. However, PU landscapes still supported an abundant nekton assemblage. In addition, the results illustrated a linkage between life history traits and landscape characteristics. Resident and transient nekton species that have specific habitat requirements are more likely to be impacted in urbanized landscapes than more mobile species that are able to exploit multiple habitats. Patterns were less clear for macroinfaunal assemblages, although they were comparatively less abundant in CU salt‐marsh landscapes than in either IN or PU landscapes. The low abundance or absence of several macroinfaunal taxa in CU landscapes may be viewed as an additional indicator of poor habitat quality for nekton. The observed patterns also suggested that benthic sediments in the CU salt‐marsh landscapes were altered in comparison with IN or PU landscapes. The amount of developed shoreline and various metrics related to salt marsh fragmentation were important drivers of observed patterns in nekton and macroinfaunal assemblages. Received September 14, 2013; accepted January 27, 2014

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Diversity in fragments of artificial and natural marine habitats

Cited by 12 publications

References 50 publications

Habitat-Associations of Turban Snails on Intertidal and Subtidal Rocky Reefs

Habitat-Associations of Turban Snails on Intertidal and Subtidal Rocky Reefs

Manipulating artificial habitats to benefit seahorses in Sydney Harbour, Australia

Effects of Coastal Urbanization on Salt‐Marsh Faunal Assemblages in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

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