Taxonomic sufficiency in distinguishing natural spatial patterns on an estuarine shoreline

Dethier, Megan N.; Schoch, G. Carl

doi:10.3354/meps306041

Cited by 64 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…We recognize that this level of resolution can only detect changes in macrofauna community composition that occur at a high taxonomic level (i.e., order and above). Other researchers have shown that stressor impacts may become less discernible as we shift the analysis from low (i.e., species, genus, and family) to higher taxonomic levels; however, similar trends have been detected with various taxonomic levels (e.g., Warwick 1988, Olsgard and Somerfield 2000, Dethier and Schoch 2006. Thus, our study may be missing some burial impacts on community composition that occur at low taxonomic levels.…”

Section: Macrofaunal Measurementscontrasting

confidence: 38%

Evidence of short-term burial response by benthic macrofauna associated with the Mediterranean seagrass Cymodocea nodosa

et al. 2015

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ABSTRACT. Sedimentation and burial affect a variety of habitats worldwide, especially within coastal marine systems. In the Mediterranean, seagrasses like Cymodocea nodosa are commonly subjected to sedimentation and, although the response of C. nodosa has been documented, few studies have included macrofaunal responses. We used a manipulative field experiment to examine the effects of a single small-scale, pulse burial event on benthic invertebrate macrofauna. Burial did not affect the total abundance, richness, or diversity of higher taxa nor the live abundance or diversity after 5 days. However, live higher taxa richness decreased by day 3. After 5 days, such decrease reversed and partial recovery seemed to occur. Almost 2 months later, three of the buried plots remained with some additional sedimentation, but the other three had lost their sediment. We compared faunal metrics of buried plots between days 5 and 54 and found greater diversity on day 54, providing evidence that macrofaunal recovery apparent 5 days after burial seemed to persist. Although we likely underestimated the effects and can only be conservative with our conclusions, taken together our results suggest small-scale, pulse burial events can have some negative effects on the C. nodosa-associated benthic macrofaunal community, but the community can recover within a few weeks.Key words: benthic macrofauna, Cymodocea nodosa, Mediterranean Sea, recovery, sediment. RESUMEN.La sedimentación y el enterramiento afectan a una gran variedad de hábitats en todo el mundo, especialmente en los sistemas costeros marinos. En el Mediterráneo, las fanerógamas marinas como Cymodocea nodosa suelen estar expuestas a la sedimentación y, a pesar de que la respuesta de C. nodosa ha sido documentada previamente, muy pocos estudios hacen referencia a cómo responde la macrofauna. Se ha usado un experimento manipulativo en el campo para examinar los efectos de un enterramiento súbito y puntual a pequeña escala sobre la fauna de invertebrados macrobentónicos. El enterramiento no afectó a la abundancia total, riqueza o diversidad de especies, ni tampoco a la abundancia o diversidad de individuos vivos 5 días después del enterramiento. Sin embargo, la riqueza de taxones vivos disminuyó a partir del día 3. Pasados 5 días, esa disminución revirtió y parece tener lugar una recuperación parcial. Casi 2 meses después, tres de las parcelas enterradas todavía presentaron algún tipo de sedimentación adicional, pero las otras tres habían perdido el sedimento. Se compararon las métricas de la fauna encontrada en los días 5 y 54 en las parcelas enterradas, y se encontró una alta diversidad para el día 54, evidenciando que la aparente recuperación que tuvo lugar 5 días después del enterramiento parece persistir. A pesar de que probablemente hemos subestimado los efectos y debemos ser conservadores con nuestras conclusiones, al examinar los resultados conjuntamente, sugieren que estos eventos repentinos y puntuales de enterramiento a pequeña escala pueden tener efectos negativos sobre...

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Section: Macrofaunal Measurementscontrasting

confidence: 38%

Evidence of short-term burial response by benthic macrofauna associated with the Mediterranean seagrass Cymodocea nodosa

et al. 2015

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“…Analysis of broader taxa is therefore often used to identify spatial patterns because individual species are often very patchy and their counts dominated by many zeros. Dethier & Schoch (2006) showed strong correlations between patterns of species and families along an estuarine gradient. Similarly, Olsgard et al (2003) showed that distributions of polychaete species in sediments are well correlated with distributions at the scale of family.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Complex and inconsistent patterns of variation in benthos, micro-algae and sediment over multiple spatial scales

Chapman¹,

Tolhurst²,

Murphy³

et al. 2010

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Because of their close physical relationship, it is often assumed that there are strong functional relationships between sediments and biota. Yet, there have been few studies of the characteristics of sediments over multiple spatial scales, despite evidence that micro-algae and macroand meiofauna vary greatly at cm to km scales. This study quantified variability in macrofauna, micro-algae, and physical and biochemical properties of sediments over scales from 50 cm to km. The benthos was most variable at small scales and, even where there were large mean differences in abundance at large scales, these were small compared to the variation from plot to plot along a shore. Only 1 of 24 analyses showed larger variation at the scale of km than that found at 50 cm. Some measures of microphytobenthos showed large variation at the scale of 100s m or more, but other measures of the same flora did not show similar patterns. Concentrations of sand were consistent at different depths and at large scales, but concentrations of mud were more variable within than among shores. Neither sand nor mud correlated significantly with most biochemical properties of sediments. For sediments, variation at the scale of km was only larger than that of 50 cm in 13 of 57 analyses. To understand the relative importance of ecological processes in determining distributions and abundances, it is important to get quantitative data on the scales at which organisms or habitats vary. These are the scales at which ecological processes are likely to have large effects because large-scale processes are unlikely to explain variation at much smaller scales. The importance of small-scale variability in sediments and the associated biota is discussed in terms of sampling protocols for understanding ecological processes, or for assessing impact or restoration.

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“…spatial replication of samples within an area, and to some extent, this constrained our ability to identify every organism to the species level. However, taxonomic identification at the genus, and even family or complex, level can be sufficient for distinguishing natural spatial patterns (Dethier and Schoch 2006). Our samples (transects) consisted of the mean values from 10 sample units (quadrats).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fifteen degrees of separation: Latitudinal gradients of rocky intertidal biota along the California Current

Schoch

Menge

Allison

et al. 2006

Limnology & Oceanography

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The region of the eastern North Pacific coastline dominated by the California Current was surveyed annually from [2001][2002][2003] to examine (1) benthic macro-invertebrate and algal populations, (2) the magnitude and patterns of key environmental variables, and (3) how dynamic populations and communities of macroalgae and invertebrates respond to spatial differences in nearshore geomorphology, wave dynamics, and oceanography of the coastal shelf. We used a highly replicated spatially nested sampling design consisting of 144 shore segments (bedrock platforms longer than 50 m) with three replicate segments per site (,1 km), three sites per area (,10 km), and sixteen areas (.10 km) grouped into six domains (hundreds of kilometers). Results suggest that (1) low zone diversity was higher at northern latitudes when measured at segment, site, and area scales, but at domain scales there were more species at southern latitudes; (2) community structure showed high fidelity to geographic location with community similarity inversely related to separation distance, and the only regional scale biological discontinuity in community structure was centered near Pt. Conception; and (3) wave runup was the most significant physical parameter affecting overall community structure, however, tidal range, precipitation, air and water temperature, upwelling, salinity, and sand were significant mechanisms forcing differences in community structure within the region.Understanding the underlying causes of gradients of diversity has been a long-standing focus of the ecological community. The problem is complex and has been beset by controversy, yet great strides have been made (Huston 1995;Rosenzweig 1995;Hubbell 2001). A recent focus has been on the relative contributions of local factors, dispersal, and scale-dependent regional factors that influence regional species pools (Ricklefs 2004;Witman et al. 2004;Russell et al. 2006). The increased focus on largescale dynamics, however, has exposed a major shortcoming in many of the datasets that have been used to evaluate diversity hypotheses: the level of detail and resolution is

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Taxonomic sufficiency in distinguishing natural spatial patterns on an estuarine shoreline

Cited by 64 publications

References 23 publications

Evidence of short-term burial response by benthic macrofauna associated with the Mediterranean seagrass Cymodocea nodosa

Evidence of short-term burial response by benthic macrofauna associated with the Mediterranean seagrass Cymodocea nodosa

Complex and inconsistent patterns of variation in benthos, micro-algae and sediment over multiple spatial scales

Fifteen degrees of separation: Latitudinal gradients of rocky intertidal biota along the California Current

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