Macroalgal forest vs sea urchin barren: Patterns of macro-zoobenthic diversity in a large-scale Mediterranean study.
Biodiversity
Canopy-forming macroalgae
Macro-invertebrates
Mediterranean sea
Sea urchin barren
Journal
Marine environmental research
ISSN: 1879-0291
Titre abrégé: Mar Environ Res
Pays: England
ID NLM: 9882895
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Jul 2020
Jul 2020
Historique:
received:
20
09
2019
revised:
10
03
2020
accepted:
10
03
2020
pubmed:
7
4
2020
medline:
25
8
2020
entrez:
7
4
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
The study aimed at contributing to the knowledge of alternative stable states by evaluating the differences of mobile and sessile macro-zoobenthic assemblages between sea urchin barrens and macroalgal forests in coastal Mediterranean systems considering a large spatial scale. Six sites (100 s km apart) were selected: Croatia, Montenegro, Sicily (Italy), Sardinia (Italy), Tuscany (Italy), and Balearic Islands (Spain). A total of 531 taxa, 404 mobile and 127 sessile macro-invertebrates were recorded. Overall, 496 and 201 taxa were found in macroalgal forests and in barrens, respectively. The results of this large-scale descriptive study have met the expectation of lower macrofauna complexity and diversity in barrens rather than in macroalgal forests, and have allowed estimating the differences in levels of diversity and the consistency of variability across Mediterranean sites. Some peculiar patterns in barrens, related to both abundance of specific taxa and to high values of beta diversity, have been evidenced.
Identifiants
pubmed: 32250878
pii: S0141-1136(19)30605-1
doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.104955
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
104955Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Declaration of competing interest None.