2024-03-28T19:16:32Zhttp://digital.csic.es/dspace-oai/requestoai:digital.csic.es:10261/1125642019-03-06T12:59:09Zcom_10261_123com_10261_8com_10261_88col_10261_376col_10261_341
Structure and biodiversity of coralligenous assemblages over broad spatial and temporal scales
Casas, Edgar
Teixidó, Nuria
Garrabou, Joaquim
Cebrian, Emma
12 páginas, 5 tablas, 5 figuras
Coralligenous outcrops rank among the most
important ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea, primarily
because of their biodiversity. Information on the spatial
and temporal variability of the composition and structure of
coralligenous assemblages is essentially lacking for most
regions. We explored the variability of the biodiversity patterns
of coralligenous outcrops dominated by the red gorgonian
Paramuricea clavata in the NW Mediterranean region
using a hierarchical sampling design. The study addressed
two overlooked spatial and temporal scales: from 1 to
>100 km and a 5-year period. Overall, no temporal changes
were detected in either species composition or the 12 morphofunctional
groups considered. Significant differences in
species composition were found at the various spatial scales.
However, variation in composition at the locality level (>100 km apart) showed the lowest values in comparison
with the differences found at the site level (<1 km apart).
Despite the differences, the sites displayed high similarity
(average similarity 55.7 %) and shared approximately 50 %
of the species. Similarly, the patterns of diversity at different
scales, the alpha (site) and gamma (locality) were consistent
with the specific composition trends, whereas the beta diversity
showed the greatest differences among sites. Our results
demonstrate the moderate spatial variability in biodiversity
in the NW Mediterranean region and an extremely low temporal
variability. This study provides baselines for detecting
potential effects due to global change, and it furnishes a
basis for the implementation of monitoring schemes of coralligenous
assemblages. The development of similar sampling
schemes in other Mediterranean regions will provide
a global view of the biodiversity of coralligenous outcrops.
The study has been funded by
the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to E. Casas-Güell, a
doctoral fellowship linked to the Biorock Project (CTM2009–08045,
http://biorock.medrecover.org/) and the Total Foundation (medDiversa
project, http://meddiversa.medrecover.org/).
Peer reviewed
2015-03-18T09:03:09Z
2015-03-18T09:03:09Z
2015-04
artículo
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Marine Biology 162(4): 901-912 (2015)
0025-3162
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/112564
10.1007/s00227-015-2635-7
en
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-015-2635-7
Sí
none
Springer