Introduced substrates trigger colonization by reef-associated fish in a degraded coastal system
PLoS ONE,
Journal Year:
2025,
Volume and Issue:
20(1), P. e0317431 - e0317431
Published: Jan. 30, 2025
Coastal
reefs
benefit
the
survival
and
growth
of
mobile
organisms
by
providing
shelter
increased
food
availability.
Under
increasing
pressure
from
human
activities,
coverage
subtidal
has
decreased
along
world’s
coasts.
This
decline
is
motivating
efforts
to
restore
these
important
habitats
re-introducing
hard
substrates
into
coastal
zone.
However,
many
such
projects
use
artificial
substrates,
as
concrete
or
metal,
that
are
not
naturally
occurring
in
marine
environment.
We
experimentally
introduced
were
either
historically
common
a
soft
sediment-dominated
ecosystem,
mimicking
with
biodegradable
material,
monitored
for
species
(fish
invertebrates).
Six
tested:
cockle
shells,
rocks
two
sizes
(cobbles
pebbles),
wood,
calcium
carbonate
shell
fragments,
structures
based
on
potato
starch.
Within
one
year,
fish
prawns
already
attracted
all
substrates.
On
average,
nearly
five
times
abundant
prawn
abundance
30-fold
reefs,
compared
bare
sand
bottom
control.
The
community
composition
differed
significantly
community,
but
there
no
differences
between
types
Interestingly,
reef-associated
fish,
also
soft-sediment
dependent
species,
different
flatfish
gobies.
Our
results
show
that,
even
over
shorter
timespans,
introductions
provide
opportunities
support
associated
communities
degraded
systems.
Language: Английский
Depth partitioning of mesophotic reef fish communities on Pickle Bank seamount
Jack V. Johnson,
No information about this author
Alex Chequer,
No information about this author
Gretchen Goodbody‐Gringley
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et al.
Frontiers in Marine Science,
Journal Year:
2025,
Volume and Issue:
12
Published: March 27, 2025
Mesophotic
coral
ecosystems
(MCEs)—reefs
below
30m
depth—represent
distinct
ecological
communities
that
are
under
threat
from
local
(e.g.,
fishing)
and
global
climate
change)
disturbances.
However,
most
MCEs
remain
unexplored,
their
not
well
characterized.
on
remote
offshore
seamounts
further
unexplored
provide
the
opportunity
to
assess
assembly
rules
comparatively
less
disturbed
MCEs,
given
remoteness
settlements
with
high
human
population
densities.
Here,
we
characterize
fish
community
seamount
of
Pickle
Bank
in
Central
Caribbean
Sea,
exploring
differences
at
a
25m
depth
compared
mesophotic
zone
45m
depth.
We
found
species
composition
between
depths,
significantly
higher
abundance
while
diversity
richness
were
shallow
sites.
Species
Labridae
Scaridae
dominated
biomass
sites,
family
Carangidae
zone.
There
also
trophic
guilds
macrocarnivore
biomass,
abundance,
omnivore
deep
sites
Despite
logistical
challenges
limitations
associated
accessing
seamounts,
these
data
compelling
evidence
growing
body
literature
documenting
as
unique
habitats
warranting
collection
obtain
holistic
understanding
ecosystems.
Language: Английский