Towards a functional characterization of rocky reefs marine habitats
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1
Spanish Scientific Research Council, Natural Products and Agrobiology Institute CSIC, Spain
Habitat heterogeneity is a major component of biodiversity as it determines species distribution and abundance. Habitat loss, with its associated loss of species, food resources, and ecosystem functioning, is identified as one of the major threats to marine biodiversity. Traditionally, the analysis of taxonomic diversity dominates community level approaches. But species losses or additions can generate major or minor impacts in multiple ecosystem processes depending on their functional traits. Recently, there are an increasing number of researches that approach ecosystem dynamics based on species functional traits. Yet, we still have no description of habitats based on their functional characteristics. Here, we carried out a functional level characterization of the different habitats present on Spanish littoral reefs. We have used underwater visual census that follow the Reef Life Survey methodology to quantify fish, invertebrate, and sessile communities in more than 250 locations scattered over the Spanish and Portuguese coasts. We have quantified the sessile community with over 5.000 photoquadrats distributed along five marine ecoregions: Alboran Sea, Macaronesian, Saharan upwelling, South European Atlantic Shelf and Western Mediterranean. We have described 16 functional traits, including algae, sessile animals, and substrate types. These traits have allowed us to determine 13 functional marine habitats differentially distributed over the coast of Portugal, Spain, and associated archipelagos. The largest functional habitat covers 18% of the rocky reefs and it is dominated by corticated macrophytes (28%), filamentous algae (20%), and bare rock (18%) functional groups. Functional habitats dominated by leathery functional group and filamentous functional group account of 2% and 3% of rocky reefs and are not represented in marine protected areas. Our results suggest that Spain and Portugal have a large number of functional habitats heterogeneously distributed in their coastal waters. Because each habitat is restricted to a specific range in the functional space, effective conservation of each habitat is mandatory to maximize the functional diversity of rocky reefs. Our characterization of functional habitats is a first approach to increase our understanding of the functional diversity of marine benthic communities, which can lead to more effective conservation actions.
Keywords:
Marine habitat,
functional groups,
Rocky reef,
Biodiversity,
conservation
Conference:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, Porto, Portugal, 5 Sep - 9 Sep, 2016.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
1. ECOLOGY, BIODIVERSITY AND VULNERABLE ECOSYSTEMS
Citation:
Rodríguez González
M,
Lazzari
ND,
Palacín Fernández
L,
Sanabria
JA and
Becerro
MA
(2016). Towards a functional characterization of rocky reefs marine habitats.
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00068
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Received:
18 May 2016;
Published Online:
02 Sep 2016.
*
Correspondence:
Miss. María Rodríguez González, Spanish Scientific Research Council, Natural Products and Agrobiology Institute CSIC, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 38206, Spain, maria.rguez92@hotmail.com