RT journal article
T1 Macrofauna communities across a seascape of seagrass meadows: environmental drivers, biodiversity patterns and conservation implications
A1 Franco Rodil, Iván
A1 Lohrer, Andrew M.
A1 Attard, Karl M.
A1 Hewitt, Judi E.
A1 Thrush, Simon F.
A1 Norkko, Alf
A2 Biología
K1 Coastal habitats
K1 α- and β-diversity
K1 Benthic
K1 Baltic Sea
K1 Community dynamics
AB Similar to other coastal biogenic habitats (e.g. tidal marshes, kelp forests, mangroves and coral reefs), a key function of seagrass meadows is the enhancement of biodiversity. Variability at multiple spatial scales is a driver of biodiversity, but our understanding of the response of macrofauna communities to variability of seagrass meadows is limited. We examined the macrofauna community structure (abundance and biomass) and diversity patterns (alpha- and beta-diversity) across a seascape gradient of eleven seagrass meadows differing in the number, composition and density of plant species. The variability of the macrobenthic communities was regulated by a combination of sedimentary (mainly for the infauna) and macrophyte (mainly for the epifauna) predictors. We demonstrate that the natural occurrence of drifting algae trapped in the aboveground complexity of the meadows benefits seagrass macrofauna. Seagrass-associated macrofauna showed a clear increase in abundance and alpha-diversity metrics with increasing habitat complexity attributes (i.e. shoot density, plant biomass and canopy height). Furthermore, partitioning of beta-diversity (i.e. the variation of species composition between sites) implied the replacement of some species by others between sites (i.e. spatial turnover) instead of a process of species loss (or gain) from site to site (i.e. nestedness). Therefore, the enhancement of macrofauna diversity across an increasing gradient of seagrass complexity, and the dominance of the turnover component suggest that devoting conservation efforts on many different types of meadows, including the less diverse, should be a priority for coastal habitat-management.
PB SPRINGER
SN 0960-3115
YR 2021
FD 2021-07
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/25565
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/25565
LA eng
NO Open access funding provided by University of Helsinki including Helsinki University Central Hospital. The study was funded by the Academy of Finland (Project ID 294853) and the University of Helsinki and Stockholm University strategic fund for collaborative research (The Baltic Bridge initiative). DL, JH, and ST JH were supported by a senior visiting research fellowship funded by the Walter and Andree de Nottbeck Foundation
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 15-nov-2026