Although the influence of seagrasses on the diversity and abundance of associated fauna is generally well understood, the effects of seagrass specific identity are not. To determine whether benthic epifaunal and infaunal assemblage patterns vary by the identity of dominant seagrass species in shallow water meadows, we compared quantitative measures of faunal species richness, abundance, and assemblage structure among beds dominated by Cymodocea rotundata, Enhalus acoroides, and Thalassia hemprichii; the study site was at Lopez Jaena, Misamis Occidental Province in the southern Philippines. The Cymodocea-dominated vegetation had higher seagrass shoot density and lower seagrass biomass than those dominated by Enhalus and Thalassia. Across vegetation types, we encountered 30 and 15 species of epifauna and infauna at average densities of 1.73 and 0.82 animals/core (0.0314 m 2 ), respectively. Neither densities and species richnesses of epifauna and infauna nor species composition varied significantly by vegetation type. Multivariate analyses of macrofaunal assemblage structure and abiotic/biotic environmental factors demonstrated that seagrass aboveground biomass explained a significant proportion of the multivariate variation in epifaunal species composition (39%); none of the potential explanatory variables was related to variation in ecological parameters of the infauna. Thus, seagrass specific identity is not a good predictor of either macrofaunal abundance or diversity patterns.Although the ecological parameters of the benthic macrofauna may be influenced by seagrass biomass and structure, responses differ between epifauna and infauna.
Broad scale studies in seagrass benthic macrofauna are important for future regional marine conservation. We examined spatial variation in the community structure of seagrass‐associated benthic macroinvertebrates collected by sediment coring in 2010 at six seagrass sites of Japan covering the latitudinal range of 24°–43°N. Total species richness and ES(50) at site level did not show clear site variations and relationship with latitude. At core level, site variations of mean species richness, ES(50), Simpson diversity and abundance showed inconsistent pattern, but with more cases of statistically significant association with latitude. Variations were generally influenced by the seagrass species, often among subtropical species, among temperate Zostera species, and between Zostera and subtropical species. Finally, the community composition differed significantly across all sites and community similarity decreased rapidly with geographic distance, with only 5% similarity retained at the distance of 400 km. The dissimilarity among sites was higher with the similar distance compared to other types of coastal communities such as rocky intertidal assemblages, which is associated with minor occurrence of species with broad distributional range.
This study examined the variation of macrofaunal communities in sea grass beds along a pollution gradient in Bolinao, northwestern Philippines. We established four stations and compared the diversity and abundance of macrofauna between them. The Shannon diversity index in the least polluted station was more than twice higher than that in the most polluted one. Abundance was more than thrice higher in the most polluted station. The species composition generally varied, with community difference explained largely by the predominance of the filter-feeding bivalve Gafrarium pectinatum and polychaete Capitella capitata. Species heterogeneity was reduced along the pollution gradient by approximately 19% from the least polluted to the most polluted station. This reduction indicates biodiversity alteration, which has a significant impact on ecosystem functioning. Aspects of species heterogeneity should be considered in environmental impact assessments and the management of coastal areas encountered with anthropogenic disturbances.
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