Appropriate levels of taxonomic discrimination in deep-sea studies: species vs family

Abstract

Few studies have investigated use of higher-level taxonomy, e.g. family, to analyse macrobenthic infaunal communities in the deep sea. This study uses multivariate analyses of polychaete macrofauna and environmental variables from 15 stations (depth 150 to 1000 m) situated in the Faroe-Shetland Channel (NE Atlantic). The data were analysed at species and family levels in order to determine the degree of taxonomic sufficiency required to discriminate between stations. There was little difference in results between species and family when using non-metric multidimensional scaling, however, cluster analysis and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed marked differences between the 2 taxonomic levels. Similarity between stations was markedly lower at species than family level. The ability of CCA to separate the families into defined groups along the 2 ordination axes was more apparent than at species level. Families also tended to be more closely aggregated near the centre of the ordination plot. It is concluded that in the deep-sea, species-level identification of polychaetes is preferable to that of family-level identification. KEY WORDS: Taxonomic discrimination · Species · Families · Deep-sea · MacrobenthosResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher

Taxonomic resolution needed to describe invertebrate assemblages and to detect harvesting effects on coral reef ecosystems

“…Differences between harvested and nonharvested assemblages probably due to harvesting effects were hardly detectable at aggregation levels higher than species, suggesting that for specific habitats (i.e. hard-bottom in the present study), family level does not perform well as a species surrogate (Bowman & Bailey 1997, Narayanaswamy et al 2003. This can be linked to the poor density and species richness of hard-bottom assemblages which constrain the detection of differences between sites to the lowest (i.e.…”

“…Most studies using TS were in marine benthic habitats, including temperate soft-bottom benthic communities such as coastal gravel and sandy beaches (James et al 1995, Somerfield & Clarke 1995, Vanderklift et al 1996, Olsgard et al 1998, Baldo et al 1999, Rumohr & Karakassis 1999, Gomez-Gesteira et al 2003, Thompson et al 2003, Defeo & Lercari 2004, lagoons (Lardicci & Rossi 1998, Mistri & Rossi 2001, Arvanitidis et al 2009), estuaries (MacFarlane & Booth 2001, Roach et al 2001, De Biasi et al 2003 or deep-sea environments (Narayanaswamy et al 2003). Hard-bottom systems have also been studied, e.g.…”

“…As well as a reduced need for taxonomic expertise, expected benefits include the removal of ecological redundancy attributed to the use of multiple species, when loss of information has no significant effect (Gray et al 1988, Warwick 1988, 1993. Despite its increasing popularity on impact assessment, TS is still controversial (May 1990, Maurer 2000, in particular in the context of a global decline of taxonomic resources and species knowledge (Scheltema 1996, Boero 2001.Most studies using TS were in marine benthic habitats, including temperate soft-bottom benthic communities such as coastal gravel and sandy beaches (James et al 1995, Somerfield & Clarke 1995, Vanderklift et al 1996, Olsgard et al 1998, Baldo et al 1999, Rumohr & Karakassis 1999, Gomez-Gesteira et al 2003, Thompson et al 2003, Defeo & Lercari 2004, lagoons (Lardicci & Rossi 1998, Mistri & Rossi 2001, Arvanitidis et al 2009), estuaries (MacFarlane & Booth 2001, Roach et al 2001, De Biasi et al 2003 or deep-sea environments (Narayanaswamy et al 2003). Hard-bottom systems have also been studied, e.g.…”

Relationships between deep-water polychaete fauna and environmental factors in the southeastern Gulf of California, Mexico

“…Several deep-sea studies performed in different regions of the world (i.e. Rosenberg et al, 1991;Etter and Grassle, 1992;Diaz and Rosenberg, 1995;Wishner et al, 1995;Levin and Gage, 1998;Rex et al, 2000;Levin, 2001, Hendrickx, 2003aNarayanaswamy, et al, 2003;Narayanaswamy, et al, 2005;Levin et al, 2001) have revealed that bathyal macrofaunal density, species richness and diversity are strongly influenced by dissolved oxygen concentration and depth. However, these studies also indicate that other factors such as temperature, organic matter in sediments, grain size, latitude, and sediment pigments are important parameters influencing macrofaunal distribution.…”

“…Narayanaswamy et al (2003) and Narayanaswamy et al (2005) stated the importance of temperature in deep-sea polychaete distributions. The last work was performed in stations located between 350 and 550 m in the north-east Atlantic.…”