Changes in biological traits of macro-benthic communities subjected to different intensities of demersal trawling along the west coast of southern Africa

Fleddum, A.; Atkinson, Lara J.; Field, J. G.; Shin, Paul K.S.

doi:10.1017/s0025315413000647

Cited by 11 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 62 publications

(102 reference statements)

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“…Information was obtained at the species level, but in the event that information was not available at this level, a search was conducted at the genus level. Following Fleddum et al (2013), if information was still unavailable, a zero was allocated to all categories within that trait. When information was not available for three or more traits for any species, it was excluded from the analysis.…”

Section: Analysis Of Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns and traits associated with invasions by predatory marine crabs

Swart¹,

Visser²,

Robinson³

2018

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Predatory crabs are considered amongst the most successful marine invasive groups. Nonetheless, most studies of these taxa have been descriptive in nature, biased towards specific species or regions and have seldom considered traits associated with invasiveness. To address this gap in knowledge, this study presents a global review of invasions by this group and applies biological trait analysis to investigate traits associated with invasion success. A total of 56 species belonging to 15 families were identified as having spread outside their native ranges. The family Portunidae supported the highest number of alien species (22). Most crabs had their origin in the North West Pacific IUCN bioregion while the Mediterranean Sea received the most species. No traits associated with successful establishment were identified, but this finding may reflect the paucity of basic biological knowledge held for many species. This lack of foundational knowledge was unexpected as crabs are large and conspicuous and likely to be well studied when compared to many other groups. Addressing this knowledge gap will be the first step towards enabling approaches like biological trait analysis that offer a means to investigate generalities in invasions.

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Section: Analysis Of Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns and traits associated with invasions by predatory marine crabs

Swart¹,

Visser²,

Robinson³

2018

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“…These proxies for ecosystem functioning have already been individually applied to assess the impact of anthropogenic activities such as demersal fish trawling (Fleddum et al, 2013;Van Denderen et al, 2015;Hinz et al, 2021;Tsikopoulou et al, 2022), dredge disposal (Birchenough et al, 2012;Bolam et al, 2016;Bolam et al, 2021), sewage discharge (Nasi et al, 2023), noise pollution (Wang et al, 2022) and sand extraction (Barrio Frojań et al, 2011;Wan Hussin et al, 2012;Festjens et al, 2023) on ecosystem functioning. However, no proxy represents all processes within the ecosystem.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the impact of sand extraction on benthic ecosystem functioning: a combination of functional indices and biological trait analysis

Goedefroo,

Braeckman,

Hostens

et al. 2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Marine aggregates have been intensively extracted in the North-East Atlantic over the past decades. This study aimed to assess the effect of sand extraction on benthic ecosystem functioning using a combination of biological traits and functional indices (the bioturbation (BPc) and irrigation potential (IPc) and secondary production (SPc) of the macrobenthic community). Data on macrobenthos, sediment properties and extraction intensity were collected over a time period of ten years (2010 – 2019) for three coarse sediment extraction areas in the Belgian Part of the North Sea, each with a different extraction regime. Sediment parameters such as the medium sand fraction (250 – 500 µm) and median grain size showed a significant effect on all functional indices. Whilst sand extraction variables only significantly affected secondary production estimates. The secondary production of the macrobenthic community decreased following a high yearly extraction intensity, whereas a high cumulative (10-year period) extraction intensity resulted in a slightly increased secondary production. Species-specific responses revealed that these high cumulative extraction volumes increased the abundance of opportunistic species, which could have contributed to the higher SPc values observed in cumulative disturbed areas. Response traits such as tube-living and sessile individuals with a pelagic egg development were positively influenced by a long-term disturbance, an indication of a more disturbance-tolerant community. A short-term disturbance rather seemed to favor a macrobenthic community characterized by a higher burrowing capability. In terms of effect traits, both short- and long-term extraction clearly favored deposit feeders, which can structure organic matter distribution and thus indirectly influence nutrient and oxygen fluxes as well. Future in situ measurements in sand extraction areas could help to unravel and strengthen our understanding of the ecosystem processes linked to these trait-based observations.

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Extending deep-sea benthic biodiversity inventories with environmental DNA metabarcoding

Oosthuizen

Seymour²,

Atkinson

et al. 2023

Mar Biol

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Inventories of biodiversity are crucial for helping support conservation and management efforts, yet the deep-sea, which is the largest biome on earth remains vastly understudied. Recent advances in molecular detection methods offer alternative techniques for studying inaccessible ecosystems, including those at depth. In this study we utilized environmental DNA metabarcoding, a first for studying deep-sea benthic environments in southern Africa, to assess biological diversity and to test the effects of depth and historical trawling activities on deep-sea communities. Utilising 29 sediment samples (thus focussing on predominantly meiofaunal and epifaunal biodiversity) and targeting a 313 bp region of the mtDNA cytochrome oxidase I gene, we recovered 444 OTUs across a wide array of species and genera. Even though many OTUs could only be assigned to higher taxonomic levels, results showed that biodiversity differed significantly across depth, suggesting that even at relatively small spatial scales (~ 6 km, across a depth gradient of 355 m to 515 m), eDNA derived biodiversity detected variation linked to the depth gradient. Comparison of the OTU database with known species inventories from the sampled area revealed little overlap, highlighting the need for expanding barcoding efforts of deep-sea species to aid future eDNA survey efforts. Overall our results suggest that within a South African context, increased barcoding efforts, in combination with eDNA metabarcoding and physical sampling could capture a greater proportion of benthic deep-sea biodiversity. This provides additional opportunities to underpin conservation and management decision-making in the region, such as evaluating potential sites for future protection.

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Changes in biological traits of macro-benthic communities subjected to different intensities of demersal trawling along the west coast of southern Africa

Cited by 11 publications

References 62 publications

Patterns and traits associated with invasions by predatory marine crabs

Patterns and traits associated with invasions by predatory marine crabs

Understanding the impact of sand extraction on benthic ecosystem functioning: a combination of functional indices and biological trait analysis

Extending deep-sea benthic biodiversity inventories with environmental DNA metabarcoding

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