Coastal fish assemblages reflect marine habitat connectivity and ontogenetic shifts in an estuary-bay-continental shelf gradient

Reis‐Filho, José Amorim; Schmid, Kurt; Harvey, Euan S.; Giarrizzo, Tommaso

doi:10.1016/j.marenvres.2019.05.004

Cited by 34 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Furthermore, the water level of EA fluctuates due to the intermittent influence of tides, which may lead to different nekton assemblages (Reis et al 2019). AA presents a unique nekton assemblage with a variety of benthic shellfish and snails that other habitats do not include, which could explain the remarkable effect of the high benthic abundance in AA.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The coastal waters of the Yellow Sea where Haizhou Bay is located are mainly dominated by muddy and sandy habitats, in which the underwater visibility is low, making it difficult to study the nekton communities by means of diving or snorkeling (Dorenbosch et al 2007;Wang et al 2011). Moreover, the current velocity is relatively high, and the methods of underwater visual surveys, such as baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVs), are very limited (Reis et al 2019). Therefore, trawl and gill nets are more commonly used for sampling in this region.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The global trends of continuous processes associated with human activities and coastal development, such as overfishing, habitat destruction and marine environmental pollution, have led to the general degradation of the entire coastal ecosystem, which has imposed tremendous pressure on estuaries, harbors, gulfs and nearshore regions (Walker et al, 2014;Dance et al, 2015;Cordova et al, 2018;Reis et al, 2019). Over the years, artificial reefs have been constructed as human-made structures to increase environmental quality and species abundance in marine ecosystems for coastal ecological restoration (Seaman and Sprague 1991;Anne et al 2015;Folpp et al 2020) by creating suitable habitats and places for many marine organisms to grow, reproduce, forage and hide (Sherman et al, 2002) .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It includes two mechanisms: movements of nekton in different stages of life history (Flitcroft et al, 2018) and transport and exchange of nutrients (fundamental elements such as C, N, P, and S) (Garcia et al, 2017;Laske et al, 2019), which play an important role in maintaining population structures and regulating ecological processes. Most ecological studies on habitat connections and distribution patterns of marine nekton focus on a limited number of species or habitat types (Reis et al, 2019); thus, obtaining accurate and different information on related species and habitats in various types of ecosystems seems to be a major challenge.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Connectivity of nekton assemblages along artificial reefs and adjacent waters in Haizhou Bay

Gao

Xie

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The successful construction of marine protected areas (MPAs) in temperate waters largely depends on our understanding of the distribution and coexistence of organisms with varying habitat preferences, which helps us to better understand the community patterns mediated by connectivity in coastal areas. This study was conducted to examine the connectivity of nekton assemblages in artificial reefs and adjacent waters, which included five habitats: the artificial reef area (AR), aquaculture area (AA), natural area (NA), estuary area (EA) and comprehensive effect area (CEA), in Haizhou Bay in October 2020. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that there were significant differences in the characteristics and abundances of nekton in each habitat (P<0.05). Approximately 38.2% of the individuals were found in at least three habitats, and very few species were present in only a single habitat. Several highly abundant nekton species were selected according to the kernel density estimates (KDEs), and their body lengths varied gradationally among habitats, potentially indicating migration and diffusion during their life history. The results showed that artificial reefs and adjacent waters in Haizhou Bay are related by similar nekton assemblages and ontogenetic variation. Finally, this study has implications for the conservation and monitoring of nekton assemblages in artificial reefs and adjacent waters, highlighting that the principle of connectivity should be taken into consideration in the design of MPAs and MPA networks that can be applied in different stages of implementation and in different combinations of scenarios.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Connectivity of nekton assemblages along artificial reefs and adjacent waters in Haizhou Bay

Gao

Xie

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…In demersal communities, fish can partition resources on a spatial level instead of the diet (Le Pape et al 2013, O'Shea et al 2013, since their ecological niche range provides the food resources they prefer and need to cover their energy requirements. Habitat partitioning frequently occurs with ontogenetic changes in habitat use (Reis-Filho et al 2019), whereby adults are spatially segregated from juveniles, but this behavior was not observed in the soft-bottom coastal area of the PCCM, because juveniles and adults showed high co-occurrence in the area. In this study, resource y los peces, y en segundo término las especies de moluscos, equinodermos y poliquetos, y que juntas representan casi la totalidad de la dieta (Navia et al 2007;Flores-Ortega et al 2011, 2013Anastasopoulou et al 2019).…”

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confidence: 99%

Trophic interactions between the 11 most abundant demersal fish species on the Pacific coast of central Mexico

Flores-Ortega

2020

Cienc. Mar.

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We describe the diet, feeding strategy, and trophic interactions between the 11 most abundant demersal fish species on the Pacific coast of central Mexico during both the warm and cold seasons. A total of 4,547 stomachs were collected, with 1,921 empty stomachs being discarded. According to the stomach content analysis, 95 prey items were identified and grouped into 70 food categories belonging to crustaceans, mollusks, fish, polychaetes, and echinoderms. The Smith index value and high prey diversity indicated that the 11 fish species exhibited a generalist opportunistic feeding strategy in both survey seasons. Low values of dietary overlap were recorded, and only a few significant cases of dietary overlap were found in the interaction between some rays (Urotrygonidae) and flatfish species (Pleuronectiformes). The availability and abundance of prey resources in the environment and the generalization of niche breadth allows the demersal predator community of the soft shallow bottoms to coexist without any evident competition for trophic resources.

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Research progress on habitat connectivity in coastal waters: A review

Gao

et al. 2022

Ecohydrology

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Ecological connectivity, as a research method related to spatial ecology and conservation biology, has attracted increasing attention from researchers at home and abroad in recent years. Habitat connectivity, as a key link in ecological connectivity, is of great significance to promote coastal ecological restoration and protection.However, there has been less systematic research about habitat connectivity due to lack of corresponding theories and practices. Therefore, this paper discusses habitat connectivity from three aspects: (1) the concept of habitat connectivity is introduced and clarified; (2) the application of connectivity in artificial habitat and adjacent waters and its relationship with biodiversity conservation are reviewed and illustrated with examples; and (3) the future development trends of this research direction are summarized and prospected in order to provide a scientific basis and useful reference for the related work of coastal restoration projects in China. Generally, this paper argues that an increase in human behaviour irreversibly destroys the connectivity between marine habitats and threatens the spatial and temporal scales of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Therefore, the theoretical research results and practical experience of ecological connectivity should be fully applied to marine ecosystems, and the restoration of degraded ecosystems should be encouraged and supported in ways that promote natural recovery.

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Coastal fish assemblages reflect marine habitat connectivity and ontogenetic shifts in an estuary-bay-continental shelf gradient

Cited by 34 publications

References 72 publications

Connectivity of nekton assemblages along artificial reefs and adjacent waters in Haizhou Bay

Connectivity of nekton assemblages along artificial reefs and adjacent waters in Haizhou Bay

Trophic interactions between the 11 most abundant demersal fish species on the Pacific coast of central Mexico

Research progress on habitat connectivity in coastal waters: A review

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