Comparing taxonomic and functional trait diversity in marine macrozoobenthos along sediment texture gradients

Gusmao, Joao B.; Thieltges, David W.; Dekker, R.; Govers, Laura L.; Meijer, Kasper J.; Eriksson, Britas Klemens

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.109718

Cited by 8 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Beukema (1976) There are some methodological differences between the study of Bosco et al (2022) and our study: Simpson diversity was calculated based on biomass and not abundance, GAMs were used to investigate the relationship, and in our study, the mud content had a broader range. Several studies found that macrozoobenthos species have specific preferences for certain sediment types (Anderson, 2008), resulting in a unimodal response of species richness to sediment grain size, which can be explained by an overlap of species that prefer muddy or sandy habitats at intermediate level grain sizes (Bosco et al, 2022). It is important to keep in mind that next to environmental filtering there are also other abiotic processes that can influence the macrozoobenthos community structure, for example, the spatial heterogeneity of abiotic factors (Kraft et al, 2015).…”

Section: Impact Of Local Abiotic Drivers (Mud Content and Elevation) ...mentioning

confidence: 85%

“…(2022) and our study: Simpson diversity was calculated based on biomass and not abundance, GAMs were used to investigate the relationship, and in our study, the mud content had a broader range. Several studies found that macrozoobenthos species have specific preferences for certain sediment types (Anderson, 2008), resulting in a unimodal response of species richness to sediment grain size, which can be explained by an overlap of species that prefer muddy or sandy habitats at intermediate level grain sizes (Bosco et al., 2022). It is important to keep in mind that next to environmental filtering there are also other abiotic processes that can influence the macrozoobenthos community structure, for example, the spatial heterogeneity of abiotic factors (Kraft et al., 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Bosco et al. (2022) investigated how different diversity metrics and biomass changed along a sediment texture gradient and found changes for all parameters with mud content and sediment grain size. There are some methodological differences between the study of Bosco et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• H3: Environmental filtering by local abiotic drivers influences macrozoobenthos characteristics, resulting in increasing abundance but decreasing biomass and diversity towards high-tide line . Furthermore, with increasing mud content in the sediment, the total abundance (Armonies & Hellwig-Armonies, 1987;van der Wal, Lambert, et al, 2017) and diversity of macrozoobenthos increase, and total biomass and species richness decrease (Bosco et al, 2022).…”

Section: T a X O N O M Y C L A S S I F I C A T I O Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, at the regional scale, nutrient‐induced species sorting, leads to a gradient in macrozoobenthos abundance, biomass and biodiversity, with higher levels observed in western areas compared with eastern areas. H3: Environmental filtering by local abiotic drivers influences macrozoobenthos characteristics, resulting in increasing abundance but decreasing biomass and diversity towards high‐tide line (Beukema & Dekker, 2009). Furthermore, with increasing mud content in the sediment, the total abundance (Armonies & Hellwig‐Armonies, 1987; van der Wal, Lambert, et al., 2017) and diversity of macrozoobenthos increase, and total biomass and species richness decrease (Bosco et al., 2022). H4: At the local scale, biotic filtering in terms of resource availability, displayed by microphytobenthos (Chl a ) and TOC, causes an increase in abundance, biomass and diversity with increasing resource availability (Pearson & Rosenberg, 1978; Schückel et al., 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Abundance, biomass and species richness of macrozoobenthos along an intertidal elevation gradient

Dewenter,

Yong,

Schupp

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Ecology aims to comprehend species distribution and its interaction with environmental factors, from global to local scales. While global environmental changes affect marine biodiversity, understanding the drivers at smaller scales remains crucial. Tidal flats can be found on most of the world's coastlines and are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances. They are important transient ecosystems between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and their biodiversity provides important ecosystem services. Owing to this unique, terrestrial–marine transition, strong environmental gradients of elevation, sediment composition and food availability prevail. Here, we investigated which regional and local environmental factors drive the spatio‐temporal dynamics of macrozoobenthos communities on back‐barrier tidal flats in the East Frisian Wadden Sea. On the regional level, we found that species composition changed significantly from west to east on the East Frisian islands and that total abundance and species richness decreased from west to east. On the local abiotic level, we found that macrozoobenthos biomass decreased with higher elevation towards the salt marsh and that the total abundance of organisms in the sediment significantly increased with increasing mud content, while biodiversity and biomass were not changing significantly. In contrast to expectations, increasing Chl a availability as a measure of primary productivity did not result in changes in abundance, biomass or biodiversity, but extremely high total organic carbon (TOC) content was associated with a decrease in biomass and biodiversity. In conclusion, we found regional and local relationships that are similar to those observed in previous studies on macrozoobenthos in the Wadden Sea. Macrozoobenthos biomass, abundance and biodiversity are interrelated in a complex way with the physical, abiotic and biotic processes in and above the sediment.

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Section: Impact Of Local Abiotic Drivers (Mud Content and Elevation) ...mentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: T a X O N O M Y C L A S S I F I C A T I O Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Abundance, biomass and species richness of macrozoobenthos along an intertidal elevation gradient

Dewenter,

Yong,

Schupp

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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What has Changed in 20 Years? Structure and Function of Soft-sediment Macrofauna in a Subarctic Embayment, Newfoundland (Canada)

Komendić,

de Moura Neves,

Ramey-Balci

2024

Estuaries and Coasts

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Understanding how natural and anthropogenic disturbances affect the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems is central to predicting future dynamics. Placentia Bay is an Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area (EBSA) in the North Atlantic exposed to multiple stressors (e.g., rising sea surface temperatures, tanker traffic, and aquaculture). To investigate changes in the community and functional structure of soft-sediment macrofauna as well as environmental drivers of observed variation, we compared contemporary (2019–2020) and historical (1998) samples at eight stations (n = 77) collected 21 years apart. Although community and functional structure differed between these time points, functional traits were maintained (i.e., no loss of 36 trait modalities). Overall, 37% of species/taxa were only observed in either the historical or contemporary community, and the contemporary community exhibited lower macrofaunal density but had similar richness, resulting in higher evenness and diversity. Highly tolerant subsurface deposit feeders having small body sizes (< 10 mm) and direct development dominated the historical community. The contemporary community had nearly equal proportions of surface and subsurface deposit feeders with small to medium body sizes (< 10–50 mm) with pelagic larvae, and the proportion of highly tolerant species/taxa was reduced. These changes likely reflect the reduction in polychaetes (91 vs. 58%) and increased bivalves (4 vs. 25%) relative to the historical time point. Community variation was driven by changes in the sedimentary habitat. Contemporary versus historical sediments were ~ 4.5x coarser (possibly due to storms) with higher levels of sedimentary organic matter. This work contributes to advancing the understanding of relationships between benthic macrofauna, functional traits, and the sedimentary habitat in coastal environments.

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The seafloor from a trait perspective. A comprehensive life history dataset of soft sediment macrozoobenthos

Meijer,

Gusmao,

Bruil

et al. 2023

Sci Data

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Biological trait analysis (BTA) is a valuable tool for evaluating changes in community diversity and its link to ecosystem processes as well as environmental and anthropogenic perturbations. Trait-based analytical techniques like BTA rely on standardised datasets of species traits. However, there are currently only a limited number of datasets available for marine macrobenthos that contain trait data across multiple taxonomic groups. Here, we present an open-access dataset of 16 traits for 235 macrozoobenthic species recorded throughout multiple sampling campaigns of the Dutch Wadden Sea; a dynamic soft bottom system where humans have long played a substantial role in shaping the coastal environment. The trait categories included in this dataset cover a variety of life history strategies that are tightly linked to ecosystem functioning and the resilience of communities to (anthropogenic) perturbations and can advance our understanding of environmental changes and human impacts on the functioning of soft bottom systems.

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Comparing taxonomic and functional trait diversity in marine macrozoobenthos along sediment texture gradients

Cited by 8 publications

References 71 publications

Abundance, biomass and species richness of macrozoobenthos along an intertidal elevation gradient

Abundance, biomass and species richness of macrozoobenthos along an intertidal elevation gradient

What has Changed in 20 Years? Structure and Function of Soft-sediment Macrofauna in a Subarctic Embayment, Newfoundland (Canada)

The seafloor from a trait perspective. A comprehensive life history dataset of soft sediment macrozoobenthos

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