Epifaunal community structure within southern New Zealand kelp forests

Desmond, Matthew J.; Suárez-Jiménez, Rocío; Nelson, Wendy A.; Hepburn, Christopher D.

doi:10.3354/meps12587

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Body‐size distribution is often overlooked in studies of community structure, with comparisons of faunal diversity, taxonomic composition, density and biomass more common (Berthelsen et al 2015, Cúrdia et al 2015, Desmond et al 2018). However, results presented here reveal highly predictable properties with regards to the size spectra of epifaunal assemblages on diverse benthic habitats.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small invertebrate consumers produce consistent size spectra across reef habitats and climatic zones

Fraser

Stuart-Smith

Ling

et al. 2020

Oikos

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Changes in invertebrate body size-distributions that follow loss of habitat-forming species can potentially affect a range of ecological processes, including predation and competition. In the marine environment, small crustaceans and other mobile invertebrates ('epifauna') represent a basal component in reef food webs, with a pivotal secondary production role that is strongly influenced by their body size-distribution. Ongoing degradation of reef habitats that affect invertebrate size-distributions, particularly transformation of coral and kelp habitat to algal turf, may thus fundamentally affect secondary production. Here we explored variation in size spectra of shallow epifaunal assemblages (i.e. the slope and intercept of the linear relationship between log abundance and body size at the assemblage level) across 21 reef microhabitats distributed along an extensive eastern Australian climatic gradient from the tropical northern Great Barrier Reef to cool temperate Tasmania. When aggregated across microhabitats at the site scale, invertebrate body size spectra (0.125-8 mm range) were consistently log-linear (R 2 ranging 0.87-0.98). Size spectra differed between, but not within, major groups of microhabitats, and exhibited little variability between tropical and temperate biomes. Nevertheless, size spectra showed significant tropical/temperate differences in slopes for epifauna sampled on macroalgal habitats, and in elevation for soft coral and sponge habitats. Our results reveal epifaunal size spectra to be a highly predictable macro-ecological feature. Given that variation in epifaunal size spectra among groups of microhabitats was greater than variation between tropical and temperate biomes, we postulate that ocean warming will not greatly alter epifaunal size spectra directly. However, transformation of tropical coral and temperate macroalgal habitats to algal turfs due to warming will alter reef food web dynamics through redistribution of the size of prey available to fishes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small invertebrate consumers produce consistent size spectra across reef habitats and climatic zones

Fraser

Stuart-Smith

Ling

et al. 2020

Oikos

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“…Organisms utilize their host seaweeds in different ways. Broadly, hosts may be used as shelter or as a source of food, and detritivores, planktivores and algivores have varying abundances on different macroalgae (Beckley & McLachlan, 1980; Gestoso et al ., 2012; Roff et al ., 2013; Desmond et al ., 2018). For instance, more pycnogonids (Pantopoda) were found on foliose algae as they probably grazed on rhodophytes (Bamber & Davis, 1982), which accounted for the majority of foliose algae examined in this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of macroalgal morphology on marine epifaunal diversity

2019

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Macroalgae play important ecological roles, including as hosts for a wide range of epifauna. However, the diversity relationships between macroalgae and epifauna are poorly understood for most tropical host species and algal morphologies. This study aims to characterize and analyse the diversity of invertebrates present amongst macroalgae with three distinct morphologies (three-dimensional, filamentous and foliose) across different tropical intertidal sites in Singapore. Morphological and DNA barcoding tools were employed for epifaunal species identification, and ordination statistics and multiple linear regression were used to test the effects of algal morphology, species and site on community structure and diversity of epiphytic invertebrates. Overall, epifaunal communities were distinct among sites and algal morphologies, and diversity was affected significantly by algal morphology. In particular, filamentous macroalgae hosted the highest abundance of epifauna dominated mainly by amphipods, which were able to take advantage of the high surface area to volume ratio in filamentous algal mats as a consequence of their thinner forms. Foliose species showed a significantly negative effect on invertebrate diversity. Our findings highlight the diverse associations between intertidal macroalgae and invertebrates with high turnover between algal morphology and sites that contribute to the high biodiversity of tropical shores. Future studies should consider the effects of the host habitat, seasonality and more algal species on epifaunal diversity.

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“…Previous studies indicate that at an individual-level, functional traits related to architecture, height, and complexity of habitats change with shifting species composition (Asner et al 2008, McIntyre et al 2015, Dijkstra et al 2017a). These traits have been shown to modify abundance and biodiversity of inhabitant species as well as species interactions (Warfe and Barmuta 2004, Desmond et al 2018, Ware et al 2019). However, it is unclear how regime shifts will affect the ecological processes that shape landscapes or in turn how a novel landscape will effect the ability of inhabitant species to forage or seek refuge.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature, phenology, and turf macroalgae drive seascape change: Connections to mid‐trophic level species

et al. 2019

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2019. Temperature, phenology, and turf macroalgae drive seascape change: Connections to mid-trophic level species.Abstract. Landscape patterns created by the structure and form of foundational species shape ecological processes of community assembly and trophic interactions. In recent years, major shifts in foundation species have occurred in multiple ecosystems. In temperate marine systems, many kelp beds have shifted to turf macroalgae habitats with unknown consequences on seascape patterns or changes in the ecological processes that maintain communities. We investigated the effect of turf macroalgae on seascape patterns in three habitats dominated by kelp and turf macroalgae and those that have mixed species composition. We also examined decadal elevations in temperature with known growth and reproductive phenology of kelp and turf macroalgae to provide a mechanistic understanding of the factors that will continue to shape these seascapes. Our results indicate that turf macroalgae produce a more heterogeneous habitat with greater primary free space than those that are mixed or dominated by kelp. Further, we examined the relationship between seascape patterns and richness and abundance of fishes in each habitat. Results showed that patch size was positively related to the abundance of fish in habitat types, suggesting that turf-induced heterogeneity may lead to fewer observed fishes, specifically the mid-trophic level species, cunner, in these habitats. Overall, our results suggest that persistence of this habitat is facilitated by increasing temperature that shorten the phenology of kelps and favor growth and reproduction of turf macroalgae that make them poised to take advantage of free space, regardless of season.

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Epifaunal community structure within southern New Zealand kelp forests

Cited by 4 publications

References 55 publications

Small invertebrate consumers produce consistent size spectra across reef habitats and climatic zones

Small invertebrate consumers produce consistent size spectra across reef habitats and climatic zones

Effects of macroalgal morphology on marine epifaunal diversity

Temperature, phenology, and turf macroalgae drive seascape change: Connections to mid‐trophic level species

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