Island biogeography: patterns of marine shallow‐water organisms in the Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

Aim The aim of this study was to understand whether the large-scale biogeographical patterns of the species-area, species-island age and species-isolation relationships associated with marine shallow-water groups in the Atlantic Ocean vary among marine taxa and differ from the biogeographical patterns observed in terrestrial habitats.Location Atlantic Ocean.Methods Reef fish, gastropod and seaweed species richness as well as reef fish endemic species data were obtained for 11 Atlantic oceanic islands. Using a multimodel inference approach based on linear and nonlinear regressions, we tested hypotheses regarding the variation in species richness and endemism as a function of island area, age and isolation. Best models were selected using ratios between Akaike weights corrected for small sample size (AIC c ). Results were compared between the three shallow-water species groups and contrasted against previous studies of marine and terrestrial systems.Results Island area was the best single predictor of gastropod and seaweed richness, although it was not an improvement compared to the null model for reef fish. Island age explained richness in all taxa and was the best single predictor of reef fish richness. Isolation was a good predictor of seaweed richness but not of fish and gastropod richness, possibly because of their overall higher dispersal capacity. Reef fish endemism was influenced solely by island isolation.Main conclusions This work reveals large-scale island biogeographical patterns for marine shallow-water organisms in the Atlantic Ocean. Our results suggest that reduced gene flow is a potentially important mechanism for the maintenance of reef fish endemism in oceanic islands. The role of island age regarding the species richness of all taxa emphasizes the importance of habitat history for the geographical distribution of marine shallow-water biodiversity. Finally, we show that some island biogeographical patterns differ not only between marine and terrestrial ecosystems but also, importantly, within marine shallow-water environments, where the biogeographical patterns are highly taxon-dependent.

Large‐scale connectivity of Grapsus grapsus (Decapoda) in the Southwestern Atlantic oceanic islands: integrating genetic and morphometric data

“…Each archipelago is currently considered as a distinct biogeographic unit due to the strong affinity of the reef biota among each archipelago's islands and the level of endemism in each archipelago (Hachich et al . ). Previous studies have focused only on equatorial islands, showing an overall pattern of strong gene flow and morphologic homogeneity ( e.g .…”

South‐western Atlantic reef fishes: Zoogeographical patterns and ecological drivers reveal a secondary biodiversity centre in the Atlantic Ocean

“…Moreover, the number and level of endemism in the continental shelf are greater than previously suspected (Floeter et al., ; Rocha, ), reaching 17%. Brazilian endemics exclusive to the oceanic islands contribute to an additional 9%, which is a considerable level compared to the number of endemics in other islands of the Atlantic Ocean (Hachich et al., ) and also taking into account the relatively small reef area of Brazilian islands (220 km 2 ; <0.001% of the Brazilian continental shelf).…”

Deep segregation in the open ocean: Macaronesia as an evolutionary hotspot for low dispersal marine invertebrates

“…While patterns of diversification in Macaronesia, mainly in terrestrial organisms, have been reviewed by Borregaard et al (), colonization and gene flow of marine benthic organisms have only been studied in those with a pelagic phase (Chevolot, Hoarau, Rijnsdorp, Stam, & Olsen, ; Sá‐Pinto, Branco, Sayanda, & Alexandrino, ; Xavier, van Soest, Breeuwer, Martins, & Menken, ). Marine benthic invertebrates that inhabit intertidal coastal areas are unique relative to both terrestrial organisms and other marine taxa (Hachich et al, ). Many intertidal species have pelagic larvae which may promote dispersal over open water, potentially circumventing habitat discontinuity (Grantham, Eckert, & Shanks, ; Scheltema, ).…”