Up, down, and all around: scale-dependent spatial variation in rocky-shore communities of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica.
Understanding the variation of biodiversity along environmental gradients and multiple spatial scales is relevant for theoretical and management purposes. Hereby, we analysed the spatial variability in diversity and structure of intertidal and subtidal macrobenthic Antarctic communities along vertic...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:770c11e2abba49ad894dd5cdd9067b52 2023-05-15T13:56:59+02:00 Up, down, and all around: scale-dependent spatial variation in rocky-shore communities of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica. Nelson Valdivia María J Díaz Jorge Holtheuer Ignacio Garrido Pirjo Huovinen Iván Gómez 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100714 https://doaj.org/article/770c11e2abba49ad894dd5cdd9067b52 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4067381?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0100714 https://doaj.org/article/770c11e2abba49ad894dd5cdd9067b52 PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 6, p e100714 (2014) Medicine R Science Q article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100714 2022-12-31T10:47:52Z Understanding the variation of biodiversity along environmental gradients and multiple spatial scales is relevant for theoretical and management purposes. Hereby, we analysed the spatial variability in diversity and structure of intertidal and subtidal macrobenthic Antarctic communities along vertical environmental stress gradients and across multiple horizontal spatial scales. Since biotic interactions and local topographic features are likely major factors for coastal assemblages, we tested the hypothesis that fine-scale processes influence the effects of the vertical environmental stress gradients on the macrobenthic diversity and structure. We used nested sampling designs in the intertidal and subtidal habitats, including horizontal spatial scales ranging from few centimetres to 1000s of metres along the rocky shore of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island. In both intertidal and subtidal habitats, univariate and multivariate analyses showed a marked vertical zonation in taxon richness and community structure. These patterns depended on the horizontal spatial scale of observation, as all analyses showed a significant interaction between height (or depth) and the finer spatial scale analysed. Variance and pseudo-variance components supported our prediction for taxon richness, community structure, and the abundance of dominant species such as the filamentous green alga Urospora penicilliformis (intertidal), the herbivore Nacella concinna (intertidal), the large kelp-like Himantothallus grandifolius (subtidal), and the red crustose red alga Lithothamnion spp. (subtidal). We suggest that in coastal ecosystems strongly governed by physical factors, fine-scale processes (e.g. biotic interactions and refugia availability) are still relevant for the structuring and maintenance of the local communities. The spatial patterns found in this study serve as a necessary benchmark to understand the dynamics and adaptation of natural assemblages in response to observed and predicted environmental changes in Antarctica. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica King George Island Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic King George Island Nacella ENVELOPE(-60.783,-60.783,-62.467,-62.467) Fildes ENVELOPE(-58.817,-58.817,-62.217,-62.217) Fildes peninsula ENVELOPE(-58.948,-58.948,-62.182,-62.182) PLoS ONE 9 6 e100714 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Nelson Valdivia María J Díaz Jorge Holtheuer Ignacio Garrido Pirjo Huovinen Iván Gómez Up, down, and all around: scale-dependent spatial variation in rocky-shore communities of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Understanding the variation of biodiversity along environmental gradients and multiple spatial scales is relevant for theoretical and management purposes. Hereby, we analysed the spatial variability in diversity and structure of intertidal and subtidal macrobenthic Antarctic communities along vertical environmental stress gradients and across multiple horizontal spatial scales. Since biotic interactions and local topographic features are likely major factors for coastal assemblages, we tested the hypothesis that fine-scale processes influence the effects of the vertical environmental stress gradients on the macrobenthic diversity and structure. We used nested sampling designs in the intertidal and subtidal habitats, including horizontal spatial scales ranging from few centimetres to 1000s of metres along the rocky shore of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island. In both intertidal and subtidal habitats, univariate and multivariate analyses showed a marked vertical zonation in taxon richness and community structure. These patterns depended on the horizontal spatial scale of observation, as all analyses showed a significant interaction between height (or depth) and the finer spatial scale analysed. Variance and pseudo-variance components supported our prediction for taxon richness, community structure, and the abundance of dominant species such as the filamentous green alga Urospora penicilliformis (intertidal), the herbivore Nacella concinna (intertidal), the large kelp-like Himantothallus grandifolius (subtidal), and the red crustose red alga Lithothamnion spp. (subtidal). We suggest that in coastal ecosystems strongly governed by physical factors, fine-scale processes (e.g. biotic interactions and refugia availability) are still relevant for the structuring and maintenance of the local communities. The spatial patterns found in this study serve as a necessary benchmark to understand the dynamics and adaptation of natural assemblages in response to observed and predicted environmental changes in Antarctica. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Nelson Valdivia María J Díaz Jorge Holtheuer Ignacio Garrido Pirjo Huovinen Iván Gómez |
author_facet |
Nelson Valdivia María J Díaz Jorge Holtheuer Ignacio Garrido Pirjo Huovinen Iván Gómez |
author_sort |
Nelson Valdivia |
title |
Up, down, and all around: scale-dependent spatial variation in rocky-shore communities of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica. |
title_short |
Up, down, and all around: scale-dependent spatial variation in rocky-shore communities of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica. |
title_full |
Up, down, and all around: scale-dependent spatial variation in rocky-shore communities of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica. |
title_fullStr |
Up, down, and all around: scale-dependent spatial variation in rocky-shore communities of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Up, down, and all around: scale-dependent spatial variation in rocky-shore communities of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica. |
title_sort |
up, down, and all around: scale-dependent spatial variation in rocky-shore communities of fildes peninsula, king george island, antarctica. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100714 https://doaj.org/article/770c11e2abba49ad894dd5cdd9067b52 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-60.783,-60.783,-62.467,-62.467) ENVELOPE(-58.817,-58.817,-62.217,-62.217) ENVELOPE(-58.948,-58.948,-62.182,-62.182) |
geographic |
Antarctic King George Island Nacella Fildes Fildes peninsula |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic King George Island Nacella Fildes Fildes peninsula |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica King George Island |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica King George Island |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 6, p e100714 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4067381?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0100714 https://doaj.org/article/770c11e2abba49ad894dd5cdd9067b52 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100714 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
e100714 |
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1766264580846125056 |