Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability
The marine benthos has been largely studied through the use of response traits that characterise species vulnerability to disturbance. More limited has been the specific use of effect traits that represent other species descriptors and that express ecosystem functions. On the sea floor, the benthos...
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ftunivwagenin:oai:library.wur.nl:wurpubs/612675 2024-04-28T08:32:16+00:00 Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability Beauchard, Olivier Thompson, Murray S.A. Ellingsen, Kari E. Piet, Gerjan Laffargue, Pascal Soetaert, Karline 2023 application/pdf https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/assessing-sea-floor-functional-biodiversity-and-vulnerability https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14270 en eng https://edepot.wur.nl/590638 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/assessing-sea-floor-functional-biodiversity-and-vulnerability doi:10.3354/meps14270 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Wageningen University & Research Marine Ecology Progress Series 708 (2023) ISSN: 0171-8630 Life Science Article/Letter to editor 2023 ftunivwagenin https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14270 2024-04-03T14:41:12Z The marine benthos has been largely studied through the use of response traits that characterise species vulnerability to disturbance. More limited has been the specific use of effect traits that represent other species descriptors and that express ecosystem functions. On the sea floor, the benthos is a key ecosystem-engineering component for which functions can be relevantly derived from effect traits. This study provides a typology of sea floor functions based on anextensive data compilation of effect traits. We classified 812 benthic invertebrate species from the northeast Atlantic by 15 effect traits expressing substratum alteration and habitat creation. Cluster analysis identified 15 species groups that represented various epi- or endobenthic functions. Beyond function−habitat specificity, we show that soft sediment species exhibited broader functionalniches in the trait space that increase multi-functionality, and were endowed with rare combinations of traits that expanded the functional extent of the species assemblage. As a consequence, soft sediments can host a higher functional diversity than hard substrata because a wider range of above- and below-substratum activities are possible in soft bottoms. Based on responsetraits documented for the same species and used to express vulnerability to natural or humaninduced disturbance, we then show that vulnerability within sea floor functions can be considerably variable. This can be a consequence of the independence between the evolutionary nature of response traits and the contingent engineering abilities of benthic species through effect traits. The paper provides theoretical and utilitarian clarifications on this trait dichotomy. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northeast Atlantic Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library Marine Ecology Progress Series 708 21 43 |
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Open Polar |
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Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library |
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ftunivwagenin |
language |
English |
topic |
Life Science |
spellingShingle |
Life Science Beauchard, Olivier Thompson, Murray S.A. Ellingsen, Kari E. Piet, Gerjan Laffargue, Pascal Soetaert, Karline Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability |
topic_facet |
Life Science |
description |
The marine benthos has been largely studied through the use of response traits that characterise species vulnerability to disturbance. More limited has been the specific use of effect traits that represent other species descriptors and that express ecosystem functions. On the sea floor, the benthos is a key ecosystem-engineering component for which functions can be relevantly derived from effect traits. This study provides a typology of sea floor functions based on anextensive data compilation of effect traits. We classified 812 benthic invertebrate species from the northeast Atlantic by 15 effect traits expressing substratum alteration and habitat creation. Cluster analysis identified 15 species groups that represented various epi- or endobenthic functions. Beyond function−habitat specificity, we show that soft sediment species exhibited broader functionalniches in the trait space that increase multi-functionality, and were endowed with rare combinations of traits that expanded the functional extent of the species assemblage. As a consequence, soft sediments can host a higher functional diversity than hard substrata because a wider range of above- and below-substratum activities are possible in soft bottoms. Based on responsetraits documented for the same species and used to express vulnerability to natural or humaninduced disturbance, we then show that vulnerability within sea floor functions can be considerably variable. This can be a consequence of the independence between the evolutionary nature of response traits and the contingent engineering abilities of benthic species through effect traits. The paper provides theoretical and utilitarian clarifications on this trait dichotomy. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Beauchard, Olivier Thompson, Murray S.A. Ellingsen, Kari E. Piet, Gerjan Laffargue, Pascal Soetaert, Karline |
author_facet |
Beauchard, Olivier Thompson, Murray S.A. Ellingsen, Kari E. Piet, Gerjan Laffargue, Pascal Soetaert, Karline |
author_sort |
Beauchard, Olivier |
title |
Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability |
title_short |
Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability |
title_full |
Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability |
title_fullStr |
Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability |
title_sort |
assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/assessing-sea-floor-functional-biodiversity-and-vulnerability https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14270 |
genre |
Northeast Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Northeast Atlantic |
op_source |
Marine Ecology Progress Series 708 (2023) ISSN: 0171-8630 |
op_relation |
https://edepot.wur.nl/590638 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/assessing-sea-floor-functional-biodiversity-and-vulnerability doi:10.3354/meps14270 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Wageningen University & Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14270 |
container_title |
Marine Ecology Progress Series |
container_volume |
708 |
container_start_page |
21 |
op_container_end_page |
43 |
_version_ |
1797589521086283776 |