Hidden structural heterogeneity enhances marine hotspots' biodiversity
Studies in terrestrial and shallow-water ecosystems have unravelled the key role of interspecific interactions in enhancing biodiversity, but important knowledge gaps persist for the deep sea. Cold-water coral reefs are hotspots of biodiversity, but the role of interspecific interactions and “habita...
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ftzenodo:oai:zenodo.org:5105964 2023-05-15T17:41:37+02:00 Hidden structural heterogeneity enhances marine hotspots' biodiversity Georgios Kazanidis Lea-Anne Henry J Murray Roberts 2021-07-14 https://zenodo.org/record/5105964 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02114-w unknown info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/678760/ info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/818123/ https://zenodo.org/communities/atlas https://zenodo.org/communities/iatlantic-project-collection https://zenodo.org/record/5105964 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02114-w oai:zenodo.org:5105964 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode info:eu-repo/semantics/article publication-article 2021 ftzenodo https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02114-w 2023-03-10T14:10:10Z Studies in terrestrial and shallow-water ecosystems have unravelled the key role of interspecific interactions in enhancing biodiversity, but important knowledge gaps persist for the deep sea. Cold-water coral reefs are hotspots of biodiversity, but the role of interspecific interactions and “habitat cascades” (i.e. positive effects on focal organisms mediated by biogenic habitat formation) in shaping their biodiversity is unknown. Associations between macrofaunal hosts and epifauna were examined in 47 stations at the Mingulay Reef Complex (northeast Atlantic). In total, 101 (group level) and 340 (species level) unique types of facultative associations formed by 43 hosts and 39 epifaunal species were found. Molluscs and empty polychaete tubes had higher values for the type and number of host-epifaunal associations, the Shannon–Wiener (H) and Margalef (d) indices of the epifauna than the rest of the taxonomic groups (p < 0.05). Hosts’ body size, orientation, surface smoothness, and growth form explained a significant amount of variability (32.96%) in epifauna community composition. Epifaunal species richness (S), H and d were 27.4 (± 2.2%), 56.2 (± 2.8%) and 39.9 (± 2.3%) of the respective values for the total sessile communities living on coral framework. This is intriguing as coral framework is orders of magnitude larger than the size of macrofaunal hosts. It is suggested that bivalves, tunicates and empty polychaete tubes increase habitat heterogeneity and enhance biodiversity through “habitat cascades”, in a similar way that epiphytes do in tropical rainforests. Most macrofaunal habitat suppliers in the studied cold-water coral reef are calcified species and likely susceptible to ocean acidification. This indicates that the impacts of climate change on the total biodiversity, structure and health of cold-water coral reefs may potentially be more severe than previously thought. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northeast Atlantic Ocean acidification Zenodo Coral Reefs 40 5 1615 1630 |
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Studies in terrestrial and shallow-water ecosystems have unravelled the key role of interspecific interactions in enhancing biodiversity, but important knowledge gaps persist for the deep sea. Cold-water coral reefs are hotspots of biodiversity, but the role of interspecific interactions and “habitat cascades” (i.e. positive effects on focal organisms mediated by biogenic habitat formation) in shaping their biodiversity is unknown. Associations between macrofaunal hosts and epifauna were examined in 47 stations at the Mingulay Reef Complex (northeast Atlantic). In total, 101 (group level) and 340 (species level) unique types of facultative associations formed by 43 hosts and 39 epifaunal species were found. Molluscs and empty polychaete tubes had higher values for the type and number of host-epifaunal associations, the Shannon–Wiener (H) and Margalef (d) indices of the epifauna than the rest of the taxonomic groups (p < 0.05). Hosts’ body size, orientation, surface smoothness, and growth form explained a significant amount of variability (32.96%) in epifauna community composition. Epifaunal species richness (S), H and d were 27.4 (± 2.2%), 56.2 (± 2.8%) and 39.9 (± 2.3%) of the respective values for the total sessile communities living on coral framework. This is intriguing as coral framework is orders of magnitude larger than the size of macrofaunal hosts. It is suggested that bivalves, tunicates and empty polychaete tubes increase habitat heterogeneity and enhance biodiversity through “habitat cascades”, in a similar way that epiphytes do in tropical rainforests. Most macrofaunal habitat suppliers in the studied cold-water coral reef are calcified species and likely susceptible to ocean acidification. This indicates that the impacts of climate change on the total biodiversity, structure and health of cold-water coral reefs may potentially be more severe than previously thought. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Georgios Kazanidis Lea-Anne Henry J Murray Roberts |
spellingShingle |
Georgios Kazanidis Lea-Anne Henry J Murray Roberts Hidden structural heterogeneity enhances marine hotspots' biodiversity |
author_facet |
Georgios Kazanidis Lea-Anne Henry J Murray Roberts |
author_sort |
Georgios Kazanidis |
title |
Hidden structural heterogeneity enhances marine hotspots' biodiversity |
title_short |
Hidden structural heterogeneity enhances marine hotspots' biodiversity |
title_full |
Hidden structural heterogeneity enhances marine hotspots' biodiversity |
title_fullStr |
Hidden structural heterogeneity enhances marine hotspots' biodiversity |
title_full_unstemmed |
Hidden structural heterogeneity enhances marine hotspots' biodiversity |
title_sort |
hidden structural heterogeneity enhances marine hotspots' biodiversity |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://zenodo.org/record/5105964 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02114-w |
genre |
Northeast Atlantic Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Northeast Atlantic Ocean acidification |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/678760/ info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/818123/ https://zenodo.org/communities/atlas https://zenodo.org/communities/iatlantic-project-collection https://zenodo.org/record/5105964 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02114-w oai:zenodo.org:5105964 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02114-w |
container_title |
Coral Reefs |
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40 |
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5 |
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1615 |
op_container_end_page |
1630 |
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1766143258701856768 |