Patterns of fish occupancy of artificial habitats in the eastern Mediterranean shallow littoral

被引:0
作者
Maria-Myrto Ntouni
Alexis Lazaris
Evangelos Tzanatos
机构
[1] University of Patras,Department of Biology
来源
Marine Biology | 2023年 / 170卷
关键词
Anthropogenic habitat; Urbanization; Armoring; Fish abundance; Coastal ecology;
D O I
暂无
中图分类号
学科分类号
摘要
Coastal ecosystems act as spawning grounds, settlement areas or nurseries for a diversity of fish species. Today, these ecosystems are under various anthropogenic stressors. One of these disturbances is the structural modification of the shallow littoral by coastal infrastructure such as ports, piers, marinas and roads. Here, we investigate whether there are differences between modified (artificial) and non-modified (natural) habitats in central Greece in terms of the fish assemblage structure, species diversity and richness, fish abundance and the proportion of juveniles. We carried out underwater visual census from September 2020 to August 2021 across two habitats (natural and artificial) in three locations of central Greece. The fish community and Shannon diversity index did not vary across habitat type; however, both species richness and total abundance were significantly higher in artificial habitats. The abundance of five (out of ten examined in total) taxa was significantly affected by habitat type. Higher abundance in the artificial habitat in the warmer or more productive months was found, possibly relevant to food availability. The significance of habitat interactions with location and the temporal component in community composition and species abundance models indicated intense heterogeneity in species-specific occupancy and may be linked to the type and characteristics of artificial habitats. Modeling of the percentage of small-sized individuals indicated patterns of juvenile occupancy requiring further investigation about the potential role of artificial habitats for some species. Future research should examine the impact of specific artificial habitat types on population dynamics and investigate the implications of artificial habitat construction for conserving fish diversity and maintaining coastal ecosystem functioning.
引用
收藏
相关论文
共 294 条
[1]  
Able KW(2013)Fine-scale distribution of pelagic fishes relative to a large urban pier Mar Ecol Prog Ser 476 185-198
[2]  
Grothues TM(2007)Loss, status and trends for coastal marine habitats of Europe Oceanogr Mar Biol 45 345-405
[3]  
Kemp IM(2012)Egg deposition by Atlantic silverside, Estuaries Coasts 35 1100-1109
[4]  
Airoldi L(2001): substrate utilization and comparison of natural and altered shoreline type Bioscience 51 633-641
[5]  
Beck MW(1998)The identification, conservation, and management of estuarine and marine nurseries for fish and invertebrates Ital J Zool 65 269-274
[6]  
Balouskus RG(2008)Settlement and recruitment in fishes: the role of coastal areas Mar Ecol Prog Ser 358 27-39
[7]  
Targett TE(2016)Effects of coastal development on nearshore estuarine nekton communities Mar Ecol Prog Ser 547 193-209
[8]  
Beck MW(2005)Potential use of marinas as nursery grounds by rocky fishes: insights from four Diplodus species in the Mediterranean J Fish Biol 67 53-71
[9]  
Heck KL(2005)Fishes associated with artificial reefs: attributing changes to attraction or production using novel approaches Environ Conserv 32 101-102
[10]  
Able KW(2010)The of artificial structures on marine soft- and hard-bottoms: ecological implications of epibiota J Appl Ecol 47 26-35