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Benthic community succession on artificial and natural coral reefs in the northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

Evaluating the efficacy of artificial structures in enhancing or sustaining biodiversity on tropical coral reefs is key to assessing their role in reef conservation or management. Here, we compare spatial and temporal patterns of colonization and succession of the benthic assemblage on settlement co...

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Autores principales: Higgins, Emily, Scheibling, Robert E., Desilets, Kelsey M., Metaxas, Anna
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6392313/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30811459
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212842
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author Higgins, Emily
Scheibling, Robert E.
Desilets, Kelsey M.
Metaxas, Anna
author_facet Higgins, Emily
Scheibling, Robert E.
Desilets, Kelsey M.
Metaxas, Anna
author_sort Higgins, Emily
collection PubMed
description Evaluating the efficacy of artificial structures in enhancing or sustaining biodiversity on tropical coral reefs is key to assessing their role in reef conservation or management. Here, we compare spatial and temporal patterns of colonization and succession of the benthic assemblage on settlement collectors (ceramic tiles) in a 13-mo mensurative experiment on a suspended artificial reef, a seafloor artificial reef, and two nearby natural reefs at Eilat, Gulf of Aqaba. We also conducted a concurrent 7-mo manipulative experiment on the suspended reef and one of the natural reefs, and monitored fish feeding behaviour on experimental collectors, to examine effects of large mobile consumers on these patterns. In both experiments, taxonomic composition as percent planar cover for the whole community or biomass for the invertebrate component differed between collector topsides, dominated by a filamentous algal matrix, and shaded undersides with a profuse assemblage of suspension- or filter-feeding invertebrates. In the mensurative experiment, we found differences in final community and invertebrate composition between sites, which clustered according to reef type (artificial vs. natural) for collector undersides. Invertebrate biomass was greater at both artificial reefs than at one (undersides) or both (topsides) natural reefs. In the manipulative experiment, we found similar differences in composition between sites/reef types as well as between treatments (exclusion vs. control), and the invertebrate biomass was greater on the artificial reef. Invertebrate biomass was greater in the exclusion treatment than the control on collector undersides, suggesting mobile consumers can affect community composition and abundance. Predominant fish species observed interacting with collectors differed between artificial and natural reefs, likely contributing to differences in patterns of colonization and succession between sites and reef types. Our findings suggest artificial reefs have the potential to enhance cover and biomass of certain reef-associated assemblages, particularly those occupying sheltered microhabitats.
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spelling pubmed-63923132019-03-08 Benthic community succession on artificial and natural coral reefs in the northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea Higgins, Emily Scheibling, Robert E. Desilets, Kelsey M. Metaxas, Anna PLoS One Research Article Evaluating the efficacy of artificial structures in enhancing or sustaining biodiversity on tropical coral reefs is key to assessing their role in reef conservation or management. Here, we compare spatial and temporal patterns of colonization and succession of the benthic assemblage on settlement collectors (ceramic tiles) in a 13-mo mensurative experiment on a suspended artificial reef, a seafloor artificial reef, and two nearby natural reefs at Eilat, Gulf of Aqaba. We also conducted a concurrent 7-mo manipulative experiment on the suspended reef and one of the natural reefs, and monitored fish feeding behaviour on experimental collectors, to examine effects of large mobile consumers on these patterns. In both experiments, taxonomic composition as percent planar cover for the whole community or biomass for the invertebrate component differed between collector topsides, dominated by a filamentous algal matrix, and shaded undersides with a profuse assemblage of suspension- or filter-feeding invertebrates. In the mensurative experiment, we found differences in final community and invertebrate composition between sites, which clustered according to reef type (artificial vs. natural) for collector undersides. Invertebrate biomass was greater at both artificial reefs than at one (undersides) or both (topsides) natural reefs. In the manipulative experiment, we found similar differences in composition between sites/reef types as well as between treatments (exclusion vs. control), and the invertebrate biomass was greater on the artificial reef. Invertebrate biomass was greater in the exclusion treatment than the control on collector undersides, suggesting mobile consumers can affect community composition and abundance. Predominant fish species observed interacting with collectors differed between artificial and natural reefs, likely contributing to differences in patterns of colonization and succession between sites and reef types. Our findings suggest artificial reefs have the potential to enhance cover and biomass of certain reef-associated assemblages, particularly those occupying sheltered microhabitats. Public Library of Science 2019-02-27 /pmc/articles/PMC6392313/ /pubmed/30811459 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212842 Text en © 2019 Higgins et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Higgins, Emily
Scheibling, Robert E.
Desilets, Kelsey M.
Metaxas, Anna
Benthic community succession on artificial and natural coral reefs in the northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea
title Benthic community succession on artificial and natural coral reefs in the northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea
title_full Benthic community succession on artificial and natural coral reefs in the northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea
title_fullStr Benthic community succession on artificial and natural coral reefs in the northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea
title_full_unstemmed Benthic community succession on artificial and natural coral reefs in the northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea
title_short Benthic community succession on artificial and natural coral reefs in the northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea
title_sort benthic community succession on artificial and natural coral reefs in the northern gulf of aqaba, red sea
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6392313/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30811459
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212842
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