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High kelp density attracts fishes except for recruiting cryptobenthic species
- Source :
- Marine environmental research. 161
- Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- As foundation species, kelp support productive and species rich communities; however, the effects of kelp structure on mobile species within these complex natural systems are often difficult to assess. We used artificial reefs with transplanted kelp to quantify the influence of kelp patch size and density on fish assemblages including the arrival of recruiting cryptobenthic species. Large patches with dense kelp supported the highest abundance, species richness, and diversity of fishes, with the addition of dense kelp tripling biomass and doubling richness. The abundance of recruits in artificial collectors declined with patch size and was halved on reefs with sparse kelp compared to reefs with dense kelp or no kelp. These results highlight the importance of dense kelp cover in facilitating biodiversity and indicate that kelp addition could support the recovery of degraded coastal ecosystems. Kelp also apparently drives complex interactions affecting the recruitment/behaviour of some cryptobenthic species.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Kelp
Biodiversity
Aquatic Science
Oceanography
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Abundance (ecology)
Animals
14. Life underwater
Biomass
Ecosystem
Biomass (ecology)
biology
Ecology
Coral Reefs
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
Fishes
General Medicine
15. Life on land
biology.organism_classification
Pollution
Habitat destruction
Foundation species
Artificial reef
Species richness
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 18790291
- Volume :
- 161
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Marine environmental research
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....1bc7fcc4bb4c7de4214958808339a968