Early Succession Patterns of Benthic Assemblages on Artificial Reefs in the Oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Basin
| Autor: | Ioannis Rallis, Giorgos Chatzigeorgiou, Marta Florido, Francisco Sedano, Avgi Procopiou, Melina Chertz-Bynichaki, Emmanouela Vernadou, Wanda Plaiti, Panayota Koulouri, Costas Dounas, Vasilis Gerovasileiou, Thanos Dailianis |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Zoología, European Union (UE) |
| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Předmět: |
Colonization
artificial habitats sessile benthos motile benthos invertebrates macroalgae colonization visual census photoquadrats scientific diving Aegean Sea Sessile benthos Scientific diving Ocean Engineering Invertebrates Photoquadrats Visual census Macroalgae Motile benthos Artificial habitats Water Science and Technology Civil and Structural Engineering |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering; Volume 10; Issue 5; Pages: 620 |
| ISSN: | 2077-1312 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/jmse10050620 |
| Popis: | The colonization of artificial structures by benthic organisms in the marine realm is known to be affected by the general trophic patterns of the biogeographical zone and the prevailing environmental traits at the local scale. The present work aims to present quantitative data on the early settlement progress of macrofaunal benthic assemblages developing on artificial reefs (ARs) deployed at the Underwater Biotechnological Park of Crete (UBPC) in the oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean. Visual census and subsequent image analysis combined with scraped quadrats were used to describe the establishment of the communities and their development over three consecutive campaigns, span-ning 5 years post-deployment. Macroalgae consistently dominated in terms of coverage, while sessile invertebrates displayed different patterns over the years. Polychaeta and Bryozoa were gradually replaced by Cnidaria, while Porifera and Mollusca displayed an increasing trend over the years. Motile benthos was mainly represented by Mollusca, while the abundance of Polychaeta increased in contrast to that of Crustacea. For both sessile and motile assemblages, significant differences were observed among the years. The results of this study indicate that ecological succession is still ongoing, and further improvement in the monitoring methodology can assist towards a more accurate assessment of the community composition in complex AR structures. European Union MIS 5002670, MIS 5027402 |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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