Partitioning scleractinian coral diversity across reef sites and regions in the Western Indian Ocean
| Autor: | Tim R. McClanahan, Mebrahtu Ateweberhan |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Marine conservation habitat heterogeneity ecological gradient Coral Biogeography media_common.quotation_subject Biodiversity Biology 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences marine conservation lcsh:QH540-549.5 Reef biogeography Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics biodiversity media_common geography geography.geographical_feature_category Ecology 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology fungi Marine reserve Spatial heterogeneity Fishery diversity partitioning lcsh:Ecology human activities Diversity (politics) |
| Zdroj: | Ecosphere, Vol 7, Iss 5, Pp n/a-n/a (2016) |
| ISSN: | 2150-8925 |
| DOI: | 10.1002/ecs2.1243 |
| Popis: | Understanding how diversity is organized is essential for inference about appropriate scales for natural resource research and management. In this study, we investigated variation in scleractinian coral taxonomic richness and community diversity in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) at different spatial scales. We sampled corals in 331 sites across nine countries. Sites were pooled into 11 distinct subregions based on previous investigations on coral community structure and between closures and reefs open to fishing for five regions with sufficient closure replication. We analyzed similarities in coral communities and compared differences in mean richness and Shannon diversity. Significant differences in alpha and beta components of diversity were tested at multiple spatial scales and between management types against a random distribution null model. Rarefaction was used to investigate significant difference in total taxonomic richness among regions. Coral communities were mainly structured along Acropora and massive Porites dominance lines. Highest dissimilarity among coral communities was found at the regional level and within‐ and between‐subregion variations accounted for most of the coral diversity. Beta components were responsible for higher proportions of taxonomic richness of which a large part was explained by the site‐region interaction. Alpha diversity contributed most to Shannon diversity and site level richness and Shannon diversity had similar relationships with latitude, peaking at about 10°S. Alpha diversity also showed significant relationship with water temperature variability, peaking at a sea surface temperature standard deviation of about 1.4 °C, corresponding to the same 10°S latitude. Relatively higher alpha and beta components contributed to high richness and Shannon diversity in three regions: southern Kenya–northern Tanzania, southern Tanzania–northern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar–Mayotte. Consequently, the findings support the proposal for delineating these locations as a regional priority for biodiversity conservation. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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