Abstract
The community composition of decapods associated with subtidal tropical seagrass meadows was analyzed in a pristine reef lagoon on the Mexican Caribbean coast in the summer of 1995 and winter of 1998. The macrophyte community was dominated by Thalassia testudinum followed by Syringodium filiforme, with interspersed rhyzophytic macroalgae and large patches of drift algae. In each season, 10 one-min trawls were made with an epibenthic sled (mesh aperture 1 mm) during the day and 10 during the night on each of five sites. In all, 53,211 decapods belonging to 119 species were collected. The most diverse taxa were Brachyura and Caridea, but the most abundant were Caridea and Anomura. Dominance was high, with three species (Latreutes fucorum, Cuapetes americanus, and Thor manningi) accounting for almost 50% of individuals, and 10 species accounting for nearly 90% of individuals. There was great similarity in community composition and ecological indices between seasons, but significantly more individuals and species in night versus day samples. In the 20+ years elapsed since the samples were taken, the reef lagoon has undergone substantial environmental changes due to extensive coastal development and, more recently, the decay of massive beachings of floating Sargassum macroalgae. This study constitutes a valuable baseline for future studies investigating the potential impact of these stressors on tropical seagrass-associated communities.
Highlights
Seagrass ecosystems occur in many coastal regions of the world, where they provide valuable ecosystem functions
The species composition and temporal variations in abundance of the decapod fauna associated with seagrasses have been more studied in temperate and subtropical ecosystems (e.g., [9,14,15,20,21]) than in tropical ecosystems, such as Caribbean meadows dominated by Thalassia testudinum [8,13,19,22,23,24,25]
The present study provides a baseline of the seagrass-associated epibenthic decapod community in Puerto Morelos at a time when this shallow Caribbean reef lagoon was in a relatively pristine state
Summary
Seagrass ecosystems occur in many coastal regions of the world, where they provide valuable ecosystem functions. Crustaceans are one of the most abundant groups of epifauna in all marine ecosystems, including seagrass meadows, in terms of diversity, abundance, biomass, and energy flow [8,9,10,11]. Within this group, dominant taxa include the decapods, which have an important regulatory function in seagrass. The species composition and temporal variations in abundance of the decapod fauna associated with seagrasses have been more studied in temperate and subtropical ecosystems (e.g., [9,14,15,20,21]) than in tropical ecosystems, such as Caribbean meadows dominated by Thalassia testudinum [8,13,19,22,23,24,25]
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