Abstract
In the context of growing anthropogenic disturbances that deeply alter marine coastal ecosystems, various management tools are used to protect biodiversity, such as fishing gear limitations, fishing quotas, protected areas or the creation of artificial reefs (ARs). In contrast to the other management tools, ARs require a modification of natural habitats. We used underwater visual censuses to investigate the effect of habitat modification on the structure of fish communities by comparing a natural reef (NR) to ARs with different habitat complexity. Different fish assemblage descriptors were used to assess species- and functional- and community-level aspects of the assemblages. ARs were rapidly colonized by adult fishes and presented community compositions different from that of the NR. Fish densities and functional richness were higher in the ARs than in the NR. Small isolated artificial structures, such as culverts and box-culverts, had different fish community compositions than more extended and complex structures, demonstrating the effect of structural habitat complexity on fish assemblages. Fish density was higher in small structures, most likely due to habitat isolation and patchiness. This study indicates that ARs which are located along sandy coastal areas with few rocky habitats and under high river nutrient influence, are a suitable habitat for rocky coastal fish communities. Nevertheless, due to higher habitat complexity and lower fishing pressure on ARs, fish communities of an AR functionally differ from those of a NR. Further research is necessary to understand how these differences act on the properties of the ecosystem as well as on local fisheries.
Highlights
World population growth and consumption habits have produced growing anthropogenic disturbances that have deeply altered ecosystems (Curran et al 2002, Worm et al 2006), notably marine ecosystems (Cole 2005), through pollution, habitat destruction, introduction of species, climate change and resourceAquat Biol 20: 219–234, 2014 overexploitation
The aim of this study was to determine if artificial reefs (ARs) function as a surrogate for natural reefs (NRs) We (1) compared fish assemblages of ARs with those of a natural rocky reef; (2) investigated interannual variability of fish assemblages during the first years of immersion of the monitored ARs; and (3) evaluated the effect of the complexity of AR habitat structures by comparing fish assemblages associated with 3 different AR types
A large variation in sampled individuals was noted among habitats, varying from 226 fishes for the NR to 3912 fishes for H at AR-Near (Fig. 3)
Summary
These disturbances are concentrated along coastal areas, where more than 50% of the world’s population lived at the turn of the century and more than 75% are expected to live by 2020 (Burke et al 2001). Artificial reefs (ARs) are one of the management tools currently employed, mainly (1) to offset marine resource declines and enhance fishing yields (Grossman et al 1997, Jensen et al 2000, Seaman & Jensen 2000, Relini et al 2008), in the Mediterranean Sea (Baine & Side 2003), and (2) to restore damaged habitats (Pickering et al 1999, Abelson 2006, Reed et al 2006) and (3) mitigate the impact of wastewater (Antsulevich 1994, Leihonen et al 1996) and aquaculture (Angel & Spanier 2002, Tsemel et al 2006, Gao et al 2008). ARs modify the natural habitat and can directly impact coastal ecosystem processes
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