Inconsistent effects of reefs on different size classes of macrofauna in adjacent sand habitats

Abstract

In soft-sediment communities near reefs, a variety of patterns have been described with distance from the reef edge. Various studies have observed contrasting patterns and one study has reported different patterns for different size classes of macrofauna. This study in northeastern New Zealand obtained samples from 24 randomly allocated sites across three locations in a large-scale mensurative sampling design. At each location, there was a manipulation of reef-associated predator populations provided by established marine reserves. A concurrent study using the same sites found large macrofauna (> 4 mm) to vary with distance from the reef and relative to predator density. The present study sampled small-bodied infauna (< 4 mm and > 0.5 mm), which was also predicted to change with distance from the reef and predator density. In contrast to patterns found for larger fauna and to previous studies of small macrofauna, no consistent patterns were found for small-bodied infauna. These results suggest that models of community structure need to consider different size classes of macrofauna separately and that multiple sampling methods will assist their investigation. The ‘haloes’ in small-bodied macrofauna around reefs may not be as widespread or consistent as previous studies have suggested, particularly in mobile sediments on open coasts.