Abstract
Seagrass meadows underpin a variety of ecosystem services and are recognized as globally important habitats and a conservation priority. However, seagrass populations are currently impacted by a range of biotic and abiotic stressors, and many are in decline globally. As such, improved understanding of seagrass populations and their associated faunal assemblages is needed to better detect and predict changes in the structure and functioning of these key habitats. Here, we analyzed a large dataset—collected by recreational scuba divers volunteering on a citizen science project—to examine spatiotemporal patterns in ecological structure and to provide a robust and reliable baseline against which to detect future change. Seagrass (Zostera marina) shoot density and the abundance of associated faunal groups were quantified across 2 years at 19 sites nested within three locations in southwest UK, by collecting in situ quadrat samples (2,518 in total) during 328 dives. Seagrass shoot density and meadow fragmentation was comparable across locations but was highly variable among sites. Faunal abundance and assemblage structure varied between areas with or without seagrass shoots; this pattern was largely consistent between locations and years. Overall, increased seagrass density was related to increased faunal abundance and explained shifts in faunal assemblage structure, although individual faunal groups were affected differently. More broadly, our study shows that well‐funded and orchestrated citizen science projects can, to some extent, gather fundamental information needed to benchmark ecological structure in poorly studied nearshore marine habitats.
Highlights
Coastal vegetated habitats, such as seagrass meadows, kelp forests and salt marshes, have significant ecological and socioeconomic importance given that they underpin ecosystem services includ‐ ing habitat provision for fisheries species, biogenic storm defense, carbon capture, and storage and the maintenance of biodiversity (Barbier et al, 2011; Beaumont, Austen, Mangi, & Townsend, 2008; Bertocci, Araújo, Oliveira, & Sousa‐Pinto, 2015; Cullen‐Unsworth & Unsworth, 2013; Smale, Burrows, Moore, O'Connor, & Hawkins, 2013; Teagle, Hawkins, Moore, & Smale, 2017)
We examined: (a) whether faunal abundance/structure varies in areas with and without seagrass; (b) whether faunal abundance/structure is influ‐ enced by seagrass density and (c) whether these patterns are consistent in space and time. We addressed these objectives by interro‐ gating a large dataset generated by a citizen science project involving recreational scuba divers, allowing us to assess the usefulness of such initiatives for ecological monitoring
Data analyzed and presented here were collected as part of the Community Seagrass Initiative (CSI), a citizen science project led by the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth UK, that aimed to in‐ crease education and awareness of the value of seagrass meadows in southwest England
Summary
Coastal vegetated habitats, such as seagrass meadows, kelp forests and salt marshes, have significant ecological and socioeconomic importance given that they underpin ecosystem services includ‐ ing habitat provision for fisheries species, biogenic storm defense, carbon capture, and storage and the maintenance of biodiversity (Barbier et al, 2011; Beaumont, Austen, Mangi, & Townsend, 2008; Bertocci, Araújo, Oliveira, & Sousa‐Pinto, 2015; Cullen‐Unsworth & Unsworth, 2013; Smale, Burrows, Moore, O'Connor, & Hawkins, 2013; Teagle, Hawkins, Moore, & Smale, 2017). Seagrass meadows in the United Kingdom comprise two species, Zostera marina L. and Zostera (Zosterella) noltei Hornemann, with the former being the more common species that can form extensive meadows in shallow subtidal sediments These meadows are a focal habitat and protected feature of Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) and are a named component of “Lagoons and Shallow Sandbanks” within the European Union Habitats Directive (Jackson et al, 2016). The inclusion of seagrass habitats within management frameworks is due in part to the belief that they support relatively high biodiver‐ sity compared to other habitats Despite this statutory recognition, few studies have empirically examined variability in the structure of seagrass populations and their associated macrofaunal assemblages. We addressed these objectives by interro‐ gating a large dataset generated by a citizen science project involving recreational scuba divers, allowing us to assess the usefulness of such initiatives for ecological monitoring
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