Towards a functional characterization of rocky reefs marine habitats

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Towards a functional characterization of rocky reefs marine habitats María Rodríguez González1*, Natalí D. Lazzari1, Laura Palacín Fernández1, Jose A. Sanabria1 and Mikel A. Becerro1 1 Spanish Scientific Research Council, Natural Products and Agrobiology Institute CSIC, Spain Habitat heterogeneity is a major component of biodiversity as it determines species distribution and abundance. Habitat loss, with its associated loss of species, food resources, and ecosystem functioning, is identified as one of the major threats to marine biodiversity. Traditionally, the analysis of taxonomic diversity dominates community level approaches. But species losses or additions can generate major or minor impacts in multiple ecosystem processes depending on their functional traits. Recently, there are an increasing number of researches that approach ecosystem dynamics based on species functional traits. Yet, we still have no description of habitats based on their functional characteristics. Here, we carried out a functional level characterization of the different habitats present on Spanish littoral reefs. We have used underwater visual census that follow the Reef Life Survey methodology to quantify fish, invertebrate, and sessile communities in more than 250 locations scattered over the Spanish and Portuguese coasts. We have quantified the sessile community with over 5.000 photoquadrats distributed along five marine ecoregions: Alboran Sea, Macaronesian, Saharan upwelling, South European Atlantic Shelf and Western Mediterranean. We have described 16 functional traits, including algae, sessile animals, and substrate types. These traits have allowed us to determine 13 functional marine habitats differentially distributed over the coast of Portugal, Spain, and associated archipelagos. The largest functional habitat covers 18% of the rocky reefs and it is dominated by corticated macrophytes (28%), filamentous algae (20%), and bare rock (18%) functional groups. Functional habitats dominated by leathery functional group and filamentous functional group account of 2% and 3% of rocky reefs and are not represented in marine protected areas. Our results suggest that Spain and Portugal have a large number of functional habitats heterogeneously distributed in their coastal waters. Because each habitat is restricted to a specific range in the functional space, effective conservation of each habitat is mandatory to maximize the functional diversity of rocky reefs. Our characterization of functional habitats is a first approach to increase our understanding of the functional diversity of marine benthic communities, which can lead to more effective conservation actions. Keywords: Marine habitat, functional groups, Rocky reef, Biodiversity, conservation Conference: XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, Porto, Portugal, 5 Sep - 9 Sep, 2016. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: 1. ECOLOGY, BIODIVERSITY AND VULNERABLE ECOSYSTEMS Citation: Rodríguez González M, Lazzari ND, Palacín Fernández L, Sanabria JA and Becerro MA (2016). Towards a functional characterization of rocky reefs marine habitats. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00068 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 18 May 2016; Published Online: 02 Sep 2016. * Correspondence: Miss. María Rodríguez González, Spanish Scientific Research Council, Natural Products and Agrobiology Institute CSIC, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 38206, Spain, maria.rguez92@hotmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers María Rodríguez González Natalí D Lazzari Laura Palacín Fernández Jose A Sanabria Mikel A Becerro Google María Rodríguez González Natalí D Lazzari Laura Palacín Fernández Jose A Sanabria Mikel A Becerro Google Scholar María Rodríguez González Natalí D Lazzari Laura Palacín Fernández Jose A Sanabria Mikel A Becerro PubMed María Rodríguez González Natalí D Lazzari Laura Palacín Fernández Jose A Sanabria Mikel A Becerro Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.