TY - JOUR
T1 - Can artificial reefs mimic natural reef communities? The roles of structural features and age
AU - Perkol-Finkel, S.
AU - Shashar, N.
AU - Benayahu, Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank our colleagues O. Barneah, R. Ben-David-Zaslaw, U. Oren, T. Reichart, T. Yaacobovich, and R. Yahel for their immense contribution to the study. Special thanks to G. Yahel for critical comments on the manuscript. We acknowledge B. Clarke, P. Somerfield and R. Warwick for statistical advice at a Primer workshop. We also thank to the crew of the King Snefro IV for their delightful assistance in the field, and the Ras Mohammed National Park Authority and the Department of Natural Protectorates of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency for their cooperation in this project. We would like to thank the Interuniversity Institute of Eilat for the use of its facilities, and the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority for assistance. Our thanks to the Tel Aviv University Zoological Museum for the use of the reference collections, A. Shlagman for curatorial skills, N. Paz for editorial assistance and V. Wexsler for graphic assistance. This research was supported by the National Geographic Society grant # 6713-00 to Y.B. Additional funds were provided to N.S. by the PADI foundation. S.P.-F. thanks the Joan and Jaime Constantiner Institute of Molecular Genetics, Tel Aviv University.
PY - 2006/3
Y1 - 2006/3
N2 - In light of the deteriorating state of coral reefs worldwide, the need to rehabilitate marine environments has greatly increased. Artificial reefs (ARs) have been suggested as a tool for reef conservation and rehabilitation. Although successions of AR communities have been thoroughly studied, current understanding of the interactions between artificial and natural reefs (NRs) is poor and a fundamental question still to be answered is that of whether AR communities can mimic adjacent NR communities. We suggest three alternative hypotheses: Neighboring ARs and NRs will (1) achieve a similar community structure given sufficient time; (2) be similar only if they possess similar structural features; (3) always differ, regardless of age or structural features. We examined these hypotheses by comparing the community structure on a 119-year old shipwreck to a neighboring NR. Fouling organisms, including stony and soft corals, sponges, tunicates, sea anemones and hydrozoans were recorded and measured along belt transects. The ahermatypic stony coral Tubastrea micrantha dominated vertical AR regions while the soft corals Nephthea sp. and Xenia sp. dominated both artificial and natural horizontal surfaces. Our results support the second hypothesis, indicating that even after a century an AR will mimic its adjacent NR communities only if it possesses structural features similar to those of the natural surroundings. However, if the two differ structurally, their communities will remain distinct.
AB - In light of the deteriorating state of coral reefs worldwide, the need to rehabilitate marine environments has greatly increased. Artificial reefs (ARs) have been suggested as a tool for reef conservation and rehabilitation. Although successions of AR communities have been thoroughly studied, current understanding of the interactions between artificial and natural reefs (NRs) is poor and a fundamental question still to be answered is that of whether AR communities can mimic adjacent NR communities. We suggest three alternative hypotheses: Neighboring ARs and NRs will (1) achieve a similar community structure given sufficient time; (2) be similar only if they possess similar structural features; (3) always differ, regardless of age or structural features. We examined these hypotheses by comparing the community structure on a 119-year old shipwreck to a neighboring NR. Fouling organisms, including stony and soft corals, sponges, tunicates, sea anemones and hydrozoans were recorded and measured along belt transects. The ahermatypic stony coral Tubastrea micrantha dominated vertical AR regions while the soft corals Nephthea sp. and Xenia sp. dominated both artificial and natural horizontal surfaces. Our results support the second hypothesis, indicating that even after a century an AR will mimic its adjacent NR communities only if it possesses structural features similar to those of the natural surroundings. However, if the two differ structurally, their communities will remain distinct.
KW - Community development
KW - Coral reef
KW - Red Sea
KW - Shipwreck
KW - Spatial orientation
KW - Structural complexity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=32044455580&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.marenvres.2005.08.001
DO - 10.1016/j.marenvres.2005.08.001
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AN - SCOPUS:32044455580
SN - 0141-1136
VL - 61
SP - 121
EP - 135
JO - Marine Environmental Research
JF - Marine Environmental Research
IS - 2
ER -