TY - JOUR
T1 - Floating and fixed artificial habitats
T2 - Spatial and temporal patterns of benthic communities in a coral reef environment
AU - Perkol-Finkel, S.
AU - Zilman, G.
AU - Sella, I.
AU - Miloh, T.
AU - Benayahu, Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the Interuniversity Institute of Eilat for their assistance and use of facilities. We thank the Eilat-Ashqelon Pipe Line Company (EAPC) and Eilat Underwater Observatory for allowing the research at their premises. Special thanks to O. Ben-Shaprut for their skillful field assistance. We thank N. Paz for editorial assistance and V. Wexsler for graphic assistance. We acknowledge the Israeli Nature and National Park Protection Authority for cooperation. The study was supported by a grant from The Porter School of Environmental Studies (PSES) at Tel Aviv University and in part by The Tobias Landau Foundation. S. P.-F. acknowledges The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, for the post doctoral fellowship.
PY - 2008/4/20
Y1 - 2008/4/20
N2 - While natural marine habitats with motion capabilities, e.g., kelps and seaweeds, have been studied alongside their associated fouling communities, little is known of the effect of motion on the communities of floating artificial habitats such as buoys, rafts, and pontoons, particularly in tropical systems. Hydrodynamic features greatly differ between floating and fixed artificial substrata, which in turn affect the structure of their associated communities. This study tested the hypothesis that floating and fixed artificial installations in a tropical reef system (Eilat, Red Sea) would support different benthic communities throughout space and time. Specifically, we examined differences in communities recruited onto settlement plates between floating and fixed installations deployed at three different sites, along a two-year monitoring period. The three sites exhibited distinct differences in species assemblages between the monitoring dates (6, 12, 18 and 24 months post deployment), mainly between the first and the last two dates. The average level of dissimilarity between floating and fixed installations increased over time at all sites. Over 50% of the dissimilarity between the floating and fixed installations resulted from five taxonomic groups i.e., bryozoans, bivalves, barnacles, sponges, including the amount of bare space on the settlement plates. The contribution of these groups to the dissimilarity changed both temporally within each site, and spatially among sites. The observed differences were related to the hydrodynamic characteristics of floating and fixed habitats, interacting with biotic features such as predation, successional processes and seasonality; and abiotic features including small-scale spatial changes, light, and position in the water column.
AB - While natural marine habitats with motion capabilities, e.g., kelps and seaweeds, have been studied alongside their associated fouling communities, little is known of the effect of motion on the communities of floating artificial habitats such as buoys, rafts, and pontoons, particularly in tropical systems. Hydrodynamic features greatly differ between floating and fixed artificial substrata, which in turn affect the structure of their associated communities. This study tested the hypothesis that floating and fixed artificial installations in a tropical reef system (Eilat, Red Sea) would support different benthic communities throughout space and time. Specifically, we examined differences in communities recruited onto settlement plates between floating and fixed installations deployed at three different sites, along a two-year monitoring period. The three sites exhibited distinct differences in species assemblages between the monitoring dates (6, 12, 18 and 24 months post deployment), mainly between the first and the last two dates. The average level of dissimilarity between floating and fixed installations increased over time at all sites. Over 50% of the dissimilarity between the floating and fixed installations resulted from five taxonomic groups i.e., bryozoans, bivalves, barnacles, sponges, including the amount of bare space on the settlement plates. The contribution of these groups to the dissimilarity changed both temporally within each site, and spatially among sites. The observed differences were related to the hydrodynamic characteristics of floating and fixed habitats, interacting with biotic features such as predation, successional processes and seasonality; and abiotic features including small-scale spatial changes, light, and position in the water column.
KW - artificial reefs
KW - benthic communities
KW - coastal structures
KW - corals
KW - hydrodynamics
KW - substratum motion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=40949111964&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ecss.2007.10.005
DO - 10.1016/j.ecss.2007.10.005
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AN - SCOPUS:40949111964
SN - 0272-7714
VL - 77
SP - 491
EP - 500
JO - Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
JF - Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
IS - 3
ER -