Naslov
Fish community structure in shallow benthic habitats of Croatia: The value of Posidonia oceanica as an animal habitat

Autori
Zubak, Ivana ; Schultz, Stewart Tyre ; Kruschel, Claudia ; Čižmek, Hrvoje ; Blindow, Irmgard

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
Book of Abstracts of the 46th European Marine Biology Symposium (46th EMBS, Rovinj) / Travizi, Ana ; Iveša, Ljiljana ; Fafanđel, Maja - Rovinj : Institut Ruđer Bošković, Centar za istraživanje mora Rovinj, 2011, 61-61

Skup
46th European Marine Biology Symposium (46th EMBS, Rovinj)

Mjesto i datum
Rovinj, Hrvatska, 12.09.2011. - 16.09.2011

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Posidonia oceanica; fish community; sand; rock

Sažetak
Meadows of the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica have been shown to provide habitat for a high diversity and abundance of adult and juvenile fish species. Its primary habitat value for mobile macrofauna is hypothesized to result from its three-dimensional structure, which provides cover from visual chase predators. However, rocky-algal habitat is also common in the Mediterranean, and also provides abundant three-dimensional structure. The influence of the spatial interaction between different kinds of three-dimensional structure on fish communities in the Mediterranean is unknown but could be substantial. Our main objectives are 1) to evaluate the relative influence of P. oceanica and neighboring rocky-algal habitat on fish community parameters within both habitats and within intervening bare sediment, and 2) to evaluate the effect of spatial scale on the interaction. The method used for community sampling is lure-assisted visual census along belt SCUBA transects. This method has been shown to be more effective in censusing small, cryptic, hidden, ambushing, and fast-swimming species than traditional visual census, and is completely non-destructive. Transects are oriented perpendicular to shore and are designed to census both shallow and deep margins of P. oceanica meadows, with varying extents of nearby bare sediment and rocky-algal habitat. The transects are followed both with traditional visual census and with lure-assistance. We found that fish were more abundant and diverse along the edges between P. oceanica and bare sediment than in the interior of the bed, that total abundance and diversity was greatest in rocky-algal habitat, and that the three habitats contained significantly different fish communities. We conclude that no single habitat is most valuable to fish species at our study sites, and the value of P.oceanica is relative and depends on the proximity of other structured and non-structured habitats.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biologija

POVEZANOST RADA