Diversity and abundance of conspicuous macrocrustaceans on coral reefs differing in level of degradation

PeerJ

article

Roberto González-Gómez¹  Patricia Briones-Fourzán¹  Lorenzo Álvarez-Filip¹  Enrique Lozano-Álvarez¹ 

[1] Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Unidad Académica de Sistemas Arrecifales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México;Posgrado en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

关键词: Caribbean Sea;    Habitat degradation;    Biodiversity;    Crustacea;    Decapoda;    Coral reefs;    Structural complexity;    Benthic community;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.4922

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

1 cm and visible without disturbance) between two shallow Caribbean coral reefs similar in size (∼1.5 km in length) and close to each other, but one (“Limones”) characterized by extensive stands of the branching coral Acropora palmata, and the other (“Bonanza”) dominated by macroalgae and relic coral skeletons and rubble (i.e., degraded). We also assessed the structural complexity of each reef and the percent cover of various benthic community components. Given the type of growth of A. palmata, we expected to find a greater structural complexity, a higher cover of live coral, and a lower cover of macroalgae on Limones, and hence a more diverse and abundant macrocrustacean community on this reef compared with Bonanza. Overall, we identified 63 macrocrustacean species (61 Decapoda and two Stomatopoda). Contrary to our expectations, structural complexity did not differ significantly between the back-reef zones of these reefs but varied more broadly on Limones, and the diversity and abundance of macrocrustaceans were higher on Bonanza than on Limones despite live coral cover being higher on Limones and macroalgal cover higher on Bonanza. However, the use of various types of microhabitats by macrocrustaceans differed substantially between reefs. On both reefs, the dominant species were the clinging crab Mithraculus coryphe and the hermit crab Calcinus tibicen, but the former was more abundant on Bonanza and the latter on Limones. M. coryphe occupied a diverse array of microhabitats but mostly coral rubble and relic skeletons, whereas C. tibicen was often, but not always, found associated with colonies of Millepora spp. A small commensal crab of A. palmata, Domecia acanthophora, was far more abundant on Limones, emerging as the main discriminant species between reefs. Our results suggest that local diversity and abundance of reef-associated macrocrustaceans are partially modulated by habitat degradation, the diversity of microhabitat types, and the establishment of different commensal associations rather than by structural complexity alone.

【 授权许可】

CC BY