The role of seagrass vegetation and local environmental conditions in shaping benthic bacterial and macroinvertebrate communities in a tropical coastal lagoon.
Type
ArticleAuthors
Alsaffar, Zahra Hassan AliPearman, John K.

Curdia, Joao
Ellis, Joanne

Calleja, M Ll
Ruiz Compean, Pedro Javier
Roth, Florian

Villalobos, R
Jones, Burton

Moran, Xose Anxelu G.

Carvalho, Susana

KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionBiological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE), Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955‑6900, Saudi Arabia.
Marine Science Program
Microbial oceanography Research Group
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Date
2020-08-11Online Publication Date
2020-08-11Print Publication Date
2020-12Submitted Date
2020-01-15Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/664610
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
We investigated the influence of seagrass canopies on the benthic biodiversity of bacteria and macroinvertebrates in a Red Sea tropical lagoon. Changes in abundance, number of taxa and assemblage structure were analyzed in response to seagrass densities (low, SLD; high, SHD; seagrasses with algae, SA), and compared with unvegetated sediments. Biological and environmental variables were examined in these four habitats (hereafter called treatments), both in the underlaying sediments and overlaying waters, at three randomly picked locations in March 2017. Differences between treatments were more apparent in the benthic habitat than in the overlaying waters. The presence of vegetation (more than its cover) and changes in sedimentary features (grain size and metals) at local scales influenced the observed biological patterns, particularly for macroinvertebrates. Of note, the highest percentage of exclusive macroinvertebrate taxa (18% of the gamma diversity) was observed in the SHD treatment peaking in the SA for bacteria. Benthic macroinvertebrates and bacteria shared a generally low number of taxa across treatments and locations; approximately, 25% of the gamma diversity was shared among all treatments and locations for macrofauna, dropping to 11% for bacteria. Given the low overlap in the species distribution across the lagoon, sustaining the connectivity among heterogeneous soft sediment habitats appears to be essential for maintaining regional biodiversity. This study addresses a current scientific gap related to the relative contributions of vegetated and unvegetated habitats to biodiversity in tropical regions.Citation
Alsaffar, Z., Pearman, J. K., Cúrdia, J., Ellis, J., Calleja, M. L., Ruiz-Compean, P., … Carvalho, S. (2020). The role of seagrass vegetation and local environmental conditions in shaping benthic bacterial and macroinvertebrate communities in a tropical coastal lagoon. Scientific Reports, 10(1). doi:10.1038/s41598-020-70318-1Sponsors
The authors would like to thank the boat captains from the Coastal & Marine Resources core laboratory who enabled the sampling to be undertaken. The research reported in this publication was supported by funding from KAUST as well as from collaboration between KAUST and Saudi Aramco within the framework of the Saudi Aramco – KAUST Center for Marine Environmental Observations. We would also like to thank the editor and two reviewers who greatly contributed to improving an earlier version of this manuscript.Publisher
Springer NatureJournal
Scientific ReportsPubMed ID
32782295PubMed Central ID
PMC7419567Additional Links
http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-70318-1ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1038/s41598-020-70318-1
Scopus Count
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