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Lino JB, Laurino IRA, Longo PADS, Santos CSG, Motta FDS, Francini-Filho RB, Pereira-Filho GH. Proxies to detect hotspots of invertebrate biodiversity on rhodolith beds across the Southwestern Atlantic. Mar Environ Res 2024; 196:106431. [PMID: 38442590 DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Revised: 02/22/2024] [Accepted: 02/27/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024]
Abstract
Rhodolith beds are known worldwide to host high biodiversity to several taxa. Despite their importance, few ecological data explored the influence of rhodolith features and environmental variables on associated biodiversity, a gap that has been hampering the mapping of diversity hotspots and priority areas for conservation. In this study, we investigated large-scale spatial variations of rhodolith beds and their associated fauna, using annelid polychaetes as a biological model. We aimed to identify proxies, based on rhodolith features and environmental variables, to detect biodiversity hotspots across Southwestern Atlantic beds, laying the groundwork for mapping priority areas for conservation. With this goal, we sampled a total of 136 rhodolith nodules across seven sites with beds under distinct latitudes, depths, distances from the mainland coast of Brazil, and rhodolith densities. For each nodule sampled, we measured the volume, diameter, and mass of sediment trapped, as well as the attributes of the associated polychaetes (abundance, richness, diversity, and composition). Our results revealed a complex network of collinearities and synergisms between the rhodolith features and the majority of the polychaetes attributes (i.e., abundance, diversity, and composition). Polychaete richness, in contrast, can be explained by the combination of two proxies: (1) rhodolith nodule diameter and (2) distance of the rhodolith bed from the mainland coast. Nearshore rhodolith beds and larger nodules were associated with higher values of richness. Additionally, rhodoliths with a hollow morphology were also associated with higher values of polychaete richness. These results suggest that nearshore rhodolith beds with large and hollow nodules could be priority areas for conservation. However, further multi-taxa studies using our framework are still needed to explore other regions and scales, delineating more comprehensive proxies for predicting ecological patterns of the rhodoliths associated fauna and to identify priorities for conservation across Southwestern Atlantic beds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaqueline Barreto Lino
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação Marinha, Instituto do Mar, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Dr. Carvalho de Mendonça 144, Santos, 110-070, Brazil
| | - Ivan Rodrigo Abrão Laurino
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação Marinha, Instituto do Mar, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Dr. Carvalho de Mendonça 144, Santos, 110-070, Brazil
| | - Pedro Augusto Dos Santos Longo
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação Marinha, Instituto do Mar, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Dr. Carvalho de Mendonça 144, Santos, 110-070, Brazil
| | - Cinthya Simone Gomes Santos
- Departamento de Biologia Marinha, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rua: Professor Marcos Waldemar de Freitas Reis, s/n, Campus do Gragoatá, Bloco M, Sala 416, São Domingos, Niterói, RJ, CEP 24210-201, Brazil
| | - Fabio Dos Santos Motta
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação Marinha, Instituto do Mar, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Dr. Carvalho de Mendonça 144, Santos, 110-070, Brazil
| | - Ronaldo B Francini-Filho
- Laboratório de Biodiversidade e Conservação Marinha, Centro de Biologia Marinha, Universidade de São Paulo, São Sebastião, SP, 11612-109, Brazil
| | - Guilherme Henrique Pereira-Filho
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação Marinha, Instituto do Mar, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Dr. Carvalho de Mendonça 144, Santos, 110-070, Brazil.
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