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. 2020 Dec 23;287(1941):20201798.
doi: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1798. Epub 2020 Dec 23.

Production of mobile invertebrate communities on shallow reefs from temperate to tropical seas

Affiliations

Production of mobile invertebrate communities on shallow reefs from temperate to tropical seas

K M Fraser et al. Proc Biol Sci. .

Abstract

Primary productivity of marine ecosystems is largely driven by broad gradients in environmental and ecological properties. By contrast, secondary productivity tends to be more variable, influenced by bottom-up (resource-driven) and top-down (predatory) processes, other environmental drivers, and mediation by the physical structure of habitats. Here, we use a continental-scale dataset on small mobile invertebrates (epifauna), common on surfaces in all marine ecosystems, to test influences of potential drivers of temperature-standardized secondary production across a large biogeographic range. We found epifaunal production to be remarkably consistent along a temperate to tropical Australian latitudinal gradient of 28.6°, spanning kelp forests to coral reefs (approx. 3500 km). Using a model selection procedure, epifaunal production was primarily related to biogenic habitat group, which explained up to 45% of total variability. Production was otherwise invariant to predictors capturing primary productivity, the local biomass of fishes (proxy for predation pressure), and environmental, geographical, and human impacts. Highly predictable levels of epifaunal productivity associated with distinct habitat groups across continental scales should allow accurate modelling of the contributions of these ubiquitous invertebrates to coastal food webs, thus improving understanding of likely changes to food web structure with ocean warming and other anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems.

Keywords: benthic ecosystems; community ecology; epifauna; macrofauna; trophic ecology.

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Conflict of interest statement

We declare we have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Map of eastern Australia showing sampling locations, sampling dates and number of sites. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Linear regression (a) of mean log10 total epifaunal community daily productivity (P20) against latitude. The large black points represent mean P20 within each of the 11 sampling locations, estimated by multiplying the fraction of benthic cover provided by each microhabitat within each site by the estimated P20 associated with that microhabitat; the black line represents the regression of those data against latitude. The small grey points represent epifaunal P20 for individual samples; the grey line represents the regression of those data against latitude. Grey shading represents 95% confidence intervals. Box plots (b) of variation in log10 epifaunal assemblage P20 among habitat groups. Horizontal lines in each box plot represent third quartile, median and first quartile. The whiskers extend to 1.5 × interquartile range. Dots represent outliers. Asterisks indicate significant differences between habitat group pairs (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Linear regression (a) of mean log10 epifaunal P20 against microhabitat degree of branching, with colours indicating habitat groups, and black line the overall mean. Higher branching equates to higher complexity and translates to higher productivity on average. Points represent individual samples; grey shading represents 95% confidence interval of overall mean. Horizontal boxplots (b) show variation in the degree of branching within each habitat group. Vertical lines in each box plot represent third quartile, median and first quartile. The whiskers extend to 1.5× interquartile range. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Mean log10 epifaunal P20 associated with each habitat group across four climatic zones within the latitudinal gradient sampled. Mean P20 among habitat groups is represented for each climatic zone by the bar titled ‘all'. Climatic zones represent the following latitudinal ranges: cool temperate (−43.3 to −37.7° S), warm temperate (−37.6 to −31.9° S), subtropical (−31.8 to −26.1° S) and tropical (−20.4 to −14.6° S). (Online version in colour.)

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