Functional traits of benthic marine invertebrates associated with eelgrass meadows in France
Date | 2022-04 | |||||||||||||||
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Temporal extent | 2019-09 -2019-11 | |||||||||||||||
Author(s) | Muller Alexandre1, Auby Isabelle![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Affiliation(s) | 1 : Ifremer, Centre de Bretagne, DYNECO, Laboratory of Coastal Benthic Ecology, 29280 Plouzané, France | |||||||||||||||
DOI | 10.17882/87709 | |||||||||||||||
Publisher | SEANOE | |||||||||||||||
Abstract | Zostera marina (Linnaeus, 1753) is a flowering marine plant that occurs from temperate to subantarctic regions (Green and Short, 2003), forming meadows that are recognized as being among the most important ecosystems on the planet (Costanza et al., 1997; Duffy, 2006; Duarte et al., 2008; Dewsbury et al., 2016). Eelgrass is a foundation species, providing essential functions and services including coastal protection, erosion control, nutrient cycling, water purification, carbon sequestration, as well as food and habitat for a variety of species (Duarte 2002; Heck et al. 2003; Healey & Hovel 2004, Orth et al. 2006; Barbier et al., 2011; Fourqurean et al. 2012; Cullen-Unsworth & Unsworth 2013; Schmidt et al. 2011, 2016). Eelgrass can have a strong influence on the spatial distribution of associated fauna by altering the hydrodynamics of the marine environment (Fonseca and Fisher 1986), stabilizing sediments (Orth et al. 2006), providing abundant resources, available surface area, and increased ecological niches. Meadows also provide protection from predation by providing greater habitat complexity both above and below ground (Heck and Wetstone 1977; Orth et al. 1984; Gartner et al. 2013, Reynolds et al., 2018). Local patterns and regional differences in the taxonomic and functional diversity of assemblages associated with five Zostera marina meadows occurring over a distance of 800 km along the coast of France were investigated with the objective of determining which factors control community composition within this habitat. To this end, we examined 𝛂- and 𝜷-diversity of species- and trait-based descriptors, focused on polychaetes; bivalves and gastropods, three diverse groups exhibiting a wide range of ecological strategies (Jumars, Dorgan, & Lindsay, 2015) and having central roles in ecosystem functioning through activities such as bioturbation or trophic regime (Queirós et al., 2013, Duffy et al., 2015). Here we present the abundance (Table 1) and the functional trait database (Table 2) used for the benthic macrofauna found to live in association with eelgrass meadows in Chausey, Dinard, Sainte-Marguerite, Ile d’Yeu and Arcachon, sampled in the fall of 2019. Eight biological traits (divided into 32 modalities, Table S1) were selected, providing information linked to the ecological functions performed by the associated macrofauna. The selected traits provide information on: (i) resource use and availability (by the trophic group of species, e.g. Thrush et al. 2006); (ii) secondary production and the amount of energy and organic matter (OM) produced based on the life cycle of the organisms (including longevity, maximum size and mode of reproduction, e.g. (Cusson and Bourget, 2005; Thrush et al., 2006) and; (iii) the behavior of the species in general [i.e. how these species occupy the environment and contribute to biogeochemical fluxes through habitat, movement, and bioturbation activity, e.g. (Solan et al., 2004; Thrush et al., 2006; Queirós et al., 2013). Species were scored for each trait modality based on their affinity using a fuzzy coding approach (Chevenet et al., 1994), where multiple modalities can be attributed to a species if appropriate, and allowed for the incorporation of intraspecific variability in trait expression. Information for polychaetes was primarily extracted from Fauchald et al (1979), Jumars et al (2015), and Boyé et al (2019). Information for mollusks was obtained either from biological trait databases (www.marlin.ac.uk/biotic, www.univie.ac.at/arctictraits, Bacouillard et al 2020) or from publications (e.g. Queiros et al. 2013; Thrush et al, 2006; Caine, 1977). Information was collected at the lowest possible taxonomic level and when missing was based on data available in other species of the genus, or in some cases, in the same family (only for traits with low variability for these families).
Figure 1. Map indicating the locations of the 5 study sites of Zostera marina meadows in France: three in the the English Channel, and two in the Bay of Biscay (all sites were sampled in 6 different stations).
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Utilisation | Data are published without any warranty, express or implied. The user assumes all risk arising from his/her use of data. Data are intended to be research-quality and include estimates of data quality and accuracy, but it is possible that these estimates or the data themselves contain errors. It is the sole responsibility of the user to assess if the data are appropriate for his/her use, and to interpret the data, data quality, and data accuracy accordingly. Authors welcome users to ask questions and report problems. | |||||||||||||||
Acknowledgements | The authors would like to thank X. Caisey, A. Tancray, M. Hubert, Y. Le Merrer et B. Gouilleux, L. Rigouin, M. Brandão, P.-A. Féchet for their help during field collections. Thanks to E. Thiebaut, L. Bacouillard, A. Jones, C. Poitrimol for providing functional trait information for our database. We also thank P.-O. Liabot and P. Cugier for their help in retrieving modeled environmental data and T. Bajjouk for eelgrass cartography and discussions on sampling site selection. A.M. was supported by a doctoral fellowship co-funded by Ifremer, the Region Bretagne and the ISBlue project (the Interdisciplinary graduate school for the blue planet, ANR-17-EURE-0015, co-funded by the “Investissements d’Avenir” program). This study is part of the INDIGENE project funded by the Office Français de la Biodiversité, Convention R&D 20/1001063. | |||||||||||||||
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