Secondary engineering of rhodolith beds by the sand tilefish Malacanthus plumieri generates distinctive habitats for benthic macroinvertebrates and fish

• Published in: Biodiversity and conservation Vol. 33; no. 6-7; pp. 1941 - 1957
• Main Authors: Roos, Natalia C., Veras, Priscila C., Gutiérrez, Jorge L., Gibran, Fernando Z., Pinheiro, Hudson T., Francini-Filho, Ronaldo B., Longo, Leila L., Santos, Cinthya S. G., Senna, André R., Pereira-Filho, Guilherme H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abundance; Associated species; Beds (process engineering); Benthos; Biodiversity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Carbonates; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Complexity; Composition; Conservation; Conservation areas; Conservation Biology/Ecology; Coral reefs; Ecology; Fish; Habitats; Heterogeneity; Kelp; Life Sciences; Macroinvertebrates; Malacanthus plumieri; Marine fishes; Mollusks; Mounds; Offshore; Oil exploration; Original Research; Overfishing; Petroleum engineering; Reef fish; Reef fishes; Sand; Sea grasses; Species; Turnover rate; Zoobenthos; Bioturbation; Reef ecology; Biogenic reef; Benthic communities; Coralline algae
• ISSN: 0960-3115; 1572-9710
• DOI: 10.1007/s10531-024-02821-0

Whilst the importance of foundation species for biodiversity conservation has been largely acknowledged (e.g., coral and bivalve reefs, seagrass, kelp and rhodolith beds), the role of their associated species as secondary habitat engineers has just begun to be appreciated. Here, we evaluated whether secondary engineering of rhodolith beds by the sand tilefish Malacanthus plumieri influences the composition and β-diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates and reef fish assemblages. Our findings indicate that, by selecting, relocating, and rearranging rhodoliths into mounds, M. plumieri creates a distinctive habitat for macroinvertebrates and fishes. M. plumieri mounds increase fish abundance by 57% in rhodolith beds, with an 82% species turnover rate between mounds and non-mounded areas. In contrast, the macroinvertebrates in M. plumieri mounds are largely a subset of the species from non-mounded areas, with an 86% species nestedness rate. Despite decreasing the abundance of macroinvertebrates in the mounds by half, M. plumieri increases the heterogeneity and structural complexity of rhodolith beds, affecting the composition of associated fish assemblage at a larger spatial scale. Our results suggest that, by increasing the structural complexity of rhodolith beds and shaping their associated biodiversity, the abundance of M. plumieri mounds could be a useful proxy to define priority areas for conservation across the South Atlantic rhodolith beds, especially in the light of ongoing impacts related to offshore oil exploitation, overfishing and carbonate mining.