Microhabitat partitioning between sympatric intertidal fish species highlights the importance of sediment composition in gravel beach conservation.

ABSTRACT: Gravel beaches in the Mediterranean ecoregion represent an economically important and unique habitat type. Yet, burgeoning tourism, intensive coastal development and artificial nourishment of beaches may jeopardize their ecological communities. To date, species that reside on gravel beaches and the consequences of beach alterations are poorly understood, which hampers the development of a sustainable coastal tourism industry along the region's shorelines. Using a simple collection method based on dredging buckets through the intertidal section of beaches, we quantified the microhabitat association of two sympatric clingfish species in the genus Gouania at seven natural and an artificial gravel beach based on sediment characteristics. We hypothesized that slender (G. pigra) an

SUBMITTER: Wagner M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10333672 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature