Role of Recruitment Processes in Structuring Coralligenous Benthic Assemblages in the Northern Adriatic Continental Shelf.

ABSTRACT: Coralligenous biogenic reefs are among the most diverse marine habitats in the Mediterranean Sea. The northern Adriatic mesophotic coralligenous outcrops host very rich and diverse epibenthic assemblages. Several studies quantified the low temporal variability and high spatial heterogeneity of these habitats, while processes driving structuring and differentiation are still poorly understood. To shed light on these processes, temporal and spatial patterns of colonisation were investigated using travertine tiles deployed on three coralligenous outcrops, corresponding to the main typologies of benthic assemblages described in previous studies. Three years after deployment, assemblages colonising travertine tiles resembled the differentiation among sites revealed by the natural assemblages in

SUBMITTER: Fava F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5049771 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature