Taxonomic and functional surrogates of sessile benthic diversity in Mediterranean marine caves.

ABSTRACT: Hard substrates host globally a rich biodiversity, orders of magnitude higher in species number than that in surrounding soft substrates. Among them, marine caves support unique biodiversity and fragile communities but suffer lack of quantitative data on their structure and function, hindering their conservation status assessment. A first approach to the non-destructive ecological monitoring of marine caves by testing surrogates of structural and functional composition of sessile benthos was attempted in two species-rich Mediterranean marine caves. Photographic sampling was performed in different positions on the cave walls, across the horizontal axis, from the entrance inwards. Eighty-four taxa were identified and assigned to 6 biological traits and 32 modalities related to morphology, be

SUBMITTER: Gerovasileiou V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5587111 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature