Benthic communities under anthropogenic pressure show resilience across the Quaternary.

ABSTRACT: The Southeast Pacific is characterized by rich upwelling systems that have sustained and been impacted by human groups for at least 12 ka. Recent fishing and aquaculture practices have put a strain on productive coastal ecosystems from Tongoy Bay, in north-central Chile. We use a temporal baseline to determine whether potential changes to community structure and composition over time are due to anthropogenic factors, natural climatic variations or both. We compiled a database (n = 33 194) with mollusc species abundances from the Mid-Pleistocene, Late Pleistocene, Holocene, dead shell assemblages and live-sampled communities. Species richness was not significantly different, neither were diversity and evenness indices nor rank abundance distributions. There is, however, an increase i

SUBMITTER: Martinelli JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5627121 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature