Benthic community succession on artificial and natural coral reefs in the northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea.

ABSTRACT: Evaluating the efficacy of artificial structures in enhancing or sustaining biodiversity on tropical coral reefs is key to assessing their role in reef conservation or management. Here, we compare spatial and temporal patterns of colonization and succession of the benthic assemblage on settlement collectors (ceramic tiles) in a 13-mo mensurative experiment on a suspended artificial reef, a seafloor artificial reef, and two nearby natural reefs at Eilat, Gulf of Aqaba. We also conducted a concurrent 7-mo manipulative experiment on the suspended reef and one of the natural reefs, and monitored fish feeding behaviour on experimental collectors, to examine effects of large mobile consumers on these patterns. In both experiments, taxonomic composition as percent planar cover for the whole commu

SUBMITTER: Higgins E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6392313 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature