Fish diversity patterns along coastal habitats of the southeastern Galapagos archipelago and their relationship with environmental variables.

ABSTRACT: Coastal habitats are essential for ecological processes and provide important ecosystem services. The Galapagos archipelago has a wide diversity of ichthyofauna which preservation guarantees the functioning of the marine ecosystem. In this study, we used ecological and taxonomic indices as well as multivariate analysis to identify spatiotemporal changes in fish community structure in coastal habitats of San Cristóbal Island in the southeastern Galapagos archipelago. We analyzed how the patterns of variability were related to the abiotic conditions (substrate, sea temperature and depth) of each habitat. Nine sites affected by anthropogenic influence (fishing and tourism) representing different habitats/substrates were sampled. Underwater surveys were conducted during the warm and cold seaso

SUBMITTER: Riofrio-Lazo M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8897472 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature