Functional and phylogenetic responses of motile cryptofauna to habitat degradation.

ABSTRACT: Biodiversity of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, including coral reefs, is dominated by small, often cryptic, invertebrate taxa that play important roles in ecosystem structure and functioning. While cryptofauna community structure is determined by strong small-scale microhabitat associations, the extent to which ecological and environmental factors shape these communities are largely unknown, as is the relative importance of particular microhabitats in supporting reef trophodynamics from the bottom up. The goal of this study was to address these knowledge gaps, provided coral reefs are increasingly exposed to multiple disturbances and environmental gradients that influence habitat complexity, condition and ecosystem functioning. We compared the density, biomass, size range, phylogenetic

SUBMITTER: Stella JS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9826372 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature