Artificial reef design affects benthic secondary productivity and provision of functional habitat

Ecology and Evolution
Sally RouseThomas A Wilding

Abstract

Novel hard substratum, introduced through offshore developments, can provide habitat for marine species and thereby function as an artificial reef. To predict the ecological consequences of deploying offshore infrastructure, and sustainably manage the installation of new structures, interactions between artificial reefs and marine ecosystem functions and services must be understood. This requires quantitative data on the relationships between secondary productivity and artificial reef design, across all trophic levels. Benthic secondary productivity is, however, one of the least studied processes on artificial reefs.In this study, we show that productivity rates of a common suspension feeder, Flustra foliacea (Linnaeus 1758), were 2.4 times higher on artificial reefs constructed from "complex" blocks than on reefs constructed from "simple" blocks, which had a smaller surface area.Productivity rates were highest on external areas of reefs. Productivity rates decreased by 1.56%, per cm distance into the reef on complex reefs and 2.93% per cm into the reef on simple block reefs. The differences in productivity rates between reefs constructed from simple and complex blocks are assumed to reflect different current regimes and food s...Continue Reading

References

Oct 15, 2014·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Jeremy T ClaisseAnn S Bull
Mar 7, 2019·Marine Environmental Research·Juliano Silva LimaMilton Love
Mar 13, 2019·Marine Environmental Research·Pierre CressonMireille Harmelin-Vivien

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R nlme
R package “ arm ”
R

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