Document of bibliographic reference 363457

BibliographicReference record

Type

Bibliographic resource

Type of document

Journal article

BibLvlCode

AS

Title

Species richness of benthic macrofauna on rocky outcrops in the Adriatic Sea by using species-area relationship (SAR) tools

Abstract

In the northern Adriatic Sea, rocky outcrops called “trezze” or “tegnúe” are known as biodiversity hotspots. A total of 45 rocky outcrops were studied by using non-destructive photographic sampling during SCUBA diving. Ten invertebrate phyla with 196 taxa were recorded, 86% of which were determined at species level. Among them, 65% of the taxa were sessile, primarily represented by the phyla Porifera and Chordata. The aims of the study were: to characterize the species richness and composition of epifaunal invertebrates living on rocky outcrops; to test the efficiency of using the outcrop area as a predictor of epifauna richness, using the Arrhenius Species-Area Relationship (SAR) model; and to compare the expected richness resulting from the SAR model with the richness observed from the analysis of random photo-squares. Our results show that the SAR model describes the relationship between epibenthic species richness and outcrop size well and may have important practical applications for biodiversity estimations and nature conservation implications. It provides a useful tool, also in terms of economy and speed, to estimate the species richness of the benthic epifauna of the numerous outcrops that remain unsurveyed, based on their size.

WebOfScience code

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:000918277300001

Bibliographic citation

Bettoso, N.; Faresi, L.; Pitacco, V.; Orlando-Bonaca, M.; Aleffi, I.F.; Lipej, L. (2023). Species richness of benthic macrofauna on rocky outcrops in the Adriatic Sea by using species-area relationship (SAR) tools. Water 15(2): 318. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w15020318

Topic

Marine

Is peer reviewed

true

Access rights

open access

Is accessible for free

true