Document of bibliographic reference 364191

BibliographicReference record

Type

Bibliographic resource

Type of document

Journal article

BibLvlCode

AS

Title

Seagrass macrobenthic biodiversity does not vary in conformity with a leaky-lagoonal confinement gradient

Abstract

Coastal lagoon ecology often changes on progression from the open, well-flushed mouth region to the depositional zone furthest from the open sea. This is generally considered consequent on increasing ‘confinement’ and associated features, rather than on the often co-occurringly decreasing salinity. The 12 km Rainbow Channel connecting part of Moreton Bay, a microtidal leaky lagoon, to the adjacent Pacific provides a gradient of increasing confinement without any significant salinity change, i.e. a tenfold increase in water residence time for a salinity decrease of <1. Macrobenthic faunal assemblages characterising intertidal Zostera seagrass at strategic points along its length were compared to test whether their nature changed in conformity with confinement models. Results suggest that it does not; faunal abundance, species richness, evenness and composition remaining effectively unchanged along the gradient. Seagrass systems may constitute a special case because they decouple renewal times of the overlying water and local organic enrichment/decomposition; as may leaky lagoons because of their high tidal velocities.

WebOfScience code

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:001011331400001

Bibliographic citation

Barnes, R.S.K. (2023). Seagrass macrobenthic biodiversity does not vary in conformity with a leaky-lagoonal confinement gradient. Mar. Environ. Res. 185: 105897. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2023.105897

Topic

Marine

Is peer reviewed

true

Access rights

open access

Is accessible for free

true