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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Adam Gouraguine, Hannah Earp, Professor Pip MooreORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2024Kelp forests occur on more than a quarter of the world's coastlines, serving as foundation species supporting high levels of biodiversity. They are also a major source of organic matter in coastal ecosystems, with the majority of primary production released and exported as detritus. Kelp detritus also provides food and shelter for macroinvertebrates, which comprise important components of inshore food-webs. Hitherto, research on kelp detritus-associated macroinvertebrate assemblages remains relatively limited. We quantified spatiotemporal variability in the structure of detritus-associated macroinvertebrate assemblages within Laminaria hyperborea forests and evaluated the influence of putative drivers of the observed variability in assemblages across eight study sites within four regions of the United Kingdom in May and September 2015. We documented 5167 individuals from 106 taxa with Malacostraca, Gastropoda, Isopoda and Bivalvia the most abundant groups sampled. Assemblage structure varied across months, sites, and regions, with highest richness in September compared to May. Many taxa were unique to individual regions, with few documented in all regions. Finally, key drivers of assemblage structure included detritus tissue nitrogen content, depth, sea surface temperature, light intensity, as well as L. hyperborea canopy density and canopy biomass. Despite their dynamic composition and transient existence, accumulations of L. hyperborea detritus represent valuable repositories of biodiversity and represent an additional kelp forest component which influences secondary productivity, and potentially kelp forest food-web dynamics.
Author(s): Gouraguine A, Smale DA, Edwards A, King NG, Jackson-Bue M, Kelly S, Earp HS, Moore PJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Marine Environmental Research
Year: 2024
Volume: 198
Print publication date: 01/06/2024
Online publication date: 16/04/2024
Acceptance date: 15/04/2024
Date deposited: 30/04/2024
ISSN (print): 0141-1136
ISSN (electronic): 1879-0291
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106518
DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106518
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