Ho, Nina Ann Jin and Ooi, Jillian Lean Sim and Affendi, Yang Amri and Chong, Ving Ching (2018) Influence of habitat complexity on fish density and species richness in structurally simple forereef seagrass meadows. Botanica Marina, 61 (6). pp. 547-557. ISSN 0006-8055, DOI https://doi.org/10.1515/bot-2017-0115.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Seagrass meadows are highly productive habitats that support commercially and ecologically important fishes and invertebrates. However, evidence of fish-habitat relationships are seldom drawn from forereef seagrass meadows that are structurally simple in terms of species richness and relative size and, consequently, their role as habitats is unclear. In this study, fish-habitat relationships were examined in such meadows in the forereef seagrasses of Tinggi Island and Babi Besar Island, Malaysia, by documenting habitat complexity attributes (canopy height, shoot density and percent cover), distance to adjacent coral reefs, and water depth within 2×2 m quadrats. Fish assemblages were recorded using the Remote Underwater Video Station method. A total of 1166 individuals from 86 taxa were found and enumerated. This study showed that (1) fish density and species richness were significantly associated with seagrass percent cover alone; (2) commercially important carnivores formed the majority of the fish populations in the meadows, and (3) fish density and species richness were positively correlated with distance to the nearest adjacent coral reef, indicating the need to account for the effects of neighboring habitats in studies of this nature. Thus, structurally simple seagrass meadows are still important fish habitats, especially as feeding grounds for commercially significant carnivores.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Funders: | University of Malaya Research Grant (RG200-12SUS) and Postgraduate Research Grant (PG053-2013B), Department of Marine Park Malaysia: research permit (JLTM630-7Jld.4(21)) |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | fish-habitat relationships; forereef seagrass; marine park area; remote underwater video station |
| Subjects: | Q Science > Q Science (General) Q Science > QH Natural history |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Faculty of Science > Institute of Biological Sciences Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation) Office > Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Ms. Juhaida Abd Rahim |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Aug 2019 01:34 |
| Last Modified: | 08 Aug 2019 01:34 |
| URI: | http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/21886 |
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