Distributional overlap rather than habitat differentiation characterizes co-occurrence of bivalves in intertidal soft sediment systems
| Type | Article | ||||||||||||
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| Date | 2008-12 | ||||||||||||
| Language | English | ||||||||||||
| Author(s) | Compton Tanya J.1, 2, 3, Troost Tineke A.1, Van Der Meer Jaap1, Kraan Casper1, 2, Honkoop Pieter J. C.1, Rogers Danny I.4, Pearson Grant B.3, de Goeij Petra1, Bocher Pierrick5, Lavaleye Marc S. S.1, Leyrer Jutta1, 2, Yates Mick G.6, Dekinga Anne1, Piersma Theunis1, 2 | ||||||||||||
| Affiliation(s) | 1 : Netherlands Inst Sea Res, Dept Marine Ecol, NL-1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, Netherlands. 2 : Univ Groningen, Ctr Ecol & Evolutionary Studies, NL-9750 AA Haren, Netherlands. 3 : WA Wildlife Res Ctr, Western Australian Dept Environm & Conservat, Wanneroo, WA 6065, Australia. 4 : Charles Sturt Univ, Inst Land Water & Soc, Albury, NSW 2640, Australia. 5 : Univ la Rochelle, CNRS, IFREMER, CRELA,UMR Pole Sci 6217, F-17042 La Rochelle, France. 6 : Ctr Ecol & Hydrol Monks Wood, Huntingdon PE28 2LS, Cambs, England. |
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| Source | Marine Ecology Progress Series (0171-8630) (Inter-Research), 2008-12 , Vol. 373 , P. 25-35 | ||||||||||||
| DOI | 10.3354/meps07732 | ||||||||||||
| WOS© Times Cited | 14 | ||||||||||||
| Keyword(s) | Aiguillon Bay, Marennes Oleron Bay, Mont Saint Michel Bay, Wadden Sea, The Wash, Roebuck Bay, Banc d'Arguin, Sediment diversity | ||||||||||||
| Abstract | Diverse species assemblages are often associated with a diversity of habitat structures. Sedimentary systems seem to be no exception, as within sedimentary systems benthic species diversity within a sample point appears to correlate with sediment grain size complexity. However, it remains to be shown whether total benthic species diversity relates to a system's sediment heterogeneity across multiple systems. In the present paper we examined whether bivalve diversity is associated with: (1) sediment heterogeneity across systems and (2) sediment grain size complexity within systems, at 9 temperate and tropical tidal flat systems. Although bivalve life-history strategies, like post-settlement habitat selection, might suggest that sediment heterogeneity should be important for bivalve species, bivalve diversity and sediment heterogeneity were not associated across systems. Interestingly, the association between total benthic diversity and sediment heterogeneity was also not significant, suggesting that changing species composition across systems does not account for the lack of a correlation between bivalve diversity and sediment heterogeneity. Instead of habitat differentiation, bivalve diversity within a sample point was highest in 'complex' fine-grained sediments and bivalve distributions showed a large degree of distributional overlap in all systems. The results of this study at both smaller and larger spatial scales suggest that coexistence between bivalve species in diverse tidal flats is not associated with increased sediment heterogeneity. | ||||||||||||
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