Is artificial habitat diversity a key to restoring nurseries for juvenile coastal fish? Ex situ experiments on habitat selection and survival of juvenile seabreams
Type | Article | ||||||||||||||||
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Date | 2019-09 | ||||||||||||||||
Language | English | ||||||||||||||||
Author(s) | Mercader Manon1, 2, Blazy Christophe1, 2, Di Pane Julien3, Devissi Camille1, 2, Mercière Alexandre1, 2, Cheminée Adrien1, 2, 4, Thiriet Pierre5, 6, Pastor Jérémy1, 2, Crec'Hriou Romain1, 2, Verdoit-‐jarraya Marion1, 2, Lenfant Philippe1, 2 | ||||||||||||||||
Affiliation(s) | 1 : Centre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditerranéens Université Perpignan Via Domitia UMR 5110, F‐66860 Perpignan ,France 2 : Centre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditerranéens CNRS UMR 5110, F‐66860 Perpignan, France 3 : Ifremer—Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer 62200 Boulogne‐sur‐Mer, France 4 : Septentrion Environnement Port des Goudes 13008 Marseille, France 5 : UMS PATRINAT (AFB, CNRS, MNHN)Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle CP 41—Maison Buffon, 36 rue Geoffroy Saint‐Hilaire 75231 Paris Cedex 05 France 6 : Station Marine de Dinard Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle 38 rue de Port Blanc 35800 Dinard ,France |
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Source | Restoration Ecology (1061-2971) (Wiley), 2019-09 , Vol. 27 , N. 5 , P. 1155-1165 | ||||||||||||||||
DOI | 10.1111/rec.12948 | ||||||||||||||||
WOS© Times Cited | 13 | ||||||||||||||||
Keyword(s) | artificial habitat, habitat selection, marine restoration, nursery, seascape homogenization, survival rate | ||||||||||||||||
Abstract | Man‐made infrastructures have become ubiquitous components of coastal landscapes, leading to habitat modification that affects the abundance and diversity of marine organisms. Marine coastal fish have a complex life cycle requiring different essential habitats. One of these habitats is known as a nursery, a place where juveniles can settle in large numbers, survive, and grow to contribute to the adult population. Nurseries are mainly found in shallow, sheltered zones and are thus particularly impacted by urbanization, notably by harbors. The vertical featureless structure of docks is very unlikely to be used by juveniles, which need complex habitats to find food and shelter from predators. Recent attempts to rehabilitate the nursery function in such environments by using artificial habitats have proven efficient in increasing juvenile densities. However, nothing is known about the survival of juveniles in these habitats, preventing any conclusions on the effectiveness of this means of restoration from being drawn. Here, we set up tank experiments to test the relationship between habitat preferences and the survival rate of two species of seabream when facing stalk‐attacking combers. Habitat choice was consistent with survival results, indicating that artificial habitats might not represent unintended ecological traps for juveniles. However, the artificial habitats' effect on survival was variable between species. Therefore, our results suggest that habitat diversity might be of prime importance to sustain juveniles of different species and stress the need for the development of diverse artificial habitats to counteract the effects of seascape homogenization. |
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