The Epifaunal Community Structure on Artificial Reefs in Tampa Bay
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T The Epifaunal Community Structure on Artificial Reefs in Tampa Bay Grant Agreement #FWCC-03045 Thomas L. Dix, Ph.D., Thomas M. Ash, David J. Karlen, Barbara K. Goetting, Christina M. Holden, Susan M. Estes, June 2005 #FWCC-0304 5 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Funding was provided by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (Grant Agreement # FWCC-03045). Stephen A .Grabe, Sara E. Markham and Anthony S. Chacour assisted with sample processing. Carla Wright assisted with instrument calibration. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................... ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................. v ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 2 METHODS AND MATERIALS ............................................................................................................. 3 Study sites ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Sample sites on reef......................................................................................................................... 3 Water and LI-COR® Profiles ......................................................................................................... 3 Field Collection ............................................................................................................................... 5 Sample Procedures ......................................................................................................................... 7 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................................. 7 RESULTS ............................................................................................................................................. 8 Hydrographic .................................................................................................................................. 8 Reef Characteristics ...................................................................................................................... 13 Benthic Community ....................................................................................................................... 13 Biomass ................................................................................................................................... 17 Mollusca Biomass ............................................................................................................. 17 Arthropoda Biomass ......................................................................................................... 26 Chordata Biomass ............................................................................................................ 26 Porifera Biomass .............................................................................................................. 30 Cnidaria Biomass ............................................................................................................. 30 Bryozoa Biomass .............................................................................................................. 30 Biomass Cluster Analysis ................................................................................................. 33 Biomass Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDS) plots .......................................................... 36 Epifaunal Community Metrics ............................................................................................... 39 Species Richness (S) ......................................................................................................... 39 Abundance (N) .................................................................................................................. 46 Shannon-Weiner Diversity Index (H’) ............................................................................. 46 Pielou’s Evenness Index (J’) ............................................................................................ 47 Abundance Cluster Analysis ............................................................................................ 48 Species Composition and Relative Abundances .............................................................. 52 DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................................... 60 CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................................. 61 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 61 APPENDIX A ...................................................................................................................................... 62 APPENDIX B ...................................................................................................................................... 63 APPENDIX C ...................................................................................................................................... 66 APPENDIX D ...................................................................................................................................... 80 APPENDIX E ...................................................................................................................................... 93 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Tampa Bay artificial reefs ................................................................................................ 4 Figure 2 The epifaunal sampler ...................................................................................................... 5 Figure 3 Epifaunal sampler front .................................................................................................... 6 Figure 4 The back of epifaunal sampler ......................................................................................... 6 Figure 5 Epifaunal sampler with cover ........................................................................................... 7 Figure 6. Howard Frankland Reef (04HFR104s) ......................................................................... 14 Figure 7. Howard Frankland Reef (04HFR157s) ......................................................................... 14 Figure 8. Bahia Beach Reef (04BBR050s) .................................................................................. 15 Figure 9. Bahia Beach Reef (04BBR083s) ................................................................................... 15 Figure 10. Egmont Key Reef (04EKR096s) ................................................................................. 16 Figure 11. Egmont Key Reef (04EKR112s) ................................................................................ 16 Figure 12. Total wet biomass at each reef and season for each phylum ....................................... 18 Figure 13. The relative percent biomass at Howard Frankland Reef in the spring ...................... 19 Figure 14. The relative percent biomass at Howard Frankland Reef in the fall ........................... 20 Figure 15. The relative percent biomass at Bahia Beach Reef in the spring ................................ 21 Figure 16. The relative percent biomass at Bahia Beach Reef in the fall ..................................... 22 Figure 17. The relative percent biomass at Egmont Key Reef in the spring ................................ 23 Figure 18. The relative percent biomass at Egmont Key Reef in the fall ..................................... 24 Figure 19. The average relative percent biomass at each reef and season for each phylum ........ 25 Figure 20. The average relative percent biomass at each reef and season for Mollusca .............. 27 Figure 21. The average relative percent biomass at each reef and season for Arthropoda ........... 28 Figure 22. The average relative percent biomass at each reef and season for Chordata .............. 29 Figure 23. The average relative percent biomass at each reef and season for Porifera ................ 31 Figure 24. The average relative percent biomass at each reef and season for Cnidaria ............... 32 Figure 25. The average relative percent biomass at each reef and season for Bryozoa ............... 34 Figure 26. Bray-Curtis similarity of sites based on epifaunal biomass ........................................ 35 Figure 27. The biomass MDS plot for the reefs and seasons........................................................ 37 Figure 28. The total biomass MDS plot for the reefs and seasons ............................................... 37 Figure 29. The relative percent biomass MDS plot for Perna viridis .......................................... 38 Figure 30. The relative percent biomass MDS