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Assessing Ecological Functioning in Marine Benthic Communities

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Assessing Ecological Functioning in Marine Benthic Communities View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Newcastle University eTheses Assessing ecological functioning in marine benthic communities A thesis submitted to the University of Newcastle upon Tyne for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Julie Bremner Dove Marine Laboratory School of Marine Science and Technology University of Newcastle upon Tyne January 2005 Abstract With the advent of an ecosystem approach to marine management, the importance of developing methods to investigate ecological functioning is receiving increasing attention. This thesis develops a novel approach for describing ecological functioning in marine benthic systems. Biological traits analysis (BTA) uses a suite of life history, morphology and behaviour characteristics of species to describe aspects of their functioning. Comparison of BTA with two other approaches proposed for describing functioning in marine ecosystems established that BTA identified a range of biological attributes important for differentiating benthic communities and was better able to describe spatial patterns in assemblage composition than the other measures. Appraisal of the analytical tools proposed for use in BTA revealed they provided similar views of assemblage functioning, with the non- parametric tool being appropriate for providing a general picture of functioning, while the more complex parametric tools had greater power to detect anthropogenic impacts. Evaluation of the type and number of traits included in BTA showed it was sensitive to the number of traits selected for analysis, with optimal results being gained by maximising trait number. Examination of the relationship between functioning and environmental variability revealed that trait composition was related to changes in a number of environmental factors, although this relationship was complex and the nature of associations between traits and specific environmental factors varied depending on the location of assemblages. Further analyses focussed on the impacts of anthropogenic activities on benthic assemblage functioning. These revealed that assemblage functioning was impacted by fishing disturbance in both subtidal and intertidal assemblages. A number of traits were impacted by fishing, including some associated with vulnerability to physical stress and others related to resistance to disturbance, while other aspects of functioning remained unaffected. The thesis has increased our understanding of biological traits analysis as a tool for describing functioning in marine benthic systems. It has also contributed to some interesting ecological and management issues, such as the relationship between species and functioning and the importance of, information required for, and strategies available for conservation of ecological functioning in marine ecosystems. i Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Chris Frid and Dr Stuart Rogers, for their continued support and contributions towards the compilation of this thesis and the work within it. I would like to acknowledge the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and the British Federation of Women Graduates, who provided finance for my PhD study. I am also grateful to Chris and Stuart, and my host institutions, for kindly providing the data that form the basis of this thesis and to Mike Nicholson, Jim Ellis and Steve Freeman for contributing biological information. I owe a great deal of thanks to my family for support throughout my PhD and earlier. Especially to my Mum, Pat Bremner, and my brother Stewart Bremner, I can’t tell you how far you’ve carried me. To my Gran, Ruby Collier and my Nana, Meg Stevenson; thank you for your love and for all the little things that helped so much along the way. To Mike, it’s been a long road, and I’m glad you were on it with me for most of the way. Thank you for everything. To all the enthusiastic people who carried endless buckets of mud and sand, your help was very much appreciated: Leanne Bailey, Silvana Birchenough, Tom Catchpole, Chris, Margaret Gill, Mike, John Knowles, Odette Paramor, Gemma Quilez-Badia, Leonie Robinson, Jill Shaw and, of course, Oscar and his rabbit. Extra thanks go to John for his field and lab expertise and to Peter Garwood for his invaluable assistance with invertebrate taxonomy. To my friends who’ve come through these last few years with me, I would like to say thank you for your encouragement. To Gemma and Silvana, I’m glad to have shared all these times with you, muchas gracias y besitos, mis chicas bonitas. Dawn McCann, thanks for the cards and coffee. Louise Coppard, Jennifer Cameron, Matthew Wright and Sonia Kumar - look at us now, who’d have thought it?! To my Roxburgh Place gang, Frances Herron, Katy Milner and Barry Sewell, what can I say? You make Newcastle light up! Finally, the staff and students in the Dove Marine Lab, who’ve made it such a great place to work and haven’t been mentioned yet. To Andy Birchenough, Delphine Bonnet, Jane Delany, Stewart Evans, Judy Foster-Smith, Joseph Hornsby, Cliff Garside, Vicki Hendrick, Kim Last, Phil Percival, Catherine Scott, Paul Stebbing, Carol Weiss and Sue. It’s been fun. ii Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................i Acknowledgements........................................................................................................ii Contents.............................................................................................................................iii List of Tables and Figures TABLES ......................................................................................................................vii FIGURES.....................................................................................................................ix Chapter 1: Biomonitoring and human impacts on marine ecosystems INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................2 DISCRETE APPROACHES TO BIOMONITORING..........................................................................3 INTEGRATIVE APPROACHES Ecological processes .................................................................................................5 Ecological functioning..............................................................................................7 Chapter 2: Ecological functioning in marine benthic ecosystems ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................14 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................14 METHODS Data collection ..........................................................................................................17 Data analysis Relative taxon composition analysis.............................................................18 Trophic group analysis .................................................................................19 Biological traits analysis ..............................................................................19 Comparison of approaches........................................................................................22 RESULTS Relative taxon composition analysis.........................................................................23 Trophic group analysis..............................................................................................27 Biological traits analysis...........................................................................................30 iii Comparison of approaches........................................................................................35 DISCUSSION ...........................................................................................................................35 Chapter 3: Methods for conducting biological traits analysis in marine benthic ecosystems ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................44 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................45 METHODS Dataset 1....................................................................................................................48 Dataset 2....................................................................................................................48 Comparison of analytical tools .................................................................................49 Power of the analytical tools.....................................................................................52 Sensitivity of BTA ....................................................................................................52 RESULTS Comparison of analytical tools .................................................................................54 Power of the analytical tools.....................................................................................55 Sensitivity of BTA ....................................................................................................58 DISCUSSION ...........................................................................................................................60 Chapter 4: Does ecological functioning in marine benthic assemblages
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