View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Aquila Digital Community The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Master's Theses Summer 8-2016 Community Structure and Production of the Macrobenthos on Four Artificial Reefs in the Mississippi Sound in Relation ot Substrate and Profile ypeT Patrick Daniel Gillam University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses Part of the Biology Commons, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, and the Marine Biology Commons Recommended Citation Gillam, Patrick Daniel, "Community Structure and Production of the Macrobenthos on Four Artificial Reefs in the Mississippi Sound in Relation to Substrate and Profile ypeT " (2016). Master's Theses. 182. https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/182 This Masters Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AND PRODUCTION OF THE MACROBENTHOS ON FOUR ARTIFICIAL REEFS IN THE MISSISSIPPI SOUND IN RELATION TO SUBSTRATE AND PROFILE TYPE by Patrick Daniel Gillam A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate School and the Department of Coastal Sciences at The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science Approved: ________________________________________________ Dr. Chet Rakocinksi, Committee Chair Professor, Coastal Sciences ________________________________________________ Dr. Mark Peterson, Committee Member Professor, Coastal Sciences ________________________________________________ Sara Lecroy, Committee Member Research Scientist, Coastal Sciences ________________________________________________ Dr. Karen S. Coats Dean of the Graduate School August 2016 COPYRIGHT BY Patrick Daniel Gillam 2016 Published by the Graduate School ABSTRACT COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AND PRODUCTION OF THE MACROBENTHOS ON FOUR ARTIFICIAL REEFS IN THE MISSISSIPPI SOUND by Patrick Daniel Gillam August 2016 In recent years, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (DMR) has made a concerted effort to enhance its coastal fishery resources by creating artificial reefs. Through this effort, 73 nearshore reefs have been created across the MS coast. Different substrate types used to construct MS artificial reefs include oyster shell and cement rubble. Two types of reef architecture used include high profile breakwater and low profile submerged structures. This study compared the benthic biota associated with oyster shell and cement rubble substrates among four artificial reefs representing high and low profile structures in summer 2011. Colonized benthic biota were quantified from four pairs of substrate baskets containing oyster shell or cement rubble that were submersed for six weeks at each reef. Split-plot ANOVA between substrate type (within- subject) and profile type (between-subject) for several functional metrics, including production potential, showed no significant differences. However, species-specific split- plot ANOVAs, unveiled several individual taxa had significantly different production and/or biomass between profile types and/or substrate types not apparent in the cumulative tests. Although some taxa failed the homogeneity of variance assumption, paired substrates for those taxa were pooled and tested using a one-way ANOVA interpreted using Welch’s test. This test unveiled several taxa having significant differences in biomass and production between profiles. MDS plots illustrate differences ii in ordination space among substrate types and profile types. PERMANOVA found significant differences in community similarity between high and low profile structures. SIMPER further disclosed how the abundances of multiple taxa drove dissimilarity values between reef profile types and substrates. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my graduate advisor, Dr. Chet Rakocinski, as well as my other committee members, Dr. Mark S. Peterson and Ms. Sara LeCroy. Additionally, I want to thank everyone else who has given me support and advice throughout the course of this degree; Kelsey Gillam, my lab mates, and many other faculty, staff, and students, who have aided me through my time at the Gulf Coast Research Lab. iv DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this thesis to my parents, John and Sherry Gillam, who have guided and assisted me through my educational and professional career. I would also like to dedicate this thesis to my wife, Kelsey Gillam, and her family who have personally helped and encouraged me through the course of this degree. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .............................................................................................. x – INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 Background ..................................................................................................................... 1 Attraction vs Production ................................................................................................. 1 Reef Materials ................................................................................................................. 3 Management .................................................................................................................... 5 Mississippi Artificial Reefs............................................................................................. 6 Recent Studies of Mississippi Artificial Reefs ............................................................... 7 – MATERIALS AND METHODS ............................................................ 10 Sample Sites .................................................................................................................. 10 Sample Site Mapping .................................................................................................... 10 Reef Comparisons ......................................................................................................... 12 Sampling Gear .............................................................................................................. 15 Substrate Selection ........................................................................................................ 15 Deployment of Baskets ................................................................................................. 16 vi Basket Retrieval ............................................................................................................ 17 Inshore Sample Processing ........................................................................................... 18 Laboratory Processing .................................................................................................. 19 Production Estimates .................................................................................................... 22 Community Turnover Rate ........................................................................................... 23 Normalized Biomass Size Spectra ................................................................................ 23 Statistical Analysis ........................................................................................................ 23 Diversity Metrics .......................................................................................................... 24 Community Similarity .................................................................................................. 24 Taxon-Specific Analysis ............................................................................................... 25 - RESULTS ............................................................................................... 27 Abiotic Parameters ........................................................................................................ 27 Invertebrate Biomass, Production, and Turnover ......................................................... 28 Size Class Structure ...................................................................................................... 33 Diversity ........................................................................................................................ 34 Community Structure .................................................................................................... 35 Taxon-Specific Responses ............................................................................................ 39 – DISCUSSION........................................................................................ 43 Functional Metrics ........................................................................................................ 43 Comparisons with Other Habitats ................................................................................. 47 vii Reef Sites .....................................................................................................................