engleski

- What drives fish community structure on Posidonia oceanica meadows? A review of available data across the Mediterranean basin

The importance of seagrass meadows as a habitat for fish assemblages has been documented in numerous studies worldwide. Posidonia oceanica meadows in the Mediterranean provide valuable habitat for fish species, including food sources and refuge from predators for juveniles and adults. We assembled all published research on fish assemblages associated with P. oceanica meadows, and performed a meta- analysis that tests hypotheses regarding the drivers of community structure across all of these studies. We found a total of 14 published research articles containing fish species abundance data at P. oceanica meadows between 1982 and 2010, with an average of just under two sampled fish communities per study. The results show the presence of 112 taxa (fish richness ranging from 27 to 53 per paper, 41 on average), in P. oceanica meadows within a depth range from 1.0 to 40.0 meters. Studies varied in sampling method (skid trawl, visual census, beam trawl), time of day (day/night), and protection level (MPA/non-MPA). The geographical location of the sampling sites ranged from 38.15 to 44.38 N and from 0.50 W to 18.48 E. Of the physical predictor variables, the survey method had the most significant effect on the community abundance matrix, but latitude, as expected, was also a significant influence in PERMANOVA analyses. In addition, we found that total predator abundance, total resident predator abundance, and total transient predator abundance each individually had a significant effect on the remaining fish community. We conclude that the fish communities in P. oceanica meadows are partly organized according to the abundance of predatory species. Although we found high variability in the fish communities associated with P. oceanica meadows, the published data on the abundance of fish inhabiting P. oceanica meadows is scarce. More data using uniform sampling methods are needed throughout the Mediterranean basin for a basic understanding of the drivers of fish communities on P. oceanica meadows.

Posidonia oceanica ; seagrass ; fish ; community structure ; predation ; predator-prey

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