Assessing the role of the spatial scale in the analysis of lagoon biodiversity. A case-study on the macrobenthic fauna of the Po River Delta |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy;2. Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Metodi Matematici, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy;3. AgroParisTech-ENGREF, Korou, France;4. Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biotecnologie, Università degli Studi di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy;1. National Institute of Materials Physics, Lab. Optical Process in Nanostructured Materials, P.O. Box MG-7, Bucharest R077125, Romania;2. Institut des Matériaux Jean Rouxel, 2 rue de la Houssinière, B.P. 32229, F-44322 Nantes, France;1. School of Resources & Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110004, China;2. Key Laboratory of Regional Environment and Eco-Remediation, Ministry of Education, Shenyang University, Shenyang 110044, China;1. UMR 5119 ECOSYM, Université Montpellier 2, CC 93, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France;2. Centro de Ecologia, Pesqueria y Oceanografia de Golfo de Mexico (EPOMEX), Universidad Autonoma de Campeche, Av. Agustin Melgar s/n, CP 24030, Campeche, Mexico;1. Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology, University of Lodz, Banacha 12/16, 90-237 Łódź, Poland;2. Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA), Department of Biology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal;3. Institute of Science and Innovation for Bio-Sustainability (IB-S), University of Minho, Portugal;4. Sinop University Fisheries Faculty, Marine Biology and Ecology Department, Sinop, Turkey;5. ENEA C.R. Casaccia, via Anguillarese 301, 00123 Rome, Italy;6. Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts, Riste Stijovica Podgorica Črna Gora, Montenegro;1. Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems, and College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China;2. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China;3. Division of Ocean Science and Technology, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China |
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| Abstract: | The analysis of benthic assemblages is a valuable tool to describe the ecological status of transitional water ecosystems, but species are extremely sensitive and respond to both microhabitat and seasonal differences. The identification of changes in the composition of the macrobenthic community in specific microhabitats can then be used as an “early warning” for environmental changes which may affect the economic and ecological importance of lagoons, through their provision of Ecosystem Services. From a conservational point of view, the appropriate definition of the spatial aggregation level of microhabitats or local communities is of crucial importance. The main objective of this work is to assess the role of the spatial scale in the analysis of lagoon biodiversity. First, we analyze the variation in the sample coverage for alternative aggregations of the monitoring stations in three lagoons of the Po River Delta. Then, we analyze the variation of a class of entropy indices by mixed effects models, properly accounting for the fixed effects of biotic and abiotic factors and random effects ruled by nested sources of variability corresponding to alternative definitions of local communities. Finally, we address biodiversity partitioning by a generalized diversity measure, namely the Tsallis entropy, and for alternative definitions of the local communities. The main results obtained by the proposed statistical protocol are presented, discussed and framed in the ecological context. |
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| Keywords: | Lagoon biodiversity Macrobenthic fauna Tsallis entropy Biodiversity partitioning Mixed effects models |
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