Ecological engineering across organismal scales: trophic-mediated positive effects of microhabitat enhancement on fishes

Authors

Daisuke Taira, National University of Singapore
Eliza C. Heery, National University of Singapore; University of Washington
Lynette H. L. Loke, National University of Singapore; Macquarie University
Aaron Teo, National University of Singapore
Andrew G. Bauman, National University of SingaporeFollow
Peter A. Todd, National University of Singapore

ORCID

0000-0001-9260-2153

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Marine Ecology Progress Series

ISSN

0171-8630

Publication Date

10-2020

Keywords

Fish diversity, Fish feeding, Eco-engineering, Coastal defences, Marine urbanisation, Epilithic algal matrix

Abstract

Retrofitting microhabitat features is a common ecological engineering technique for enhancing biodiversity and abundance of small, epilithic organisms on artificial shorelines by providing refuge spaces and/or ameliorating abiotic conditions. These features are typically too small to be utilised as refugia by larger, highly motile consumers such as fish, but they may affect these organisms through other mechanisms. This study sought to determine whether microhabitat enhancement units alter the fish abundance, richness and assemblage composition on tropical seawalls and explores possible underlying trophic mechanisms. We created 12 experimental plots consisting of 6 enhanced plots, each with 20 microhabitat enhancement tiles, and 6 control plots without tiles on intertidal seawalls at Pulau Hantu, an offshore island south of mainland Singapore. Benthic cover and fish assemblage were surveyed within each plot using photoquadrats and underwater video cameras, respectively, from April 2018 to February 2019. We found greater abundance and species richness and distinct assemblages of fish in the enhanced plots compared to the control plots. These differences were driven largely by an increase in both abundance and richness of fish species with epibenthic-feeding strategies and were significantly associated with higher biotic cover in the enhanced plots, especially epilithic algal matrix (EAM). Our results indicate that, in addition to facilitating epilithic organisms, microhabitat enhancement can provide food resources for epibenthic-feeding fishes, increase fish biodiversity, and alter fish assemblages in tropical urbanised shorelines.

DOI

10.3354/meps13462

Volume

656

First Page

181

Last Page

192

Comments

Supplementary material

Additional Comments

This research was supported by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore, under its Marine Science Research and Development Programme (Award No. MSRDP-05).

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

NSUWorks Citation

Daisuke Taira, Eliza C. Heery, Lynette H. L. Loke, Aaron Teo, Andrew G. Bauman, and Peter A. Todd. 2020. Ecological engineering across organismal scales: trophic-mediated positive effects of microhabitat enhancement on fishes .Marine Ecology Progress Series : 181 -192. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/1275.