Assessment of Regional and Local Biodiversity in Tropical and Subtropical Coastal Habitats in the East African Marine Ecoregion

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dc.creatorBarnes, Natalie
dc.creatorBamber, Roger N.
dc.creatorBennell, Graham
dc.creatorCornelius, Nils
dc.creatorGlassom, David
dc.creatorHenderson, Sophie C. D.
dc.creatorJiddawi, Narriman
dc.creatorLee, Christine N. W.
dc.creatorMacia, Adriano
dc.creatorMsangameno, Daudi J.
dc.creatorPaula, José
dc.creatorYahya, Saleh
dc.creatorFerrero, Timothy J.
dc.date2016-09-14T18:31:23Z
dc.date2016-09-14T18:31:23Z
dc.date2011
dc.date.accessioned2018-04-18T11:12:32Z
dc.date.available2018-04-18T11:12:32Z
dc.descriptionThe transboundary networks of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) project, TRANSMAP, assessed local turnover and regional biodiversity across the East African Marine Ecoregion, where inter-governmental co-operation has been working to connect local MPAs. The benthic fauna in the three most dominant habitats on this coastline— beaches, mangroves and seagrasses—were studied in two Regions (Northern Region, 10–13S; Southern Region, 25–28S). Meiofaunal taxa were used as the model faunal group owing to their diversity and abundance across habitat types and environmental conditions. Meiofaunal abundance averaged 2,500 individuals 10 cm-2 and was generally higher in mangrove and seagrass sediments than on the beaches, and was significantly different between habitats 9 Regions. In total, 18 taxa were recorded with highest diversity in the beach samples. Diversity indices and assemblage structure were signifi- cantly different between habitats, but also Regions. Specific granulometric 1U size classes,shore-height and number of rain days were the factors most significantly correlating with the observed assemblage patterns. Additionally, the size of a MPA and latitude (which correlated with MPA age, but not number of rain days), were the factors fitting best with meiofaunal assemblage patterns across the beaches, the habitat for which the most comprehensive data were generated. Sample diversity was higher in the Southern Region, and although within- and across-habitats diversity were similar across the Regions, the two Regions appeared to provide complementary habitats and supported different assemblages. Within the Regions, beaches (the only habitat for which more than one location was sampled) were significantly different between Locations, supporting the establishment of multiple protected locations of the same habitat within each transboundary MPA.
dc.identifierBarnes, N., Bamber, R.N., Bennell, G., Cornelius, N., Glassom, D., Henderson, S.C.D., Jiddawi, N., Lee, C.N., Macia, A., Msangameno, D.J. and Paula, J., 2011. Assessment of regional and local biodiversity in tropical and subtropical coastal habitats in the East African Marine Ecoregion. Biodiversity and Conservation, 20(10), pp.2075-2109.
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/3711
dc.identifier10.1007/s10531-011-0076-2
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/3711
dc.languageen
dc.publisherSpringer
dc.subjectBeach
dc.subjectBenthos
dc.subjectIntertidal
dc.subjectEast African Marine Ecoregion (EAME)
dc.subjectMangrove
dc.subjectMeiofauna
dc.subjectSand
dc.subjectSeagrass
dc.subjectRepublic of Mozambique
dc.subjectRepublic of South Africa
dc.subjectUnited Republic of Tanzania
dc.titleAssessment of Regional and Local Biodiversity in Tropical and Subtropical Coastal Habitats in the East African Marine Ecoregion
dc.typeJournal Article, Peer Reviewed

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