Investigation of the Biology, Ecology, Distribution of Marine Macrozoobenthic Communities—2nd Edition

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 4 January 2025 | Viewed by 1007

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione dell’Ambiente del Lazio Unità Risorse Idriche di Roma, 00173 Rome, Italy
Interests: benthos; sabellaria; non-indigenous species; marine benthic species
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali DiSTeBA, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
2. National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC), 90100 Palermo, Italy
Interests: marine ecology; NIS; polychaetes; crustaceans; echinoderms; macrozoobenthic
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This is the second edition of the Special Issue “Investigation of the Biology, Ecology, Distribution of Marine Macrozoobenthic Communities”.  The first (link below) edition published 13 papers, accumulating 12974 views.

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/diversity/special_issues/97I4196687

Marine benthic communities play a pivotal role in marine ecosystems and contribute to human well-being by providing essential services such as food production and nutrient cycling. Moreover, benthic habitats often constitute biodiversity hotspots: Posidonia oceanica meadows, coralligenous biocenosis, Sabellaria reefs and tropical coral reefs are some of the more investigated marine benthic communities and due to their importance, benthic communities are often subjected to protective measures.

Benthic communities are directly or indirectly affected by the physical effects of climate change in marine environments (e.g., shifts in temperature and salinity, alteration in hydrodynamics, sea level rise and ocean acidification), which may result in changes in their structure and the spatial distribution of species. For these reasons, macrozoobenthic communities are among the most used descriptors in detecting environmental alterations deriving from anthropogenic activity and currently, benthic fauna and flora are monitored for various purposes, and they are useful to detect general patterns of distribution or assess the effects of anthropogenic pressures.

In recent years, interest in macrozoobenthic communities has increased and there are many studies on their biology, ecology and distribution, but we still know far too little about this important component of the Mediterranean biocenosis.

In order to increase knowledge about marine macrozoobenthic communities, we present this Special Issue focused on their biology, ecology and distribution. If you are interested in this opportunity or have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Dr. Andrea Bonifazi
Dr. Emanuele Mancini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • marine macrozoobenthic communities
  • marine benthic flora and fauna
  • marine bioconstructions
  • species diversity and distribution
  • community composition
  • biogeographic patterns
  • biodiversity and conservation
  • morphological and molecular taxonomy
  • population and community ecology

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

20 pages, 11251 KiB  
Article
Dramatic Enhancement of Macrozoobenthic Species β-Diversity in Response to Artificial Breakwater Construction Along a Tropical Coastline
by Huan Chiao Lee, Christopher J. Glasby, Anja Schulze, Han Raven, Siong Kiat Tan, Takaomi Arai, Amirah Md Jin, Nurun Nazihah Tal’ah, Ainina Zarifi and David J. Marshall
Diversity 2024, 16(12), 742; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16120742 - 30 Nov 2024
Viewed by 558
Abstract
The beneficial or detrimental effects of human-built marine structures (piers, breakwaters, and seawalls) on macrozoobenthic assemblages and diversities are currently underexplored. The present study investigated the enhancement of β-diversity of oysterbed-associated species on breakwaters constructed along sandy beaches. We compared habitat complexities and [...] Read more.
The beneficial or detrimental effects of human-built marine structures (piers, breakwaters, and seawalls) on macrozoobenthic assemblages and diversities are currently underexplored. The present study investigated the enhancement of β-diversity of oysterbed-associated species on breakwaters constructed along sandy beaches. We compared habitat complexities and species assemblages among artificial breakwater shores (ABS), a natural rocky shore (NS), and an embayment shore (ES). Oysterbed habitat complexity was found to be greatest on the ABS due to the successional colonization of the reef-forming estuarine oyster, Saccostrea echinata, followed by the colonization of boring bivalves and burrowing annelids. High-resolution taxonomic data revealed that the ABS supports the greatest species richness, including 48.1% unique species and 33.3% species shared with the embayment shore. The other shores uniquely or in combination with ABS support up to 11.1% of the total species richness associated with the oysterbeds (n = 81). Taxonomic dominance in terms of species number was Mollusca > Annelida > Arthropoda. This study reveals that ABS enhances β-diversity by ~91% (Jaccard dissimilarity index), which is driven by the sequential cascading events of (1) sheltering of shores, (2) colonization of novel habitat-forming oysters, (3) novel macrozoobenthic species recruitment from adjacent shores and sheltered embayments, including habitat-forming bivalves and annelids, and (4) the recruitment of macrozoobenthic species to boreholes. ABS habitat complexity derives from a spatially distinct, three-tiered ecological engineering system, involving (1) breakwater construction (100 m), (2) reef-forming oysters (10 m), and (3) boring bivalves and burrowing annelids (<10 cm). Irrespective of the purpose of their construction, breakwaters along extended sandy shores can potentially increase the resilience (β-diversity) and regional interconnectivity of hard surface macrozoobenthic species. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop