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Beta diversity of cold-water coral reef communities off western Scotland

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Abstract

Spatial heterogeneity in coral reef communities is well documented. This “species turnover” (beta diversity) on shallow warm-water reefs strongly conforms to spatial gradients in the environment as well as spatially autocorrelated biotic processes such as dispersal and competition. But the extent to which the environment and spatial autocorrelation create beta diversity on deep cold-water coral reefs such as those formed by Lophelia pertusa (Scleractinia) is unknown. The effects of remotely sensed and ground-truthed data were tested on the community composition of sessile suspension-feeding communities from the Mingulay Reef Complex, a landscape of inshore Lophelia reefs off the Scottish west coast. Canonical correspondence analysis determined that a statistically significant proportion (68%) of the variance in community composition could be explained by remotely sensed environmental variables (northerly and easterly aspect, seabed rugosity, depth), ground-truthed environmental variables (species richness and reef macrohabitat) and geospatial location. This variation was further partitioned into fractions explained by pure effects of the environment (51%), spatially structured environmental variables (12%) and spatial autocorrelation (5%). Beta diversity in these communities reflected the effects of both measured and unmeasured and spatially dependent environmental variables that vary across the reef complex, i.e., hydrography. Future work will quantify the significance and relative contributions of these variables in creating beta diversity in these rich communities.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the helpful criticisms provided by the Editors of Coral Reefs and from two anonymous reviewers. Funding was provided by the European Commission Sixth Framework Programme “Structuring the European Research Area” to L. -A. Henry through a Marie Curie fellowship (contract no. MIF1-CT-2004-002469), to A. J. Davies and J. M. Roberts through the European HERMES project (contract no. GOCE-CT-2005-511234) under the priority “Sustainable Development, Global Change and Ecosystems”, and to J. M. Roberts through the TRACES project (contract no. MOIF-CT-2006-040018).

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  1. Andrew J. Davies

    Present address: School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, Menai Bridge, LL59 5AB, UK

  2. J. Murray Roberts

    Present address: Centre for Marine Biodiversity and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scottish Association for Marine Science, Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, Oban, Argyll, PA37 1QA, UK

    Lea-Anne Henry, Andrew J. Davies & J. Murray Roberts

  2. Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, 5600, Marvin Moss Lane, Wilmington, NC, 28409, USA

    J. Murray Roberts

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  1. Lea-Anne Henry
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Correspondence to Lea-Anne Henry.

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Communicated by Ecology Editor Prof. Peter Mumby

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Henry, LA., Davies, A.J. & Murray Roberts, J. Beta diversity of cold-water coral reef communities off western Scotland. Coral Reefs 29, 427–436 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-009-0577-6

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