Natural shorelines promote the stability of fish communities in an urbanized coastal system

Habitat loss and fragmentation are leading causes of species extinctions in terrestrial, aquatic and marine systems. Along coastlines, natural habitats support high biodiversity and valuable ecosystem services but are often replaced with engineered structures for coastal protection or erosion contro...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2015-06, Vol.10 (6), p.e0118580-e0118580
Main Authors: Scyphers, Steven B, Gouhier, Tarik C, Grabowski, Jonathan H, Beck, Michael W, Mareska, John, Powers, Sean P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Animals
Biodiversity
Coastal ecology
Coastal engineering
Coastal erosion
Coastal protection
Coastal structures
Coastal zone management
Coasts
Community ecology
Community structure
Complexity
Ecological function
Ecosystem services
Ecosystems
Environmental protection
Environmental science
Erosion control
Extinct species
Fish
Fisheries
Fishes
Fishes - physiology
Fishing
Grasses
Habitat fragmentation
Habitat loss
Habitats
Hurricanes
Impact analysis
Land degradation
Landscape design
Landscape ecology
Marine ecosystems
Marine systems
Models, Biological
Natural resources
Protection and preservation
Shore protection
Shoreline protection
Shorelines
Stability analysis
Structural stability
Studies
Terrestrial environments
Urban Renewal
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Habitat loss and fragmentation are leading causes of species extinctions in terrestrial, aquatic and marine systems. Along coastlines, natural habitats support high biodiversity and valuable ecosystem services but are often replaced with engineered structures for coastal protection or erosion control. We coupled high-resolution shoreline condition data with an eleven-year time series of fish community structure to examine how coastal protection structures impact community stability. Our analyses revealed that the most stable fish communities were nearest natural shorelines. Structurally complex engineered shorelines appeared to promote greater stability than simpler alternatives as communities nearest vertical walls, which are among the most prevalent structures, were most dissimilar from natural shorelines and had the lowest stability. We conclude that conserving and restoring natural habitats is essential for promoting ecological stability. However, in scenarios when natural habitats are not viable, engineered landscapes designed to mimic the complexity of natural habitats may provide similar ecological functions.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0118580