Marine dock pilings foster diverse, native cryptobenthic fish assemblages across bioregions.

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic habitats are increasingly prevalent in coastal marine environments. Previous research on sessile epifauna suggests that artificial habitats act as a refuge for nonindigenous species, which results in highly homogenous communities across locations. However, vertebrate assemblages that live in association with artificial habitats are poorly understood. Here, we quantify the biodiversity of small, cryptic (henceforth "cryptobenthic") fishes from marine dock pilings across six locations over 35° of latitude from Maine to Panama. We also compare assemblages from dock pilings to natural habitats in the two southernmost locations (Panama and Belize). Our results suggest that the biodiversity patterns of cryptobenthic fishes from dock pilings follow a Latitudinal Diversity Gradient (

SUBMITTER: Brandl SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5587495 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature