Journal
CORAL REEFS
Volume 35, Issue 1, Pages 103-112Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00338-015-1382-z
Keywords
Biodiversity; Depth gradient; Cryptic fauna; Autonomous reef monitoring structures (ARMS)
Categories
Funding
- Jessie D. Kay Fellowship
- Seaver Institute
- UH Manoa Arts and Humanities Grant
- Carol Ann & Myron K. Hayashida Scholarship
- [NSF OCE 12-60169]
- [NSF GRFP DGE-1329626]
- Division Of Ocean Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [1260169] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Shallow coral reefs are extensively studied but, although scleractinian corals have been recorded to 165 m, little is known about other mesophotic coral reef ecosystem (MCE) inhabitants. Brachyuran crabs fill many ecological and trophic niches on reefs, making them ideal candidates for evaluating species composition among depths to ask whether MCEs host the same communities as shallower reef communities that have been well studied. Here we deployed autonomous reef monitoring structures for 2 yr on the south shore of O'ahu along a depth gradient (12, 30, 60, and 90 m) to sample and assess brachyuran crab communities. A total of 663 brachyuran crabs representing 69 morphospecies (16 families) were found. Community composition was not significantly different within depths, but was highly stratified by depth. Each depth was distinct, but the 30 and 60 m depths were least dissimilar from one another. We show that deeper reefs host significantly different brachyuran communities, and at much lower total abundance, than shallow reefs in Hawai'i, with 4-27 unique morphospecies per depth and only 3 of 69 morphospecies (similar to 4 %) occurring across the entire depth range sampled.
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