2021 APR 23 (VerticalNews) — By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Ecology, Environment & Conservation — Investigators discuss new findings in environmental management. According to news reporting from Ghent, Belgium, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, “Oceanic islands harbor unique yet fragile marine ecosystems that require evidence-based environmental management.”
The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Ghent University: “Among these islands, the Galapagos archipelago is well known for its fish diversity, but the factors that structure communities within and between its islands remain poorly understood. In this study, water quality, physical habitats and geographical distance were assessed as potential predictors for the diversity and structure of fish assemblages. Differences in the structure of fish assemblages of the two studied islands (Santa Cruz and Floreana) were most likely driven by temperature and nutrient concentrations. In the relatively highly populated island Santa Cruz, the structure of fish assemblages was more affected by water conditions than physical habitats while the contrary was true for the more pristine area of Floreana. A wide variety of species with different geographical origins were distributed over the different islands, which indicates that most fish species are able to reach the islands of the archipelago. However, temperature gradients and elevated nutrient levels cause large differences in the structure of local fish assemblages.”
According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “In addition, in Santa Cruz nutrient concentrations were negatively correlated with a diversity. Since pollution is a clear pressure on the fish assemblages of oceanic islands, environmental management of the coastal areas is of paramount importance.”
For more information on this research see: Assessing the Drivers behind the Structure and Diversity of Fish Assemblages Associated with Rocky Shores in the Galapagos Archipelago. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2021,9(375):375. (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering – http://www.mdpi.com.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/journal/jmse). The publisher for Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is MDPI AG.
Our news editors report that more information may be obtained by contacting Stijn Bruneel, Department of Animal Sciences and Aquatic Ecology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. Additional authors for this research include Wout Van Echelpoel, Long Ho, Heleen Raat, Amber Schoeters, Niels De Troyer, Ratha Sor, Jose Ponton-Cevallos, Ruth Vandeputte, Christine Van der heyden, Nancy De Saeyer, Marie Anne Eurie Forio, Rafael Bermudez, Luis Dominguez-Granda, Stijn Luca, Tom Moens, Peter Goethals.
A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/10.3390/jmse9040375.
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