Biology subjects

Cimmaruta, R.

Publications and source records attributed to Cimmaruta, R..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

The fingerprint of functional strategies in Mediterranean seagrass fish assemblages

In the Mediterranean Sea, fish assemblages associated with seagrasses host a relevant percentage of the total fish biodiversity. While the structural complexity, coverage and distribution of seagrasses are known to influence species richness and abundance, their effect on the functional composition of faunal assemblages is still unclear. Moreover, little is known about the relationships of fish specific feeding, behavioural and reproductive strategies with the potential use of this habitat during different life stages. We characterized the functional structure of fish assemblages in three main Mediterranean seagrasses, using specific functional traits known to be associated with the potential use of meadows (e.g., as nursery, refuge and/or foraging areas). We also hypothesized that given combinations of traits could be associated with the probability of species being observed on seagrasses during well-defined life stages, thereby linking different strategies to habitat use. Fish functional assemblages are non-random structured, independently of either seagrass, taxonomic composition or species diversity, suggesting a convergence in their functional structures. Mediterranean seagrasses host a core of functionally similar fish species characterized by r-like reproductive strategies and low-to-intermediate trophic levels, although differing in the range of traits exhibited by predator fauna. Moreover, unique combinations of traits are significantly associated with the likelihood of fish being observed on seagrass during specific life stages. Our findings reinforce the view that the predominant use of seagrasses by fish may be driven by a trade-off between different life-history and feeding strategies. As functional strategies are largely involved in the structuring of food webs and species recruitment, their characterization in seagrass-associated fish assemblages would enhance our understanding of the impact of multiple threats on marine biodiversity.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

A review of fish diversity in Mediterranean seagrass habitats, with a focus on functional traits

Seagrass habitats are considered essential in supporting both fish diversity and fisheries income. Within the Mediterranean Sea most fish species are associated to seagrasses and constitute the subject of extensive literature. However, a complete synthesis of fish species observed in different seagrass habitats is still lacking at the whole-basin Mediterranean scale, so hindering a thorough understanding of the main functional traits and mechanisms involved in determining fish diversity patterns. We performed a systematic review by implementing a semi-automated, threshold-based filtering pipeline that allowed building up a dataset concerning all fish species reported in native Mediterranean seagrasses, including specific functional traits known to be involved with the potential use of seagrasses by fish. These data allowed to carry on a narrative synthesis on fish diversity in seagrass habitats. Moreover, the functional traits analysis highlighted a significant role of trophic level, size and benthic domain in determining the distribution of fish in different seagrass habitats at whole Mediterranean basin scale. Data evidenced a pattern of segregation between large piscivorous, pelagic predators and smaller benthic prey (including juveniles) with omnivorous to herbivorous feeding habit, with aggressive predators significantly associated with Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa beds while their putative prey tend to occupy other seagrass habitats. We identified unexpected knowledge gaps on the role of habitat heterogeneity and fish life stages in determining the presence/absence of fish in different seagrasses, for which in-depth research is needed to fully understand the links between nursery habitats and the state of exploited fish stock.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Parallel assemblage structures in Mediterranean marine amphipods revealed by beta diversity partitioning

Relying on a purely taxonomic view of diversity may ignore the fact that ecological communities can be constituted of species having both distinct evolutionary histories and functional characteristics. Thus, considering how the multiple facets of diversity vary along environmental and geographic gradients may provide insights into the role of historic processes and current environmental conditions in determining the distribution of species, lineages and functions across space. By using distributional, taxonomic-distance and traits information, we explore the role of spatial/environmental gradients and of biogeographic subdivision of Mediterranean Sea on the different facets of beta diversity components in seagrass amphipods. Beta diversity partitioning and correlation analyses showed a nearly equal contribution of the replacement and richness components on total beta diversity for all facets, although the influence of environmental and geographic distance differs among components. While the replacement was mainly related to a pure spatial gradient, both the environmental and geographic distance were correlated with the richness component of beta diversities. Our results are in line with the complex paleobiogeographic history of the Mediterranean Sea, with the replacement component likely to be related to the progressive substitution of species of Atlantic origin with Mediterranean endemics along the west-east geographic gradient, and the richness component to the marked environmental difference between different basins. Moreover, the influence of biogeographic partition on the richness components suggests the role of spatially structured gradients at biogeographic level in determining the net loss/gain of species, lineages and functions, possibly influencing the assembly processes of passive dispersal organisms.

ecology↗