Coralligenous assemblages along their geographical distribution: Testing of concepts and implications for management
Melih Ertan Çınar, Jean‐Pierre Féral, Christos Arvanitidis, Romain David, Ergün Taşkın, Maria Sini, Thanos Dailianis, Alper Doğan, Vasilis Gerovasileiou, Alper Evcen, Anne Chenuil, Ertan Dağlı, Veysel Aysel, Yannis Issaris, Kerem Bakır, Melina Nalmpantı, Stéphane Sartoretto, Maria Salomidi, Anastasia Sapouna, Şermin Açık, Charalampos Dimitriadis, Drosos Koutsoubas, Tuncer Katağan, Bılal Öztürk, Ferah Koçak, Deniz Erdoğan-Dereli, Senem Önen Tarantini, Özge Özgen, Neslihan Türkçü, Fevzi Kırkım, Mesut Önen
Abstract
Abstract The coralligenous habitat was studied at the large Mediterranean scale, by applying a standardized, non‐destructive photo‐sampling protocol, developed in the framework of the CIGESMED project. The results provided evidence to support the following statements: (a) the assemblage pattern is not homogeneously distributed across the four Mediterranean ecoregions studied ( biotic gradients hypothesis ); and (b) the assemblage pattern does not change significantly when the information is aggregated to higher taxonomic levels ( taxonomic sufficiency hypothesis ). Surrogate taxonomic categories higher than species, such as genus and family, can be used to reveal the multivariate pattern of the coralligenous assemblages. Although preliminary at the pan‐Mediterranean scale, these outcomes set the scene for future comparisons as more data sets become available but also for comparisons between taxonomic and functional patterns.