Coastal and Marine Ecosystems, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
National Centre for Coasts and Climate, School of Biosciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
J Fish Biol. 2019 Aug;95(2):555-561. doi: 10.1111/jfb.14002. Epub 2019 May 30.
To explore whether the endangered White's seahorse Hippocampus whitei would choose to inhabit artificial over natural habitats, 10 adult H. whitei individuals were put through a series of binary choice trials in aquaria, during which they were offered different paired combinations of natural (different types of macroalga and seagrass) and artificial habitat (panels of swimming-net material). It was found that H. whitei displayed a significant choice for swimming-net material over all other available natural habitats and chose habitats according to the following rankings: (a) Net; (b) Sargassum sp.; (c) Posidonia australis; (d) Zostera muelleri. Hippocampus whitei's choice of swimming net material over natural habitat suggests that these artificial structures could be a useful conservation measure for seahorses in areas where natural habitat is becoming less favourable due to declines in abundance or quality.
为了探究濒危的白氏海马 Hippocampus whitei 是否会选择栖息于人工而非自然生境，研究人员对 10 只成年白氏海马进行了一系列的双选择试验，在水族箱中为它们提供了不同的天然生境（不同类型的大型海藻和海草）和人工生境（网片材料）的配对组合。研究发现，白氏海马明显更倾向于选择网片材料而非其他所有可用的天然生境，并根据以下排名选择栖息地：（a）网片；（b）马尾藻；（c）矮大叶藻；（d）米草。白氏海马选择网片材料而非天然生境，这表明这些人工结构可能成为由于数量或质量下降而导致自然生境变得不那么有利的海马栖息地的一种有用的保护措施。
