Laboratorio de Biología Marina de la Universidad de Sevilla (LBMUS)/Área de Investigación I+D+i del Acuario de Sevilla/Estación de Biología Marina del Estrecho (Ceuta), Seville, Spain.
PLoS One. 2020 May 5;15(5):e0231641. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231641. eCollection 2020.
This study was implemented to assess the Sessile Bioindicators in Permanent Quadrats (SBPQ) underwater environmental alert method. The SBPQ is a non-invasive and low-cost protocol; it uses sessile target species (indicators) to detect environmental alterations (natural or anthropic) at either the local or global (i.e., climate change) scale and the intrusion of invasive species. The SBPQ focuses on the monitoring of preselected sessile and sensitive benthic species associated with rocky coralligenous habitats using permanent quadrats in underwater sentinel stations. The selected target species have been well documented as bioindicators that disappear in the absence of environmental stability. However, whether these species are good indicators of stability or, in contrast, suffer variations in long-term coverage has not been verified. The purpose of this study was to assess the part of the method based on the hypothesis that, over a long temporal series in a highly structured and biodiverse coralligenous assemblage, the cover of sensitive sessile species does not change over time if the environmental stability characterising the habitat is not altered. Over a ten-year period (2005-2014), the sublittoral sessile biota in the Straits of Gibraltar Natural Park on the southern Iberian Peninsula was monitored at a 28 m-deep underwater sentinel stations. Analyses of the coverages of target indicator species (i.e., Paramuricea clavata and Astroides calycularis) together with other accompanying sessile organisms based on the periodic superimposition of gridded images from horizontal and vertical rocky surfaces allowed us to assess the effectiveness of the method. We conclude that no alterations occurred during the study period; only minimal fluctuations in cover were detected, and the method is reliable for detecting biological changes in ecosystems found in other geographical areas containing the chosen indicator species at similar dominance levels.
本研究旨在评估永久性样方固着生物指标（SBPQ）水下环境预警方法。SBPQ 是一种非侵入性且低成本的方法，它使用固着目标物种（指示物种）来检测环境变化（自然或人为），包括局部和全球尺度（如气候变化）以及入侵物种的入侵。SBPQ 侧重于使用水下监测站中的永久性样方监测与多石珊瑚礁生境相关的预选固着和敏感底栖物种。选定的目标物种已被很好地记录为生物指标，在环境不稳定时会消失。然而，这些物种是否是稳定性的良好指标，或者相反，它们在长期覆盖范围内是否会发生变化，尚未得到验证。本研究的目的是评估该方法的一部分，其基于以下假设：在一个高度结构化和生物多样性丰富的珊瑚礁组合中，经过长时间的时间序列，如果特征生境的环境稳定性没有改变，敏感固着物种的覆盖范围不会随时间变化。在十年的时间里（2005-2014 年），在伊比利亚半岛南部直布罗陀海峡自然公园的 28 米深处水下监测站监测了亚热带固着生物群。通过定期叠加水平和垂直岩石表面的网格图像，对目标指示物种（即 Paramuricea clavata 和 Astroides calycularis）的覆盖率以及其他伴随的固着生物进行了分析，从而评估了该方法的有效性。我们的结论是，在研究期间没有发生变化；仅检测到最小的覆盖波动，并且该方法可用于检测在其他地理区域中包含所选指示物种且具有相似优势水平的生态系统中的生物变化。
