Kelp holdfasts in the Great African Seaforest provide habitat for diverse assemblages of macroinvertebrates

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dc.contributor.authorSamaai, Toufiek
dc.contributor.authorKatharoyan, Chaitanya
dc.contributor.authorPeer, Nasreen
dc.date.accessioned2024-09-16T10:51:00Z
dc.date.available2024-09-16T10:51:00Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.abstractKelp forests along the southwestern and west coasts of South Africa, dominated by the species Ecklonia maxima and Laminaria pallida, are locally termed ‘the Great African Seaforest’. They form 3-dimensional biogenic habitats that provide 4 distinct microhabitats—canopy, fronds, stipe and holdfast—with the latter typically supporting the highest abundance and diversity of associated macroinvertebrates. The macrofauna inhabiting kelp holdfasts in South Africa have rarely been studied, resulting in a near complete lack of baseline data. In this study, macrobenthic assemblages from 40 E. maxima holdfasts were examined over 2 marine ecoregions and 4 locations. Macroinvertebrates were identified and counted for univariate and multivariate analyses using family-level data. A total of 120 families from 9 phyla were identified and were generally dominated by Arthropoda (48 families), Annelida (24 families) and Mollusca (23 families). Marine ecoregion had no significant effect on composition of macroinvertebrate assemblages, whereas location had a significant effect. There was no significant relationship between holdfast volume and macroinvertebrate diversity or abundance, suggesting that other environmental and physicochemical factors are important in determining community structure. This study serves as a baseline for future research aimed at understudied holdfast macroinvertebrate communities in the Great African Seaforest.
dc.identifier.citationKatharoyan, C., Peer, N., Landschoff, J., Griffiths, C.L., Samaai, T. and Beeslaar, D., 2024. Kelp holdfasts in the Great African Seaforest provide habitat for diverse assemblages of macroinvertebrates. Aquatic Biology, 33, pp.33-45.
dc.identifier.issn18647782
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/ab00766
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10566/16153
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherInter-Research
dc.subjectBiodiversity
dc.subjectCommunity structure
dc.subjectEcklonia maxima
dc.subjectEcoregions
dc.subjectKelp forest
dc.titleKelp holdfasts in the Great African Seaforest provide habitat for diverse assemblages of macroinvertebrates
dc.typeArticle

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