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Can Rock-Rubble Groynes Support Similar Intertidal Ecological Communities to Natural Rocky Shores?

Author

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  • Paul Holloway

    (Department of Geography, University College Cork, T12K8AF Cork, Ireland
    Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, T23XE10 Cork, Ireland)

  • Richard Field

    (School of Geography, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK)

Abstract

Despite the global implementation of rock-rubble groyne structures, there is limited research investigating their ecology, much less than for other artificial coastal structures. Here we compare the intertidal ecology of urban (or semi-urban) rock-rubble groynes and more rural natural rocky shores for three areas of the UK coastline. We collected richness and abundance data for 771 quadrats across three counties, finding a total of 81 species, with 48 species on the groynes and 71 species on the natural rocky shores. We performed three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) on both richness and abundance data, running parallel analysis for rock and rock-pool habitats. We also performed detrended correspondence analysis on all species to identify patterns in community structure. On rock surfaces, we found similar richness and abundance across structures for algae, higher diversity and abundance for lichen and mobile animals on natural shores, and higher numbers of sessile animals on groynes. Rock-pool habitats were depauperate on groynes for all species groups except for sessile animals, relative to natural shores. Only a slight differentiation between groyne and natural shore communities was observed, while groynes supported higher abundances of some ‘at risk’ species than natural shores. Furthermore, groynes did not differ substantially from natural shores in terms of their presence and abundance of species not native to the area. We conclude that groynes host similar ecological communities to those found on natural shores, but differences do exist, particularly with respect to rock-pool habitats.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Holloway & Richard Field, 2020. "Can Rock-Rubble Groynes Support Similar Intertidal Ecological Communities to Natural Rocky Shores?," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-17, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:9:y:2020:i:5:p:131-:d:351415
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    Cited by:

    1. Luke Lambert & Fiona Cawkwell & Paul Holloway, 2021. "The Importance of Connected and Interspersed Urban Green and Blue Space for Biodiversity: A Case Study in Cork City, Ireland," Geographies, MDPI, vol. 1(3), pages 1-21, November.
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    4. Ryan Hastings & Valerie Cummins & Paul Holloway, 2020. "Assessing the Impact of Physical and Anthropogenic Environmental Factors in Determining the Habitat Suitability of Seagrass Ecosystems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-17, October.

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