Optimization of m(a)obenthos monitoring strategy using taxonomic sufficiency in the liaohe estuary

摘要

Effective ecological monitoring provides valuable insists on patterns and processes underlying the dynamics of ecosystems, which is of high priority for implementing ecosystem-based management. Traditional ecological monitoring programs typically rely on species-level information to reflect the environmental disturbances. However, the exercise of species-level identification is time-consuming, and cost-intensive. Efforts are now afoot to test the efficacy of higher taxonomic levels (genus, family, and order) in resolvin, distribution patterns of biota, analogous to that of species. This study aims to test the reliability of taxonomic sufficiency to evaluate the macrobenthic community and community-environment interactions in the Liaohe Estuary, sampled from 25 stations in summer, autumn and spring. We used the Spearman's correlation coefficient and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) to illustrate the correlations of community composition among different taxonomic resolutions (i, e., speeds, genus, family and order). The results indicated significant correlations among the β diversity on the genus, family, and Ipecies levels (Rho ＞ 0.88, P ＜ 0.001). Compared with quantity datasets, the qualitative ones lost 2% variance. The genus level contained more information than the family level, with 3% and 6% variance loss in the genus level and family level compared to the species level, respectively. Finally, we examined the relationships of community structure with environmental factors using distance-based linear models (DrstLM). The community-environment relationship based on different taxonomic resolutions showed that the environmental factors significantly affected community composition on species as well as genus and family levels. However, community composition was better explained by environmental factors on family level. In conclusion, setting guidelines for effective ecological monitoring strategy in Liaohe Estuary, we recommend the choice of the genus or family level as the efficient taxonomic resolution for the study of macro-benthos community, while the family level for the environmental assessment.