Functional diversity of reef molluscs along a tropical-to-temperate gradient
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Functional diversity of reef molluscs along a tropical-to-temperate gradient Matthew Floyd1 • Masaru Mizuyama2 • Masami Obuchi2,3,4 • Brigitte Sommer5,6 Mark GR Miller1 • Iori Kawamura2 • Hiroki Kise2 • James D. Reimer2,3 • Maria Beger1,7
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Received: 14 November 2019 / Accepted: 17 June 2020 The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Global warming is leading to range shifts of marine species, threatening the structure and functioning of ecological communities and human populations that rely on them. The largest changes are seen in biogeographic transition zones, such as subtropical reef communities, where species range shifts are already causing substantial community reorganisation. This causes functional changes in communities over subtropical latitudes, though a baseline functional understanding remains elusive for many taxa. One key marine taxon are molluscs, which provide Topic Editor Alastair Harborne
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-020-01970-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Maria Beger [email protected] 1
School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
2
Graduate School of Engineering and Science, University of the Ryukyus, 1 Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
3
Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, 1 Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
4
Endo Shell Museum, 1175 Manatsuru, Ashigarashimogun Manazurumachi, Kanagawa 259-0201, Japan
5
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
6
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
7
Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
many ecosystem services, are important prey for fishes and are also fisheries targets themselves, but remain largely unstudied. Here, we examine the trait composition, functional diversity, and functional redundancy of mollusc assemblages along the tropical-to-temperate transition in Japan (25 to 35 Northern latitude). Specifically, we use a trait database of 88 mollusc species from 31 subtropical reefs along the Pacific coast of Japan to show that trait composition of mollusc assemblages changes continuously along the latitudinal gradient. We discover that functional diversity of mollusc assemblages decreases with increasing latitude, a pattern associated with declines in functional dispersion. Moreover, we find a clear distinction between tropical and subtropical mollusc assemblages, with substrate-attached, suspension feeding bivalves more abundant in the tropics and free-living gastropod grazers more prevalent at higher latitudes. Our trait-based evidence in this study shows a contraction and almost complete shift in the functioning of marine mollusc assemblages at biogeographic transition zones and our trait database facilitates further study.
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