Chapter Stability of epibiotic communities on the metal surfaces of shallow-water wrecks in the maltese islands

The epibiotic assemblages on three wrecks in Maltese waters were studied by taking photoquadrats on the metal hull of each wreck, and on nearby natural hard substrata for comparison. The taxon richness and cover area of the colonising organisms was quantified, and organisms were classified into func...

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Κύριοι συγγραφείς: Galatolo, Perla, Schembri, Patrick J.
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Έκδοση: Firenze University Press 2025
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author Galatolo, Perla
Schembri, Patrick J.
author_browse Galatolo, Perla
Schembri, Patrick J.
author_facet Galatolo, Perla
Schembri, Patrick J.
author_sort Galatolo, Perla
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description The epibiotic assemblages on three wrecks in Maltese waters were studied by taking photoquadrats on the metal hull of each wreck, and on nearby natural hard substrata for comparison. The taxon richness and cover area of the colonising organisms was quantified, and organisms were classified into functional groups based on structural features. Bare patches of hull surface were present on all wrecks and the epibiota occurred in a mosaic of assemblages. Taxon richness was higher on the hulls than on natural substrata. It is suggested that the wrecks have a disclimax community supported by disturbances, such as uneven sloughing of the corroding metal, resulting is a mosaic of patches at different stages of succession. The natural hard substrata showed a high proportion of tall arborescent forms compared to hulls, supporting the hypothesis of the impeded development of a climatic climax community on the wrecks. NMDS ordination showed that the three wrecks were distinguishable from each other based on the relative cover of the different functional groups.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1635412025-08-02T05:14:36Z Chapter Stability of epibiotic communities on the metal surfaces of shallow-water wrecks in the maltese islands Galatolo, Perla Schembri, Patrick J. Disclimax Succession Infralittoral Rock Colonisation Functional groups The epibiotic assemblages on three wrecks in Maltese waters were studied by taking photoquadrats on the metal hull of each wreck, and on nearby natural hard substrata for comparison. The taxon richness and cover area of the colonising organisms was quantified, and organisms were classified into functional groups based on structural features. Bare patches of hull surface were present on all wrecks and the epibiota occurred in a mosaic of assemblages. Taxon richness was higher on the hulls than on natural substrata. It is suggested that the wrecks have a disclimax community supported by disturbances, such as uneven sloughing of the corroding metal, resulting is a mosaic of patches at different stages of succession. The natural hard substrata showed a high proportion of tall arborescent forms compared to hulls, supporting the hypothesis of the impeded development of a climatic climax community on the wrecks. NMDS ordination showed that the three wrecks were distinguishable from each other based on the relative cover of the different functional groups. 2025-08-02T05:14:35Z 2025-08-02T05:14:35Z 2025-08-01T15:58:50Z 2024 chapter ONIX_20250801T173835_9791221505566_293 2975-0288 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/104843 9791221505566 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/163541 eng Monitoring of Mediterranean Coastal Areas: Problems and Measurement Techniques open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/104843/1/43663.pdf Firenze University Press 10.36253/979-12-215-0556-6.18 10.36253/979-12-215-0556-6.18 2ec4474d-93b1-4cfa-b313-9c6019b51b1a 9791221505566 10 Florence open access
spellingShingle Disclimax
Succession
Infralittoral Rock
Colonisation
Functional groups
Galatolo, Perla
Schembri, Patrick J.
Chapter Stability of epibiotic communities on the metal surfaces of shallow-water wrecks in the maltese islands
title Chapter Stability of epibiotic communities on the metal surfaces of shallow-water wrecks in the maltese islands
title_full Chapter Stability of epibiotic communities on the metal surfaces of shallow-water wrecks in the maltese islands
title_fullStr Chapter Stability of epibiotic communities on the metal surfaces of shallow-water wrecks in the maltese islands
title_full_unstemmed Chapter Stability of epibiotic communities on the metal surfaces of shallow-water wrecks in the maltese islands
title_short Chapter Stability of epibiotic communities on the metal surfaces of shallow-water wrecks in the maltese islands
title_sort chapter stability of epibiotic communities on the metal surfaces of shallow water wrecks in the maltese islands
topic Disclimax
Succession
Infralittoral Rock
Colonisation
Functional groups
topic_facet Disclimax
Succession
Infralittoral Rock
Colonisation
Functional groups
url ONIX_20250801T173835_9791221505566_293
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