RECOVER MAP 3.2.3.5 and 3.2.4.5 Epifaunal Communities of Mainland Nearshore South Biscayne Bay

Biscayne Bay's benthic community is a primary source of its productivity and diversity. The benthic faunal community, consisting of small forage fish, juvenile game fish, and invertebrates such as pink shrimp, is particularly well developed in the shallow nearshore zone adjacent to the mainland and may be dependent, either directly or indirectly, upon freshwater inflow to the bay. Many small forage fish are found more abundantly in the shallow nearshore waters than in the deeper waters of the bay. The commercially important pink shrimp and blue crab also are found in western nearshore Biscayne Bay. Caridean shrimps form another important component of the epifauna. The epifaunal community is a direct food source for gray snapper, spotted seatrout, and great barracuda. It is an important link in the food web that leads to higher trophic level species such as crocodiles. This community will be the first to change when the Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands projects are started. A dynamic characterization of this community and how its components vary along the shoreline is needed to provide baseline information for evaluating CERP.
In a first view of our sample data from the community perspective, we addressed determining (1) whether sites nearest to each had more similar species compositions and (2) whether species with similar salinity requirements would have similar geographic distributions. The data were investigated with cluster analyses and multidimensional scaling to gain these perspectives.

比斯坎湾（Biscayne Bay）的底栖生物群落（benthic community）是其生产力与多样性的核心支撑来源。由小型饵料鱼、幼体猎用鱼及粉红虾等无脊椎动物构成的底栖动物群落（benthic faunal community），在紧邻大陆的浅海近岸带发育尤为繁盛，且可能直接或间接依赖注入海湾的淡水径流。许多小型饵料鱼在浅海近岸水域的丰度显著高于海湾深水区。具有商业开发价值的粉红虾与蓝蟹同样分布于比斯坎湾西部近岸海域。真虾类（Caridean shrimps）是表底栖动物群落（epifauna）的另一重要组成部分，该群落是灰笛鲷、斑鳟鲈与大梭鱼的直接食物来源，亦是通往鳄鱼等更高营养级物种的食物网关键环节。当比斯坎湾滨海湿地工程启动后，该群落将是最先发生变化的类群。为给珊瑚礁生态系统恢复计划（Coral Reef Ecosystem Restoration Plan, CERP）的评估提供基准数据，亟需对该群落及其组成组分沿岸线的动态分布特征开展系统性研究。
本研究从群落生态学视角出发，首次针对采样数据集展开分析，旨在明确两大科学问题：其一，空间距离越近的采样点，其物种组成是否越相似；其二，盐度需求相近的物种是否具有相似的地理分布格局。研究采用聚类分析（cluster analyses）与多维尺度分析（multidimensional scaling）对数据集进行处理，以达成上述研究目标。