A Fish Eat Fish World: Trophic Structure of the Fish Communities on Artificial and Natural Reefs in Onslow Bay, NC

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  • February 26, 2019
Creator
  • Snider, Rachel
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Curriculum in Environment and Ecology
Abstract
  • Artificial reefs are increasingly being used to compensate for habitat loss due to the degradation of important marine ecosystems from human activities. Artificial reefs are created by intentionally sinking human-made structures to provide hard substrate habitat for fish and other marine organisms. The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (NCDMF) maintains 42 artificial reefs in NC to sustain healthy fish populations (Comer, 2016). However, the ability of artificial reefs to support fish communities similar in diversity and complexity as natural reefs is still debated within the scientific community. In this study, we compared the relative fish abundance, species richness, and quantitative trophic structure of two artificial and two natural reefs located in Onslow Bay, NC. Additionally, we analyzed how the fish community metrics changed throughout the day to better understand the differences in crepuscular activity on the two reef types. The term “crepuscular” refers to the twilight time period, which includes dawn and dusk for this study (Myers, 2016). Species richness, fish abundance, and trophic level were significantly higher on artificial reefs than natural reefs. During dawn and dusk on artificial reefs, there were increases in both fish abundance and average trophic level, suggesting that crepuscular activity is more pronounced on artificial reefs than natural reefs. This difference may be explained by the increased structural complexity or differences in benthic organisms present on artificial reefs. Lastly, we researched the species observed in this study to create a food web as a tool to visualize how the trophic structure varies between artificial and natural reefs. This is the first food web created for this habitat and we hope it can be used by fisherpeople, managers, and members of the public to enhance the understanding of this complex ecosystem and inspire future research.
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  • In Copyright
Note
  • Funding: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Advisor
  • Peterson, Charles
Degree
  • Bachelor of Science
Academic concentration
  • Environmental Science
Honors level
  • Honors
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Graduation year
  • 2018
Language
  • English

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