1:00 pm
2:00 pm
Conference Center 127
6300 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, TX 78412
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-CORPUS CHRISTI
SUBJECT: The Relationship Between Macrofauna Diversity, Functional Diversity, and Secondary Production
MAJOR ADVISOR: Dr. Paul Montagna
ABSTRACT
The relationship between functional diversity and secondary production are known to influence ecosystem stability and can be used to measure the functioning of an ecosystem. Functional diversity is a component of biodiversity that classifies organisms by what they do (i.e., functional types) in a community or ecosystem, or more specifically by how certain traits effect the functioning of the environment. Secondary production occurs when biomass is generated by heterotrophic organisms when they consume organic material or primary producers. The research objective is to determine the relationship between secondary production and the connection between functional diversity and species diversity in estuary systems. The goal is to test the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between functional diversity and secondary benthic productivity among bays within four mid-coastal Texas estuaries: Nueces Estuary, Laguna Madre Estuary, Guadalupe Estuary, and Lavaca-Colorado Estuary. Functional diversity was calculated based seven classifiers: feeding strategy, habitat, mobility, lifespan, reproduction, sediment depth, and body size. There was a positive correlation between benthic production and diversity for richness, species diversity, and species evenness and secondary production. Most functional diversity indices did not show any significance; however, functional dispersion was shown to explain >77% of variation for secondary production. Overall, classical measures of macrofauna species diversity have a strong relationship with secondary production while functional diversity does not appear to have any relationship. Thus, for Texas estuaries, it appears that functional diversity metrics do not explain or drive benthic ecosystem processes.