Diverse habitat preferences of two sea cucumber species and the seasonal change in a coral reef area

Chunyang SUN; Duanjie HUANG; Qiang XU; Fei GAO; Xiubao LI; Aimin WANG

doi:10.1007/s00343-021-1254-z

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Diverse habitat preferences of two sea cucumber species and the seasonal change in a coral reef area

Continued from the back cover | Updated：2023-05-20

- Diverse habitat preferences of two sea cucumber species and the seasonal change in a coral reef area
- Journal of Oceanology and Limnology Vol. 40, Issue 4, Pages: 1578-1591(2022)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.College of Ecology and Environment, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
  2.College of Marine Science, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
  3.State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
  4.Hainan Provincial Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Centre, Haikou 571126, China
- Author bio：
  
  Qiang XU, xuqianghnu@hainanu.edu.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s00343-021-1254-z
  CLC：
- Received：13 August 2021，
  
  Accepted：04 October 2021，
  
  Online First：18 October 2021，
  
  Published：2022-07
- Accepted：
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Chunyang SUN, Duanjie HUANG, Qiang XU, et al. Diverse habitat preferences of two sea cucumber species and the seasonal change in a coral reef area[J]. Journal of Oceanology and Limnology, 2022, 40(4): 1578-1591.
DOI：

Chunyang SUN, Duanjie HUANG, Qiang XU, et al. Diverse habitat preferences of two sea cucumber species and the seasonal change in a coral reef area[J]. Journal of Oceanology and Limnology, 2022, 40(4): 1578-1591. DOI： 10.1007/s00343-021-1254-z.

摘要

Abstract

Different sea cucumbers have different preferred habitats and seasonal changes

which is still lack of detailed research. This study selects two common tropical sea cucumbers (

Holothuria edulis

and

Stichopus chloronotus

) to explore the reasons that affect their habitat selection and seasonal changes

so as to provide support for the spatial planning of sea cucumbers reserve in coral reef area. The study area is a compound distribution area of living coral reefs and sandy bottom in the north of Wuzhizhou Island. The survey time is January

April-September

2019. Three fixed transects (G

and Q) were selected to reveal the population ecological characteristics of them in the typical dry season (January

April

May

and June) and rainy season (July

August

and September). The variation range of density for

H. edulis

and

S. chloronotus

were 2.0-8.9 inds./10 m

and 0.2-0.7 inds./10 m

respectively. The population density in rainy season was significantly higher than that in dry season (

0.05).

H. edulis

tends to be distributed in deeper water. The distribution of

H. edulis

was significant positively correlated with the sand coverage and sand continuity in G transect (

0.05)

and significant negatively correlated with live coral coverage in three transects (

0.01). The shift from dry season to rainy season is a key factor affecting their habitat preference. In dry season

the preferred habitats of

S. chloronotus

are small rock (SR)

sand (S)

and small coral reef (SCR)

while the

H. edulis

is S

and dead coral rubbles (DCR). In rainy season

the preferred habitats of

S. chloronotus

are shift to SCR and SR

while the

H. edulis

is SCR

DCR

and sand.

关键词

Keywords

references

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