Comparative analysis of free and scuba diving for benthopelagic and cryptic fish species associated with rocky reefs

This work aimed to assess, through experimental comparisons between free and scuba diving performed in Arraial do Cabo city, RJ, Brazil, the abundances of Scartella cristata e Chaetodon striatus -two reef fish species of contrasting behaviors- in different depth layers of sheltered and exposed rocky...

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Autores: Giordano,Rodolfo Gutterres, Santos,Luciano Neves dos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:Chile
Institución:CONICYT Chile
Repositorio:SciELO Chile
OAI Identifier:oai:scielo:S0718-560X2014000200003
Acceso en línea:http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-560X2014000200003
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:reef fish
visual census
free diving
scuba diving
Brazil
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spelling Comparative analysis of free and scuba diving for benthopelagic and cryptic fish species associated with rocky reefs Giordano,Rodolfo Gutterres Santos,Luciano Neves dos reef fish visual census free diving scuba diving Brazil This work aimed to assess, through experimental comparisons between free and scuba diving performed in Arraial do Cabo city, RJ, Brazil, the abundances of Scartella cristata e Chaetodon striatus -two reef fish species of contrasting behaviors- in different depth layers of sheltered and exposed rocky reefs. C. striatus was homogeneously distributed through all the depth strata (0-10 m) and scuba diving should be preferred over free diving to assess the abundance of this species at exposed rocky shores, undergoing continuous effects of waves and winds. Both free and scuba diving can be used indistinctly and with no data biases to appraise the abundances of C. striatus in non-turbulent reefs or in shallow zones (i.e., ≤ 5 m) of exposed reefs, and, for S. cristata, in all depth layers (i.e., up to 10 m) of both sheltered and exposed reefs. Although the abundances of S. cristata did not significantly differ between free and scuba diving, contrasting with most previous studies that stressed the risk of the first method to underestimate the abundance of small and cryptic species, it should be considered that the previous experience of the diver and the nature of our study (i.e., focused specifically on a cryptic species) may have contributed to our findings. Further studies are, however, necessary to test our findings in different conditions (i.e., depths, hydrodynamic characteristics, and habitat complexity) and for other tropical reef fish species, in order to increase the truthfulness of underwater visual census and reduce the risk of failure of fish conservation and management programs potentially based on biased data. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. Facultad de Recursos Naturales. Escuela de Ciencias del Mar http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-560X2014000200003
title Comparative analysis of free and scuba diving for benthopelagic and cryptic fish species associated with rocky reefs
spellingShingle Comparative analysis of free and scuba diving for benthopelagic and cryptic fish species associated with rocky reefs
Giordano,Rodolfo Gutterres
reef fish
visual census
free diving
scuba diving
Brazil
title_short Comparative analysis of free and scuba diving for benthopelagic and cryptic fish species associated with rocky reefs
title_full Comparative analysis of free and scuba diving for benthopelagic and cryptic fish species associated with rocky reefs
title_fullStr Comparative analysis of free and scuba diving for benthopelagic and cryptic fish species associated with rocky reefs
title_full_unstemmed Comparative analysis of free and scuba diving for benthopelagic and cryptic fish species associated with rocky reefs
title_sort Comparative analysis of free and scuba diving for benthopelagic and cryptic fish species associated with rocky reefs
author Giordano,Rodolfo Gutterres
author_facet Giordano,Rodolfo Gutterres
Santos,Luciano Neves dos
author_role author
author2 Santos,Luciano Neves dos
author2_role author
topic reef fish
visual census
free diving
scuba diving
Brazil
topic_facet reef fish
visual census
free diving
scuba diving
Brazil
description This work aimed to assess, through experimental comparisons between free and scuba diving performed in Arraial do Cabo city, RJ, Brazil, the abundances of Scartella cristata e Chaetodon striatus -two reef fish species of contrasting behaviors- in different depth layers of sheltered and exposed rocky reefs. C. striatus was homogeneously distributed through all the depth strata (0-10 m) and scuba diving should be preferred over free diving to assess the abundance of this species at exposed rocky shores, undergoing continuous effects of waves and winds. Both free and scuba diving can be used indistinctly and with no data biases to appraise the abundances of C. striatus in non-turbulent reefs or in shallow zones (i.e., ≤ 5 m) of exposed reefs, and, for S. cristata, in all depth layers (i.e., up to 10 m) of both sheltered and exposed reefs. Although the abundances of S. cristata did not significantly differ between free and scuba diving, contrasting with most previous studies that stressed the risk of the first method to underestimate the abundance of small and cryptic species, it should be considered that the previous experience of the diver and the nature of our study (i.e., focused specifically on a cryptic species) may have contributed to our findings. Further studies are, however, necessary to test our findings in different conditions (i.e., depths, hydrodynamic characteristics, and habitat complexity) and for other tropical reef fish species, in order to increase the truthfulness of underwater visual census and reduce the risk of failure of fish conservation and management programs potentially based on biased data.
publishDate 2014
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url http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-560X2014000200003
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
publisher Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. Facultad de Recursos Naturales. Escuela de Ciencias del Mar
institution CONICYT
collection SciELO Chile
reponame_str SciELO Chile
instname_str CONICYT Chile
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publishDateSort 2014
author_browse Giordano,Rodolfo Gutterres
Santos,Luciano Neves dos
publisherStr Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. Facultad de Recursos Naturales. Escuela de Ciencias del Mar
score 6,9460754