title: Natural shorelines promote the stability of fish communities in an urbanized coastal system.
abstract: Habitat loss and fragmentation are leading causes of species extinctions in terrestrial, aquatic and marine systems. Along coastlines, natural habitats support high biodiversity and valuable ecosystem services but are often replaced with engineered structures for coastal protection or erosion control. We coupled high-resolution shoreline condition data with an eleven-year time series of fish community structure to examine how coastal protection structures impact community stability. Our analyses revealed that the most stable fish communities were nearest natural shorelines. Structurally complex engineered shorelines appeared to promote greater stability than simpler alternatives as communities nearest vertical walls, which are among the most prevalent structures, were most dissimilar from natural shorelines and had the lowest stability. We conclude that conserving and restoring natural habitats is essential for promoting ecological stability. However, in scenarios when natural habitats are not viable, engineered landscapes designed to mimic the complexity of natural habitats may provide similar ecological functions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, Nahant, Massachusetts 01905 United States of America.
authors.forename: Steven B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Scyphers
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, Nahant, Massachusetts 01905 United States of America.
authors.forename: Tarik C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Gouhier
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, Nahant, Massachusetts 01905 United States of America.
authors.forename: Jonathan H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Grabowski
authors.affiliation: The Nature Conservancy, Global Marine Program, Santa Cruz, California 95060 United States of America.
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.affiliation: Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Post Office Box 189, Dauphin Island, Alabama 36528 United States of America.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mareska
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Sciences, University of South Alabama & Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Mobile, Alabama 36688 United States of America.
authors.forename: Sean P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Powers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005399:Fishes / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D014506:Urban Renewal