title: Increased anthropogenic pressure decreases species richness in tropical intertidal reefs.
abstract: Multiple human stressors affect tropical intertidal sandstone reefs, but little is known about their biodiversity and the environmental impacts of these stressors. In the present study, multiple anthropogenic pressures were integrated using the relative environmental pressure index (REPI) and related to benthic community structure across an intertidal gradient in five sandstone reefs in the tropical South Atlantic coast. Greater species richness and diversity were noted in the low intertidal zones. There was a negative relationship between REPI and species richness, suggesting that increasing anthropogenic pressure has decreased benthic richness. The factors associated with the loss of richness were jetties built to control erosion, urban areas, beachfront kiosks and restaurants, fish markets, and storm sewers with illegal sewage connections. Our results highlight the need for better infrastructure planning and rigorous monitoring of coastal urban areas, since the large influence of multiple human pressures in these reefs leads to biodiversity losses.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Ceará, Instituto de Ciências do Mar (Labomar), Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. Electronic address: adrianabrizonportugal@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Adriana Brizon
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Portugal
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia, Grupo de Pesquisa em Carcinologia e Biodiversidade Aquática (UFSB/GPCBio), Itabuna, Bahia, Brazil. Electronic address: flcarvalho@ufsb.edu.br.
authors.forename: Fabrício Lopes
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Ceará, Instituto de Ciências do Mar (Labomar), Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. Electronic address: pedrocarneiro@ufc.br.
authors.forename: Pedro Bastos
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: de Macedo Carneiro
authors.affiliation: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA), Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: sergio.rossi@uab.cat.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Ceará, Instituto de Ciências do Mar (Labomar), Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA), Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: marcelosoares@pq.cnpq.br.
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Oliveira Soares
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000145:classification* / Q000254:growth & development; D044822:Biodiversity; D057894:Coral Reefs; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005399:Fishes; D006801:Humans
keywords: Anthropogenic pressure; Biodiversity; Bioindicators; Community composition; Intertidal sandstone reef; Marine ecology; Relative environmental pressure index