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

作　　者：Chunyang SUN Duanjie HUANG Qiang XU Fei GAO Xiubao LI Aimin WANG 

机构地区：[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

出　　处：《Journal of Oceanology and Limnology》2022年第4期1578-1591,共14页海洋湖沼学报（英文）

基　　金：Supported by the National Key R&D Project of China(No.2019YFD0901304);the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.42076097,31760757);the National Natural Science Foundation of Hainan Province,China(No.2019RC070)。

摘　　要：Diff erent sea cucumbers have diff erent 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 aff ect 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 fi xed transects(G,H,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^(2) and 0.2-0.7 inds./10 m^(2),respectively.The population density in rainy season was signifi cantly higher than that in dry season(P<0.05).H.edulis tends to be distributed in deeper water.The distribution of H.edulis was signifi cant positively correlated with the sand coverage and sand continuity in G transect(P<0.05),and signifi cant negatively correlated with live coral coverage in three transects(P<0.01).The shift from dry season to rainy season is a key factor aff ecting 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,SR,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：habitat preference coral reef population density Holothuria edulis Stichopus chloronotus 

分 类 号：S932.4[农业科学—渔业资源]