NatureScot Research Report 1213 - Exploring biological trait analysis and inter-habitat linkages in three seabed habitat PMFs in Scotland.
Abstract
This report investigates the effects of linkages between selected Priority Marine Feature (PMF) habitats in Scotland on their associated biological communities, trialing different approaches to assess these linkages. The study successfully established a process to assess habitat linkages using biodiversity indices and biological trait analysis (BTA), which was found to be effective in examining functional diversity from an ecosystem perspective, unlike other methods such as NMDS, SIMPER, and ANOSIM. The findings suggest that habitat linkages are important for increasing species and functional diversity, which is crucial for ecosystem resilience and the services they provide. The study also highlighted the influence of environmental factors on functional diversity and the need for future research to incorporate physical factors and human activities alongside biological sampling. The results call for further investigation of inter-habitat linkages across different locations to guide marine management and prioritization of protected habitats.