What are the patterns and drivers of the species richness and functional richness of fish communities in the Baltic Sea? A new paper explores the assembly rules controlling the composition of the communities in the Baltic.
Investigation of the processes that control survival and co‑existence of species in a community, termed ‘assembly rules’, follows various mechanisms that are primarily related to environmental or biotic factors. In this study, we investigate the assembly rules controlling the composition of the Baltic Sea fish communities. We show that the trait composition of the fish community in the western Baltic Sea is more similar than expected by random chance alone. This implies that environmental filtering, driven by the strong salinity gradient, is the dominant factor shaping community composition in that region. However, community composition in the eastern Baltic Sea, an area beyond the steep decline in salinity, was characterized by fewer species with significantly different trait characteristics, indicating that community assembly is also affected by biotic interactions.
The paper can be found here
Pecuchet L, Törnroos A, Lindegren M (2016) Patterns and drivers of fish community assembly in a large marine ecosystem. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 546:239-248