Coralline intertidal habitats of marine protected areas (MPAs) are important model systems to investigate species diversity and ecological functioning of benthic communities. Spatial variability of amphipod species composition and functional traits were studied over a 3 year period during the summer season at five intertidal transects of the Gulf of Kachchh (GoK) MPAs, India. A total of 22,706 individuals, comprising 71 species belonging to 40 genera and 23 families, were identified. Aoridae, Dexaminidae, Eriopisidae, Lysianassidae, and Maeridae were the best represented families (68.2% of total abundance). Distinct spatial patterns in the amphipod assemblage structure and functional traits were observed along the horizontal and vertical axes. The results demonstrated that the amphipod assemblage functioning was greatly influenced by the vertical gradient, with generally higher functional diversity (FD) in the lower intertidal zones suggesting increased diversity in resource use strategies, whereas the upper zones showed very little FD possibly due to the prevalence of environmental filtering. As higher species and functional diversities promote better resource partitioning and resilience of the ecosystem, these results are important for the management of MPAs facing the dual challenges of global climate change and anthropogenic pressures.

中文翻译：

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印度海洋国家公园珊瑚潮间带底栖片脚类动物的多样性和功能模式

海洋保护区 (MPA) 的珊瑚潮间带栖息地是研究底栖群落物种多样性和生态功能的重要模型系统。在印度克奇湾 (GoK) 海洋保护区的五个潮间带横断面在夏季的 3 年内研究了片脚类动物物种组成和功能特征的空间变异性。共鉴定出22706个个体，包括23科40属71种。Aoridae、Dexaminidae、Eriopisidae、Lysianassidae 和 Maeridae 是代表性最好的科（占总丰度的 68.2%）。沿水平和垂直轴观察到片脚类动物组合结构和功能特征的不同空间模式。结果表明，片脚类群落功能受垂直梯度的影响很大，潮间带下部的功能多样性（FD）普遍较高，表明资源利用策略的多样性增加，而上部潮间带的功能多样性（FD）很少，可能是由于流行环境过滤。由于更高的物种和功能多样性促进了生态系统更好的资源分配和恢复能力，这些结果对于面临全球气候变化和人为压力的双重挑战的海洋保护区管理具有重要意义。