Tide pools are important environments for several fish species, as they offer essential resources such as shelter and food. Thus, understanding the relationships of the ichthyofauna with the habitat structural characteristics in tide pools is important to understand the distribution patterns of fish assemblages in shallow environments. This study investigated how the habitat structure in tide pools influences the reef fish assemblages in Southwestern Atlantic (Bahia, Brazil). During 17 months, tidal pools were evaluated through visual censuses aiming to sampling the ichthyofauna, and additionally, variables of the structural characteristics of the pools (depth, area, volume, rugosity, etc.) were measured. By using multiple statistical modeling approaches, we found that there were significant differences in diversity, abundance, and species richness at the interaction between time and space factors, with higher averages of the three variables during the warmer months across all reef banks. Moreover, at local spatial scale, greater coral-dominated and complex pools harbored higher fish species and diversity, while algae cover was most important in shaping fish numbers. The most important variables in the structuring of the fish assemblages were the pool volume, distance from the edge of the reef, and habitat complexity, confirming our hypothesis. Resident fish species were found in pools near the out reef edge, while occasional and transient species were found in pools closer to the inland sea. Our study highlights the multi-scale role of habitat characteristics as predictors of the fish assemblage structure in these extremely variable environments and emphasizes the need to protect these fragile and overexploited tidal pools.

中文翻译：

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珊瑚礁潮汐池中栖息地介导的礁鱼群落

潮汐池是多种鱼类的重要环境，因为它们提供住所和食物等基本资源。因此，了解鱼群与潮池栖息地结构特征的关系对于了解浅层环境中鱼类组合的分布模式很重要。这项研究调查了潮汐池中的栖息地结构如何影响西南大西洋（巴西巴伊亚）的珊瑚礁鱼类组合。在 17 个月期间，通过目视普查对潮汐池进行评估，旨在对鱼群进行采样，此外，还测量了潮汐池结构特征的变量（深度、面积、体积、粗糙度等）。通过使用多种统计建模方法，我们发现在多样性、丰度、以及时间和空间因素相互作用下的物种丰富度，在所有珊瑚礁滩的温暖月份，这三个变量的平均值更高。此外，在局部空间尺度上，更大的珊瑚主导和复杂的水池拥有更高的鱼类种类和多样性，而藻类覆盖对塑造鱼类数量最重要。鱼类组合结构中最重要的变量是池体积、距珊瑚礁边缘的距离和栖息地的复杂性，这证实了我们的假设。在靠近外礁边缘的水池中发现了常驻鱼类，而在靠近内陆海的水池中发现了偶尔和短暂的物种。