Tracking the effects of habitat attributes on species distribution is pivotal to the understanding of community assembly across space and time. We used the elements of metacommunity (EMS), which evaluates coherence, turnover, and boundary clumping of species, to access the spatial patterns of nematodes from three coastal habitats with increasing degree to wave exposure, namely, mangroves, estuarine unvegetated tidal flats, and sandy beaches. Each habitat was sampled in four locations, hundreds of kilometers apart from each other. We hypothesized that (1) coastal habitats act as metacommunity boundaries and drive positive turnover and clumped distribution of species and (2) metacommunity structure within coastal habitats depends on the habitats’ degree to wave exposure since wave energy generally decreases sediment heterogeneity and favors connectivity among locations. Habitats were the main drivers of species turnover, with tidal flats harboring a transitional assemblage between mangrove and sandy beach. Metacommunities from the different habitats showed distinct patterns of organization among locations. Mangroves were characterized by species loss, with smaller areas of mangroves harboring a subset of the species pool present on larger areas of mangroves. Tidal flats showed positive species turnover among the different estuaries, with co-occurring species responding as a group to environmental variations. Both patterns indicate environmental filtering as the main driver at these less wave-exposed habitats. At sandy beaches, in contrast, metacommunity displayed a random pattern, suggesting high connectivity among locations. Our study confirmed that habitat attributes may induce distinct mechanisms of metacommunity assembly at coastal soft-bottom ecosystems.

追踪栖息地属性对物种分布的影响对于理解跨空间和时间的群落组装至关重要。我们使用元群落 (EMS) 元素来评估物种的连贯性、周转和边界聚集，以获取来自三个沿海栖息地的线虫空间格局，这些栖息地的波浪暴露程度越来越高，即红树林、河口无植被潮滩和沙滩。每个栖息地都在四个位置采样，彼此相距数百公里。我们假设 (1) 沿海栖息地充当元群落边界并推动物种的正向周转和成群分布；(2) 沿海栖息地内的元群落结构取决于栖息地的波浪暴露程度，因为波浪能通常会降低沉积物的异质性并有利于它们之间的连通性。地点。栖息地是物种更替的主要驱动力，潮滩在红树林和沙滩之间形成过渡性组合。来自不同栖息地的元群落在不同地点之间显示出不同的组织模式。红树林的特点是物种丧失，较小的红树林区域包含存在于较大红树林区域的物种库的一个子集。潮滩在不同河口之间显示出积极的物种周转，与共同出现的物种作为一个群体对环境变化做出反应。这两种模式都表明环境过滤是这些较少波浪暴露的栖息地的主要驱动因素。相比之下，在沙滩上，元社区显示出随机模式，表明位置之间具有高度连通性。我们的研究证实，栖息地属性可能会在沿海软底生态系统中诱导不同的元群落组装机制。