Intertidal ecosystems are key habitats that are being replaced by artificial hard substrates due to the increment of human activities in coastal areas. These new substrates host generally less biodiversity mainly due to differences in complexity and composition. This is a global phenomenon and has led to the development of strategies in the framework of eco-engineering. However, mitigating measures, such as new eco-designs, must cope with the high spatial variability of the region where they are applied. Therefore, in order to assess if differences in biodiversity detected at local scales in previous studies could be scaled up to predict patterns at a wider scale, we studied taxa richness and taxonomic structure of intertidal communities across the Alboran Sea (western Mediterranean Sea). We compared four different types of artificial substrates (cubes, rip-raps, seawalls and tetrapods) to assess which produces less impact. Overall, artificial substrates host low benthic biodiversity, specially on seawalls, whereas boulder-like artificial structures such as rip-raps were more similar to natural ones. Nevertheless, the effect of a particular type of artificial structure at a regional scale seems unpredictable, highlighting the challenge that eco-engineering measures face in order to establish global protocols for biodiversity enhancement and the importance of local scale in management programmes.

由于沿海地区人类活动的增加，潮间带生态系统是重要的栖息地，正在被人造硬质基质所取代。由于复杂性和组成的差异，这些新基质通常拥有较少的生物多样性。这是一种全球现象，并导致了生态工程框架内战略的发展。然而，缓解措施，例如新的生态设计，必须应对应用它们的地区的高空间变异性。因此，为了评估之前研究中在局部范围内检测到的生物多样性差异是否可以扩大以预测更广泛的模式，我们研究了阿尔博兰海（地中海西部）潮间带群落的分类群丰富度和分类结构。我们比较了四种不同类型的人造基质（立方体、碎石、海堤和四足动物），以评估哪种产生的影响较小。总体而言，人工基质的底栖生物多样性较低，特别是在海堤上，而像巨石一样的人工结构，如碎石，与天然结构更相似。然而，特定类型的人工结构在区域范围内的影响似乎不可预测，突出了生态工程措施在建立全球生物多样性协议方面面临的挑战，以及当地规模在管理计划中的重要性。而像巨石一样的人工结构，如 rip-raps 则更类似于自然结构。然而，特定类型的人工结构在区域范围内的影响似乎不可预测，突出了生态工程措施在建立全球生物多样性协议方面面临的挑战，以及当地规模在管理计划中的重要性。而像巨石一样的人工结构，如 rip-raps 则更类似于自然结构。然而，特定类型的人工结构在区域范围内的影响似乎不可预测，突出了生态工程措施在建立全球生物多样性协议方面面临的挑战，以及当地规模在管理计划中的重要性。