Artificial reefs, such as shipwrecks, have been considered as an alternative to mitigate impacts on natural hard bottoms. On the other hand, unplanned artificial reefs can lead to several negative effects such as the introduction of toxic substances, further propagation of exotic and pathogen species, and impacts on the surrounding soft bottom habitat through alteration of bottom topography and dynamics. Artificial reefs are colonized by different organisms, exchanging larvae and spores with the nearest natural reefs, however, few studies have focused on the understanding of the benthic communities’ structures found on these coupling natural and artificial reefs. The aim of this study was to investigate whether benthic communities of centenary shipwrecks can be similar to natural rocky reef communities established at a short scale distance. The benthic cover of shipwrecks sunken more than 100 years ago and that of natural reefs located at a gradient distance of 0, 1 and 2 km, and differently exposed to wave action, were compared. Using multivariate analyses, we found that similarities were influenced by both wave exposure and distance. In exposed area, the benthic fouling community in shipwreck was similar to the benthic communities of the nearest reefs, with decreasing values of richness with distance. Sheltered area communities presented high dissimilarity. Once the presence of an artificial reef influences benthic communities of natural ones, we recommend the evaluation of the cost/benefits of introducing artificial reefs, considering local hydrodynamics and proximity to natural environments, to minimize undesirable changes in natural environment.

人工鱼礁，例如沉船，已被认为是减轻对天然硬底影响的替代方法。另一方面，计划外的人工鱼礁会导致一些负面影响，例如引入有毒物质、外来和病原体物种的进一步繁殖，以及通过改变底部地形和动态对周围软底栖息地的影响。人工鱼礁被不同的生物殖民，与最近的天然鱼礁交换幼虫和孢子，然而，很少有研究关注在这些耦合的天然和人工鱼礁上发现的底栖群落结构的理解。本研究的目的是调查百年沉船的底栖群落是否与在短距离建立的天然岩礁群落相似。比较了 100 多年前沉没的沉船和位于 0、1 和 2 公里梯度距离处且暴露于波浪作用不同的天然珊瑚礁的底栖覆盖层。使用多变量分析，我们发现相似性受到波暴露和距离的影响。在暴露区，沉船底栖污染群落与最近礁体的底栖群落相似，丰富度值随距离递减。庇护区社区呈现出高度的不同。一旦人工鱼礁的存在影响了自然生物的底栖群落，我们建议评估引入人工鱼礁的成本/收益，同时考虑当地的流体动力学和与自然环境的接近程度，以尽量减少自然环境的不良变化。