Recent publication: Catching the Drift of Marine Invertebrate Diversity through Digital Repositories—A Case Study of the Mangroves and Seagrasses of Maputo Bay, Mozambique

Catching the Drift of Marine Invertebrate Diversity through Digital Repositories—A Case Study of the Mangroves and Seagrasses of Maputo Bay, Mozambique

This article characterizes the biodiversity of marine macroinvertebrates as two different ecosystems situated along the coastline of Maputo Bay by compiling dispersed data from online databases. The study was led by Marta Bento, part of the COBIO-NET team, a PhD Student at FCUL/MARE. This most recent COBIO-NET output was published in Diversity, MDPI, in February 2023

The paper addressed species richness, taxonomic and functional diversity based on two traits (habitat occupation and trophic guild), and the community structure of these traits. Mangroves presented with higher species richness and taxonomic diversity than seagrasses. and the comparison of community compositions between the two ecosystems showed low or no similarity. The use of digital databases revealed some limitations, mostly regarding the sampling methods and individual counts. The trends and data gaps presented in this study can be further used to inform subsequent systematic data acquisition and support the development of future research.

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Graphical abstract of the article “Catching the Drift of Marine Invertebrate Diversity through Digital Repositories—A Case Study of the Mangroves and Seagrasses of Maputo Bay, Mozambique” © Marta Bento