International Journal of Marine Science, 2024, Vol.14, No.1, 29-39 http://www.aquapublisher.com/index.php/ijms 33 Figure 2 Structure of Geodes, that form the HCAR Note: Central core area (A, C); Inside central core area (B); Individual HCAR (D) In spring, zone A retained the highest mean fish count of 30.9 (sdv. 26.1) fish per image interval, with zones B, C, D, and E also showing increased counts compared to autumn. Species richness in spring and summer exhibited an increase, with mean values ranging from 0.2 to 5.0 species per image interval (Figure 1C). Zone C notably displayed the highest mean species count (5), indicating a more diverse fish community. Both spring and summer demonstrated improved Shannon-Weaver Diversity Indexes (H’), with zone C showing the highest mean diversity (H’ value of 0.39, sdv. 0), indicating a more evenly distributed and diverse fish community. Other zones maintained moderate diversity levels, ranging from 0.01 to 0.21. Similar fish assemblage patterns were observed in summer across the zones, consistent with the findings for the entire year. Seasonal variations in important fish assemblage descriptors and species counts for the top three abundant species (P. incisus, C. chromis, and D. vulgaris) (Figure 1). The analysis revealed fluctuating values of image biodiversity (H’) throughout the study period, ranging from a maximum of 0.45 in June to a minimum of 0.06 in March. Seasonal variation in H’ was confirmed by plotting values over the seasons, with higher diversity in May and June and lower in March. Autumn reported the lowest mean H’ values, while higher means occurred in both spring and summer (Figure 1B). There were marked differences in the presence and abundance of fish species between camera transects (zones) in the study area (Table 3). The seasonal sampling revealed notable variations in biodiversity and species abundance. In relation to autumn showcased a higher prevalence of species like C. chromis, contributing to an increased Shannon-Weaver Diversity Index. Conversely, spring exhibited a higher abundance of P. incisus. During summer, there was an elevated number of C. chromis and D. vulgaris (Figure 1D; Figure 1E; Figure 1F). Finally, unlucky due to sampling conditions data from summer in substrata type C (zone) was not able to be collected, and comparisons resulted a bit uncomplete. The seasonal sampling efforts revealed notable fluctuations in both biodiversity and species abundance (Figure 1, Table 3). 2 Discussion This study introduces a novel observational protocol aimed at assessing succession changes in a reef fish community post-establishment of High-Complexity structures forming an Artificial Reef (HCAR). This investigation represents a challenging yet valuable approach to comprehending the ecological transition and succession dynamics within the newly formed reef ecosystem. The findings reveal significant temporal variations in various fish assemblage descriptors, highlighting the potential of HCAR structures in facilitating marine ecosystem restoration and mitigating environmental and fisheries-related impacts (Paxton et al., 2020).
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