Macrobenthic community characteristics in seagrass beds of Guangdong Province, South China: Linkages to seagrass vegetation and sedimentary conditions

Seagrass macrobenthic communities, as a critical component of seagrass ecosystems, interact with seagrasses and their habitats to form the seagrass ecosystem and provide essential ecological services. Owing to the intricate relationships between macrobenthic community structures, seagrass vegetation, and sedimentary conditions are not fully studied, we conducted a comprehensive survey from August 2021 to April 2023, investigating 14 seagrass ecosystems associated macrobenthic communities, and their sedimentary conditions in Guangdong Province, South China. The Abundance/Biomass Comparison curve indicated that the macrobenthic community structure in Guangdong is unstable and is greatly affected by external disturbances. Correlation analysis and principal component analysis revealed complex relationships between the macrobenthic community structure and seagrass vegetation and environmental factors. Overall, seagrass and macrobenthos had a significant correlation with the sediment type. However, non-metric Multidimensional Scaling ordination showed that some communities clustering did not completely follow the grain size distribution pattern, likely due to anthropogenic pressures Equation model, suggested that seagrasses and macrobenthos synergistically modify sediment physicochemical properties, fostering nutrient-rich habitats. These interactions promote biodiversity, ecosystem stability, and the maintenance of optimal seagrass habitats.