Physical factors of differentiation in macrobenthic communities between atoll lagoons in the Central Tuamotu Archipelago (French Polynesia)

Abstract

Nine atolls were characterized in order to understand how physical factors control the species composition, diversity, and abundance of macrobenth~c (coral, mollusc, echinoderm, and algal) communities inside the lagoons. Only one region, the central part of Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia, was considered, in order to minimise the variation due to regional factors between regions.