Congruencia y respuesta a factores ambientales de diferentes métricas de biodiversidad en el golfo de Batabanó, Cuba

Different biodiversity metrics should be explored to more efficiently assess observed changes in communities. However, the performance of different biodiversity metrics has not been explored in the Gulf of Batabanó, making difficult to select suitable indices for environmental monitoring. To solve this problem, six biodiversity metrics (species richness, Pielou equity, Shannon diversity, taxonomic diversity, average taxonomic distinctiveness, and variation in taxonomic distinctiveness) were compared to determine their congruence and responses to abiotic variables (salinity, temperature, turbidity, depth) and factors (zones and years). The results based on the correlations between the metrics and their responses to the abiotic variables and factors analyzed showed complementarity between species richness, Pielou evenness, Shannon diversity, average taxonomic distinctiveness, and variation in taxonomic distinctiveness, not being the case for taxonomic diversity. According to the results of this work, the use of species richness and taxonomic distinctiveness metrics ∆⁺ and Λ⁺ is suggested to evaluate the environmental quality of the Gulf of Batabanó. In addition, their performances in other groups of organisms should be evaluated.