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Functional trait-based approaches improve biodiversity assessment and have consequently been gaining traction in ecology, including marine benthic studies. However, taxonomic diversity is still the default biodiversity metric applied to monitor benthic community responses to environmental variation despite not always representing functional diversity change. Therefore, we used Biological Traits Analysis (BTA) to quantify functional diversity for infauna and epifauna communities collected from the same locations across a depth gradient in the Southern Benguela Shelf ecoregion. Infauna experienced an increase in functional uniqueness with depth, whereas epifauna experienced an increase in functional redundancy with depth. As a result, the epifauna species assemblage predicted 43 % of the epifauna trait assemblage, whereas the infauna species assemblage predicted only 8 % of the infauna trait assemblage. These findings suggest that taxonomic diversity and functional diversity changes are not congruent within and between marine benthic faunal groups. We emphasize the need to utilise both biodiversity metrics when quantifying marine biodiversity for conservation and management objectives., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Silke Brandt reports financial support was provided by the National Research Foundation (NRF). If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Ecology and biodiversity research are underpinned by species richness patterns and their environmental drivers. However, a key topic in this discussion is the accuracy of these patterns which are greatly dependent on species detection probabilities. Due to variations in detection of species, true ecological patterns may be distorted. This is particularly true for subtidal macro‐infaunal communities. We tested three hypothesized relationships between marine benthic macrofaunal diversity and depth using species richness per site estimated with a capture–recapture heterogeneity model that accounts for variable detection probabilities. These metrics were based on data from 42 replicated sites across the continental shelf of the Southern Benguela. Average detection probability decreased with greater depth but species richness increased along the same depth gradient. The conflation of these trends in observed diversity data resulted in a positively near‐linear depth–diversity relationship, while accounting for variable species detection revealed a much stronger relationship. Ignoring species detection in ecosystems with imperfect detection could therefore distort species richness patterns, which has implications for ecological theory, management and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity-rich, resource-poor countries need to allocate scarce resources to the competing goals of identifying and monitoring their biodiversity and educating their populace about it. Often only relatively wealthy individuals participate in biodiversity-related volunteering, while the poor are left on the margins. We present a case study that shows how monitoring and education can be combined. South African high school scholars from mostly disadvantaged communities participated in ant monitoring in transformed sites and received lessons using their own data. The project provides baseline data on an important insect group in a region where invertebrate monitoring is rare. Participation in a real study enhances the scholars’ interest in science and direct interaction with scientists allows them to enquire about careers they might not otherwise consider. Here we outline how the project works, what participants learnt, and demonstrate that the data provide insights into ant diversity and the effects of landscape transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]