scholarly journals Long photoperiods sustain high pH in Arctic kelp forests

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (12) ◽  
pp. e1501938 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorte Krause-Jensen ◽  
Núria Marbà ◽  
Marina Sanz-Martin ◽  
Iris E. Hendriks ◽  
Jakob Thyrring ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gradual Increase ◽  
Sea Urchins ◽  
Kelp Forest ◽  
Kelp Forests ◽  
Arctic Vegetation ◽  
Seagrass Meadows ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Ph Increase

Concern on the impacts of ocean acidification on calcifiers, such as bivalves, sea urchins, and foraminifers, has led to efforts to understand the controls on pH in their habitats, which include kelp forests and seagrass meadows. The metabolism of these habitats can lead to diel fluctuation in pH with increases during the day and declines at night, suggesting no net effect on pH at time scales longer than daily. We examined the capacity of subarctic and Arctic kelps to up-regulate pH in situ and experimentally tested the role of photoperiod in determining the capacity of Arctic macrophytes to up-regulate pH. Field observations at photoperiods of 15 and 24 hours in Greenland combined with experimental manipulations of photoperiod show that photoperiods longer than 21 hours, characteristic of Arctic summers, are conducive to sustained up-regulation of pH by kelp photosynthesis. We report a gradual increase in pH of 0.15 units and a parallel decline in pCO2of 100 parts per million over a 10-day period in an Arctic kelp forest over midsummer, with ample scope for continued pH increase during the months of continuous daylight. Experimental increase in CO2concentration further stimulated the capacity of macrophytes to deplete CO2and increase pH. We conclude that long photoperiods in Arctic summers support sustained up-regulation of pH in kelp forests, with potential benefits for calcifiers, and propose that this mechanism may increase with the projected expansion of Arctic vegetation in response to warming and loss of sea ice.

scholarly journals Landscape configuration of seagrass meadows regulates sea urchins predation in a Marine Protected Area: what is the role of bottom predators?

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Farina ◽  
Silvia Oliva ◽  
Ivan Guala ◽  
Rodrigo Silva ◽  
Luigi Piazzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Sea Urchin ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Marine Protected Area ◽  
Sea Urchins ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Landscape Configuration ◽  
Benthic Assemblages ◽  
Seagrass Meadows

In Mediterranean benthic ecosystems of shallow water local-scale predation maintains a main control on both sea urchin population and the ecological structure of macrophyte community. The use of the habitat by local predator guild in dependence on the regional context shapes prey distributions across the environment. On rocky habitat, the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus is widely known as prey of apex fish predators that indirectly shape the structure of benthic assemblages whereas, in structured Posidonia oceanica, P. lividus can find shelter from predators. In this study, we assessed survival rates of P. lividus in a Marine Protected Area (Sardinia) at the aim to evaluate the role of composition and configuration of landscape on its predation risk. Sites of different landscapes were selected in function of their heterogeneity estimated according to the different proportions and spatial interspersion of four classes of habitats defined on the basis of P. oceanica meadows arrangement: (1) continuous, (2) fragmented and (3) patchy meadows and (4) absence of seagrass (i.e. rocky bottom with macroalgae communities). In order to capture the domain of the ecological process a sampling grain 5x5 meters was used as minimal spatial resolution at which information is assessed. Specifically continuous sampling units in a grid of 7x7 cells yield landscape quadrats of 35 × 35 m and allowed a finer description of the spatial pattern. For each cell we also estimated structural variables of seagrass habitats such as unburied mat, shoot density, canopy height, cover percent, roughness and the natural abundances of prey and predators. After placing the tagged sea urchins, we daily observed the survival rates for twenty days. Predation risk was significantly higher in continuous and fragmented seagrass habitats and predator marks were typically produced by gastropod’s attacks. Landscape indices are used to correlate the amount of available habitat for gastropods movements with sea urchin’s predation risk. Interestingly, estimated predation rate also was negatively correlated with natural sea urchins density across grid cells. Results suggest that, although fishes are considered among the most important pressures on sea urchin population, especially in effective MPAs, bottom predators’ control can be relevant in structurally complex environment such as seagrasses.

scholarly journals Landscape configuration of seagrass meadows regulates sea urchins predation in a Marine Protected Area: what is the role of bottom predators?

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Farina ◽  
Silvia Oliva ◽  
Ivan Guala ◽  
Rodrigo Silva ◽  
Luigi Piazzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Sea Urchin ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Marine Protected Area ◽  
Sea Urchins ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Landscape Configuration ◽  
Benthic Assemblages ◽  
Seagrass Meadows

In Mediterranean benthic ecosystems of shallow water local-scale predation maintains a main control on both sea urchin population and the ecological structure of macrophyte community. The use of the habitat by local predator guild in dependence on the regional context shapes prey distributions across the environment. On rocky habitat, the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus is widely known as prey of apex fish predators that indirectly shape the structure of benthic assemblages whereas, in structured Posidonia oceanica, P. lividus can find shelter from predators. In this study, we assessed survival rates of P. lividus in a Marine Protected Area (Sardinia) at the aim to evaluate the role of composition and configuration of landscape on its predation risk. Sites of different landscapes were selected in function of their heterogeneity estimated according to the different proportions and spatial interspersion of four classes of habitats defined on the basis of P. oceanica meadows arrangement: (1) continuous, (2) fragmented and (3) patchy meadows and (4) absence of seagrass (i.e. rocky bottom with macroalgae communities). In order to capture the domain of the ecological process a sampling grain 5x5 meters was used as minimal spatial resolution at which information is assessed. Specifically continuous sampling units in a grid of 7x7 cells yield landscape quadrats of 35 × 35 m and allowed a finer description of the spatial pattern. For each cell we also estimated structural variables of seagrass habitats such as unburied mat, shoot density, canopy height, cover percent, roughness and the natural abundances of prey and predators. After placing the tagged sea urchins, we daily observed the survival rates for twenty days. Predation risk was significantly higher in continuous and fragmented seagrass habitats and predator marks were typically produced by gastropod’s attacks. Landscape indices are used to correlate the amount of available habitat for gastropods movements with sea urchin’s predation risk. Interestingly, estimated predation rate also was negatively correlated with natural sea urchins density across grid cells. Results suggest that, although fishes are considered among the most important pressures on sea urchin population, especially in effective MPAs, bottom predators’ control can be relevant in structurally complex environment such as seagrasses.

scholarly journals Zombies of the nearshore: Metabolic depression in sea urchin barrens associated with food deprivation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan B. Spindel ◽  
Lynn C. Lee ◽  
Daniel K. Okamoto
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass ◽  
Food Deprivation ◽  
Microbial Mats ◽  
Sea Urchins ◽  
Kelp Forest ◽  
Resource Limitation ◽  
Kelp Forests ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Energy Reserves ◽  
Study Sites

AbstractThe proliferation of sea urchins can decimate macroalgal forests in coastal ecosystems, leading to persistent barren seascapes. While kelp forests are among the most productive ecosystems on the planet, productivity in these urchin barrens is dramatically reduced. Moreover, urchins inhabiting these food-depauperate barrens face starvation and many survive in these barrens for years or decades. Urchins in barrens can persist by eating food subsidies from drift algae, pelagic salps, tubeworms, as well as encrusting and filamentous algae, microbial mats, and slow-growing species resistant to herbivory. Despite both food from endogenous production and exogenous subsidies, many urchins in barrens likely experience prolonged food deprivation. This resource limitation may create a trade-off between reproduction and survival; for example, fecundity of purple sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) is 99.9% lower in barrens. Despite food constraints, red sea urchins (Mesocentrotus franciscanus), the dominant urchin species at our study sites, can live in excess of 100 years and barrens in Haida Gwaii, British Columbia (BC), Canada, have persisted for at least 143 years. While these phenomena are widespread and well documented, the bioenergetic adaptations that allow urchins to persist in these food-depauperate barrens remain poorly understood. To quantify habitat-specific differences in metabolic rates and energy reserves (as measured by gonadal mass), we conducted respirometry on and measured gonadal mass in M. franciscanus at three locations in BC inside and outside of adjacent kelp forest and barrens habitat. Here we demonstrate that M. franciscanus in barrens versus kelp forests have substantially lower energy reserves and, importantly, also exhibit dramatic reductions in size-specific resting metabolic rates (RMR), even after standardizing by metabolically active body mass. On average, gonadal mass was 44.6% lower and RMR scaled to metabolically active body mass was 40% lower in barrens urchins than in kelp forest urchins. Such a shift in metabolic rate may provide a mechanism that facilitates barren state stability over long time scales as M. franciscanus can lower energetic demands while they wait for small pulses of food, scrape by on low-productivity resources, and suppress recruitment of macroalgae for months, years, or decades.

scholarly journals Examining the Role of DNA Methylation in Transcriptomic Plasticity of Early Stage Sea Urchins: Developmental and Maternal Effects in a Kelp Forest Herbivore

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie E. Strader ◽  
Logan C. Kozal ◽  
Terence S. Leach ◽  
Juliet M. Wong ◽  
Jannine D. Chamorro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Sea Urchins ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Kelp Forest

scholarly journals Energetic context determines the effects of multiple upwelling-associated stressors on sea urchin performance

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kindall A. Murie ◽  
Paul E. Bourdeau
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Upwelling ◽  
Multiple Stressors ◽  
Sea Urchins ◽  
Strongylocentrotus Purpuratus ◽  
Kelp Forest ◽  
Low Ph ◽  
Kelp Forests ◽  
Distant Future ◽  
Urchin Barren ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractGlobally, kelp forests are threatened by multiple stressors, including increasing grazing by sea urchins. With coastal upwelling predicted to increase in intensity and duration in the future, understanding whether kelp forest and urchin barren urchins are differentially affected by upwelling-related stressors will give insight into how future conditions may affect the transition between kelp forests and barrens. We assessed how current and future-predicted changes in the duration and magnitude of upwelling-associated stressors (low pH, dissolved oxygen, and temperature) affected the performance of purple sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) sourced from rapidly-declining bull kelp (Nereocystis leutkeana) forests and nearby barrens and maintained on habitat-specific diets. Kelp forest urchins were of superior condition to barrens urchins, with ~ 6–9 times more gonad per body mass. Grazing and condition in kelp forest urchins were more negatively affected by distant-future and extreme upwelling conditions, whereas grazing and survival in urchins from barrens were sensitive to both current-day and all future-predicted upwelling, and to increases in acidity, hypoxia, and temperature regardless of upwelling. We conclude that urchin barren urchins are more susceptible to increases in the magnitude and duration of upwelling-related stressors than kelp forest urchins. These findings have important implications for urchin population dynamics and their interaction with kelp.

scholarly journals Sea urchins mediate the availability of kelp detritus to benthic consumers

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1906) ◽  
pp. 20190846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christie E. Yorke ◽  
Henry M. Page ◽  
Robert J. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Food Webs ◽  
Sea Urchins ◽  
Strongylocentrotus Purpuratus ◽  
Kelp Forest ◽  
Macrocystis Pyrifera ◽  
Mesocosm Experiment ◽  
Kelp Forests ◽  
Giant Kelp ◽  
Trophic Role ◽  
Benthic Consumers

Detritus can fundamentally shape and sustain food webs, and shredders can facilitate its availability. Most of the biomass of the highly productive giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera , becomes detritus that is exported or falls to the seafloor as litter. We hypothesized that sea urchins process kelp litter through shredding, sloppy feeding and egestion, making kelp litter more available to benthic consumers. To test this, we conducted a mesocosm experiment in which an array of kelp forest benthic consumers were exposed to 13 C- and 15 N-labelled Macrocystis with or without the presence of sea urchins, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus . Our results showed that several detritivore species consumed significant amounts of kelp, but only when urchins were present. Although they are typically portrayed as antagonistic grazers in kelp forests, sea urchins can have a positive trophic role, capturing kelp litter before it is exported and making it available to a suite of benthic detritivores.

scholarly journals Coastal fish assemblages and predation pressure in northern-central Chilean Lessonia trabeculata kelp forests and barren grounds

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e6964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolás Riquelme-Pérez ◽  
Catalina A. Musrri ◽  
Wolfgang B. Stotz ◽  
Osvaldo Cerda ◽  
Oscar Pino-Olivares ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Sea Urchins ◽  
Kelp Forest ◽  
Predation Pressure ◽  
Predatory Fish ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Kelp Forests ◽  
Fishing Activity ◽  
Rocky Habitats ◽  
Barren Grounds

Kelp forests are declining in many parts of the globe, which can lead to the spreading of barren grounds. Increased abundances of grazers, mainly due to reduction of their predators, are among the causes of this development. Here, we compared the species richness (SR), frequency of occurrence (FO), and maximum abundance (MaxN) of predatory fish and their predation pressure between kelp forest and barren ground habitats of northern-central Chile. Sampling was done using baited underwater cameras with vertical and horizontal orientation. Two prey organisms were used as tethered baits, the black sea urchin Tetrapygus niger and the porcelanid crab Petrolisthes laevigatus. SR did not show major differences between habitats, while FO and MaxN were higher on barren grounds in vertical videos, with no major differences between habitats in horizontal videos. Predation pressure did not differ between habitats, but after 24 h consumption of porcelanid crabs was significantly higher than that of sea urchins. Scartichthys viridis/gigas was the main predator, accounting for 82% of the observed predation events on Petrolisthes laevigatus. Most of these attacks occurred on barren grounds. Scartichthys viridis/gigas was the only fish observed attacking (but not consuming) tethered sea urchins. High abundances of opportunistic predators (Scartichthys viridis/gigas) are probably related to low abundances of large predatory fishes. These results suggest that intense fishing activity on large predators, and their resulting low abundances, could result in low predation pressure on sea urchins, thereby contributing to the increase of T. niger abundances in subtidal rocky habitats.

scholarly journals Large-scale shift in the structure of a kelp forest ecosystem co-occurs with an epizootic and marine heatwave

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith L. McPherson ◽  
Dennis J. I. Finger ◽  
Henry F. Houskeeper ◽  
Tom W. Bell ◽  
Mark H. Carr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Productivity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Nutrient Dynamics ◽  
Sea Urchins ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Kelp Forest ◽  
Kelp Forests ◽  
Predator Population ◽  
Northern California ◽  
Boundary Current

AbstractClimate change is responsible for increased frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme events, such as marine heatwaves (MHWs). Within eastern boundary current systems, MHWs have profound impacts on temperature-nutrient dynamics that drive primary productivity. Bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) forests, a vital nearshore habitat, experienced unprecedented losses along 350 km of coastline in northern California beginning in 2014 and continuing through 2019. These losses have had devastating consequences to northern California communities, economies, and fisheries. Using a suite of in situ and satellite-derived data, we demonstrate that the abrupt ecosystem shift initiated by a multi-year MHW was preceded by declines in keystone predator population densities. We show strong evidence that northern California kelp forests, while temporally dynamic, were historically resilient to fluctuating environmental conditions, even in the absence of key top predators, but that a series of coupled environmental and biological shifts between 2014 and 2016 resulted in the formation of a persistent, altered ecosystem state with low primary productivity. Based on our findings, we recommend the implementation of ecosystem-based and adaptive management strategies, such as (1) monitoring the status of key ecosystem attributes: kelp distribution and abundance, and densities of sea urchins and their predators, (2) developing management responses to threshold levels of these attributes, and (3) creating quantitative restoration suitability indices for informing kelp restoration efforts.

Mechanisms leading to recruitment inhibition of giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera by an understory alga

2021 ◽  
Vol 657 ◽  
pp. 59-71
Author(s):  
BA Beckley ◽  
MS Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiments ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Kelp Forest ◽  
Macrocystis Pyrifera ◽  
Forest Recovery ◽  
Kelp Forests ◽  
Giant Kelp ◽  
Combined Effects ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Survival And Growth

The forest-forming giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera and the communities it supports have been decreasing across their native ranges in many parts of the world. The sudden removal of giant kelp canopies by storms increases space and light for the colonization by understory macroalgae, such as Desmarestia herbacea, which can inhibit M. pyrifera recovery and alter local community composition. Understanding the mechanisms by which algae such as D. herbacea interact with M. pyrifera can provide insight into patterns of kelp forest recovery following these disturbances and can aid in predicting future community structure. This study experimentally tested the independent and combined effects of two likely competitive mechanisms by which D. herbacea might inhibit recovery of M. pyrifera in the Point Loma kelp forest in San Diego, California (USA). Specifically, we conducted field experiments to study the individual and combined effects of shade and scour by D. herbacea on the survival of M. pyrifera microscopic life stages, and the recruitment, survival, and growth of its young sporophytes. Our results show that scour had the strongest negative effect on the survival of M. pyrifera microscopic life stages and recruitment, but shade and scour both adversely affected survival and growth of these sporophytes as they grew larger. Canopy-removing storms are increasing in frequency and intensity, and this change could facilitate the rise of understory species, like D. herbacea, which might alter community succession and recovery of kelp forests.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document