scholarly journals Umbrella species in marine systems: using the endangered humphead wrasse to conserve coral reefs

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
KC Weng ◽  
MW Pedersen ◽  
GA Del Raye ◽  
JE Caselle ◽  
AE Gray
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Umbrella Species ◽  
Marine Systems

scholarly journals One Hundred and Fifty Years of Warming on Caribbean Coral Reefs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen B Bove ◽  
Laura Mudge ◽  
John F Bruno
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Thermal Characteristics ◽  
Marine Systems ◽  
Caribbean Coral ◽  
Coral Reef Ecosystems ◽  
Caribbean Coral Reef ◽  
Caribbean Coral Reefs ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
And Function

Anthropogenic climate change is rapidly altering the characteristics and dynamics of biological communities. This is especially apparent in marine systems as the world's oceans are warming at an unprecedented rate, causing dramatic changes to coastal marine systems, especially on coral reefs of the Caribbean. We used three complementary ocean temperature databases (HadISST, Pathfinder, and OISST) to quantify change in thermal characteristics of Caribbean coral reefs over the last 150 years (1871-2020). These sea surface temperature (SST) databases included combined in situ and satellite-derived SST (HadISST, OISST), as well as satellite-only observations (Pathfinder) at multiple spatial resolutions. We also compiled a Caribbean coral reef database identifying 5,326 unique reefs across the region. We found that Caribbean reefs have warmed on average by 0.20 °C per decade since 1987, the calculated year that rapid warming began on Caribbean reefs. Further, geographic variation in warming rates ranged from 0.17 °C per decade on Bahamian reefs to 0.26 °C per decade on reefs within the Southern and Eastern Caribbean ecoregions. If this linear rate of warming continues, these already threatened ecosystems would warm by an additional 1.6 °C on average by 2100. We also found that marine heatwave (MHW) events are increasing in both frequency and duration across the Caribbean. Caribbean coral reefs now experience on average 5 MHW events annually, compared to 1 per year in the early 1980s. Combined, these changes have caused a dramatic shift in the composition and function of Caribbean coral reef ecosystems. If reefs continue to warm at this rate, we are likely to lose even the remnant Caribbean coral reef communities of today in the coming decades.

scholarly journals Variation in partner benefits in a shrimp—sea anemone symbiosis

PeerJ ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. e1409 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Seabird McKeon ◽  
James L. O’Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Host Species ◽  
Host Choice ◽  
Marine Systems ◽  
Symbiotic Interactions ◽  
Close Physical Proximity ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Lineage Divergence ◽  
Partner Benefits

Symbiotic interactions, where two species occur in close physical proximity for the majority of the participants’ lifespans, may constrain the fitness of one or both of the participants. Host choice could result in lineage divergence in symbionts if fitness benefits vary across the interaction with hosts. Symbiotic interactions are common in the marine environment, particularly in the most diverse marine ecosystems: coral reefs. However, the variation in symbiotic interactions that may drive diversification is poorly understood in marine systems. We measured the fecundity of the symbiotic shrimpPericlimenes yucatanicuson two anemone hosts on coral reefs in Panama, and found that while fecundity varies among host species, this variation is explained largely by host size, not species. This suggests that shrimp on larger hosts may have higher fitness regardless of host species, which in turn could drive selection for host choice, a proposed driver of diversification in this group.

scholarly journals Sponge symbiosis is facilitated by adaptive evolution of larval sensory and attachment structures in barnacles

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1927) ◽  
pp. 20200300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng-Chen Yu ◽  
Niklas Dreyer ◽  
Gregory Aleksandrovich Kolbasov ◽  
Jens Thorvald Høeg ◽  
Benny Kwok Kan Chan
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Larval Settlement ◽  
Interspecific Variation ◽  
Marine Systems ◽  
Symbiotic Relationships ◽  
Larval Attachment ◽  
Attachment Structures ◽  
The Stability ◽  
High Level ◽  
High Degree

Symbiotic relations and range of host usage are prominent in coral reefs and crucial to the stability of such systems. In order to explain how symbiotic relations are established and evolve, we used sponge-associated barnacles to ask three questions. (1) Does larval settlement on sponge hosts require novel adaptations facilitating symbiosis? (2) How do larvae settle and start life on their hosts? (3) How has this remarkable symbiotic lifestyle involving many barnacle species evolved? We found that the larvae (cyprids) of sponge-associated barnacles show a remarkably high level of interspecific variation compared with other barnacles. We document that variation in larval attachment devices are specifically related to properties of the surface on which they attach and metamorphose. Mapping of the larval and sponge surface features onto a molecular-based phylogeny showed that sponge symbiosis evolved separately at least three times within barnacles, with the same adaptive features being found in all larvae irrespective of phylogenetic relatedness. Furthermore, the metamorphosis of two species proceeded very differently, with one species remaining superficially on the host and developing a set of white calcareous structures, the other embedding itself into the live host tissue almost immediately after settlement. We argue that such a high degree of evolutionary flexibility of barnacle larvae played an important role in the successful evolution of complex symbiotic relationships in both coral reefs and other marine systems.

Origins and escalation of herbivory in fishes: a functional perspective

Paleobiology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Bellwood
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Quantitative Description ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Relative Length ◽  
Marine Fishes ◽  
Marine Systems ◽  
Marine Communities ◽  
Functional Perspective ◽  
Lower Jaw ◽  
Feeding Modes

One of the central goals in paleoecology is to understand the nature and consequences of biotic interactions. In marine systems, it has been argued that one of the major steps in the escalation of biotic interactions was marked by the origins of grazing fishes in the Cenozoic. Here I investigate the origins of herbivory and grazing in marine fishes using analyses of functional morphospace. Closing and opening lever ratios and relative length of the lower jaw are used to construct a plot of functional morphospace, a quantitative description of the potential feeding modes of fishes. Four fish faunas were examined, spanning the Mesozoic and Cenozoic (Triassic, Jurassic, Eocene and Recent). All three fossil faunas are from conservation Lagerstätten in the central Tethys, in the vicinity of coral reefs or coral-bearing hardgrounds. Changes in functional morphospace occupation reveal a marked shift in the Cenozoic, with the appearance of fishes with relatively small forceful jaws. In Recent faunas, this functional morphospace is occupied almost exclusively by grazing herbivores. This taxon-independent morphological signal of herbivory was lacking in the Mesozoic faunas, was first recorded in the Eocene, and persisted throughout the Cenozoic. This suggests that the Cenozoic did indeed witness the appearance and proliferation of herbivory and grazing by marine fishes. The arrival of these piscine herbivores had the potential to fundamentally alter the dynamics of benthic marine communities.

Coral reefs in the modern world

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles R. C. Sheppard ◽  
Simon K. Davy ◽  
Graham M. Pilling ◽  
Nicholas A. J. Graham
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Industrial Pollution ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Nutrient Pollution ◽  
Sewage Pollution ◽  
Sea Temperature ◽  
Coral Diseases ◽  
Marine Systems ◽  
Limestone Rock

Today coral reefs, perhaps more than other marine systems, are suffering from numerous pressures. As a result, many have collapsed as functioning ecosystems. Nutrient pollution, sewage pollution, industrial pollution, landfill, coral diseases and diseases of other important groups of organisms, as well as over-extraction of fish, invertebrates and even the limestone rock itself, have all contributed to the demise of over one-third of the world’s reefs. More recently, climate change, notably causing a sea temperature rise, which in turn has led to coral bleaching and the death of component corals, has added to the stress imposed on this ecosystem. In the future, ocean acidification, sea level rise and an increase in the frequency and severity of storms will add further stress. Many of these factors interact, making the precise responses of reefs to these changes very complex.

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