Evidence for a trophic cascade on rocky reefs following sea star mass mortality in British Columbia.

ABSTRACT: Echinoderm population collapses, driven by disease outbreaks and climatic events, may be important drivers of population dynamics, ecological shifts and biodiversity. The northeast Pacific recently experienced a mass mortality of sea stars. In Howe Sound, British Columbia, the sunflower star Pycnopodia helianthoides-a previously abundant predator of bottom-dwelling invertebrates-began to show signs of a wasting syndrome in early September 2013, and dense aggregations disappeared from many sites in a matter of weeks. Here, we assess changes in subtidal community composition by comparing the abundance of fish, invertebrates and macroalgae at 20 sites in Howe Sound before and after the 2013 sea star mortality to evaluate evidence for a trophic cascade. We observed changes in the abundance of

SUBMITTER: Schultz JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4860306 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature