Dataset Information

Natural recovery of a marine foundation species emerges decades after landscape-scale mortality.

ABSTRACT: Globally, the conditions and time scales underlying coastal ecosystem recovery following disturbance remain poorly understood, and post-disturbance examples of resilience based on long-term studies are particularly rare. Here, we documented the recovery of a marine foundation species (turtlegrass) following a hypersalinity-associated die-off in Florida Bay, USA, one of the most spatially extensive mortality events for seagrass ecosystems on record. Based upon annual sampling over two decades, foundation species recovery across the landscape was demonstrated by two ecosystem responses: the range of turtlegrass biomass met or exceeded levels present prior to the die-off, and turtlegrass regained dominance of seagrass community structure. Unlike reports for most marine taxa, recovery followed without human intervention or reduction to anthropogenic impacts. Our long-term study revealed previously uncharted resilience in subtropical seagrass landscapes but warns that future persistence of the foundation species in this iconic ecosystem will depend upon the frequency and severity of drought-associated perturbation.

SUBMITTER: Hall MO

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7997892 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Natural recovery of a marine foundation species emerges decades after landscape-scale mortality.

Hall Margaret O MO Bell Susan S SS Furman Bradley T BT Durako Michael J MJ

Scientific reports 20210326 1

Globally, the conditions and time scales underlying coastal ecosystem recovery following disturbance remain poorly understood, and post-disturbance examples of resilience based on long-term studies are particularly rare. Here, we documented the recovery of a marine foundation species (turtlegrass) following a hypersalinity-associated die-off in Florida Bay, USA, one of the most spatially extensive mortality events for seagrass ecosystems on record. Based upon annual sampling over two decades, fo ...[more]

PMID: 33772042

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Project description:Marine foundation species are critical for the structure and functioning of ecosystems and constitute the pillar of trophic chains while also providing a variety of ecosystem services. In recent decades, many foundation species have declined in abundance, sometimes threatening their current geographical distribution. Kelps (Laminariales) are the primary foundation species in temperate coastal systems worldwide. Kelp ecosystems are notoriously variable, challenging the identification of key factors controlling their dynamics. Identification of these drivers is key to predicting the fate of kelp ecosystems under climatic change and to informing management and conservation decisions such as restoration. Here, we used in situ data from long-term monitoring programs across 1350 km of coast spanning multiple biogeographic regions in the state of California (USA) to identify the major regional drivers of density of two dominant canopy-forming kelp species and to elucidate the spatial and temporal scales over which they operate. We used generalized additive mixed models to identify the key drivers of density of two dominant kelp species (Nereocystis luetkeana and Macrocystis pyrifera) across four ecological regions of the state of California (north, central, southwest, and southeast) and for the past two decades (2004-2021). The dominant drivers of kelp density varied among regions and species but always included some combination of nitrate availability, wave energy and exposure, density of purple sea urchins, and temperature as the most important predictors. These variables explained 63% of the variability of bull kelp in the northern and central regions, and 45% and 51.4% of the variability in giant kelp for the central/southwest and southeast regions, respectively. These large-scale analyses infer that a combination of lower nutrient availability, changes in wave energy and exposure, and increases in temperature and purple sea urchin counts have contributed to the decline of kelp observed in the last decade. Understanding the drivers of kelp dynamics can be used to identify regional patterns of historical stability and periods of significant change, ultimately informing resource management and conservation decisions such as site selection for kelp protection and restoration.

Project description:Foundation species create biogenic habitats, modify environmental conditions, augment biodiversity, and control animal community structures. In recent decades, marine heatwaves (MHWs) have affected the ecology of foundation species worldwide, and perhaps also their associated animal communities. However, no realistic field experiment has tested how MHWs affect animals that live in and around these foundation species. We therefore tested, in a four-factorial field experiment, if colonisation by small mobile marine animals (epifauna) onto plates with attached single versus co-occurring foundation species of different morphological complexities, were affected by 3-5°C heating (that mirrored a recent extreme MHW in the study area) and if the heating effect on the epifauna varied within and between seasons. For this experiment mimics of turf seaweed represented the single foundation species and holdfasts of seven common canopy-forming seaweed represented the co-occurring foundation species with different morphological complexities. We found that the taxonomic richness and total abundance of epifauna, dominated by copepods, generally were higher on heated plates with complex seaweed holdfasts in warmer summer trials. Furthermore, several interactions between test-factors were significant, e.g., epifaunal abundances, were, across taxonomic groups, generally higher in warmer than colder summer trials. These results suggest that, in temperate ecosystems, small, mobile, short-lived, and fast-growing marine epifauna can be facilitated by warmer oceans and morphologically complex foundation species, implying that future MHWs may increase secondary production and trophic transfers between primary producers and fish. Future studies should test whether these results can be scaled to other ecological species-interactions, across latitudes and biogeographical regions, and if similar results are found after longer MHWs or within live foundation species under real MHW conditions.

Dataset Information

Natural recovery of a marine foundation species emerges decades after landscape-scale mortality.

Publications

Natural recovery of a marine foundation species emerges decades after landscape-scale mortality.

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