179 research outputs found
Effects of high temperature and CO<sub>2</sub> on intracellular DMSP in the cold-water coral <i>Lophelia pertusa</i>
No full textSignificant warming and acidification of the oceans is projected to occur by the end of the century. CO<sub>2</sub> vents, areas of upwelling and downwelling, and potential leaks from carbon capture and storage facilities may also cause localised environmental changes, enhancing or depressing the effect of global climate change. Cold-water coral ecosystems are threatened by future changes in carbonate chemistry, yet our knowledge of the response of these corals to high temperature and high CO<sub>2</sub> conditions is limited. Dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP), and its breakdown product dimethylsulphide (DMS), are putative antioxidants that may be accumulated by invertebrates via their food or symbionts, although recent research suggests that some invertebrates may also be able to synthesise DMSP. This study provides the first information on the impact of high temperature (12 °C) and high CO<sub>2</sub> (817 ppm) on intracellular DMSP in the cold-water coral <i>Lophelia pertusa</i> from the Mingulay Reef Complex, Scotland (56°49′N, 07°23′W), where in situ environmental conditions are meditated by tidally induced downwellings. An increase in intracellular DMSP under high CO<sub>2</sub> conditions was observed, whilst water column particulate DMS + DMSP was reduced. In both high temperature treatments, intracellular DMSP was similar to the control treatment, whilst dissolved DMSP + DMS was not significantly different between any of the treatments. These results suggest that <i>L. Pertusa</i> accumulates DMSP from the surrounding water column; uptake may be up-regulated under high CO<sub>2</sub> conditions, but mediated by high temperature. These results provide new insight into the biotic control of deep-sea biogeochemistry and may impact our understanding of the global sulphur cycle, and the survival of cold-water corals under projected global change
Resilience to large-scale disturbance in coral and fish assemblages on the Great Barrier Reef
No full textRecognition of the complex spatial and temporal variability of abundance and diversity found in many populations has led to a greater focus on the roles of heterogeneity, stochasticity, and disturbance in the structure and persistence of communities. This focus is directly relevant to coral reef communities that are characterized by very high species diversity in a spatially heterogeneous environment, display stochastic variability in community structure at small spatial and temporal scales, and are subject to major disturbances. We monitored coral and fish assemblages over 14 years on fixed sites spread over 80 km of the southern Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia, and found evidence of large-scale resilience and predictable recovery of these assemblages. Sometime between November 1987 and October 1989, live coral cover on the shallow northeast flanks of some reefs in the southern GBR decreased from >80% to <10%, probably as a result of storm damage. We compared the fish and benthic communities present in these areas prior to the disturbance (1983-1984) with those present in 1992 and the subsequent changes through to 1998. Hard coral cover increased slowly from 1992 to 1994, then accelerated to be indistinguishable from pre-impact levels by 1998. The response of the coral assemblages was largely due to the predominance of tabulate Acropora species and their characteristics of rapid growth and competitive dominance. Patterns of species richness of the fish families Acanthuridae, Chaetodontidae, Scaridae, and Pomacentridae mirrored that of hard coral, except the Pomacentridae had not recovered to pre-impact levels by 1998. Of the 26 fish species analyzed for changes in abundance, 88% decreased after the disturbance, then subsequently increased, with all but two recovering to pre-impact levels by 1998. Although processes such as settlement and immigration are ultimately responsible for replenishment of local populations, our data suggested that habitat plays a strong role in modifying fish assemblages. Thus, both coral and fish assemblages demonstrated resilience to large-scale natural disturbance and predictability in the structure of the assemblages, with most taxa approaching the asymptote of abundance and species richness that existed prior to the disturbance.PT: J; CR: ALLEN GR, 1998, GUIDE ANGELFISHES BU AULT TR, 1998, ECOL MONOGR, V68, P25 BAIRD AH, 2000, J EXP MAR BIOL ECOL, V251, P117 BELL JD, 1984, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V15, P265 BOHNSACK JA, 1983, ENVIRON BIOL FISH, V9, P41 BORMANN FH, 1979, AM SCI, V67, P660 BROTHERS EB, 1983, MAR BIOL, V76, P319 BROWN BE, 1997, CORAL REEFS, V16, P129 BUDDEMEIER RW, 2002, CORAL REEFS, V21, P1 BYTHELL JC, 2000, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V204, P93 CALEY MJ, 1996, J ANIM ECOL, V65, P414 CHABANET P, 1997, CORAL REEFS, V16, P93 CHEAL AJ, 2002, CORAL REEFS, V21, P131 CHESSON PL, 1986, COMMUNITY ECOLOGY, P229 CHOAT JH, 1996, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V134, P15 CLEY MJ, 1997, P 8 INT COR REEF S, V1, P993 COLGAN MW, 1987, ECOLOGY, V68, P1592 CONNELL JH, 1978, SCIENCE, V199, P1302 CONNELL JH, 1983, AM NAT, V121, P789 CONNELL JH, 1997, CORAL REEFS S, V16, P101 CONNELL JH, 1997, ECOL MONOGR, V67, P461 CORNELL HV, 1996, J ANIM ECOL, V65, P233 DAVIES PJ, 1979, SEARCH, V10, P776 DAVIES PJ, 1980, NATURE, V287, P37 DOHERTY PJ, 1987, B MAR SCI, V41, P411 DOHERTY PJ, 1991, ECOLOGY FISHES CORAL, P261 DOHERTY PJ, 1997, P 8 INT COR REEF S P, V1, P1005 DONE TJ, 1992, CONT SHELF RES, V12, P859 FOWLER AJ, 1990, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V64, P39 FOWLER AJ, 1992, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V82, P131 FRIEDLANDER AM, 1998, J EXP MAR BIOL ECOL, V224, P1 GREEN AL, 1996, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V133, P1 HANSKI I, 1998, NATURE, V396, P41 HART AM, 1996, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V132, P11 HART AM, 1996, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V132, P21 HEINSELMAN ML, 1981, P C FIR REG EC PROP, P7 HIXON MA, 1991, ECOLOGY FISHES CORAL, P475 HIXON MA, 1993, ECOL MONOGR, V63, P77 HOBBS RJ, 1994, PACIFIC CONSERVATION, V1, P170 HOLLING CS, 1973, ANNUAL REV ECOLOGY S, V4, P1 HUGHES TP, 1994, SCIENCE, V265, P1547 HUGHES TP, 1999, LIMNOL OCEANOGR 2, V44, P932 JONES GP, 1991, ECOLOGY FISHES CORAL, P294 JONES GP, 1998, AUST J ECOL, V23, P287 KARLSON RH, 1993, CORAL REEFS, V12, P117 LASSIG BR, 1983, ENVIRON BIOL FISH, V9, P55 LEWIS AR, 1997, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V161, P37 LITTELL RC, 1996, SAS SYSTEM MIXED MOD LUCKHURST BE, 1978, MAR BIOL, V49, P317 MASSEL SR, 1993, CORAL REEFS, V12, P153 MCCULLAGH P, 1989, GENERALIZED LINEAR MEEKAN MG, 1999, B MAR SCI, V64, P383 NINIO R, 2000, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V194, P65 NINIO R, 2002, CORAL REEFS, V21, P95 NOTT J, 2001, NATURE, V413, P508 ODUM EP, 1969, SCIENCE, V164, P262 OLIVER JK, 1995, LONG TERM MINITORING PAINE RT, 1981, ECOL MONOGR, V51, P145 PICKETT STA, 1986, ECOLOGY NATURAL DIST PIUMM SL, 1991, BALANCE NATURE ECOL RANDALL JE, 1990, FISHES GRET BARRIER ROBERTS CM, 1987, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V41, P1 SALE PF, 1978, ENVIRON BIOL FISH, V3, P85 SALE PF, 1982, AM NAT, V120, P121 SANO M, 2000, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V198, P121 STIMSON J, 1985, ECOLOGY, V66, P40 SWEATMAN H, 2000, 4 I MAR SCI SWEATMAN H, 2001, 5 AUSTR I MAR SCI SYMS C, 1998, J EXP MAR BIOL ECOL, V230, P151 SYMS C, 2000, ECOLOGY, V81, P2714 THOMPSON AA, 2002, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V232, P247 VANWOESIK R, 1991, J COASTAL RES, V7, P551 WALSH WJ, 1983, CORAL REEFS, V2, P49 WELLINGTON GM, 1985, OECOLOGIA, V68, P15 WILKINSON CR, 1999, MAR FRESHWATER RES, V50, P867 WILLIAMS DM, 1982, CORAL REEFS, V1, P35 WILLIAMS DM, 1983, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V10, P239 WILLIAMS DM, 1986, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V28, P157 WILLIAMS DM, 1991, ECOLOGY FISHES CORAL, P437 WOODLEY JD, 1981, SCIENCE, V214, P749 WU JG, 1995, Q REV BIOL, V70, P439; NR: 81; TC: 9; J9: ECOLOGY; PG: 14; GA: 843VASource type: Electronic(1
Megafaunal distribution and biodiversity in a heterogeneous landscape: the iceberg scoured Rockall Bank, NE Atlantic
No full textSpecies distributions are influenced by spatial structure in environmental factors, but the scales at which these dependencies occur and the effect of habitat patch diversity, connectivity and spatial arrangement have rarely been investigated in deep-sea settings. In this study, spatially-limited photographic transects collected from Rockall Bank, Northeast Atlantic, were combined with sidescan and multibeam sonar maps to model spatial patterns in species distribution and biodiversity. Sediment interpretation maps were created and canonical ordination techniques were used to examine relationships between fine-scale sediment characteristics extracted from the digital stills as well as landscape metrics describing the patch mosaic structure of the surrounding areas. Fine-scale sediment characteristics explained 45.1% and 63.8% of the variation in species composition and biodiversity (H′) respectively. This survey effectively captured variation in species distribution resulting from iceberg ploughmarks, occurring at a scale of < 50 m which would normally go undetected by traditional ship-based studies. Our study suggests that fine-scale environmental information is required to capture the spatial heterogeneity of complex seafloor areas in sufficient detail to model species distributions and biodiversity
BioGUID: resolving, discovering, and minting identifiers for biodiversity informatics
No full text<b>Background</b>: Linking together the data of interest to biodiversity researchers (including specimen records, images, taxonomic names, and DNA sequences) requires services that can mint, resolve, and discover globally unique identifiers (including, but not limited to, DOIs, HTTP URIs, and LSIDs).
<b>Results</b>: BioGUID implements a range of services, the core ones being an OpenURL resolver for bibliographic resources, and a LSID resolver. The LSID resolver supports Linked Data-friendly resolution using HTTP 303 redirects and content negotiation. Additional services include journal ISSN look-up, author name matching, and a tool to monitor the status of biodiversity data providers.
<b>Conclusion</b>: BioGUID is available at http://bioguid.info/. Source code is available from http://code.google.com/p/bioguid/
Status and management of the sea cucumber fishery of La Grande Terre, New Caledonia. Programme ZoNΘCo
No full textFrom October 2006 to May 2008, The WorldFish Center coordinated a ZoNΘCo project to provide support to the Southern and Northern Provinces for decisions about how best to manage the sea cucumber fishery around La Grande Terre. We collected data during underwater population surveys, questionnaire-based interviews with fishers and processors, and landing catch surveys. A core aim was to furnish the Provinces with æballparkÆ estimates of the abundance and density of commercially important sea cucumbers on 50 lagoon and barrier reefs. Analysis and synthesis of the ecological and sociological data provide the basis for informed recommendations for fisheries management. Counts of trochus and giant clams on the reefs allow us to also describe the general status of those resources. We propose 13 recommendations for management actions and fishery regulations and advocate an adaptive management approach. This multidisciplinary study should serve as a useful template for assessing other fisheries, and we provide a series of generic ælessons learntÆ to aid future programmes.Echinoderm fisheries, Surveys, Fishery management, Socioeconomic aspects, Population density, ISEW, Pacific, New Caledonia, Holothurioidea, Tridacna gigas, Ex Trochus
Global diversity of sponges (Porifera).
No full textWith the completion of a single unified classification, the Systema Porifera (SP) and subsequent development of an online species database, the World Porifera Database (WPD), we are now equipped to provide a first comprehensive picture of the global biodiversity of the Porifera. An introductory overview of the four classes of the Porifera is followed by a description of the structure of our main source of data for this paper, the WPD. From this we extracted numbers of all 'known' sponges to date: the number of valid Recent sponges is established at 8,553, with the vast majority, 83%, belonging to the class Demospongiae. We also mapped for the first time the species richness of a comprehensive set of marine ecoregions of the world, data also extracted from the WPD. Perhaps not surprisingly, these distributions appear to show a strong bias towards collection and taxonomy efforts. Only when species richness is accumulated into large marine realms does a pattern emerge that is also recognized in many other marine animal groups: high numbers in tropical regions, lesser numbers in the colder parts of the world oceans. Preliminary similarity analysis of a matrix of species and marine ecoregions extracted from the WPD failed to yield a consistent hierarchical pattern of ecoregions into marine provinces. Global sponge diversity information is mostly generated in regional projects and resources: results obtained demonstrate that regional approaches to analytical biogeography are at present more likely to achieve insights into the biogeographic history of sponges than a global perspective, which appears currently too ambitious. We also review information on invasive sponges that might well have some influence on distribution patterns of the future
Complexity affects habitat preference and predation mortality in postlarval Penaeus plebejus: implications for stock enhancement
No full textGlobal attempts to offset declines in fishery populations through stock enhancement have had varied levels of success due to the absence of preliminary studies to determine which habitats best support release species and the mechanisms controlling their distribution. Habitat preference was examined as a possible mechanism driving distribution of postlarval Penaeus plebejus, a current candidate prawn for stock enhancement in Australia. Occupancy of complex (artificial macrophyte) and simple (bare sand and mud) habitats by postlarvae was compared in the presence and absence of a choice between the habitats. Predation mortality was also compared amongst these habitats. P. plebejus settled into the different habitats randomly during the night, but actively selected macrophyte over the simple habitats during the day. Mortality caused by the predatory fishes Centropogan australis and Acanthopagrus australis was higher in simple habitats than in complex habitats, but was similar across habitats when large penaeid prawns, Metapenaeus macleayi (which are tactile rather than visual feeders), were used as predators. Postlarvae may select macrophyte habitats during the day to lower predation risk, but because nighttime foraging efficiency is reduced in their predators, which are primarily visual hunters, this may preclude the need of postlarvae to obtain shelter in macrophyte habitats at night. Predation mortality of stocked P. plebejus may be minimized by releasing postlarvae directly into macrophyte habitats. Studies such as these must precede all stock enhancement attempts because they identify optimal release strategies and allow ecological and financial costs of enhancement to be weighed against projected benefits, and thereby assess the practicality of enhancement as a management option
Assessing "Dangerous Climate Change": required reduction of carbon emissions to protect young people, future generations and nature
No full textWe assess climate impacts of global warming using ongoing observations and paleoclimate data. We use Earth’s measured energy imbalance, paleoclimate data, and simple representations of the global carbon cycle and temperature to define emission reductions needed to stabilize climate and avoid potentially disastrous impacts on today’s young people, future generations, and nature. A cumulative industrial-era limit of ~500 GtC fossil fuel emissions and 100 GtC storage in the biosphere and soil would keep climate close to the Holocene range to which humanity and other species are adapted. Cumulative emissions of ~1000 GtC, sometimes associated with 2°C global warming, would spur “slow” feedbacks and eventual warming of 3–4°C with disastrous consequences. Rapid emissions reduction is required to restore Earth’s energy balance and avoid ocean heat uptake that would practically guarantee irreversible effects. Continuation of high fossil fuel emissions, given current knowledge of the consequences, would be an act of extraordinary witting intergenerational injustice. Responsible policymaking requires a rising price on carbon emissions that would preclude emissions from most remaining coal and unconventional fossil fuels and phase down emissions from conventional fossil fuels
Cymatium muricinum and other ranellid gastropods: major predators of cultured tridacnid clams
No full textPredators, Predation, Clam culture, Feeding behaviour, Reproduction, Recruitment, Environmental factors Cymatium muricinum, Tridacnidae
New marine ΔR values for the South Pacific subtropical gyre region
No full textThis paper presents 31 new ΔR results of known-age, pre-AD 1950 shells from the South Pacific subtropical gyre region, spanning from the Tuamotu Archipelago in the east to New Caledonia in the west. This doubles the number of available ΔR values for the Oceania region. These values indicate that the regional offset (ΔR) from the modeled radiocarbon marine age has remained relatively constant over the last 100 yr prior to 1950. Variation from the norm can be attributed to various influences including localized upwelling around islands, the presence of a hardwater effect, direct ingestion of old carbon by the live shellfish, or enhanced exchange with atmospheric CO2 as a consequence of photosynthetic activity or increased aeration
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