The NPRP9-394-1-090 project “Pearl Oyster: from national icon to guardian of Qatar's marine environment” had as main aim to develop and apply an integrated suite of chemical and biological methods as early warning tools to assess the “health” of Qatar’s marine environment. The central theme consisted in an investigative monitoring program around the use of the pearl oyster, Pictada imbricata radiata, as a sentinel or guardian species. We have characterized the main environmental contaminants of concern at a selected number of sites around the Qatari coast (UmmBab, Al Khor, Al Wakra and Simaisma), during 2 years, in summer and winter. Potential ecological effects of contaminants (targeted and untargeted) were investigated at different biological organization levels (gene, chromosome, cell, individual, population), through a multidisciplinary approach, using classical and genotoxicological endpoints, integrative histopathology and transcriptomic responses to the different environmental stresses. To our knowledge, this is the first time an integrated approach connecting all these disciplines has been applied in the Qatari marine environment. We present here the main results, of this 3 years project, obtained in all different disciplinary approaches. The results of this project will leave a legacy of resources for future Qatari researchers, including an open access transcriptome data base and the first description of common pathologies observed in the pearl oyster P. i. radiata. Moreover, they will also represent a sound science-based baseline data essential for conservation and management planning, by integration of the data from all the different disciplines applied in the project to assess the potential ecological effects of contaminants at different biological levels.
Seagrasses are flowering monocot green plants that have adapted to marine life, and remain completely immersed in seawater and are primary producers of food for numerous marine animals. Seagrasses are of worldwide distribution and it was earlier estimated that there are approximately 60-72 known species of seagrasses. It is now evident that the number of seagrasses species is almost 200, comprising 25 genera and 5 families, namely Cymodoceaceae, Hydrocharitaceae, Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae and Ruppiaceae, covering a global area of 300,000-600,000 km2. It is also estimated that they have declined in area by 29%. The Western Indo-Pacific realm encompasses 13 species in two families; the Cymodoceacae with 4 genera and the Hydrocharitaceae with 3 genera. Twelve species extend into the Red Sea, 4 occur in the Arabian/Persian Gulf and 4 in the Arabian Sea. The total area of Qatar marine zone (EEZ) is approximately 35,000km2 and three species of seagrasses are known to occur in this zone. These are Halophila stipulacea, Halophila ovalis and Halodule uninervisis, the most common one. It is established that seagrasses consolidate and stabilize bottom sediments, create and maintain good water quality (clarity), produce oxygen, provide food, nursery ground for many animals and have been proven to be very important in GHG emissions.
Using ecological, taxonomic and phylogenetic approaches, we here describe geographically isolated symbiotic relationships between a gobiid fish and two misdescribed alpheid snapping shrimps. This was discovered in the southwestern province of the Persian Gulf, more specifically, in the harsh hyperarid intertidal zone separating the coastal ecosystem from the Middle East desert. Phylogenetic results based on the 16S rRNA gene indicate the existence of two new cryptic species within the Alpheus lobidens De Haan, 1849 species complex, described and named here as Alpheus qatari n. sp. and Alpheus arabicus n. sp. Furthermore, phylogeographic results suggest resurrection of Alpheus crassimanus Heller, 1865 within the same species complex. A phylogenetic comparison of the endemic Arabic goby Cryptocentroides arabicus (Gmelin, 1789) with some of its congeners confirms its presence along both sides of the Persian Gulf. Ecologically noteworthy is the facultative symbiotic interaction between this endemic Arabic goby with the two mentioned endemic alpheid shrimps within two distinct ecosystems. Therefore, we herewith report a case of exceptional symbiosis of a littoral fish species with two potential partners, niche-restricted to shallow intertidal zones, however, with niche differentiation defined by the adaptability of each associated shrimp species. Furthermore, the presence of the goby depends on suitable sediment needed for burrowing: either gravel in the periphery of coral reefs, or mud in the periphery of mangrove ecosystems. The corresponding ecology, taxonomic status and phylogeography are discussed with respect to the recorded facultative character of the symbiotic relationship.
In the framework of the Coral Management Plan for the North Field Expansion Project (NFE) and North Field Production Sustainability Project (NFPS), Qatargas has partnered with the Environmental Science Center (ESC) to develop the first land-based coral nursery in Qatar. This nursery plan includes the extraction of 1000 corals’ colonies from the NFPS and NFE pipeline corridors, north of Ras Laffan, and hence their transportation to the nursery facility, rehabilitation under controlled husbandry conditions, fragmentation, out-plantation to carefully selected recipient sites and long-term monitoring (up to 48 months). The first two batches of 200 corals were extracted in March and outplanted in April 2021. Results of the first two monitoring events, after 44 and 66 days, were quite encouraging for the seven coral genera tested. Attachment success was very high, with 92% to 97% of the outplanted fragments being detected during monitoring. No bleaching, disease or mortality was recorded so far. The coral propagation methods used in this project (i.e., fragmentation, husbandry and outplanting), although widely used, have been tested with a restricted number of branching coral species and usually in in-situ nurseries. Our project is among the first to apply this type of approach (land-based nursery) to reef restoration in the Arabian Gulf.
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