Asociación Scurria-Lessonia, indicador de integridad ecológica en praderas explotadas de huiro negro Lessonia berteroana (ex L. nigrescens) en el norte de Chile

Abstract

Abstract.-Scurria scurra is a patelogastropod inhabiting the stipes and holdfasts cavities of Lessonia nigrescens complex species forming a herbivore-kelp association highly specialized. It has been proposed that the exploitation of kelp beds of Lessonia berteroana in northern Chile is a disturbance that affects Scurria-Lessonia association such as ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) events. Considering the above, and the important ecological role that have kelps as foundation species, this study proposes the use of Scurria-Lessonia association as an ecological indicator to monitor the integrity of kelp beds of L. berteroana. To achieve this, the abundance and size structure of S. scurra in plants of L. berteroana was evaluated under 3 different types of conservation strategies of fishing resources: open access areas and management areas (with harvest), and marine protected areas (without harvest) in the Region of Atacama and Region of Coquimbo, Chile. In addition, we monitored the time of recovery post-harvest of Scurria-Lessonia association in an experimental site (Lagunillas, 30°S). The results show that S. scurra population in open accessareas is dominated by juveniles in low abundances, a situation not detected in management areas and marine protected areas. Furthermore, the recovery of S. scurra post-harvest of Lessonia at the experimental site took more than 2 years (30 months). An indicator was proposed to validate the actions of management plan of brown algae for open access areas to fisheries. This ecological indicator is easy to observe, evaluate and disseminate among users of the productive chain of Chilean kelp resource. Key words: Kelp fisheries, ecological indicators, marine conservation, northern ChileResumen.-Scurria scurra es un patelogastrópodo que habita los estipes y cavidades de discos adhesivos del complejo de especies Lessonia nigrescens formando una asociación herbívoro-alga altamente especializada. En el norte de Chile, se ha propuesto que la explotación de praderas de Lessonia berteroana es una perturbación que afecta la asociación Scurria-Lessonia de manera similar que los eventos ENOS (El Niño-Oscilación del Sur). Considerando lo anterior, y el importante rol ecológico que cumplen las algas pardas como especies fundacionales, este estudio propone el uso de la asociación Scurria-Lessonia como un indicador ecológico para monitorear la integridad de praderas explotadas de L. berteroana.

Monitoring the fabric of nature: using allometric trophic network models and observations to assess policy effects on biodiversity

“…Changes in the biomass of Lessonia kelp produced by harvesting propagated through the network of species interactions in a manner that was nearly impossible to anticipate. First, harvesting kelps well within current fishing recommendations, which dictates removing no more than 25% of the standing biomass (in our model only 20%), led to an increase in juvenile Lessonia plants in the kelp populations (electronic supplementary material, figure S1), which agrees well with field observations in managed kelp populations [56]. Noncompliance to the harvesting regulation dictating that some adult plants must be left standing led to extinction of the kelps, demonstrating the sensitivity of the system to this regulation (electronic supplementary material, figure S1).…”

“…Several grazer species can feed on Lessonia juveniles, but very few feed on adult plants [54]. One of them is the scurrinid limpet Scurria scurra, which lives on the stipes and creates a ‘home’ cavity while feeding on the outer layers of the stipe and on epiphytes [55,56]. While gametophytes recruit more intensively among adults, juvenile plants are notoriously absent from the understorey and grow best in small clearings, at some distance (few metres) from the adults, but they are completely unsuccessful in larger clearings [53,54] (figure 2).…”

Ritual stone‐built architecture and shell midden foundation: A semisubterranean structure in hyperarid Atacama Desert coast, Northern Chile

“…Considering that these organisms are commonly attached to holdfasts and stipes of Lessonia spp. (Vásquez & Santelices, 1984; Vega, 2016; Vega, et al, 2016), we tentatively interpret their presence because of foraging practices, transporting, and using seaweed on‐site (Ainis et al, 2014). As a matter of fact, the use of seaweed as fuel material for the production of “ashy” layers inside Late Archaic structures has been commonly proposed in the local archaeological literature (Bittmann, 1984; Contreras et al, 2007; Montenegro, 1981; Núñez et al, 1974; Schaedel, 1957) (see Supporting Information ).…”

A new record of kelp Lessonia spicata (Suhr) Santelices in the Sub-Antarctic Channels: implications for the conservation of the “huiro negro” in the Chilean coast

“…In the Chilean Los Lagos Region (41°S), between 2014 and 2017 landing increased from 494 to 747 dry tons of L. spicata (SERNAPESCA, 2019). This gradual increase should draw attention to kelp forest conservation, since there is evidence on sustainability problems that Lessonia populations have experimented and their biodiversity in northern Chile (Vega, Asorey & Piaget, 2016). This concern acquires significant relevance if we consider that the Magellan Sub-Antarctic Channels are the austral distribution range of L. spicata , where kelp forest populations are important for sustainability of small-scale fisheries (e.g., king crab; Cárdenas, Cañete & Mansilla, 2007), indigenous traditions (Ojeda et al, 2018) and terrestrial and marine biodiversity (Darwin, 1839; Rosenfeld et al, 2014).…”