Assessment of the impacts of an unprecedented heatwave on intertidal shellfish of the Salish Sea

Raymond, Wendel W.; Barber, Julie S.; Dethier, Megan N.; Hayford, Hilary A.; Harley, Christopher D. G.; King, Teri; Paul, Blair G.; Speck, Camille; Tobin, Elizabeth D.; Raymond, Ann E T; McDonald, P. Sean

doi:10.1002/ecy.3798

Cited by 47 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Sessile species, which are unable to retreat to cooler microhabitats, were especially adversely impacted. Barnacle and mussel mortality, and the accompanying foul odor, was reported by researchers and concerned citizens from the southern end of Puget Sound, Washington State, to the BC Central Coast 61 . Mortality was particularly pronounced in the Strait of Georgia, where temperatures were especially high, and low tides were centered in the middle of the afternoon.…”

Section: Marine Lifementioning

confidence: 96%

“…Scaling up to the entire barnacle zone at this site (18 m wide in the cross-shore direction) suggests this heatwave killed roughly 10 million barnacles along a single 100 m stretch of cobble shoreline. Qualitative surveys of barnacle and mussel mortality at other sites in BC and Washington State suggest that these high rates of mortality were experienced throughout much of Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia, with lower but still noticeable mortality further north along the BC Central Coast 61 .…”

Section: Marine Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

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The unprecedented Pacific Northwest heatwave of June 2021

et al. 2023

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In late June 2021 a heatwave of unprecedented magnitude impacted the Pacific Northwest region of Canada and the United States. Many locations broke all-time maximum temperature records by more than 5 °C, and the Canadian national temperature record was broken by 4.6 °C, with a new record temperature of 49.6 °C. Here, we provide a comprehensive summary of this event and its impacts. Upstream diabatic heating played a key role in the magnitude of this anomaly. Weather forecasts provided advanced notice of the event, while sub-seasonal forecasts showed an increased likelihood of a heat extreme with lead times of 10-20 days. The impacts of this event were catastrophic, including hundreds of attributable deaths across the Pacific Northwest, mass-mortalities of marine life, reduced crop and fruit yields, river flooding from rapid snow and glacier melt, and a substantial increase in wildfires—the latter contributing to landslides in the months following. These impacts provide examples we can learn from and a vivid depiction of how climate change can be so devastating.

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Section: Marine Lifementioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Marine Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

The unprecedented Pacific Northwest heatwave of June 2021

et al. 2023

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“…Characteristic patterns were identified thanks to the replication of surveys over consecutive years, which is a desirable approach for coastal biogeographic research (Raimondi et al, 2019). In addition to its inherent value to advance NW Atlantic intertidal biogeography, the resulting database on species distribution should also be valuable to quantify ecological change decades into the future as climate change and other anthropogenic influences unfold (Sagarin et al, 1999;Wethey and Woodin, 2008;Wilson et al, 2019;Menge et al, 2022;Monteiro et al, 2022;Navarrete et al, 2022;Raymond et al, 2022;Storch et al, 2022). In this sense, this study identifies environmental variables that could be monitored regularly to help predict possible biological changes (Herfindal et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeography of algae and invertebrates from wave-exposed rocky intertidal habitats along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia (Canada): Latitudinal and interannual patterns and possible underlying drivers

Scrosati

Freeman²,

Ellrich³

et al. 2022

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Biogeographic studies aim to understand species distributions and are becoming increasingly relevant to establish baselines to monitor ecological change. The NW Atlantic coast hosts a cold-temperate biota, although knowledge about its biogeography is patchy. This study documents for the first time biogeographic variation at mid-to-high intertidal elevations in wave-exposed rocky intertidal habitats along the open Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia (Canada), a hydrographically distinct subregion of this cold-temperate region. For this goal, we measured the summer abundance of algae and invertebrates at the same nine locations over four consecutive years (2014 to 2017) spanning 415 km of coastline, which allowed us to examine latitudinal and interannual patterns. In addition, we looked for mensurative evidence on possible drivers underlying these patterns, focusing on sea surface temperature, daily maximum and minimum temperature (which often happen at low tides at thus differ from sea surface temperature), pelagic food supply for intertidal filter-feeders (phytoplankton abundance and particulate organic carbon), drift sea ice during the cold season (which can cause intertidal disturbance), and species associations. Our field surveys revealed that northern locations can be severely disturbed by ice scour when drift ice is abundant and, while biological recolonization occurs over the years, it differs in pace among locations. Southern locations, instead, did not experience ice scour during our study and, thus, generally exhibited a higher species richness and abundance than northern locations. Multivariate analyses indicated that the aforementioned expressions of temperature and pelagic food supply explained together 32–55% of the variation in alongshore biogeographic pattern, depending on the year. Species association analyses suggest that algal foundation species (generally more abundant at southern locations) contribute to increase location-wise species richness. Mensurative evidence for bottom-up forcing in seaweed–herbivore and filter-feeder–predator systems differed greatly among years. Overall, in addition to its inherent value to advance NW Atlantic intertidal biogeography, our species distribution database should be valuable to assess ecological change decades into the future as climate change and other anthropogenic influences unfold.

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“…Climate models predict that by 2100 Salish Sea surface temperatures will increase by approximately 1.57 °C and estuarine and intertidal ecosystems, the ecosystems in which kelp crabs are found, warming more intensely by 3.23 °C ( Khangaonkar et al., 2019 ; Berry et al., 2021 ). Short-term, intense periods of warming due to atmospheric heatwaves are also becoming more common and have created large-scale shifts in the structure of kelp forests ( Berry et al., 2021 ; Khangaonkar et al., 2021 ; McPherson et al., 2021 ; Raymond et al., 2022 ). Atmospheric heatwaves are short time periods (2+ days) of elevated air temperatures, based on historical averages for a given area, that influence shallow nearshore environments ( Raymond et al., 2022 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding preferences and the effect of temperature on feeding rates of the graceful kelp crab, Pugettia gracilis

Johnson

Dobkowski

Seroy

et al. 2023

PeerJ

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Graceful kelp crabs (Pugettia gracilis) are abundant consumers in shallow subtidal ecosystems of the Salish Sea. These dynamic habitats are currently experiencing multiple changes including invasion by non-native seaweeds and ocean warming. However, little is known about P. gracilis’ foraging ecology, therefore we investigated their feeding preferences between native and invasive food sources, as well as feeding rates at elevated temperatures to better assess their role in changing coastal food webs. To quantify crab feeding preferences, we collected P. gracilis from San Juan Island, WA and conducted no-choice and choice experiments with two food sources: the native kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana, and the invasive seaweed, Sargassum muticum. In no-choice experiments, P. gracilis ate equal amounts of N. luetkeana and S. muticum. However, in choice experiments, P. gracilis preferred N. luetkeana over S. muticum. To test effects of temperature on these feeding rates, we exposed P. gracilis to ambient (11.5 ± 1.3 °C) or elevated (19.5 ± 1.8 °C) temperature treatments and measured consumption of the preferred food type, N. luetkeana. Crabs exposed to elevated temperatures ate significantly more than those in the ambient treatment. Our study demonstrates the diet flexibility of P. gracilis, suggesting they may be able to exploit increasing populations of invasive S. muticum in the Salish Sea. Warming ocean temperatures may also prompt P. gracilis to increase feeding, exacerbating harmful impacts on N. luetkeana, which is already vulnerable to warming and invasive competitors.

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Assessment of the impacts of an unprecedented heatwave on intertidal shellfish of the Salish Sea

Cited by 47 publications

References 17 publications

The unprecedented Pacific Northwest heatwave of June 2021

The unprecedented Pacific Northwest heatwave of June 2021

Biogeography of algae and invertebrates from wave-exposed rocky intertidal habitats along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia (Canada): Latitudinal and interannual patterns and possible underlying drivers

Feeding preferences and the effect of temperature on feeding rates of the graceful kelp crab, Pugettia gracilis

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