Ecosystem resilience following salinity change in a hypersaline estuary

Breaux, Natasha; Lebreton, Benoît; Palmer, Terence A.; Guillou, Gaël; Pollack, Jennifer Beseres

doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2019.106258

Cited by 16 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 77 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Macrofaunal community composition differed between habitat types, with crustaceans and polychaetes dominating at Serpulid reef habitat and bivalves and polychaetes dominating in soft sediments. While the population dynamics and community composition of Baffin Bay's soft sediment macrofauna has fluctuated greatly over time (Montagna and Kalke 1995;Rubio et al 2018;Breaux et al 2019), Serpulid reef macrofauna communities characterized in the current study are similar to those recorded historically, in particular compared to the most recent and probably most comprehensive study of Serpulid reefs in Baffin Bay, conducted two decades ago (Hardegree 1997). The deposit-feeding amphipod A. louisianum was the most abundant reef organism observed in both studies (Hardegree 1997: 71% of total abundance; current study: 60% overall, 70% at station R3), and the eight most abundant macrofauna collected in 1997 were among the most numerous (8 of the 10 most abundant species) in the current study.…”

Section: Biomass Enhancement and Serpulid Reef Macrofaunasupporting

confidence: 62%

“…Soft sediment stations SS3 and SS4 were previously sampled for benthic macrofaunal community analysis from 1989 to 1993 (as stations 24 and 6, Montagna et al 1993;Montagna and Kalke 1995). All soft sediment stations (SS1-SS4) were previously sampled from 2014 to 2017 (as stations BB40, AL1, BB24, BB6, Rubio et al 2018;Breaux et al 2019).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Salinity conditions in the Upper Laguna Madre, including Baffin Bay, are on average hypersaline (mean ± standard deviation = 35.9 ± 7.0; Montagna et al 2011). Salinity in Baffin Bay specifically is generally higher and has more spatiotemporal variability (2013-2016Montagna et al 2018) than the Upper Laguna Madre as a whole -2017Breaux et al 2019).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, commercially important Black Drum (Pogonias cromis), are three to six times more abundant in Baffin Bay than elsewhere along the Texas coast (Martinez-Andrade et al 2005;Olsen 2014). On the contrary, benthic macrofauna in Baffin Bay's soft sediments are sparse, particularly during periods of hypersalinity (Montagna and Kalke 1995;Rubio et al 2018;Breaux et al 2019), and Serpulid reefs are thought to contribute much of the biomass critical to supporting the exceptionally productive commercial and recreational fisheries (McKee 2008;Bohannon et al 2015). However, evidence indicates that Serpulid reefs have been reduced in size and distribution compared to historic levels, primarily due to wave action, prop damage from boats, and trampling from fishermen (Hardegree 1997;Tunnell et al 2001;Smith et al 2005;Chapman et al 2012), and conservation actions may be needed to protect and restore habitat.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Importance of Serpulid Reef to the Functioning of a Hypersaline Estuary

Palmer

Breaux

Lebreton

et al. 2021

Estuaries and Coasts

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

for their hard work on the project. We are grateful to Scott Murray and Dr. Mike Wetz for championing recent efforts in Baffin Bay and to the anglers of Baffin Bay for their input and donation of tissue samples.We would like to acknowledge the research of Dr. David McKee, and Dr. Wes Tunnell, whose findings helped to guide this project. Lastly, we thank two anonymous reviewers for providing useful suggestions and comments.

show abstract

Section: Biomass Enhancement and Serpulid Reef Macrofaunasupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Importance of Serpulid Reef to the Functioning of a Hypersaline Estuary

Palmer

Breaux

Lebreton

et al. 2021

Estuaries and Coasts

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Estuarine systems are susceptible to unseasonal rainfall because in the drier season salinity is typically elevated due to high evaporation, low rainfall and warm temperatures (Largier et al., 1997; Snow & Taljaard, 2007). Therefore, extreme precipitation will cause sudden changes in salinity and other drivers disturbing the community (Breaux et al., 2019) and the provisioning of ecosystem services (Dolbeth et al., 2011). Increases in the frequency of heavy precipitation events have already been linked to regime shifts in estuarine ecosystems in the United States (Paerl et al., 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population‐specific resilience of Halophila ovalis seagrass habitat to unseasonal rainfall, an extreme climate event in estuaries

Webster

Kilminster

Alarcón³

et al. 2021

Journal of Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

1. Extreme climate events are predicted to alter estuarine salinity gradients exposing habitat-forming species to more frequent salinity variations. The intensity and duramost estuarine biota will be resistant to some fluctuations in salinity via phenotypic plasticity in salinity tolerance, so the ecosystem resilience will depend upon the ability to resist and/or recover from the disturbance. This in turn is dependent upon the characteristics of the disturbance such as the direction, intensity, magnitude of change and the duration of exposure (Kültz, 2015;Lee & Petersen, 2003). Scientists are using frameworks to define ECEs such as marine heatwaves (Hobday et al., 2016), and to understand accurate predictions about ecological responses to climate change and identifies which populations may 'future proof' ecosystem resilience. 6. Synthesis. Following an extreme rainfall event, we found seagrass populations that are exposed to variable salinities recovered while those from a stable salinity environment were unable to recover within the study time frame. These findings expand upon existing evidence, derived primarily from other ecosystems, that show new sources of resilience may be uncovered by accounting for between-population variation.

show abstract

Phytoplankton community response to a drought‐to‐wet climate transition in a subtropical estuary

Douglas¹,

Xue²,

Hardison³

et al. 2023

Limnology & Oceanography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Arid subtropical climates often oscillate between drought and wet conditions, leading to a “flood or famine” paradigm for estuarine freshwater inflow, in which sporadic storm events drive dynamic changes in salinity and nutrient availability. Transitioning from prolonged drought to wet conditions can impact phytoplankton communities. The Mission‐Aransas Estuary, located on the south Texas coast, transitioned from a 5‐yr drought (2010–2015) to wet conditions (2015–2020), punctuated by several large flood events and the direct impact of category 4 Hurricane Harvey. Using an 8‐yr bimonthly sample set (2012–2019), we evaluated particulate organic carbon, chlorophyll a, nutrient concentrations, and accessory pigments to characterize the response of the phytoplankton community to these climate events. We found that phytoplankton biomass was diminished during severe drought and increased during prolonged wet conditions. The phytoplankton community switched from being diatom‐dominated during drought to cyanobacteria‐dominated following estuarine freshening, driven by lower salinity and increased nutrient availability. Seasonal fluctuations between taxa persisted regardless of climate condition. The drought‐to‐wet transition prompted a regime shift of the estuarine phytoplankton community to a new quasi‐steady state in the studied estuary. Globally, changing climate regimes may cause longer periods of extreme drought or wet conditions for estuarine systems. Detailed, long‐term ecosystem monitoring is necessary to fully evaluate ecological responses to extreme weather events, especially links between biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem function. These results suggest that oscillations between distinct wet and dry periods have lasting effects on primary productivity, phytoplankton community composition, and organic matter cycling in subtropical estuaries with long residence times.

show abstract

Ecosystem resilience following salinity change in a hypersaline estuary

Cited by 16 publications

References 77 publications

Importance of Serpulid Reef to the Functioning of a Hypersaline Estuary

Importance of Serpulid Reef to the Functioning of a Hypersaline Estuary

Population‐specific resilience of Halophila ovalis seagrass habitat to unseasonal rainfall, an extreme climate event in estuaries

Phytoplankton community response to a drought‐to‐wet climate transition in a subtropical estuary

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About