Effects of a mucilage event on the Mediterranean gorgonian<i>Paramuricea clavata</i>. II ‐ Population recovery after two years

Mistri, Michele; Ceccherelli, Victor Ugo

doi:10.1080/11250009609356138

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Gorgonians are very sensitive to mucilage, which can cause necrosis of coenenchyme and leave portions of axial skeleton bare (Giuliani et al, ; Mistri & Ceccherelli, ). Paramuricea clavata colonies may recover from damage caused by mucilage in a few years through recruiting juvenile colonies (Mistri & Ceccherelli, ). The present study shows that gorgonians may reduce the accumulation in the understorey by trapping the mucilaginous aggregates with their branches.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The understorey of gorgonian forests in mesophotic temperate reefs

Ponti

Turicchia

Ferro

et al. 2018

Aquatic Conservation

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1. In the Mediterranean Sea, dense populations of the gorgonian Paramuricea clavata shape marine animal forests, characterizing the seascapes of coralligenous habitats.Despite concerns for its health, with several anthropogenic threats and recent mass mortality events, mainly triggered by thermal anomalies, the understorey of its forests and the ecological processes that they promote are still little known. Here, the abundance and composition of epibenthic assemblages inside and outside P. clavata forests were investigated across the central and western Mediterranean Sea, by applying a multifactorial sampling design.2. In spite of the large variability in the structures of epibenthic assemblages at local and regional scales, the gorgonian understoreys share some common features, such as higher abundances of calcareous builder organisms and reduced invasion by the non-indigenous alga Caulerpa cylindracea, compared with the adjacent unforested rocky bottoms. Paramuricea clavata showed non-linear density-dependent relationships with algal turfs and non-encrusting algae belonging to the genus Peyssonnelia. Moreover, by entrapping benthic mucilaginous aggregates with their branches, these gorgonians risk topical necrotic lesions, but may reduce the suffocation risks for understorey organisms. 3. Overall, P. clavata forests may enhance bioconstruction processes and increase resistance and resilience of the benthic assemblages in the Mediterranean coralligenous habitats. This species and its forests, together with their understoreys, should be considered as essential elements of the ecology of the Mediterranean Sea, and therefore worthy of specific and effective protection measures. 4. Conservation strategies should reduce the risk of mechanical damage by regulating fishing activities, anchorages, and scuba diving where gorgonian forests are present. Moreover, when evident alterations are documented, restoration actions should be implemented to recover the integrity of gorgonian forests.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The understorey of gorgonian forests in mesophotic temperate reefs

Ponti

Turicchia

Ferro

et al. 2018

Aquatic Conservation

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“…This mass mortality event on hard bottom communities affected red coral populations shallower than 20 m after the summer of 1983 at La Ciotat (Ligurian Sea; Harmelin 1984). Since then, several other local mass mortality events affecting cnidarian and sponge species in hard bottom communities have been reported in the NW Mediterranean (Coma and Zabala 1992, Gaino and Pronzato 1992, Bavestrello et al 1994, Mistri and Ceccherelli 1996a,b, Rodolfo‐Metalpa et al 2000). A common feature of these previously reported mass mortality events in hard bottom communities is that they were all events affecting local scales of coast line.…”

Section: An Energetic Approach To Understanding Population and Communmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Previous local scale mass mortality events in hard bottoms were characterized by coenenchymal necrosis in cnidarians (Harmelin 1984, Coma and Zabala 1992, Bavestrello et al 1994, Mistri and Ceccherelli 1996a,b), and by a decay of spongine fibres in sponges (Gaino and Pronzato 1989, 1992, Gaino et al 1992). The cause of the sponge mass mortality appears to be related to a bacterial infection (Gaino and Pronzato 1989, 1992).…”

Section: An Energetic Approach To Understanding Population and Communmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal energetic constraints in Mediterranean benthic suspension feeders: effects at different levels of ecological organization

Coma¹,

Ribes²

2003

Oikos

116

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The aim of this work is to examine the role of food as a constraining factor at different levels of ecological organization in benthic littoral ecosystems. In the search for patterns in ecological systems, it has recently been documented that seasonality in the dynamics of benthic suspension feeders (BSF) in the Mediterranean Sea is characterized by summer dormancy. We review recent studies on seston availability in the water column and feeding and respiration by BSF in the Mediterranean. The objective is to assess whether a pattern across particular studies exists that could provide evidence of food as a constraining factor. A pattern emerges from these organism‐level studies, one which indicates the seasonal occurrence of an energy shortage in the taxa exhibiting summer dormancy. This energy shortage is closely related to low food availability and suggests that an energetic constraint underlie the summer dormancy phenomenon. The seasonal occurrence of summer energy shortage also appears to affect the dynamics of BSF at population and community level. In this sense, in late summer 1999, a mass mortality event of BSF affected several hundreds of kilometers in the Ligurian Sea (NW Mediterranean). The fact that the mass mortality event occurred in late summer and especially affected the taxa that exhibit energy shortage – such as anthozoans and sponges – suggests, that energetic constraints may contribute to the understanding of the mass mortality event. The energy shortage phenomenon may provide a mechanism to understand how the occurrence of anomalous climatic conditions may have induced the mass mortality of some BSF taxa. This review points out the existence of a common energy shortage phenomenon mainly related to low food availability as an important determinant of the dynamics of most BSF taxa at organism level in the Mediterranean. But this determinant also affects the dynamics of BSF at population and community level. Therefore, the extant data point up the crucial role of food as a constraining factor for benthic littoral ecosystems in oligotrophic areas like the Mediterranean, with important seasonal variations in seston abundance and composition.

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“…That may reflect more successful recruitment at that time, perhaps due to clearing of the substratum by the hurricane. Conspicuous settlement of new recruits, and population rejuvenation following intense disturbance events, have been reported for a temperate gorgonian (Mistri and Ceccherelli, 1996). The breadth of the peak in the P. elisabethae age distribution may be indicative of error in the age assignments and the variability evident in Figs.…”

Section: Population Structurementioning

confidence: 85%

Modular growth of a gorgonian coral can generate predictable patterns of colony growth

Goffredo

Lasker

2006

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

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The modular construction of colonial organisms can generate complex growth patterns that incorporate both growth and partial mortality. These patterns often confound simple age based descriptions of growth but, in some cases, modularity can generate predictable patterns of colony growth that are amenable to modeling approaches more commonly used in unitary organisms. Colonies of the Caribbean gorgonian Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae from a 20 m deep population in the Bahamas exhibit such characteristics. Mass was highly predictable from colony height, following a power function with an exponent of 2.1. Age, as determined from counts of annual growth rings was a good predictor of height and mass. The relationship between age and height was modeled using a Von Bertalanffy growth curve. Growth models from both the age:height relationship and from extrapolations of colony growth rates from another Bahamian population yielded similar but more variable results. Based on those data and previously published observations of spawning and survivorship, colonies reach sexual maturity at 5-7 y and can live to over 40 y. Using the Von Bertalanffy function to estimate ages from height facilitates interpretation of size frequency distributions and suggested enhanced recruitment on San Salvador Island following the passage of Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Although simple growth models do not characterize the variance inherent in modular growth, these models can provide useful tools for the interpretation of population data.

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Effects of a mucilage event on the Mediterranean gorgonianParamuricea clavata. II ‐ Population recovery after two years

Cited by 6 publications

References 23 publications

The understorey of gorgonian forests in mesophotic temperate reefs

The understorey of gorgonian forests in mesophotic temperate reefs

Seasonal energetic constraints in Mediterranean benthic suspension feeders: effects at different levels of ecological organization

Modular growth of a gorgonian coral can generate predictable patterns of colony growth

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