Life after death: shallow‐water Mediterranean invertebrate communities associated with mammal bones

Abstract

Invertebrate and microbial marine communities associated with mammal bones are interesting and poorly understood habitats, mainly known from studies on deep-water whale remains. In order to characterize these communities in the shallow-water Mediterranean, we present here the results of a pioneering experiment using mammal bones. Minke whale, pig and cow bones were experimentally deployed on three different background communities: rocky substrate, soft-bottom and a Posidonia oceanica meadow. Bones were deployed for a year at about 20 m depth and collected every 3 months, and the invertebrate fauna colonizing the bones was identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level. As expected, mammal bones showed remarkable differences when compared with background communities. Within bones, four different clusters could be identified, primarily on the basis of the polychaete fauna, the most abundant and diverse group in the survey. Clusters A1-A3 corresponded to high to moderately altered successional stages composed by a fauna closer to that of anthropogenically enriched shallow-water environments. These clusters were characterized by the occurrence of the opportunist polychaetes Ophryotrocha puerilis, Neanthes caudata (Cluster A1), Protodorvillea kefersteini (Cluster A2) and Ophryotrocha alborana (Cluster A3). Cluster B was characterized by the presence of the polychaete Oxydromus pallidus together with typical invertebrate background fauna, which suggests that this community, after a year of deployment, was closer to that found in natural conditions. As opposed to similar shallow-water studies in other geographic areas, no occurrence of the polychaete Osedax (commonly known as bone-eating worms) was reported from our experiments. Apart from the study on the invertebrate communities, insights about the population dynamics of three of the most abundant species (O. puerilis, O. alborana, N. caudata) are given as well as remarks on a hypothetical trophic network based on fecal pellet analysis.

Cryptic species and colonization processes in Ophryotrocha (Annelida, Dorvilleidae) inhabiting vertebrate remains in the shallow‐water Mediterranean

“…Our molecular analyses of the two predominant taxa appearing in the experimental bones in the study by Taboada et al . (), that is O. puerilis ‘Shallow’ and O. alborana , showed contrasting demographic patterns. For O. puerilis ‘Shallow’, the most common organism in the experimental bones during the first two trimesters (Taboada et al .…”

“…Details about the experimental design to obtain O. puerilis and O. alborana specimens associated with mammal bones are found in Taboada et al . (). Briefly, bones from a caudal fin of a common Minke whale ( Balaenoptera acutorostrata Lacépède, 1804) [Wh] and vertebrae from cows ( Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758) [Cw] and pigs ( Sus domesticus Erxleben, 1777) [Pg] were experimentally deployed at about 20 m depth on the seabed of the Mediterranean coast of Blanes (NW Mediterranean, 41°40.536′N, 2°48.839′E) in March 2011 (Fig.…”

“…, ; Taboada et al . , ). In the Mediterranean, different species of Ophryotrocha have recently been reported in mammal bones (Taboada et al .…”

“…In the Mediterranean, different species of Ophryotrocha have recently been reported in mammal bones (Taboada et al . ), although most of them are well‐known dwellers of anthropogenically enriched habitats ( e.g . Simonini et al .…”

The early Pleistocene whale-fall community of Bargiano (Umbria, Central Italy): Paleoecological insights from benthic foraminifera and brachyuran crabs

“…Over the last two decades, research into modern and fossil whale-fall events (WFE) has increased considerably, providing new insights on whale-fall ecosystems (Smith et al, 2002(Smith et al, , 2015Smith and Baco, 2003;Goffredi et al, 2004Goffredi et al, , 2008Dominici et al, 2009;Danise et al, 2010Higgs et al, 2010Higgs et al, , 2012Lundsten et al, 2010aLundsten et al, , 2010bRoman et al, 2014;Taboada et al, 2016).…”