Mesophotic coral ecosystems under anthropogenic stress: a case study at Ponce, Puerto Rico

Appeldoorn, Richard S.; Ballantine, David L.; Bejarano, Ivonne; Carlo, Milton; Nemeth, Michael; Otero, Ernesto; Pagan, Francisco; Ruiz, Héctor; Schizas, Nikolaos V.; Sherman, Clark; Weil, Ernesto

doi:10.1007/s00338-015-1360-5

Cited by 51 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…In contrast, one of the most impacted mesophotic sites, Ponce has a narrow insular shelf and hosts several river outlets, a commercial port, a regional sewage treatment plant with associated deep water outfall, and three deep dredge disposal sites (Appeldoorn et al 2015). MCEs of Ponce receive higher (16x) rates of sedimentation and enriched 15 N (an indicator of sewage) concentrations than off La Parguera, a less impacted site.…”

Section: Discussion Biologicalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mesophotic coral ecosystems are light-dependent benthic communities starting at 30-40 m and extending to over 150 m depth; they are usually found in the upper insular and continental slopes of the Caribbean region (Locker et al 2010;Sherman et al 2010Sherman et al , 2013Appeldoorn et al 2015). The structural habitat associated with the mesophotic zone includes coral, sponge, and algal communities (Hinderstein et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The substrata that support mesophotic coral communities consist of limestone structures and rhodolith banks providing a suitable hard substrate when agglutinated into solid banks by red coralline algae (Fricke and Meischner 1985;Littler et al 1991;García-Sais et al 2008;Rivero-Calle et al 2008). Advances in technical scientific diving and instrumentation such as mixed gas diving with rebreathers provide access to work safely on depths unattainable with traditional SCUBA (Sherman et al 2009(Sherman et al , 2013Jessup 2014;Appeldoorn et al 2015) and sample specific substrata minimizing damage of the habitat.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Morphological and genetic species diversity in ostracods (Crustacea: Oligostraca) from Caribbean reefs

2016

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The taxonomy and ecology of ostracods in the Caribbean remain incomplete, even though they are among the most successful and ubiquitous microcrustaceans of marine ecosystems. In an effort to enhance our knowledge of the biodiversity, abundance, and distribution of benthic ostracods, several sediment samples were collected from mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) of Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands at different depths (30-102 m) using technical diving. The highest densities of ostracods were found in the deepest samples (≥61 m), and these were the most abundant and diverse assemblages. All ostracods collected belong to the subclasses Myodocopa Sars and Podocopa Sars. Myodocopa was represented by the families Cypridinidae Baird, Polycopidae Sars, Sarsiellidae Brady & N o r m a n , R u t i d e r m a t i d a e B r a d y & N o r m a n , Cylindroleberididae Müller, and Philomedidae Müller. On the other hand, Podocopa was represented by the following families: Bairdiidae Sars, Pontocyprididae Müller, Candonidae Kaufmann (subfamily Paracypridinae Sars), Macrocyprididae Müller, Loxoconchidae Sars, Xestoleberididae Sars, Cytherellidae Sars and Cytheromatidae Elofson. The subclass Podocopa showed the highest number of individuals and species. There was a~100 % correspondence between morphologically identified species and genetically defined species through a short region of the nuclear large subunit ribosomal DNA, which was shown to be appropriate for species recognition and discrimination in ostracods. Using a morphological (shell shape and ornamentation) and molecular barcoding approach (28S rDNA), we provide the first report of the biodiversity of ostracods in the mesophotic coral ecosystems of northeastern Caribbean.

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Section: Discussion Biologicalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Morphological and genetic species diversity in ostracods (Crustacea: Oligostraca) from Caribbean reefs

2016

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“…Land-based sources of sedimentation/turbidity, eutrophication, and pollution all threaten MCEs. Appeldoorn et al (2016) compared adverse anthropogenic impacts on MCE benthic and fish communities off the south coast of Puerto Rico and discuss management implications. The exploratory work was conducted through a series of remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dives (72 and 111 m depth) and diver-based phototransects (50-70 m depth).…”

Section: Conservation and Management Of Mcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies of anthropogenic impacts within MCEs are still under-represented because of the paucity of studies, the inherent bias to study well-developed, healthy MCEs, and the difficulty and expense in working at these depths (Appeldoorn et al 2016). The primary threats to MCEs are the same as to SWRs (overfishing, water quality degradation, habitat destruction, invasive species, disease, climate change).…”

Section: Gaps Priorities and Recommendations For Future Research Onmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theme section on mesophotic coral ecosystems: advances in knowledge and future perspectives

et al. 2016

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The Second International Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems (MCEs) workshop was held in Eilat, Israel, October 26-31, 2014. Here we provide an account of: (1) advances in our knowledge of MCE ecology, including the central question of the potential vertical connectivity between MCEs and shallow-water reefs (SWRs), and that of the validity of the deep-reef refugia hypothesis (DRRH); (2) the contribution of the 2014 MCE workshop to the central question presented in (1), as well as its contribution to novel MCE studies on corals, sponges, fish, and crabs; and (3) gaps, priorities, and recommendations for future research stemming from the workshop. Despite their close proximity to well-studied SWRs, and the growing evidence of their importance, our scientific knowledge of MCEs is still in its infancy. During the last five years, we have witnessed an ever-increasing scientific interest in MCEs, expressed in the exponential increase in the number of publications studying this unique environment. The emerging consensus is that lower MCE benthic assemblages represent unique communities, either of separate species or genetically distinct individuals within species, and any significant support for the DRRH will be limited to upper MCEs. Determining the health and stability of MCEs, their biodiversity, and the degree of genetic connectivity among SWRs and MCEs, will ultimately indicate the ability of MCEs to contribute to the resilience of SWRs and help to guide future management and conservation strategies. MCEs deserve therefore management consideration in their own right. With the technological advancements taking place in recent years that facilitate access to MCEs, the prospects for exciting and innovative discoveries resulting from MCE research, spanning a wide variety of fields, are immense.

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Limited potential of deep reefs to serve as refuges for tropical Southwestern Atlantic corals

Morais

Santos

2018

Ecosphere

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The deep reef refuge hypothesis (DRRH) predicts that deep coral reefs may act as refuges against major disturbances affecting shallow reefs, but to date, a few studies have explicitly examined its validity at the community level. We sampled 19 Brazilian reefs distributed between 3 and 61 m depth and tested five DRRH predictions regarding species diversity, distribution, and functional profile of communities. The first prediction was that deep reefs (>30 m depth) should host greater gamma diversity to be able to export species to shallow reefs (<30 m). Second, depth‐generalist species should dominate the shallow reefs; otherwise, local extirpation in shallow areas could not be reverted by the deep reefs. Third, alpha diversity should be greater in deep reefs due to reduced anthropogenic pressure in deeper areas. Fourth, beta diversity should be smaller among shallow than deep reefs due to the human‐induced spread of a few disturbance‐adapted species near sea surface. Finally, the functional composition of shallow reefs should be a subset from that of deep reefs to allow functional recovering of shallower areas. Contrary to expectations, coral communities presented twice more gamma diversity in shallow than deep reefs (13 vs. seven effective species) and only three out of 17 species occurred along the entire gradient. Additionally, the alpha diversity of rare, typical, and dominant species was similar between shallow and deep reefs, and the beta diversity of rare and typical species was about 50% greater in shallow than deep reefs. Supporting the DRRH, coral communities of both reefs were dominated by reef‐building, zooxanthellated, gonochoric corals with brooding or broadcast reproductive mode (Siderastrea stellata and Montastraea cavernosa). However, soft corals were observed only in shallow reefs and azooxanthellated corals were recorded only in deep reefs. These findings revealed a limited potential of deep reefs to serve as refuges for Southwestern Atlantic coral communities, though they may work for two depth‐generalist dominant species. We strongly recommend preventing human disturbances at any depth and including both shallow and deep reefs in regional conservation actions.

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Mesophotic coral ecosystems under anthropogenic stress: a case study at Ponce, Puerto Rico

Cited by 51 publications

References 45 publications

Morphological and genetic species diversity in ostracods (Crustacea: Oligostraca) from Caribbean reefs

Morphological and genetic species diversity in ostracods (Crustacea: Oligostraca) from Caribbean reefs

Theme section on mesophotic coral ecosystems: advances in knowledge and future perspectives

Limited potential of deep reefs to serve as refuges for tropical Southwestern Atlantic corals

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