Principal processes within the estuarine salinity gradient: A review

Telesh, Irena V.; Khlebovich, V. V.

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2010.02.008

Cited by 242 publications

(132 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The changes in community composition and richness often have consequences for the functional characteristics of whole ecosystems. Among the abiotic factors, salinity has been shown to have a particularly strong impact on the distribution patterns of species, including benthic and pelagic organisms (Remane, 1934;Wasmund et al, 1999;Cognetti and Maltagliati, 2000;Wetzel, 2001;Ysebaert et al, 2003;Ojaveer et al, 2010;Telesh and Khlebovich, 2010). As most multicellular organisms are either adapted to freshwater or marine environments, only few brackish specialists and species with broad salinity tolerance are found in the transition between marine and freshwater environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As most multicellular organisms are either adapted to freshwater or marine environments, only few brackish specialists and species with broad salinity tolerance are found in the transition between marine and freshwater environments. Consequently, these brackish environments, which occur frequently in coastal and estuarine areas, are characterized by reduced diversity in faunal and floral communities (Telesh and Khlebovich, 2010). Salinity has also been suggested to be the major determinant of microbial community composition (Wu et al, 2006), exceeding the influence of temperature and pH (Lozupone and Knight, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transitions in bacterial communities along the 2000 km salinity gradient of the Baltic Sea

et al. 2011

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Salinity is a major factor controlling the distribution of biota in aquatic systems, and most aquatic multicellular organisms are either adapted to life in saltwater or freshwater conditions. Consequently, the saltwater-freshwater mixing zones in coastal or estuarine areas are characterized by limited faunal and floral diversity. Although changes in diversity and decline in species richness in brackish waters is well documented in aquatic ecology, it is unknown to what extent this applies to bacterial communities. Here, we report a first detailed bacterial inventory from vertical profiles of 60 sampling stations distributed along the salinity gradient of the Baltic Sea, one of world's largest brackish water environments, generated using 454 pyrosequencing of partial (400 bp) 16S rRNA genes. Within the salinity gradient, bacterial community composition altered at broad and finer-scale phylogenetic levels. Analogous to faunal communities within brackish conditions, we identified a bacterial brackish water community comprising a diverse combination of freshwater and marine groups, along with populations unique to this environment. As water residence times in the Baltic Sea exceed 3 years, the observed bacterial community cannot be the result of mixing of fresh water and saltwater, but our study represents the first detailed description of an autochthonous brackish microbiome. In contrast to the decline in the diversity of multicellular organisms, reduced bacterial diversity at brackish conditions could not be established. It is possible that the rapid adaptation rate of bacteria has enabled a variety of lineages to fill what for higher organisms remains a challenging and relatively unoccupied ecological niche.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transitions in bacterial communities along the 2000 km salinity gradient of the Baltic Sea

et al. 2011

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“…killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus) where large daily variations in environmental salinity may occur with the tidal cycles in the estuary (e.g. Elliot and McLusky, 2002;Marshall, 2003;Telesh and Khlebovich, 2010;Potter et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diet influences salinity preference of an estuarine fish, the killifishFundulus heteroclitus

Bucking

Wood

Grosell

2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYUnderstanding the interplay among the external environment, physiology and adaptive behaviour is crucial for understanding how animals survive in their natural environments. The external environment can have wide ranging effects on the physiology of animals, while behaviour determines which environments are encountered. Here, we identified changes in the behavioural selection of external salinity in Fundulus heteroclitus, an estuarine teleost, as a consequence of digesting a meal. Fish that consumed high levels of dietary calcium exhibited a higher preferred salinity compared with unfed fish, an effect that was exaggerated by elevated dietary sodium chloride. The mean swimming speed (calculated as a proxy of activity level) was not affected by consuming a diet of any type. Constraining fish to water of 22p.p.t. salinity during the digestion of a meal did not alter the amount of calcium that was absorbed across the intestine. However, when denied the capacity to increase their surrounding salinity, the compromised ability to excrete calcium to the water resulted in significantly elevated plasma calcium levels, a potentially hazardous physiological consequence. This study is the first to show that fish behaviourally exploit their surroundings to enhance their ionoregulation during digestion, and to pinpoint the novel role of dietary calcium and sodium in shaping this behaviour. We conclude that in order to resolve physiological disturbances in ion balance created by digestion, fish actively sense and select the environment they inhabit. Ultimately, this may result in transient diet-dependent alteration of the ecological niches occupied by fishes, with broad implications for both physiology and ecology.

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“…Amongst the ecological requirements, habitat type is a key environmental filter for macroinvertebrate communities, determining both functional and taxonomic composition (Galuppo et al, 2007;Verdonschot et al, 2012;St Pierre & Kovalenko, 2014). Other environmental variables, such as salinity and temperature, have also been proved to structure macroinvertebrate, planktonic, and algal communities in transitional waters (Remane, 1934;Telesh & Khlebovich, 2010;Schubert et al, 2011). Significant differences in the benthic composition across space and time may indicate different levels of variability with reference to ecological patterns and processes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-scale functional and taxonomic β-diversity of the macroinvertebrate communities in a Mediterranean coastal lagoon

et al. 2017

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Benthic macroinvertebrate communities form the basis of the intricate lagoonal food web. Understanding their functional and taxonomic response, from a β-diversity perspective, is essential to disclose underlying patterns with potential applicability in conservation and management actions. Within the central lagoon of Messolonghi we studied the main environmental components structuring the macroinvertebrate community. We analyzed the β-taxonomic and β-functional diversity across the main habitats and seasons, over a year time frame. Our results outline habitat type and vegetation biomass as the major factors structuring the communities. We found environmental variability to have a positive correlation with functional β-diversity, however no correlation was found with taxonomic β-diversity. Across the seasons an asynchronous response of the functional and taxonomic β-diversity was identified. The taxonomic composition displayed significant heterogeneity during the driest period and the functional during the rainy season. Across the habitats the unvegetated presented higher taxonomic homogeneity and functionally heterogeneity, contrary the vegetated habitats present higher taxonomic variability and functional homogeneity. Across the seasons and habitats a pattern of functional redundancy and taxonomic replacement was identified. Besides high functional turnover versus low taxonomic turnover was documented in an anthropogenic organically enriched habitat We conclude that habitats display independent functional and taxonomic seasonal patterns, thus different processes may contribute to their variability. The framework presented here highlights the importance of studying both β-diversity components framed in a multiscale approach to better understand ecological processes and variability patterns. These results are important to understand macroinvertebrate community assembly processes and are valuable for conservation purposes.

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Principal processes within the estuarine salinity gradient: A review

Cited by 242 publications

References 17 publications

Transitions in bacterial communities along the 2000 km salinity gradient of the Baltic Sea

Transitions in bacterial communities along the 2000 km salinity gradient of the Baltic Sea

Diet influences salinity preference of an estuarine fish, the killifishFundulus heteroclitus

Multi-scale functional and taxonomic β-diversity of the macroinvertebrate communities in a Mediterranean coastal lagoon

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