Severe impacts of brown tides caused by Sargassum spp. on near-shore Caribbean seagrass communities

Tussenbroek, Brigitta I. van; Arana, Héctor A. Hernández; Rodríguez-Martínez, Rosa E.; Espinoza-Ávalos, Julio; Canizales-Flores, Hazel M.; González-Godoy, Carlos E.; Barba-Santos, M. Guadalupe; Vega‐Zepeda, Alejandro; Collado‐Vides, Ligia

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.06.057

Cited by 313 publications

(250 citation statements)

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“…Sargassum can also introduce non-native species, potentially threatening the existing state of local ecosystems (Macaya et al, 2016). The environmental impacts range from hypoxia, transport of non-native species, to economic losses in tourism and fisheries, making the monitoring of the algal mats an important issue for management and impact mitigation (van Tussenbroek et al, 2018).…”

Section: Sargassum Influx: Impacts Monitoring and Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future Ocean Observations to Connect Climate, Fisheries and Marine Ecosystems

et al. 2019

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Advances in ocean observing technologies and modeling provide the capacity to revolutionize the management of living marine resources. While traditional fisheries management approaches like single-species stock assessments are still common, a global effort is underway to adopt ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) approaches. These approaches consider changes in the physical environment and interactions between ecosystem elements, including human uses, holistically. For example, integrated ecosystem assessments aim to synthesize a suite of observations (physical, biological, socioeconomic) and modeling platforms [ocean circulation models, ecological models, short-term forecasts, management strategy evaluations (MSEs)] to assess the current status and recent and future trends of ecosystem components. This information provides guidance for better management strategies. A common thread in EBFM approaches is the need for high-quality observations of ocean conditions, at Frontiers in Marine Science | www.frontiersin.org 1 September 2019 | Volume 6 | Article 550 Schmidt et al. Ocean Observation Futures for Fisheriesscales that resolve critical physical-biological processes and are timely for management needs. Here we explore options for a future observing system that meets the needs of EBFM by (i) identifying observing needs for different user groups, (ii) reviewing relevant datasets and existing technologies, (iii) showcasing regional case studies, and (iv) recommending observational approaches required to implement EBFM. We recommend linking ocean observing within the context of Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and other regional ocean observing efforts with fisheries observations, new forecasting methods, and capacity development, in a comprehensive ocean observing framework.

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Section: Sargassum Influx: Impacts Monitoring and Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future Ocean Observations to Connect Climate, Fisheries and Marine Ecosystems

et al. 2019

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“…Excessive organic material leads to turbidity and reduced light causing hypoxia in seagrasses and corals. This has increased coral mortality and damaged seagrasses and associated fauna (Franks et al, 2016;van Tussenbroek et al, 2017;Louime et al, 2017). According to Spalding et al (Spalding et al, 2017) coral reefs provide nearly US$ 35.8 billion in net benefits of goods and services to world economies each year.…”

Section: Manuscript To Be Reviewedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(hereafter Sargassum) (Gower et al, 2013;van Tussenbroek et al, 2017). Since 2011, these extensive off-shore Sargassum shoals have appeared in unprecedented ways in oceanic waters off the coast of northern Brazil (De Széchy et al, 2012;Gower et al, 2013;Sissini et al, 2017), actually, this events of Sargassum blooms were registered on the African coast as well (De Széchy et al, 2012;Maréchal et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Peer Review #1 of "ERISNet: deep neural network for Sargassum detection along the coastline of the Mexican Caribbean (v0.2)"

2019

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Recently, Caribbean coasts have experienced atypical massive arrivals of pelagic Sargassum with negative consequences both ecologically and economically. Based on deep learning techniques, this study proposes a novel algorithm for floating and accumulated pelagic Sargassum detection along the coastline of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Using convolutional and recurrent neural networks architectures, a deep neural network (named ERISNet) was designed specifically to detect these macroalgae along the coastline through remote sensing support. A new dataset which includes pixel values with and without Sargassum was built to train and test ERISNet. Aqua-MODIS imagery was used to build the dataset. After the learning process, the designed algorithm achieves a 90% of probability in its classification skills. ERISNet provides a novel insight to detect accurately algal blooms arrivals.

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“…Suchley & Alvarez-Filip, 2018). In addition and more recently, the Mexican Caribbean coast has regularly experienced a massive influx of drifting Sargassum that accumulates on the shores and rapidly decomposes, resulting in near-shore murky-brown waters that rapidly increases nutrient concentration in the water column and reduces light, oxygen and pH levels (van Tussenbroek et al, 2017). These sargassum-browntides have been proven to have drastic consequences on near shore seagrass meadows and coral communities (van Tussenbroek et al, 2017), given the amount of Sargassum reaching the coast, these negative effects are likely to disseminate further offshore, reaching coral reefs (usually located 0.5-3 km from the coast).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Supplemental Information 1: Table S1. Monitoring Data by Site and Year on Coral Diseases From 2005 to 2019

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Caribbean reef corals have experienced unprecedented declines from climate change, anthropogenic stressors and infectious diseases in recent decades. Since 2014 a highly lethal, new disease, called stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD), has impacted many species in Florida. During the summer of 2018 we noticed an anomalously high disease prevalence affecting different coral species in the northern portion of the Mexican Caribbean. We assessed the severity of this outbreak in 2018/2019 using the AGRRA coral protocol to survey 82 reef sites across the Mexican Caribbean. Then, using a subset of 14 sites we detailed information from before the outbreak (2016/2017) to explore the consequences of the disease on the condition and composition of coral communities. Our findings show that the disease outbreak has already spread across the entire region, affecting similar species (with similar disease patterns) to those previously described for Florida. However, we observed a great variability in prevalence and tissue mortality that was not attributable to any geographical gradient. Using long-term data, we determined that there is no evidence of such high coral disease prevalence anywhere in the region before 2018, which suggests that the entire Mexican Caribbean (~450 km) was afflicted by the disease within a few months. The analysis of sites that contained pre-outbreak information showed that this event considerably increased coral mortality and severely changed the structure of coral communities in the region. Given the high prevalence and lethality of this disease, and the high number of susceptible species, we encourage reef researchers, managers and stakeholders across the Western Atlantic to accord it the highest priority for the near future.

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Severe impacts of brown tides caused by Sargassum spp. on near-shore Caribbean seagrass communities

Cited by 313 publications

References 31 publications

Future Ocean Observations to Connect Climate, Fisheries and Marine Ecosystems

Future Ocean Observations to Connect Climate, Fisheries and Marine Ecosystems

Peer Review #1 of "ERISNet: deep neural network for Sargassum detection along the coastline of the Mexican Caribbean (v0.2)"

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