Sponge biodiversity and ecology of the Van Diemen Rise and eastern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, northern Australia

Przeslawski, Rachel; Alvarez, Belinda; Battershill, Chris; Smith, Tegan

doi:10.1007/s10750-013-1799-8

Cited by 24 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The cloudy (turbid) plumes that are generated can drift onto nearby benthic habitats, posing risks to ecologically important marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, seagrass meadows and sponge gardens 4–8 . The effect of suspended sediment on sponges in NW Australia is particularly interesting, because macrobenthic filter feeders can dominate in many locations 9, 10 . The response of sponges to the increased turbidity is not well known 11 , and this is a significant challenge to their effective management 12 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of suspended sediments on the sponge holobiont with implications for dredging management

Pineda

Strehlow

Sternel

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Dredging can cause high suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) in the water column, posing a hazard to filter feeding organisms like sponges as sediment may clog their aquiferous systems and reduce feeding. In order to provide pressure−response values for sponges to SSC and tease apart the cause:effect pathways of dredging pressures, five heterotrophic and phototrophic species were experimentally exposed to a range of dredging-relevant SSC of up to 100 mg L−1, with light compensation across treatments to ensure that SSC was the primary physical parameter. This study shows that some sponge species exposed to high SSC (≥23 mg L−1) for extended periods (28 d) have lower survival, increased necrosis and depletion of energy reserves. In contrast, SSC of ≤10 mg L−1 caused few, if any, negative effects and is thus suggested as a prudent sub-lethal threshold for sponges. Microbial communities did not change significantly among SSC treatments, although a nutritional shift from mixotrophy towards increased phototrophy was detected for some sponge species exposed to high SSC. Importantly however, it is expected that the combined effect of SSC with low light availability and sediment smothering as occurs during dredging operations will increase the negative effects on sponges.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of suspended sediments on the sponge holobiont with implications for dredging management

Pineda

Strehlow

Sternel

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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“…According to Figure 4, lithistid taxa are more likely to be found at <60 µM dSi, with the greatest relative frequency at <20 µM and <1,000 m. Some of them are known to build reef-like formations in habitats where dSi availability is low relative to that reported for the Hexactinosida reef-like builders (Maldonado et al, 2015a,b). Hypersilicified species lithistid (e.g., Leiodermatium spp) also cohabit with members of sponges without siliceous skeletons (i.e Dictyoceratida, Dendroceratida, and Verongiida) (Przeslawski et al, 2014(Przeslawski et al, , 2015 in relatively shallow habitats of northern Australia, with dSi concentrations <5 µM, exposed to strong tidal currents, high turbidity, and substantial sediment mobility (Przeslawski et al, 2011). As suggested by Maldonado et al (2015b), some lithistid species seem to benefit from heavy sediment deposition, and patterns of local circulation that might deliver food and Si in pulses.…”

Section: Lithistidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…De Laubenfels (1936) recognized that the spatial distribution of shallow water sponges is limited by strong environmental barriers (e.g., depth, light or temperature). More recently, the spatial distribution of marine sponges at local scales (e.g., 10 s of km; coral reefs, straits or gulfs) has been correlated to geomorphological features (Przeslawski et al, 2014), sediment properties, depth, distance to the coast, nutrient availability (including dSi), light penetration, hydrodynamics (Huang et al, 2011), deep sea currents (Cárdenas and Rapp, 2015), and biotic factors such as predation or competition for space (Huang et al, 2011;Pawlik et al, 2015;Slattery and Lesser, 2015). In general, these observations are replicated at regional or broader scales (e.g., >>100 km; seas or oceans).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Potential of Sponges (Porifera) as Indicators of Ocean Dissolved Si Concentrations

et al. 2017

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We explore the distribution of sponges along dissolved silica (dSi) concentration gradients to test whether sponge assemblages are related to dSi and to assess the validity of fossil sponges as a palaeoecological tool for inferring dSi concentrations of the past oceans. We extracted sponge records from the publically available Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) database and linked these records with ocean physiochemical data to evaluate if there is any correspondence between dSi concentrations of the waters sponges inhabit and their distribution. Over 320,000 records of Porifera were available, of which 62,360 met strict quality control criteria. Our analyses was limited to the taxonomic levels of family, order and class. Because dSi concentration is correlated with depth in the modern ocean, we also explored sponge taxa distributions as a function of depth. We observe that while some sponge taxa appear to have dSi preferences (e.g., class Hexactinellida occurs mostly at high dSi), the overall distribution of sponge orders and families along dSi gradients is not sufficiently differentiated to unambiguously relate dSi concentrations to sponge taxa assemblages. We also observe that sponge taxa tend to be similarly distributed along a depth gradient. In other words, both dSi and/or another variable that depth is a surrogate for, may play a role in controlling sponge spatial distribution and the challenge is to distinguish between the two. We conclude that inferences about palaeo-dSi concentrations drawn from the abundance of sponges in the stratigraphic records must be treated cautiously as these animals are adapted to a great range of dSi conditions and likely other underlying variables that are related to depth. Our analysis provides a quantification of the dSi ranges of common sponge taxa, expands on previous knowledge related to their bathymetry preferences and suggest that sponge taxa assemblages are not related to particular dSi conditions.

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“…Many marine filter feeding communities are dominated by sponges, which can form extensive garden-like environments characterised by high biomass and diversity [1][2][3][4]. In such environments sponges can significantly influence water quality and substrate conditions, and provide nutrition and vital habitat for many other organisms [5][6][7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sponge populations and communities generally lack effective management, to the extent that they have been defined as a 'neglected group' [17,18]. Two recent publications have examined sponge biodiversity patterns in northern Australia with a management perspective [4,19]. Worldwide, only a handful of monitoring projects have included sponges in their surveys and programs [20][21][22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of Sponge Biodiversity in the Pilbara, Northwestern Australia

et al. 2016

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This study assessed the biodiversity of sponges within the Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia (IMCRA) bioregions of the Pilbara using datasets amalgamated from the Western Australian Museum and the Atlas of Living Australia. The Pilbara accounts for a total of 1164 Linnean and morphospecies. A high level of "apparent endemism" was recorded with 78% of species found in only one of six bioregions, with less than 10% confirmed as widely distributed. The Ningaloo, Pilbara Nearshore and Pilbara Offshore bioregions are biodiversity hotspots (>250 species) and are recognised as having the highest conservation value, followed by North West Shelf containing 232 species. Species compositions differed between bioregions, with those that are less spatially separated sharing more species. Notably, the North West Province bioregion (110 species) exhibited the most distinct species composition, highlighting it as a unique habitat within the Pilbara. While sponge biodiversity is apparently high, incomplete sampling effort for the region was identified, with only two sampling events recorded for the Central West Transition bioregion. Furthermore, only 15% of records in the dataset are presently described (Linnean) species, highlighting the continuing need for taxonomic expertise for the conservation and management of marine biodiversity resources.

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Sponge biodiversity and ecology of the Van Diemen Rise and eastern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, northern Australia

Cited by 24 publications

References 51 publications

Effects of suspended sediments on the sponge holobiont with implications for dredging management

Effects of suspended sediments on the sponge holobiont with implications for dredging management

Assessing the Potential of Sponges (Porifera) as Indicators of Ocean Dissolved Si Concentrations

Patterns of Sponge Biodiversity in the Pilbara, Northwestern Australia

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