Upstream dams and downstream clams: growth rates of bivalve mollusks unveil impact of river management on estuarine ecosystems (Colorado River Delta, Mexico)

Schöne, Bernd R.; Flessa, Karl W.; Dettman, David L.; Goodwin, David H.

doi:10.1016/s0272-7714(03)00175-6

Cited by 53 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Hence, soft tissues from bivalves such as Mytilus edulis, Crassostrea virginica, and other species have been used to monitor relatively short-term variation in trace metals, organic contaminants, and nutrients in marine waters (Chase et al 2001, Piola et al 2006, Valiela 2006. Shell material of longer-living bivalves such as Mercenaria mercenaria has been used to reconstruct historical ocean bottom temperatures, provide archaeologists with coastal occupation information, and assess historic changes in freshwater flow into aquatic ecosystems (Weidman et al 1994, Quitmyer & Jones 1997, Schöne et al 2003. Bivalve soft tissue and shell material, in combination, provide a potentially powerful tool to discern present and past environmental conditions.…”

Section: Photo: R H Carmichaelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen stable isotopes in the shell of Mercenaria mercenaria trace wastewater inputs from watersheds to estuarine ecosystems

Carmichael¹,

Hattenrath²,

Valiela³

et al. 2008

Aquat. Biol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Photo: R H Carmichaelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen stable isotopes in the shell of Mercenaria mercenaria trace wastewater inputs from watersheds to estuarine ecosystems

Carmichael¹,

Hattenrath²,

Valiela³

et al. 2008

Aquat. Biol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Many of these activities have deep roots in human history, but virtually all have intensified and become increasingly global in effect over the last two centuries and especially the last several decades (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6). Acquiring baseline information on ecosystems before the onset of human activities of a particular type or intensity is thus essential to evaluating anthropogenic impacts and to developing targets for remediation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Discordance between living and death assemblages as evidence for anthropogenic ecological change

Kidwell

2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

168

173

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mismatches between the composition of a time-averaged death assemblage (dead remains sieved from the upper mixed-zone of the sedimentary column) and the local living community are typically attributed to natural postmortem processes. However, statistical analysis of 73 molluscan data sets from estuaries and lagoons reveals significantly poorer average ''live-dead agreement'' in settings of documented anthropogenic eutrophication (AE) than in areas where AE and other human impacts are negligible. Taxonomic similarity of paired live and dead species lists declines steadily among areas as a function of AE severity, and, for data sets comprising only adults, rank-order agreement in species abundance drops where AE is suspected. The observed live-dead differences in composition are consistent with eutrophication (anomalous abundance of seagrass-dwellers and/or scarcity of organic-loving species in the death assemblage), suggesting compositional inertia of death assemblages to recent environmental change. Molluscan data sets from open shelf settings (n ‫؍‬ 34) also show higher average live-dead discordance in areas of AE. These results indicate that (i) live-dead discordance in surficial grab samples provides valuable evidence for strong anthropogenic modification of benthic communities, (ii) actualistic estimates of the ecological fidelity of molluscan death assemblages tend to be erroneously pessimistic when conducted in nonpristine settings, and (iii) based on their high fidelity in pristine study areas, death assemblages are a promising means of reconstructing otherwise elusive preimpact ecological baselines from sedimentary records.ecological baseline ͉ eutrophication ͉ marine communities ͉ paleoecology H uman activities affect living systems in many ways, directly by means of harvesting and indirectly by means of processes ranging from habitat conversion to climate change. Many of these activities have deep roots in human history, but virtually all have intensified and become increasingly global in effect over the last two centuries and especially the last several decades (1-6). Acquiring baseline information on ecosystems before the onset of human activities of a particular type or intensity is thus essential to evaluating anthropogenic impacts and to developing targets for remediation. However, such baselines have been unobtainable in many settings where human impacts preceded biomonitoring. Sedimentary records can be a powerful means of reconstructing ecological and physical environmental changes in such situations, by using a variety of proxies to extend chronologies beyond the reach of available scientific observations (7). Such records are becoming more widely used to determine the historical trajectories of ecological change and to assess the likely role of humans as drivers (7-10). However, in nonvarved, estuarine and open-shelf sedimentary settings, time-averaging of biotic assemblages (the mixing of durable dead remains from multiple generations within the upper part of the sedimentary column) has the ...

show abstract

“…A disadvantage of this approach in comparison to the tree ring records is the inability to construct a continuous annual time series greater than a few years in length. The species used in this study, Chione fluctafraga and Chione cortezi, can live up to 18 yr (Schöne et al, 2003) but after three or four years shell growth slows dramatically making detailed sampling of complete years difficult. Because our fossil specimens are dated to Ϯ50 yr using a 14 C calibrated amino-acid racemization chronology developed using Chione from the Gulf of California (Kowalewski et al, 1998), we can only sample one or two years from a shell within 50-yr intervals.…”

Section: Context Of This Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of oxygen isotope variation in shells of estuarine mollusks as a quantitative record of seasonal and annual Colorado river discharge 1 1Associate editor: K. K. Falkner

Dettman

Flessa

Roopnarine

et al. 2004

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

115

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Upstream dams and downstream clams: growth rates of bivalve mollusks unveil impact of river management on estuarine ecosystems (Colorado River Delta, Mexico)

Cited by 53 publications

References 18 publications

Nitrogen stable isotopes in the shell of Mercenaria mercenaria trace wastewater inputs from watersheds to estuarine ecosystems

Nitrogen stable isotopes in the shell of Mercenaria mercenaria trace wastewater inputs from watersheds to estuarine ecosystems

Discordance between living and death assemblages as evidence for anthropogenic ecological change

The use of oxygen isotope variation in shells of estuarine mollusks as a quantitative record of seasonal and annual Colorado river discharge 1 1Associate editor: K. K. Falkner

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About