Will coral reef sponges be winners in the Anthropocene?

Lesser, Michael P.; Slattery, Marc

doi:10.1111/gcb.15039

Cited by 44 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 91 publications

(226 reference statements)

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“…However, climate change-driven increases in ocean temperatures can cause secondary physical changes in the water column such as stratification and changes in the mixed layer depth resulting in lower nutrients and net primary production. A reduced or altered food supply, especially in combination with an increased metabolism could cause the benthic fauna to starve (Sweetman et al 2017;Lesser and Slattery 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping cold-water coral biomass: an approach to derive ecosystem functions

et al. 2020

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This study presents a novel approach resulting in the first cold-water coral reef biomass maps, used to assess associated ecosystem functions, such as carbon (C) stock and turnover. We focussed on two dominant ecosystem engineers at the Mingulay Reef Complex, the coral Lophelia pertusa (rubble, live and dead framework) and the sponge Spongosorites coralliophaga. Firstly, from combining biological (high-definition video, collected specimens), environmental (extracted from multibeam bathymetry) and ecosystem function (oxygen consumption rate values) data, we calculated biomass, C stock and turnover which can feed into assessments of C budgets. Secondly, using those values, we employed random forest modelling to predictively map whole-reef live coral and sponge biomass. The whole-reef mean biomass of S. coralliophaga was estimated to be 304 T (range 168–440 T biomass), containing 10 T C (range 5–18 T C) stock. The mean skeletal mass of the coral colonies (live and dead framework) was estimated to be 3874 T (range 507–9352 T skeletal mass), containing a mean of 209 T of biomass (range 26–515 T biomass) and a mean of 465 T C (range 60–1122 T C) stock. These estimates were used to calculate the C turnover rates, using respiration data available in the literature. These calculations revealed that the epi- and microbial fauna associated with coral rubble were the largest contributor towards C turnover in the area with a mean of 163 T C year−1 (range 149–176 T C year−1). The live and dead framework of L. pertusa were estimated to overturn a mean of 32 T C year−1 (range 4–93 T C year−1) and 44 T C year−1 (range 6–139 T C year−1), respectively. Our calculations showed that the Mingulay Reef overturned three to seven (with a mean of four) times more C than a soft-sediment area at a similar depth. As proof of concept, the supply of C needed from surface water primary productivity to the reef was inferred. Since 65–124 T C year−1 is supplied by natural deposition and our study suggested that a mean of 241 T C year−1 (range 160–400 T C year−1), was turned over by the reef, a mean of 117–176 T C year−1 (range 36–335 T C year−1) of the reef would therefore be supplied by tidal downwelling and/or deep-water advection. Our results indicate that monitoring and/or managing surface primary productivity would be a key consideration for any efforts towards the conservation of cold-water coral reef ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping cold-water coral biomass: an approach to derive ecosystem functions

et al. 2020

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“…Increasing evidence suggests that sponges might be increasing in abundance as consequence of climate change and anthropogenic stressors such as eutrophication, overfishing or sedimentation (Loh et al 2015;Biggerstaff et al 2018;Chaves-Fonnegra et al 2018). Whereas the temporal persistence of sponge reefs and their functioning is still unclear and the subject of much current discussion (Lesser and Slattery, 2020;Pawlik and McMurray, 2020), an impeding limitation in hitherto existing studies is potentially the consideration of sponge reefs as a homogeneous entity. In fact, sponge species display marked divergence in their morphotypes and life histories, with some encrusting sponges such as Terpios hoshinota displaying turnover rates of months, whereas barrel sponges live thousands of years (Yomogida et al 2017;McGrawth et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond coral-algal regimes: high taxonomic resolution surveys and trait-based analyses reveal multiple benthic regimes

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Jackson

Rohde

et al. 2021

Preprint

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As coral reef communities change and reorganise in response to anthropogenic and climate disturbances, there is a growing need of detecting and understanding the different emerging species regimes and their contribution to key ecosystem processes. Using a case study on coral reefs at the epicentre of tropical marine biodiversity (North Sulawesi), we explored how application of different biodiversity approaches (i.e. use of major taxonomic categories, high taxonomic resolution categories and trait-based approaches) affects the detection of distinct fish and benthic community assemblages. Our results show that using major categories (family level or above) to study coral reef communities fails to identify distinct regimes. We also show that for detection of different benthic regimes, especially communities dominated by non-coral organisms, monitoring of only scleractinian coral communities is insufficient, and that all types of benthic organisms (e.g. sponges, ascidians, soft corals, algae etc.) need to be considered. We have implemented for the first time, the use of a trait-based approach to study the functional diversity of whole coral reef benthic assemblages, which allowed us to detect five different community regimes, only one of which was dominated by scleractinian corals. We circumvented the challenge that for some benthic groups (e.g. sponges, ascidians or some soft corals) visual identification up to the species level is not possible, by identifying and categorising traits that can be applied to groups of similar organisms instead of specific species. Furthermore, by the parallel study of benthic and fish communities we provide new insights into key processes and functions that might dominate or be compromised in the different community regimes.

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“…It has been suggested that sponges in coral reefs are more resilient than corals to the rise in seawater temperatures, and some argue that they may outcompete corals in such cases (Bell et al, 2013(Bell et al, , 2018. Others, however, claim that synergistic effects with additional factors (e.g., ocean acidification, reduction in nutrients, and pollution) will adversely affect their populations (Bennett et al, 2017;Lesser and Slattery, 2020). The effect of rising temperatures may be direct, by causing stress to the sponges themselves -evident by the expression of heat-shock protein (Itskovich et al, 2018), or indirect, by affecting the composition of the microbiota inhabiting the sponges (Webster et al, 2008a,b), in some cases creating favorable conditions for opportunistic or pathogenic microorganisms (Webster et al, 2008a;Laffy et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sponges in a Changing Climate: Survival of Agelas oroides in a Warming Mediterranean Sea

et al. 2020

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Sponges hold a key role in benthic environments, and specifically in the Mediterranean Sea. Past events of mass mortality in sponge communities have been linked to extended periods of high-temperature anomalies, yet it is unknown how a gradual change, such as the constant rise in global seawater temperatures, will affect biodiversity. Here we present a case study of Agelas oroides, a common massive sponge in the Mediterranean Sea, found at a wide depth range of 1–150 m. Last documented in the 1970s, A. oroides was considered lost from the Israeli coastal fauna. However, its recent rediscovery in mesophotic depths, where environmental conditions are stable, provided an opportunity to examine whether it can survive the present conditions in the shallow Israeli coast – where temperatures increased by 3°C during the past 60 years, while the nutrients concentration decreased following the damming of the Nile River. To test this hypothesis, A. oroides individuals were collected during winter from mesophotic sponge grounds (100–120 m) and transplanted to a shallow rocky habitat (10 m). Control individuals were transplanted back to the mesophotic habitat. Sponge survival, temperature, and nutrient concentrations were measured in both habitats. The shallow-transplanted sponges’ survival decreased only when the ambient temperature exceeded 28°C. In contrast, the control group at the mesophotic depth, where the temperature never rose above 20°C, survived the duration of the experiment. Our findings suggest that a prolonged period of high temperatures may constitute a major factor in A. oroides survival and disappearance from the Israeli shallow habitats.

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Will coral reef sponges be winners in the Anthropocene?

Cited by 44 publications

References 91 publications

Mapping cold-water coral biomass: an approach to derive ecosystem functions

Mapping cold-water coral biomass: an approach to derive ecosystem functions

Beyond coral-algal regimes: high taxonomic resolution surveys and trait-based analyses reveal multiple benthic regimes

Sponges in a Changing Climate: Survival of Agelas oroides in a Warming Mediterranean Sea

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