Climate-Caused Abrupt Shifts in a European Macrotidal Estuary

Chaalali, Aurélie; Beaugrand, Grégory; Boët, Philippe; Sautour, Benoît

doi:10.1007/s12237-013-9628-x

Cited by 38 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…These results would appear to suggest that the structure and function of ecological communities are subject to significant changes under the influence of local and large-scale hydro-climates. In line with the previous paper by Chaalali et al (2013a), the purpose of the present study was to describe the structure and dynamics of the fish community of the Gironde estuary during the periods between ecological shifts (i.e. the inter-shift periods).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…impact of the Blayais nuclear power plant, Service d'Observation en Milieu LITtoral [SOMLIT]). We focused on the middle zone of the Gironde estuary for 2 reasons: it contains the greatest diversity and variations in biological communities including autochthonous, allochthonous and migratory species (Pasquaud et al 2012, Chaalali et al 2013b, and the surveys carried out in this area provide the most abundant and diverse range of data (Chaalali et al 2013a). …”

Section: Time Series Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first was detected at the end of the 1980s (circa 1988) and the second at the beginning of the 21 st century (circa 2002). The results of Chaalali et al (2013a) showed that the principal biological components of the ecosystem (zooplankton and fish community) shifted at the same time as the large-scale hydro-climatic indices and local hydro-physical variables. These results would appear to suggest that the structure and function of ecological communities are subject to significant changes under the influence of local and large-scale hydro-climates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Several authors have suggested that the Gironde estuary, like many other estuarine ecosystems (Goberville et al 2010), is going through a process of 'marinisation'. First termed by David et al (2007) and later used in several papers (Pasquaud et al 2012, Chaalali et al 2013a, it describes the process whereby marine waters flow far upstream into the Gironde basin, and thus into the continent, due to a drop in river discharge caused by the synergistic effect of reduced precipitation in the catchment area and increased water uptake for irrigated agriculture. The annual mean salinity has significantly increased in all sections of the estuary, though the trend is more perceptible in the downstream sections (Chaalali et al 2013c).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, this marinisation has led to a progressive increase in the number of marine fish species in the estuarine area (Pasquaud et al 2012). Recently, Chaalali et al (2013a) analysed an environmental and biological dataset encompassing the period between 1979 and 2009, and suggested that the Gironde estuarine ecosystem has experienced 2 climate-related AESs over the last 3 decades. The first was detected at the end of the 1980s (circa 1988) and the second at the beginning of the 21 st century (circa 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Abrupt shifts in the Gironde fish community: an indicator of ecological changes in an estuarine ecosystem

Chevillot¹,

Pierre²,

Rigaud³

et al. 2016

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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For decades, global climate change has directly and indirectly affected the structure and function of ecosystems. Abrupt changes in biodiversity have been observed in response to linear or sudden modifications to the environment. These abrupt shifts can cause long-term reorganizations within ecosystems, with communities exhibiting new functional responses to environmental factors. Over the last 3 decades, the Gironde estuary in southwest France has experienced 2 abrupt shifts in both the physical and chemical environments and the pelagic community. Rather than describing these shifts and their origins, we focused on the 3 inter-shift periods, describing the structure of the fish community and its relationship with the environment during these periods. We described fish biodiversity using a limited set of descriptors, taking into account both species composition and relative species abundances. Inter-shift ecosystem states were defined based on the relationship between this description and the hydro-physico-chemical variables and climatic indices defining the main features of the environment. This relationship was described using generalized linear mixed models on the entire time series and for each inter-shift period. Our results indicate that (1) the fish community structure has been significantly modified, (2) environmental drivers influencing fish diversity have changed during these 3 periods, and (3) the fish−environment relationships have been modified over time. From this, we conclude a regime shift has occurred in the Gironde estuary. We also highlight that anthropogenic influences have increased, which re-emphasizes the importance of local management in maintaining fish diversity and associated goods and services within the context of climate change.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 70%