Factors shaping epibionts recruitment in the high Arctic (Isfjorden, Spitsbergen): A year-round investigation using experimental plates

Sowa, A.; Kukliński, Piotr; Weydmann‐Zwolicka, Agata; Bałazy, Piotr; Chełchowski, Maciej; Søreide, Janne E.; Ronowicz, Marta

doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2023.108281

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…On the other hand, those species may be more resilient to changes in the environment in comparison to (the previously abundant) H. scutulata. Notably, there was a large number of juveniles (organisms younger than three months) -of both bryozoans and serpulids (Sowa, pers obs based on Sowa et al 2023). That could be an indication of greater reproductive success in the spring and summer of 2020 or either a change in the timing of larvae release or the length of the pelagic stage.…”

Section: Environmental Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies of the hard-bottom assemblages in the Arctic tend to focus on one-year snapshots (Kuklinski and Barnes, 2005; Barnes and Kuklinski, 2005;Voronkov et al 2016;Evseeva et al 2023) or seasonal aspects of recruitment (Kuklinski et al 2013;Meyer et al 2017;Sowa et al 2023). One-year snapshots have allowed comparisons in macro space (Barnes, 2015) but rarely time (but see Watson and Barnes, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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They always say time changes things – a comparative study of epibenthic assemblage in high Arctic fjord between 2005 and 2020

Sowa,

Balazy,

Chelchowski

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Accelerated warming has been reported in the Arctic in recent years. Climate change forcing has been detected in many aspects of high-latitude ecosystem ecology. Given previous reports of shifts within the Arctic benthos, we anticipated changes when revisiting the structure of epibenthic assemblages colonising the shallow subtidal zone in Svalbard’s largest sill-less fjord, Isfjorden. To investigate that, experimental constructions holding replicate settlement plates (artificial substrata) were set up at two stations on the rocky bottom of southern Isfjorden in the summer of 2004 and were retrieved after a year of immersion. The same procedure was conducted again after 15 years, in summer 2019. The comparison of the samples from those two periods showed significant differences in assemblage structure. The most substantial change observed was a shift in species dominance suggesting a reorganisation of the assemblage. Most notable was a difference in the abundance of the typically Arctic bryozoan Harmeria scutulata (from 100 to 0 ind. per 100 cm2 between 2005 and 2020), which before 2004 was found to account for more than 50% of bryozoan individuals encrusting stones around Svalbard. The overall taxonomic composition was, however, representative of West Spitsbergen. The Arctic, particularly the Eurasia sector, has been under sustained climate change forcing long prior to the establishment of our field experiment, thus even the 2005 results may showcase an epibenthic assemblage in an already altered state. We think this emphasises how important robust baseline data are to provide crucial reference points to measure and understand change.

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Section: Environmental Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

They always say time changes things – a comparative study of epibenthic assemblage in high Arctic fjord between 2005 and 2020

Sowa,

Balazy,

Chelchowski

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…To date, few controversial field caging experiments, where all the predators larger than mesh cell size were excluded, provide almost opposite results depending on the system studied. Total predator removals favor solitary tubeworms and ascidians against colonial ascidians (Mook, 1983 ), colonial ascidians against solitary ones (Hiebert et al., 2019 ), and recruits of colonial bryozoans against solitary tubeworms and cirripeds (Sowa et al., 2023 ). Other field experiments do not show advantages in tolerating consumer control distinctly associated with unitary or modular organization (Osman et al., 1992 ; Sams & Keough, 2007 ; Vieira et al., 2012 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of a generalist mesopredator on modular and unitary sessile prey associated with a foundation species

Chava,

Artemieva,

Yakovis

2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Unitary and modular sessile organisms both dominate in marine benthic communities, commonly preyed upon by the same generalist predators. The differences between unitary and modular defensive strategies may underlie the ways generalist predators control community structure, but this has never been empirically examined. We hypothesize that the individual size of an omnivorous mesopredatory shrimp affects the relative vulnerability of unitary and modular prey and hence translates into community structure. In a short‐term laboratory microcosm experiment, we assessed the effect of the shrimp individual size on an epibiotic assemblage of red algae blades initially dominated by three species of modular bryozoans and a unitary serpulid tubeworm. We found that the individual size of a shrimp determines its effect on the prey community composition. Large shrimp stronger than small shrimp increased the proportion of unitary tubeworms among the epibionts surviving predation. While large shrimp reduced the proportions of all the three dominant bryozoan species, small shrimp, in contrast, mostly increased the proportion of a bryozoan species with the smallest modules and largest colonies. This bryozoan, like the tubeworms, demonstrated a higher survival rate with larger individual (colony) size. Yet, against large shrimp this bryozoan was outperformed by the largest tubeworms almost immune to predation. Partial predation by small shrimp modestly improved survival of the largest bryozoan colonies. Thus, relative vulnerability of unitary and modular prey is determined by the predator individual size. Our findings clarify the complex way the size structures of generalist consumers and their prey shape communities by affecting the species‐specific relative performance of modular and unitary organisms. The demography of a foundation species and the competitive hierarchy can have additional effects by altering the balance of predation and competition.

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Sea water temperature and light intensity at high-Arctic subtidal shallows – 16 years perspective

Moreno,

Sowa,

Reginia

et al. 2024

Sci Data

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Manifestations of climate change in the Arctic include an increase in water temperatures and massive loss of sea ice enabling more light penetration. Yet to understand tempo and scale of these parameters change over time, constant monitoring is needed. We present 16-yr long-term datasets of sea water temperature and relative light intensity at two depth strata (8 and 14 ± 1 m) of two hard-bottom sites in southern Isfjorden proper (Spitsbergen, 78°N). The high temporal resolution of the datasets (every 30 min, between 2006–2022) makes them suitable for studying changes at a local scale, correlating environmental variability with observed processes in benthic assemblages, and serving as ground-truth for comparison with, for example, remotely sensed or mooring data. These datasets serve as baseline for long-term investigations in the shallows of a high-Arctic fjord undergoing severe environmental changes.

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Factors shaping epibionts recruitment in the high Arctic (Isfjorden, Spitsbergen): A year-round investigation using experimental plates

Cited by 4 publications

References 61 publications

They always say time changes things – a comparative study of epibenthic assemblage in high Arctic fjord between 2005 and 2020

They always say time changes things – a comparative study of epibenthic assemblage in high Arctic fjord between 2005 and 2020

Effect of a generalist mesopredator on modular and unitary sessile prey associated with a foundation species

Sea water temperature and light intensity at high-Arctic subtidal shallows – 16 years perspective

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