Loss and Recovery Potential of Marine Habitats: An Experimental Study of Factors Maintaining Resilience in Subtidal Algal Forests at the Adriatic Sea

Perkol-Finkel, Shimrit; Airoldi, Laura

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010791

Cited by 139 publications

(149 citation statements)

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“…Furthermore, because Cystoseira spp. needs naked substratum to recruit (Perkol-Finkel and Airoldi, 2010) the timing of bare halos formation could be especially important in promoting the recovery of these algal forests. Thus another possible scenario is that when at low density, P. lividus grazing on Cystoseira spp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Role of two co-occurring Mediterranean sea urchins in the formation of barren from Cystoseira canopy

Agnetta¹,

Badalamenti²,

Ceccherelli

et al. 2015

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Airoldi and Beck, 2007). This is a result of their sensitivity to several direct and indirect human stressors (Perkol-Finkel and Airoldi, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of two co-occurring Mediterranean sea urchins in the formation of barren from Cystoseira canopy

Agnetta¹,

Badalamenti²,

Ceccherelli

et al. 2015

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science

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“…sea otters, Box 2), fishing or disease [57]. By contrast, where kelp forests have been replaced by algal turfs, sediments or mussel beds, recovery potential seems limited even when the proximate drivers of loss are removed [58,59], but assisted restoration can help [16].…”

Section: Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recovery of marine animal populations and ecosystems

Lotze¹,

Coll²,

Magera³

et al. 2011

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

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358

316

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Many marine populations and ecosystems have experienced strong historical depletions, yet reports of recoveries are increasing. Here, we review the growing research on marine recoveries to reveal how common recovery is, its magnitude, timescale and major drivers. Overall, 10-50% of depleted populations and ecosystems show some recovery, but rarely to former levels of abundance. In addition, recovery can take many decades for long-lived species and complex ecosystems. Major drivers of recovery include the reduction of human impacts, especially exploitation, habitat loss and pollution, combined with favorable life-history and environmental conditions. Awareness, legal protection and enforcement of management plans are also crucial. Learning from historical recovery successes and failures is essential for implementing realistic conservation goals and promising management strategies.A new focus on recovery An increasing number of studies have reported strong declines in marine animal populations and the degradation of ocean ecosystems over past decades and centuries around the world [1][2][3][4][5][6][7], leading to a widespread perception of empty oceans and polluted waters. Yet, throughout history, humans have responded to declining resource abundance and ecosystem degradation by implementing management and conservation measures. Some of these have been successful and resulted in recovery, whereas others have failed [3,8,9].Therefore, an important question to science and management is: how common is recovery among depleted populations and degraded ecosystems in the ocean? Today, many marine mammal, bird, reptile and fish populations are at low abundance, and several species are endangered or extinct on regional or global scales [5,[10][11][12]. However, despite long periods of intense human impacts, most marine species persist and some populations do show signs of recovery [3,8,9]. Similarly, many coastal habitats, including wetlands, seagrass beds, mangrove and kelp forests, and oyster and coral reefs, have been severely reduced or degraded [2][3][4]6], yet partial recovery has been achieved in some regions in response to protection and pollution controls [3,13]. Restoration attempts at an ecosystem level have often been followed by the return and recovery of former species assemblages and ecosystem functions [13][14][15][16][17], but some ecosystems have remained in an altered state [18]. Such successes could serve as important guides for efforts to prevent further biodiversity loss and enhance future recoveries.Despite a growing number of case studies on the recovery of specific populations or ecosystems, an overview of the general patterns and drivers of marine recoveries over historical timescales is lacking. A recent review on the recovery of damaged ecosystems found that many terrestrial and marine ecosystems can recover on timescales of a few years to a few decades after major perturbations [19]. However, most case studies in the review, especially among marine and brackish examples, included small, short-...

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“…Parravicini et al [178] show that the increase in temperature may be more complex than the simple prediction of species modifying their distribution range according to their thermal limit, near their boundary, with even a decrease in their cover on shallow rocky reefs. The worrying regression of Cystoseira and Sargassum forests, with several species locally and/or functionally extinct, seems to be related to overfishing (resulting in overgrazing by herbivores; see above), uprooting by fishing nets and coastal development, in addition to invasive NISs, rather than to sea water warming [34,66,102,157,179,180], but see [166]. As far as the Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows are concerned, a negative effect of warming is unclear; it can shrink its range near its warm limit (e.g.…”

Section: The Direct Impact Of the Sea Surface Temperature Warmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marine Biodiversity - Warming vs. Biological Invasions and overfishing in the Mediterranean Sea: Take care, ‘One Train can hide another’

Boudouresque¹

2017

MOJES

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Biodiversity means the variety of life, encompassing levels of complexity from within species to across ecosystems. Biodiversity therefore includes several dimensions: evolutionary scale (genetic, species, higher taxonomic levels and phylogenetic diversity), functional scale, organizational scale (patch, ecosystem, landscape/seascape diversity), spatial scale (from sample to local, regional and global richness) and heterogeneity diversity. Biodiversity can therefore be measured in different and complementary ways, thus involving the use of at least 200 different metrics, which can suggest different and contrasting conclusions. It is worth emphasizing that species richness may be the least appropriate metric, despite its popular acceptance. There is a growing tendency for stakeholders, managers, government officials, environmentalists, scientists, politicians and the media to focus, as concerns threats to biodiversity, on species richness and climate change. However, focusing on climate warming can mask other stressors that, today, and perhaps for decades to come, may have more impact on ecosystems than global warming. In the Mediterranean Sea, the overall impact of Non-Indigenous Species (NISs) and overfishing on species diversity, ecosystem diversity and ecosystem functioning exceeds to a greater or lesser degree the direct impact of warming. Drastically altered functioning patterns, and even new ecosystems are spreading throughout the Mediterranean Sea. This trend is likely to become more pronounced over the next decades. Ecosystem goods and services are also being profoundly altered, generally towards a decline, as illustrated by the overgrazed barren grounds of the eastern basin, which no longer support fisheries, by the impact of the Caulerpa meadows on the scuba diving business and the economic value of the fisheries of the western basin, by the brackish lagoon ecosystems and by the blooms of the introduced comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Black Sea, before the arrival of its predator Beroe ovata. Here, we draw attention to the fact that, at this moment and probably also in the future, the huge flow of NISs and overfishing constitute worrying issues, although largely ignored by stakeholders and political authorities. Take care: Un train peut en cacher un autre (one train can hide another; i.e. one danger may hide other unsuspected dangers), that is to say the impact of warming may contribute to hiding other effects, of at least equal gravity, such as biological invasions and overfishing.

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Loss and Recovery Potential of Marine Habitats: An Experimental Study of Factors Maintaining Resilience in Subtidal Algal Forests at the Adriatic Sea

Cited by 139 publications

References 50 publications

Role of two co-occurring Mediterranean sea urchins in the formation of barren from Cystoseira canopy

Role of two co-occurring Mediterranean sea urchins in the formation of barren from Cystoseira canopy

Recovery of marine animal populations and ecosystems

Marine Biodiversity - Warming vs. Biological Invasions and overfishing in the Mediterranean Sea: Take care, ‘One Train can hide another’

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