Natural Disturbance Shapes Benthic Intertidal Macroinvertebrate Communities of High Latitude River Deltas

Churchwell, Roy T.; Kendall, Steve; Blanchard, Arny L.; Dunton, Kenneth H.; Powell, Abby N.

doi:10.1007/s12237-015-0028-2

Cited by 11 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The Arctic lagoons spanning the northern coast of Alaska support diverse food webs that are subject to extreme changes in environmental conditions among seasons (Dunton and Schell, 1987;Churchwell et al, 2015). While higher trophic level interactions have been studied in this region of the coastal Arctic Ocean (von Biela et al, 2011;Harwood et al, 2015), less is known about the role bacteria and archaea play in C and N cycling and the coastal food web (Boeuf et al, 2013;Kirchman et al, 2014;McTigue et al, 2016;Kellogg et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Genomic Capabilities of Microbial Communities Track Seasonal Variation in Environmental Conditions of Arctic Lagoons

et al. 2021

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In contrast to temperate systems, Arctic lagoons that span the Alaska Beaufort Sea coast face extreme seasonality. Nine months of ice cover up to ∼1.7 m thick is followed by a spring thaw that introduces an enormous pulse of freshwater, nutrients, and organic matter into these lagoons over a relatively brief 2–3 week period. Prokaryotic communities link these subsidies to lagoon food webs through nutrient uptake, heterotrophic production, and other biogeochemical processes, but little is known about how the genomic capabilities of these communities respond to seasonal variability. Replicate water samples from two lagoons and one coastal site near Kaktovik, AK were collected in April (full ice cover), June (ice break up), and August (open water) to represent winter, spring, and summer, respectively. Samples were size fractionated to distinguish free-living and particle-attached microbial communities. Multivariate analysis of metagenomes indicated that seasonal variability in gene abundances was greater than variability between size fractions and sites, and that June differed significantly from the other months. Spring (June) gene abundances reflected the high input of watershed-sourced nutrients and organic matter via spring thaw, featuring indicator genes for denitrification possibly linked to greater organic carbon availability, and genes for processing phytoplankton-derived organic matter associated with spring blooms. Summer featured fewer indicator genes, but had increased abundances of anoxygenic photosynthesis genes, possibly associated with elevated light availability. Winter (April) gene abundances suggested low energy inputs and autotrophic bacterial metabolism, featuring indicator genes for chemoautotrophic carbon fixation, methane metabolism, and nitrification. Winter indicator genes for nitrification belonged to Thaumarchaeota and Nitrosomonadales, suggesting these organisms play an important role in oxidizing ammonium during the under-ice period. This study shows that high latitude estuarine microbial assemblages shift metabolic capabilities as they change phylogenetic composition between these extreme seasons, providing evidence that these communities may be resilient to large hydrological events in a rapidly changing Arctic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Genomic Capabilities of Microbial Communities Track Seasonal Variation in Environmental Conditions of Arctic Lagoons

et al. 2021

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“…Important habitats, such as low‐centered polygons and low‐lying basins (Cunningham et al 2016), are already drying up (Liljedahl et al 2016), possibly reducing suitability for nesting shorebirds. Rising sea levels, more severe coastal storms, and glacial melt rates are modifying sediments in Arctic river deltas, which reduce invertebrates, a critical food for thousands of post‐breeding shorebirds (Churchwell 2015, Churchwell et al 2016). Shrubs and predators (e.g., red fox) are increasing in the Arctic tundra (Tape et al 2006, Elmhagen et al 2017, Parrett et al 2022), making habitats less suitable and potentially more dangerous.…”

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Patterns in avian reproduction in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, Alaska, 2003–2019

McGuire

Robards

Liebezeit

2023

Journal of Avian Biology

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The Arctic Coastal Plain is one of the most important avian breeding grounds in the world; however, many species are in decline. Arctic-breeding birds contend with short breeding seasons, harsh climatic conditions, and now, rapidly changing, variable, and unpredictable environmental conditions caused by climate change. Additionally, those breeding in industrial areas may be impacted by human activities. It is difficult to separate the impacts of industrial development and climate change; however, long-term datasets can help show patterns over time. We evaluated factors influencing reproductive parameters of breeding birds at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, 2003-2019, by monitoring 1265 shorebird nests, 378 passerine nests, and 231 waterfowl nests. We found that nest survival decreased significantly nearer high-use infrastructure for all guilds. Temporally, passerine nest survival declined across the 17 years of the study, while there was no significant evidence of change in their nest density. Shorebird nest survival did not vary significantly across years, nor did nest density. Waterfowl nest density increased over the course of the study, but we could not estimate nest survival in all years. Egg predator populations varied across time; numbers of gulls and ravens increased in the oilfields 2003-2019, while Arctic fox decreased, and jaeger numbers did not vary significantly. Long-term datasets are rare in the Arctic, but they are crucial for understanding impacts to breeding birds from both climate change and increasing anthropogenic activities. We show that nest survival was lower for birds nesting closer to high-use infrastructure in Arctic Alaska, which was not detected in earlier, shorter-term studies. Additionally, we show that Lapland longspur nest survival decreased across time, in concert with continent-wide declines in many passerine species. The urgency to understand these relationships cannot be expressed strongly enough, given change is continuing to happen and the potential impacts are large.

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The interplay between terrestrial organic matter and benthic macrofauna: Framework, synthesis, and perspectives

et al. 2023

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Ecosystems are shaped by physical, chemical, and biological drivers, which affect the quality and quantity of basal energy sources, with impacts that cascade to higher trophic levels. In coastal, shelf, and marine habitats, terrestrial‐derived organic matter (ter‐OM) can be a key driver of ecosystem structure and function. Climate change is expected to alter land–ocean connectivity in many regions, with a broad range of potential consequences for impacted ecosystems, particularly in the coastal zone. The benthic compartment is an important link between the large organic carbon pools stored on land and the marine environment. At the same time, the macrofauna plays a key role in the processing, biological uptake, and fate of ter‐OM in the aquatic environment, with implications for coastal ecosystem functioning, benthic–pelagic coupling, carbon burial, and biogeochemical cycles. However, information about relationships between land–ocean connectivity (including ter‐OM loads) and coastal benthic community responses remains spread across disciplines, and a broad perspective on the potential impacts of a changing climate is still missing. Here, we explore the interplay between benthic macrofaunal communities and ter‐OM through a paired narrative and research weaving analysis, which combines systematic mapping and bibliometric analysis. The review describes the past development and status of the research field as well as the lack of information in some geographical regions and habitats worldwide. We highlight the role of macrofauna in carbon cycling and the growing evidence that ter‐OM plays a key role in the structure and function of benthic communities, not strictly limited to estuarine habitats. Climate change poses challenges for the prediction of future ter‐OM fluxes and potential macrofauna responses to this additional stressor, thus requiring new methodological approaches (e.g., multimarker approaches for OM characterization) and long‐term monitoring programs across different habitats and spatiotemporal scales.

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Natural Disturbance Shapes Benthic Intertidal Macroinvertebrate Communities of High Latitude River Deltas

Cited by 11 publications

References 49 publications

The Genomic Capabilities of Microbial Communities Track Seasonal Variation in Environmental Conditions of Arctic Lagoons

The Genomic Capabilities of Microbial Communities Track Seasonal Variation in Environmental Conditions of Arctic Lagoons

Patterns in avian reproduction in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, Alaska, 2003–2019

The interplay between terrestrial organic matter and benthic macrofauna: Framework, synthesis, and perspectives

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