Pleistocene marine fish invasions and paleoenvironmental reconstructions in the eastern Mediterranean

Agiadi, Konstantina; Girone, Angela; Koskeridou, Efterpi; Moissette, Pierre; Cornée, Jean‐Jacques; Quillévéré, Frédéric

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.07.037

Cited by 28 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 89 publications

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“…Dominance of the SBB otolith record by mesopelagic fishes is consistent with recent upward revisions, by an order of magnitude, of their biomass locally and globally based on scientific acoustics and net sampling 6 . Mesopelagic fish otoliths were abundant in surface sediments of the Western Mediterranean 17 and myctophid otoliths were abundant in the surface sediments of the NW Atlantic 18 and Pleistocene sediments in the eastern Mediterranean 19 . Our results for fossil otoliths are consistent with recent observations in the SBB.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mesopelagic fishes dominate otolith record of past two millennia in the Santa Barbara Basin

Jones

Checkley

2019

Nat Commun

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The mesopelagic (200–1000 m) separates the productive upper ocean from the deep ocean, yet little is known of its long-term dynamics despite recent research that suggests fishes of this zone likely dominate global fish biomass and contribute to the downward flux of carbon. Here we show that mesopelagic fishes dominate the otolith (ear bone) record in anoxic sediment layers of the Santa Barbara Basin over the past two millennia. Among these mesopelagic fishes, otoliths from families Bathylagidae (deep-sea smelts) and Myctophidae (lanternfish) are most abundant. Otolith deposition rate fluctuates at decadal to centennial time scales and covaries with proxies for upper ocean temperature, consistent with climate forcing. Moreover, otolith deposition rate and proxies for temperature and primary productivity show contemporaneous discontinuities during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age. Mesopelagic fishes may serve as proxies for future climatic influence at those depths including effects on the carbon cycle.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mesopelagic fishes dominate otolith record of past two millennia in the Santa Barbara Basin

Jones

Checkley

2019

Nat Commun

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“…Reviewing the paleobiogeography of the non-indigenous species found in the DAs informs us on why these particular species invaded the Mediterranean Basin and reveals the characteristics of the native and the non-indigenous fish species inhabiting the Mediterranean today. In contrast to native species, these non-indigenous species have not been present in the Mediterranean in the geological past (Agiadi et al, 2018, 2019, 2020; Girone et al, 2006, 2010; Landini and Sorbini, 1992; Nolf, 2013). We distinguish four groups of non-indigenous taxa based on their paleobiogeographic distribution.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Five replicate samples were collected at each depth, sieved on a 0.5-mm mesh, and picked entirely to obtain an adequate quantity of otoliths. The identification of the otoliths was based on their morphological characteristics (Nolf, 1985) through direct comparison with fossil and recent specimens (Agiadi et al, 2018; Girone et al, 2006) and using the literature (Gierl et al, 2018; Lin et al, 2018; Lombarte et al, 2006, 2018; Nolf, 2013; Rivaton and Bourret, 1999; Smale et al, 1995; Tuset et al, 2008, 2011). Unidentifiable otoliths were excluded from the analysis.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fishes are particularly important because they form the majority of organisms in the higher trophic levels of marine ecosystems, exercising control on the biomass of all other groups (Coll et al, 2010). Fish otoliths are one of the best tools for reconstructing past fish faunas; they are useful paleobathymetric and paleoclimatic indicators (Agiadi et al, 2017, 2018) and increasingly used in conservation studies (Jones and Checkley, 2019; Lin et al, 2019; Rowell et al, 2008; Schwarzhans, 2013a). Otoliths are aragonitic incremental stone-like structures in the inner ear of Teleost fish that facilitate sound and balance perception (Schulz-Mirbach et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Holocene fish assemblages provide baseline data for the rapidly changing eastern Mediterranean

Agiadi

Albano

2020

The Holocene

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The eastern Mediterranean marine ecosystem is undergoing massive modification due to biological invasions, overfishing, habitat deterioration, and climate warming. Our ability to quantify these changes is severely hindered by the lack of an appropriate baseline; most ecological datasets date back a few decades only and show already strong signatures of impact. Surficial death assemblages (DAs) offer an alternative data source that provides baseline information on community structure and composition. In this study, we reconstruct the marine fish fauna of the southern shallow Israeli shelf before the opening of the Suez Canal based on fish otoliths. We quantify the age of the otolith DAs by radiocarbon dating, and describe its taxonomic composition, geographic affinity, and trophic structure. Additionally, we test by radiocarbon dating the hypothesis that Bregmaceros, a presumed Lessepsian invader with continuous presence in the Mediterranean throughout the late Cenozoic, is a relict species. The otolith DA dates back to the mid-Holocene because 75% of the dated otoliths of the native species are older than the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, suggesting that the DA is a proper baseline for quantifying modern impacts. Consistently, 97% of the otoliths and 88% of the species we collected belong to native Mediterranean species. The native anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus dominates the DAs, although gobiids are the most diverse group (14 species, 28%). The DAs show similar trophic structure to present-day pristine Mediterranean coastal fish assemblages. Two non-indigenous species are recorded here for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, Amblygobius albimaculatus and Callogobius sp., highlighting the importance of DAs for detecting non-indigenous species. Finally, Bregmaceros otoliths are modern, not supporting the previous hypothesis that the taxon is a Pleistocene relict.

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“…Quantification of the time resolution of marine fossil assemblages has been limited so far to primary consumers, such as foraminifera, mollusks, and brachiopods (e.g., Kidwell et al, 2005;Krause et al, 2010;Albano et al, 2016Albano et al, , 2018Ritter et al, 2017). Fishes are important components of marine trophic webs, and their otoliths preserve species-specific morphology and great abundance in marine and lake sediments (Nolf, 1985) and offer paleobathymetric, paleoclimatic, and other paleoenvironmental information (Agiadi et al, 2018). Comparisons between shells and otoliths are meaningful because of their comparable durability due to similar size, mineralogy, and microstructure.…”

Section: Consequences For Paleocommunity Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiocarbon dating supports bivalve-fish age coupling along a bathymetric gradient in high-resolution paleoenvironmental studies

Albano

Hua

Kaufman

et al. 2020

Geology

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Studies of paleocommunities and trophic webs assume that multispecies assemblages consist of species that coexisted in the same habitat over the duration of time averaging. However, even species with similar durability can differ in age within a single fossil assemblage. Here, we tested whether skeletal remains of different phyla and trophic guilds, the most abundant infaunal bivalve shells and nektobenthic fish otoliths, differed in radiocarbon age in surficial sediments along a depth gradient from 10 to 40 m on the warm-temperate Israeli shelf, and we modeled their dynamics of taphonomic loss. We found that, in spite of the higher potential of fishes for out-of-habitat transport after death, differences in age structure within depths were smaller by almost an order of magnitude than differences between depths. Shell and otolith assemblages underwent depth-specific burial pathways independent of taxon identity, generating death assemblages with comparable time averaging, and supporting the assumption of temporal and spatial co-occurrence of mollusks and fishes.

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Pleistocene marine fish invasions and paleoenvironmental reconstructions in the eastern Mediterranean

Cited by 28 publications

References 89 publications

Mesopelagic fishes dominate otolith record of past two millennia in the Santa Barbara Basin

Mesopelagic fishes dominate otolith record of past two millennia in the Santa Barbara Basin

Holocene fish assemblages provide baseline data for the rapidly changing eastern Mediterranean

Radiocarbon dating supports bivalve-fish age coupling along a bathymetric gradient in high-resolution paleoenvironmental studies

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