Reproductive dynamics of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus on the Galicia coast (NW Spain): effects of habitat and population density

Characterization of the reproductive cycle and physiological condition of Patella vulgata in the NW of the Iberian Peninsula: Relevant information for a sustainable exploitation

“…In general terms, the annual variation observed in SCI showed an inverse relationship with the reproductive cycle, with a first period of maximum energetic condition in mid autumn (September) prior to the reproductive season; a second period of high energetic expenditure between October and February, coincident with gonad maturation; and a third one of energetic restoration, from March to August. This cycle thus suggests that gonad development takes place at the expenses of energetic reserves stored before the spawning period, as has been observed in other marine invertebrates (Ouréns et al, 2013). In addition, the differences observed in the amplitude of the reproductive cycle in exposed and sheltered areas match with differences observed in the amplitude of the SCI cycle.…”

“…On the other hand, the use of nonlinear models for the analysis of temporal variability of biological cycles of marine species has made their interpretation easier in comparison to classic linear models, which require a great amount of interactions among spatial and temporal variables (Ouréns et al, 2013). In this sense, the adjustment of SCI obtained for P. vulgata through the use of GNLS has allowed us to assess the temporal variability of the physiological status of the populations and the effect of size and degree of exposure on its different components.…”

Reproductive cycle of the commercially harvested sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) along the western coast of Portugal

“…For instance, several factors are responsible for variation in gamete induction in sea urchins, namely hydrodynamics (Soualili, ), turbulence (Pedrotti, ; Soualili, ), depth, photoperiod, temperature, habitat, food availability and quality (e.g. Gago et al., ; González‐Irusta et al., ; Ouréns et al., ; Spirlet et al., ), primary production and phytoplankton blooms (González‐Irusta et al., ; López et al., ; Starr, Himmelman, & Therriault, ), and population density (Ouréns et al., ). Moreover, because P. lividus is characterized as an opportunistic generalist, there is a wide range of adaptive and reproductive responses to environmental conditions throughout the species’ distributional range (Boudouresque & Verlaque, ; González‐Irusta et al., ).…”

“…For instance, in sea urchin populations inhabiting highly unstable environments, with hydrodynamics causing fluctuations in temperature and salinity, the Td 50 is 10–20 mm smaller than those from stable environments, presumably because of greater investment in reproductive effort at the expense of somatic growth (Lozano et al., ; Turon, Giribet, López, & Palacín, ). To the authors’ best knowledge, the information available for comparing the Td 50 among populations of P. lividus is very scarce and apparently restricted to a study performed in Spain, which reported values of Td 50 ranging between 20.4 ± 1.2 mm at low density areas and 27.9 ± 1.2 mm at patchy areas (Ouréns et al., ).…”

“…This herbivorous species plays a key ecological role, and is considered to be important for maintaining species equilibrium in shallow environments by controlling the abundance and distribution of algae and seagrasses (Boudouresque & Verlaque, ). Whenever sea urchins occur at high densities, their feeding activity can eliminate erect algae and induce the formation of “barren grounds” dominated by encrusting algae (e.g., Benedetti‐Cecchi, Bulleri, & Cinelli, ; Guidetti, Fraschetti, Terlizzi, & Boero, ; Hereu, Zabala, Linares, & Sala, ; Jacinto et al., ; Ouréns, Fernández, Fernández‐Boán, Naya, & Freire, ; Palacín, Giribet, Carner, Dantart, & Turon, ; Sala, Boudouresque, & Harmelin‐Vivien, ).…”