Shipwrecks help invasive coral to expand range in the Atlantic Ocean

Soares, Marcelo de Oliveira; Salani, Sula; Paiva, Sandra Vieira; Braga, Marcus Davis Andrade

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111394

Cited by 43 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…One hypothesis is that dispersal occurs through biofouling on mobile oil/gas platforms (Seebens et al 2013;Williams et al 2013;Creed et al 2017a). Oil/gas platforms and shipwrecks can act as stepping stones that can further assist in dispersal (Hickerson et al 2008;Soares et al 2020). This is reinforced by Tubastraea sp.…”

Section: Supplementary Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of Tubastraea coccinea invasion and likelihood of further expansion in the northern Gulf of Mexico

et al. 2020

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Invasive species have large economic and ecological impacts and are the leading driver of extinction for both plants and animals worldwide. In the USA, coral reefs, which provide $3.4 billion per year in ecosystem services, are impacted by invasive marine species. One such species is Tubastraea coccinea, which was the first scleractinia to invade the western Atlantic and recently has spread to natural reefs within the northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM). We document this recent invasion by compiling occurrence records, develop a species distribution model identifying important determinants of invasion, and project potential range expansion. Our results indicate T. coccinea currently is distributed along the GoM coast from the Florida Keys to southern Texas, with documented localities clustered ≈ 100 km off the Louisiana coast and ≈ 200 km off the Texas coast, and sparsely distributed elsewhere. Our species distribution model identified five environmental factors that together contribute > 99% to the overall model. These factors include two surface variables (mean pH and mean calcite, contributing ≈ 40%) and three benthic variables (maximum current velocity, minimum iron, and minimum dissolved oxygen, contributing ≈ 60%). Our model suggests potential habitat for range expansion is distributed mainly within the western portion of the northern GoM, with the highest probabilities of occurrence (0.8 < P < 1.0) clustered along the Texas and Louisiana coasts between 88 and 97°W (near the border between states).

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Section: Supplementary Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of Tubastraea coccinea invasion and likelihood of further expansion in the northern Gulf of Mexico

et al. 2020

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“…For example, some species of genus Iotrochota is found in sheltered environments (Cleary & Voogd 2007) as seen in our observation (Image 2C). Similarly, shipwrecks are also known to act as a successful substrate for many non-native species as reported from the Atlantic and the Red Sea (Perkol-Finkel et al 2006;Soares et al 2020). Repeated encounter of Tubastrea aff.…”

Section: Commentsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Additionally, the Andaman Sea possesses several shipwrecks (Kheawwongjan & Kim 2012) acting as artificial reef ecosystems knowledge pertaining to which is mostly limited in the region. These sunken structures provide space for growth and establishment of various sessile marine communities like poriferans (Walker et al 2007;Lira et al 2010) and other non-native species (Patro et al 2015;Soares et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First report of marine sponge Chelonaplysilla delicata (Demospongiae: Darwinellidae) from the Andaman Sea/Indian Ocean with a baseline information of epifauna on a mesophotic shipwreck

Das

Immanuel

Lakra

et al. 2019

Preprint

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During a biodiversity assessment on an upper mesophotic artificial reef of Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Shipwreck: HMIS Sophie Marie/HMIS SM), a single specimen of sponge Chelonaplysilla delicata was recorded. Our finding confirms the species taxonomy and highlights the current observation as a first report from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Indian Ocean. The baseline diversity of epifaunal assemblage is further reported in this study.

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“…Atlantic, beta diversity, Brazil, functional diversity, Hill numbers, phylogenetic diversity, reef fishes, species diversity reefs. Soares et al (2020) have demonstrated the role of shipwrecks as a network of stepping stones for the sun coral Tubastraea tagusensis spread in the Atlantic Ocean, creating complementary paths for the invasiveness by overcoming physiological traits and the short life span of the coral larvae. Artificial structures may also favour the overexploitation of fishing stocks, drive species to local extinction and cause chemical pollution (Grossman et al, 1997), eroding diversity at both local and regional scales.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Centenary shipwrecks reveal the limits of artificial habitats in protecting regional reef fish diversity

Medeiros

Ferreira

Betancur‐R

et al. 2021

Journal of Applied Ecology

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1. The sinking of artificial structures has become increasingly common around the world, but whether the artificial structures favour or disfavour fish diversity remain under debate. Sinking may empty the nearby natural reefs locally and regionally by attracting their biota. Conversely, it may improve environmental conditions for species survival and reproduction, acting as source of diversity at the local and regional levels.2. We tested these contrasting hypotheses by assessing the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of 12 fish communities in Northeast Brazil: four ageing (>100-year-old) shipwrecks and eight surrounding natural reefs at comparable depths and distances. We partitioned the gamma diversity of artificial and natural reef communities into independent alpha and beta components, accounted for species' abundance and assessed whether beta patterns were mostly driven by spatial turnover or nestedness.3. We recorded 6,335 individuals distributed in 88 fish species and 38 families. While artificial and natural reefs shared 50 species (57%), 21 species (24%) were exclusive to the artificial reefs, suggesting that the nearby natural reefs-the most likely original source of these exclusive species-do not harbour them anymore. Alpha diversity of typical and dominant species did not significantly differ between the reef types, but alpha diversity of rare species was taxonomically, functionally and phylogenetically higher in artificial reefs, indicating positive effects of the structures at the local scale. 4. By contrast, regional beta diversity was higher in natural reefs in terms of taxonomic and functional diversity, regardless of species abundance. Pairwise beta diversity indicated that turnover had a large effect on the compositional dissimilarity in both reef types, whereas nestedness was almost irrelevant in artificial reefs. Synthesis and applications.Artificial structures such as shipwrecks may promote the co-occurrence of rare species, but they are unable to produce the beta diversity patterns that natural reefs do, even following many decades of colonization.Although artificial habitats host a significant portion of the regional reef fish diversity, they may have also contributed to the degradation of nearby natural reefs.

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Shipwrecks help invasive coral to expand range in the Atlantic Ocean

Cited by 43 publications

References 51 publications

Determinants of Tubastraea coccinea invasion and likelihood of further expansion in the northern Gulf of Mexico

Determinants of Tubastraea coccinea invasion and likelihood of further expansion in the northern Gulf of Mexico

First report of marine sponge Chelonaplysilla delicata (Demospongiae: Darwinellidae) from the Andaman Sea/Indian Ocean with a baseline information of epifauna on a mesophotic shipwreck

Centenary shipwrecks reveal the limits of artificial habitats in protecting regional reef fish diversity

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