Stability of sea urchin dominated barren grounds following destructive grazing of kelp in St. Margaret's Bay, Eastern Canada

Chapman, A. R. O.

doi:10.1007/bf00397697

Cited by 193 publications

(116 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…level in exposed areas (Jones and Kain 1967). Chapman (1981) made similar observations in Canada. Thus it would seem that in the macrophyte dominated region which spans the boundary between the intertidal and subtidal on N. W. European shores, canopy effects are the dominant biological factors structuring the community.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Preliminary Canopy Removal Experiments in Algal Dominated Communities Low on the Shore and in the Shallow Subtidal on the Isle of Man

Hawkins¹,

Harkin²

1985

Botm

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The algal dominated communities immediately above and below the low-water spring level on a moderately exposed Manx shore were investigated by canopy removal experiments. Fucus serratus, Laminaria digitata and L. hyperborea were removed. Competition was shown to be important in determining the zonation of L. digitata and the distribution along the wave exposure gradient of other species such as Alaria esculenta, Desmarestia aculeata and D. viridis, and L. saccharina. Many species of algal epiphytes were early colonizers of canopy removal areas suggesting that competition from canopy algae usually restricts them to an epiphytic habit. The results indicate that interactions between macrophytes are much more important than grazing in structuring these communities.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Preliminary Canopy Removal Experiments in Algal Dominated Communities Low on the Shore and in the Shallow Subtidal on the Isle of Man

Hawkins¹,

Harkin²

1985

Botm

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“…The juvenile urchins recruit to the adult population after about two years (Himmelmann 1986;Sivertsen 1997a). Sea urchins on barren grounds feed on drift algae and newly settled algae (Chapman 1981), but food supplies on barren grounds are typically low. Consequently, the condition of adult urchins is sub-optimal and mortality tends to be high (Sivertsen 1997a;Christie & Rueness 1998).…”

Section: The Barren Ground Statementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Marstein 1997;Christie et al 2003), which have been ranked among the most highly productive systems on the planet (Mann 2000), while barren grounds are structurally simple with low productivity (Chapman 1981) and low biological diversity. Thus, over-grazing and formation of barren grounds cause cascading effects up the food web (Branch & Griffiths 1988;Field et al 1980), and probably lead to implications for fish stocks and other organisms dependent on kelp production and shelter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sea urchin grazing and kelp re-vegetation in the NE Atlantic

Norderhaug

Christie

2009

Marine Biology Research

130

114

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Small-scale grazing events where sea urchins have grazed kelp forests to barren grounds have been reported all along the NE Atlantic coast. One large-scale event has been reported where kelp forests along the Norwegian and Russian coast were grazed by sea urchins during the early 1970s. The barren ground area has persisted since. Different theories to explain the grazing event have been presented. This paper seeks to sort and summarize earlier published papers and national reports and to critically examine the most important theories presented to explain the grazing event. The conclusion is that the reason for the event is unknown and it is too late to find causes 40 years after it took place. However, new data and new geographical analysis tools provide insight into the extent and consequences of this dramatic event, and show re-vegetation of kelp forests in the southernmost area. Emphasis in future studies should be given to understand the reasons for shifts between the two ecosystem states and take advantage of the ongoing shift. Such basic ecological knowledge could provide an important basis for better understanding the system and further, to understand the extent to which other observed largescale changes (e.g. climatic changes, fish stock reductions) affect kelp forestÁsea urchin interaction.

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“…Classic examples of such dominant species are sea urchins (Andrew & Underwood 1993) and mussels (Paine 1974). In some systems, sea urchins can become so abundant that they overgraze attached plants in kelp forests, leaving what are commonly termed 'barren grounds' (areas devoid of macroalgae; Arnold 1976, Chapman 1981, Schiel 1982, Dean et al 1984, Harrold & Pearse 1987, Watanabe & Harrold 1991), while mussels can form monocultures by outcompeting other sessile organisms for space (Paine 1974, Robles et al 1995.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limited effects of a keystone species:trends of sea otters and kelp forests at the Semichi Islands, Alaska

Konar¹

2000

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Sea otters are well known as a keystone species because of their ability to transform sea urchin-dominated communities into kelp-dominated communities by preying on sea urchins and thus reducing the intensity of herbivory. After being locally extinct for more than a century, sea otters re-colonized the Sernichi Islands in the Aleutian Archipelago, Alaska in the early 1990s. Here, otter populations increased to about 400 individuals by 1994, but rapidly declined to about 100 by 1997. Roughly 7 yr after initial otter re-colonization, there were only marginal changes in sea urchm biomass, mean maximum test size, and kelp density. These small changes may be the first steps in the cascahng effects on community structure typically found with the invasion of a keystone species. However, no wholesale change in community structure occurred following re-colonization and growth of the sea otter population. Instead, this study describes a transition state and identifies factors such as keystone species density and residence time that can be important in dictating the degree to which otter effects are manifested.

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Stability of sea urchin dominated barren grounds following destructive grazing of kelp in St. Margaret's Bay, Eastern Canada

Cited by 193 publications

References 8 publications

Preliminary Canopy Removal Experiments in Algal Dominated Communities Low on the Shore and in the Shallow Subtidal on the Isle of Man

Preliminary Canopy Removal Experiments in Algal Dominated Communities Low on the Shore and in the Shallow Subtidal on the Isle of Man

Sea urchin grazing and kelp re-vegetation in the NE Atlantic

Limited effects of a keystone species:trends of sea otters and kelp forests at the Semichi Islands, Alaska

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