The Waiting Stage, Prolonged Residency in Nursery Habitats by Juveniles of the Predatory Sea Star<i>Marthasterias glacialis</i>

Byrne, Maria; Minchin, Dan; Clements, Matthew; Deaker, Dione J.

doi:10.1086/715843

Cited by 9 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…The capacity of COTS to have an indeterminate herbivorous juvenile stage prompted the juveniles-in-waiting hypothesis, positing that juveniles can accumulate in the reef rubble over spawning years before seeding an outbreak of adults [ 44 ]. An extended juvenile stage is not uncommon among predatory sea star populations in nature and has been found for Asterias rubens with juveniles pausing growth as they wait for increased food abundance and reduced competition from adults [ 116 , 117 ] and Marthasterias glacialis with juveniles that remained in their nursery habitat over six years [ 118 ]. As well as diet-dependent growth and sublethal injuries from coral stings, a number of factors may influence the timing of the herbivory-corallivory ontogenetic switch in COTS including the proximity of coral to the nursery habitat [ 90 ], low coral abundance due to a cyclone or bleaching, or competition from adults, and predation pressure.…”

Section: Why Are Cots So Successful?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Crown of thorns starfish life-history traits contribute to outbreaks, a continuing concern for coral reefs

Deaker

Byrne

2022

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences

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Crown of thorns starfish (COTS, Acanthaster sp.) are notorious for their destructive consumption of coral that decimates tropical reefs, an attribute unique among tropical marine invertebrates. Their populations can rapidly increase from 0–1 COTS ha−1 to more than 10–1000 COTS ha−1 in short order causing a drastic change to benthic communities and reducing the functional and species diversity of coral reef ecosystems. Population outbreaks were first identified to be a significant threat to coral reefs in the 1960s. Since then, they have become one of the leading causes of coral loss along with coral bleaching. Decades of research and significant investment in Australia and elsewhere, particularly Japan, have been directed towards identifying, understanding, and managing the potential causes of outbreaks and designing population control methods. Despite this, the drivers of outbreaks remain elusive. What is becoming increasingly clear is that the success of COTS is tied to their inherent biological traits, especially in early life. Survival of larval and juvenile COTS is likely to be enhanced by their dietary flexibility and resilience to variable food conditions as well as their phenotypically plastic growth dynamics, all magnified by the extreme reproductive potential of COTS. These traits enable COTS to capitalise on anthropogenic disturbances to reef systems as well as endure less favourable conditions.

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Section: Why Are Cots So Successful?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Crown of thorns starfish life-history traits contribute to outbreaks, a continuing concern for coral reefs

Deaker

Byrne

2022

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences

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“…Our results are counter to expectations that the early benthic juvenile stages of marine invertebrates are more sensitive than the adults and so are a population mortality bottleneck (Gosselin & Qian, 1997; Hunt & Scheibling, 1997; Przeslawski et al, 2015). It appears that juvenile COTS that survive the early postlarval period may persist for some time in their coral rubble recruitment–nursery habitat, as seen for the juveniles of other predatory sea stars (Byrne et al, 2021; Nauen, 1978). An understanding of the thermal biology across individual life stages of COTS with respect to ocean warming is emerging, with most studies being on the larval stage (Hue et al, 2022; Kamya et al, 2014; Lamare et al, 2014; Lang et al, 2023; Uthicke et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Population outbreaks of Acanthaster are likely to be driven by a suite of opportunistic-plastic traits that are characteristic of this sea star (Birkeland, 1989;Byrne, 2022;Deaker & Byrne, 2022a;Wolfe et al, 2015). As found for Asterias and Marthasterias species, the early benthic stage of predatory sea stars appears to be highly resilient and plastic in their metabolic needs and life transitions allowing them to remain as immature 'Peter Pan' juveniles for many years (Byrne et al, 2021;Deaker, Agüera, et al, 2020;Guillou et al, 2012;Nauen, 1978). Nauen (1978) suggests that the high adaptability of sea stars, with respect to environmental conditions, and the timing of the juvenile waiting stage, contributes to their ecological success.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To understand the potential of the juveniles in waiting hypothesis to contribute to the explanation of COTS outbreaks, future studies where cohorts of juveniles of a known age are tracked in situ are needed, as done in other studies (Byrne et al, 2021; Nauen, 1978). This is a challenge and would likely require serendipitous discovery of newly settled sea star cohort (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, adult COTS prey on soft corals, bivalves and algae when hard coral availability is low (Chesher, 1969; Kuo et al, 2022; Yamaguchi, 1975). As seen for several ecologically important predatory sea stars (Byrne et al, 2021; Nauen, 1978), juvenile COTS can remain in their recruitment–nursery habitat for a variable amount of time where they exist on an algal diet before they transition to the corallivorous adult stage (Wilmes, Schultz, et al, 2020). They start their benthic life as herbivores with a preference for coralline algae and have the potential to persist for years (at least 6 years) in the herbivorous phase in the absence of coral prey (Deaker, Agüera, et al, 2020; Deaker, Mos, et al, 2020; Wilmes, Hoey, et al, 2020; Wilmes, Schultz, et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Juvenile waiting stage crown‐of‐thorns sea stars are resilient in heatwave conditions that bleach and kill corals

Byrne,

Deaker,

Gibbs

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

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The juveniles of predatory sea stars can remain in their recruitment–nursery habitat for some time before their ontogenetic shift to the adult habitat and diet. These small juveniles are vulnerable to a range of factors with their sensitivity amplified by climate change‐driven ocean warming. We investigate the thermal tolerance of the waiting stage herbivorous juveniles of the keystone coral predator, the crown‐of‐thorns sea star (COTS, Acanthaster sp.), in context with the degree heating weeks (DHW) model that predicts coral bleaching and mass mortality. In temperature treatments ranging from +1 to 3°C in prolonged heatwave acclimation conditions, the juveniles exhibited ~100% survival in DHW scenarios that trigger coral bleaching (4 DHW), resulting in mass mortality of corals (8 DHW) and extreme conditions well beyond those that kill corals (12 DHW). This indicates that herbivorous juvenile COTS are far more resistant to heatwave conditions than the coral prey of the adults. The juveniles exhibited higher activity (righting) and metabolic rate after weeks in increased temperature. In separate acute temperature experiments, the upper thermal limit of the juveniles was 34–36°C. In a warming world, juvenile COTS residing in their coral rubble nursery habitat will benefit from an increase in the extent of this habitat due to coral mortality. The juveniles have potential for long‐term persistence as herbivores as they wait for live coral to recover before becoming coral predators, thereby serving as a proximate source of COTS outbreaks on reefs already in a tenuous state due to climate change.

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Validating effectiveness of crown-of-thorns starfish control thresholds to limit coral loss throughout the Great Barrier Reef

Rogers,

Plagányi,

Blamey

et al. 2024

Coral Reefs

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Population irruptions of the Pacific crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS, Acanthaster cf. solaris) are a key source of coral loss on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR). CoTS management currently involves their manual control (culling) to threshold densities below which net coral decline theoretically ceases based on analysis of a validated population dynamics model. Spatial variability in coral growth and community composition, and their predicted changes under continuing global warming, necessitate further consideration of current coral representation in CoTS models. Here, we consider the sensitivity of equilibrium coral-CoTS thresholds to coral growth rates and consider how the demographic composition of CoTS at a site may relate to culling thresholds. We found thresholds should be location-specific if the objective of CoTS control is coral recovery, but location-specific thresholds may not be needed if the objective is to limit coral cover loss based on coral growth and CoTS demography. The consequence of using a higher CPUE threshold than the analytical equilibrium coral-CoTS thresholds in terms of coral cover loss is suggested to be limited at coral cover < 40%, and varying control thresholds thereof may make little difference. Introducing a 0.06 CoTS.min−1 threshold for 40–60% coral cover may reduce coral loss at ~ 40% where it is likely greatest. With regional GBR coral cover averaging < 40%, this study validates the 0.04–0.08 CoTS.min−1 tiered threshold system for CoTS control and suggests methods developed from localised studies can be more broadly applicable and well-defined objectives (e.g. avoiding coral cover decline at a site) can help guide what thresholds are used and the sensitivity around these.

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The Waiting Stage, Prolonged Residency in Nursery Habitats by Juveniles of the Predatory Sea StarMarthasterias glacialis

Cited by 9 publications

References 44 publications

Crown of thorns starfish life-history traits contribute to outbreaks, a continuing concern for coral reefs

Crown of thorns starfish life-history traits contribute to outbreaks, a continuing concern for coral reefs

Juvenile waiting stage crown‐of‐thorns sea stars are resilient in heatwave conditions that bleach and kill corals

Validating effectiveness of crown-of-thorns starfish control thresholds to limit coral loss throughout the Great Barrier Reef

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