Traits Shared by Marine Megafauna and Their Relationships With Ecosystem Functions and Services

Tavares, Davi Castro; Moura, Jailson Fulgêncio de; Acevedo‐Trejos, Esteban; Merico, Agostino

doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00262

Cited by 53 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 149 publications

(168 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Functional trait analyses have long been used to gauge the consequences of species loss for ecosystem functioning, because traits better define how organisms interact with their environment and each other than do simple taxonomic measures (48). This trait-based approach may be especially relevant for marine megafauna, which, because of their size and mobility, are difficult to study using traditional experimental approaches (1,49). Current global marine megafaunal functional diversity is highly influenced by traits associated with cross-realm movements.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional diversity of marine megafauna in the Anthropocene

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Marine megafauna, the largest animals in the oceans, serve key roles in ecosystem functioning. Yet, one-third of these animals are at risk of extinction. To better understand the potential consequences of megafaunal loss, here we quantify their current functional diversity, predict future changes under different extinction scenarios, and introduce a new metric [functionally unique, specialized and endangered (FUSE)] that identifies threatened species of particular importance for functional diversity. Simulated extinction scenarios forecast marked declines in functional richness if current trajectories are maintained during the next century (11% globally; up to 24% regionally), with more marked reductions (48% globally; up to 70% at the poles) beyond random expectations if all threatened species eventually go extinct. Among the megafaunal groups, sharks will incur a disproportionate loss of functional richness. We identify top FUSE species and suggest a renewed focus on these species to preserve the ecosystem functions provided by marine megafauna.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional diversity of marine megafauna in the Anthropocene

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Specifically, globally threatened species share a distinct subset of similar traits that are associated with a higher risk of extinction. Therefore, the loss of threatened species, such as wide-ranging albatross and shearwaters, may have direct implications for ecosystem functioning such as trophic regulation, nutrient transportation and community shaping (Graham et al, 2018;Tavares et al, 2019). We further find non-threatened species have relatively unique ecological strategies and limited redundancy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…Furthermore, selecting meaningful and interpretable species' traits can relate to species' vulnerability to threats and their contribution to ecosystem functions (Table 1). For example, a species' diet captures regulation of trophic-dynamics and nutrient storage functions, and its sensitivity to changes at lower trophic levels (Tavares, Moura, Acevedo-Trejos, & Merico, 2019). Combinations of traits can summarise a species' ecological role (Brum et al, 2017), and species can be grouped based on ecologically similar strategies .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological traits of seabirds predict extinction risk and vulnerability to anthropogenic threats

Richards

Cooke

Bates

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim: Here we aim to: 1) test whether globally-threatened vs non-threatened seabirds are separated in trait space; 2) quantify the redundancy and uniqueness of species trait combinations per IUCN Red List Category; and 3) identify traits that render species vulnerable to anthropogenic threats. Location: Global. Time period: Contemporary. Major taxa studied: Seabirds. Methods: We compile and impute eight traits that relate to species vulnerabilities and ecosystem functioning across 341 seabird species. Using these traits, we build a mixed data PCA of species trait space. We further quantify trait redundancy with a unique trait combinations (UTCs) approach. Finally, we employ a similarity of percentages analysis (SIMPER) to identify which traits explain the greatest difference between threat groups. Results: We find seabirds segregate in trait space based on threat status, indicating anthropogenic impacts are selectively removing large, long-lived, pelagic surface feeders with narrow habitat breadths. We further find that globally threatened species have higher trait redundancy, while non-threatened species have relatively unique ecological strategies and limited redundancy. Finally, we find that species with narrow habitat breadths, fast reproductive speeds, and omnivorous diets are more likely to be threatened by habitat-modifying processes (e.g., pollution and natural system modifications); whereas pelagic specialists with slow reproductive speeds and omnivorous diets are vulnerable to threats that directly impact survival and fecundity (e.g., invasive species and biological resource use). Main conclusions: Our results suggest both globally threatened and non-threatened species contribute unique ecological strategies. Consequently, conserving both threat groups, but with contrasting approaches may avoid potential changes in ecosystem functioning and stability.

show abstract

“…A total of 34% of the 1757 birds in our data were recovered alive, a further indication of the role of wave height as a proxy for storm intensity. Inter and intraspecific trait variability related to bird survival abilities, such as preferred diet, feeding strategy, body mass and age (Tavares et al , ), can help us understand how these organisms respond to oceanographic conditions. Predictive models should consider that, on average, about 17% of dead birds are recovered on beaches (Munilla et al , ), thus bird deaths estimated by beach monitoring programmes represent only a small component of bird mortality.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mortality of seabirds migrating across the tropical Atlantic in relation to oceanographic processes

Tavares

Moura

Merico

et al. 2019

Animal Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Large‐scale climatic processes such as the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) can have severe effects on the survival of seabirds in their breeding regions. However, there is a fundamental lack of understanding about how environmental factors are related to the mortality of these organisms in non‐breeding areas of the tropics. We investigate here the direct and indirect effects of ENSO and oceanographic variables on the mortality of three migratory seabird species targeted by conservation programmes focused on human impacts: the Atlantic yellow‐nosed albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos, the Magellanic penguin Spheniscus magellanicus and the Manx shearwater Puffinus puffinus in a non‐breeding area in Brazil, tropical Atlantic. We find that the intensification of ENSO increases the mortality of Manx shearwaters by enhancing the local storm activity. The mortality of Atlantic yellow‐nosed albatrosses and Magellanic penguins is also related to a local increase in storm activity but regardless of the ENSO signature. Increased mortality of Magellanic penguins is observed when biological productivity falls below the annual average (1.7 mg m−3). Adverse climatic conditions are highly deleterious for migratory seabirds and single storm episodes can cause massive deaths, thus exacerbating population declines. We argue that conservation and management strategies for migratory seabirds studied here should not only focus on direct human impacts but should also consider mitigating the effects of climate variability.

show abstract

Traits Shared by Marine Megafauna and Their Relationships With Ecosystem Functions and Services

Cited by 53 publications

References 149 publications

Functional diversity of marine megafauna in the Anthropocene

Functional diversity of marine megafauna in the Anthropocene

Biological traits of seabirds predict extinction risk and vulnerability to anthropogenic threats

Mortality of seabirds migrating across the tropical Atlantic in relation to oceanographic processes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About