scholarly journals Effects of macroalgae loss in an Antarctic marine food web: applying extinction thresholds to food web studies

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgina Cordone ◽  
Tomás I. Marina ◽  
Vanesa Salinas ◽  
Santiago R. Doyle ◽  
Leonardo A. Saravia ◽  
...  

Antarctica is seriously affected by climate change, particularly at the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) where a rapid regional warming is observed. Potter Cove is a WAP fjord at Shetland Islands that constitutes a biodiversity hotspot where over the last years, Potter Cove annual air temperatures averages increased by 0.66 °C, coastal glaciers declined, and suspended particulate matter increased due to ice melting. Macroalgae are the main energy source for all consumers and detritivores of Potter Cove. Some effects of climate change favor pioneer macroalgae species that exploit new ice-free areas and can also decline rates of photosynthesis and intensify competition between species due to the increase of suspended particulate matter. In this study, we evaluated possible consequences of climate change at Potter Cove food web by simulating the extinction of macroalgae and detritus using a topological approach with thresholds of extinction. Thresholds represent the minimum number of incoming links necessary for species’ survival. When we simulated the extinctions of macroalgae species at random, a threshold of extinction beyond 50% was necessary to obtain a significant number of secondary extinctions, while with a 75% threshold a real collapse of the food web occurred. Our results indicate that Potter Cove food web is relative robust to macroalgae extinction. This is dramatically different from what has been found in other food webs, where the reduction of 10% in prey intake caused a disproportionate increase of secondary extinctions. Robustness of the Potter Cove food web was mediated by omnivory and redundancy, which had an important relevance in this food web. When we eliminated larger-biomass species more secondary extinctions occurred, a similar response was observed when more connected species were deleted, yet there was no correlation between species of larger-biomass and high-degree. This similarity could be explained because both criteria involved key species that produced an emerging effect on the food web. In this way, large-biomass and high-degree species could be acting as source for species with few trophic interactions or low redundancy. Based on this work, we expect the Potter Cove food web to be robust to changes in macroalgae species caused by climate change until a high threshold of stress is reached, and then negative effects are expected to spread through the entire food web leading to its collapse.

Fluids ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 235
Author(s):  
Camila Neder ◽  
Ricardo Sahade ◽  
Doris Abele ◽  
Roland Pesch ◽  
Kerstin Jerosch

The glacier retreat observed during the last decades at Potter Cove (PC) causes an increasing amount of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in the water column, which has a high impact on sessile filter feeder’ species at PC located at the West Antarctic Peninsula. SPM presents a highly-fluctuating dynamic pattern on a daily, monthly, seasonal, and interannual basis. Geostatistical interpolation techniques are widely used by default to generate reliable spatial information and thereby to improve the ecological understanding of environmental variables, which is often fundamental for guiding decision-makers and scientists. In this study, we compared the results of default and configured settings of three geostatistical algorithms (Simple Kriging, Ordinary Kriging, and Empirical Bayesian) and developed a performance index. In order to interpolate SPM data from the summer season 2010/2011 at PC, the best performance was obtained with Empirical Bayesian Kriging (standard mean = −0.001 and root mean square standardized = 0.995). It showed an excellent performance (performance index = 0.004), improving both evaluation parameters when radio and neighborhood were configured. About 69% of the models showed improved standard means when configured compared to the default settings following a here proposed guideline.


1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 327-335
Author(s):  
Yasunori Kozuki ◽  
Yoshihiko Hosoi ◽  
Hitoshi Murakami ◽  
Katuhiro Kawamoto

In order to clarify the origin and behavior of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in a tidal river, variation of SPM in a tidal river was investigated with regard to its size and constituents. SPM was separated into three groups according to size. Change of contents of titanium and organic substances of each group of SPM was examined. SPM which was discharged by run-off was transported with decomposition and sedimentation in a tidal river. Concentration of SPM with a particle size greater than 0.45 μm increased due to resuspension in a tidal river. Origin of SPM with a size of less than 0.45 μm at upstream areas was from natural soil and most of such SPM which had been transported settled near a river mouth. It was determined from examination of the CN ratio and the ratio of the number of attached bacteria to free bacteria that SPM with a size greater than 1.0 μm at upstream areas was decomposing intensively. At the downstream areas, SPM with a size of less than 0.45 μm came from the sea. SPM with particle size greater than 1.0 μm consisted of plankton and substances which were decomposed sufficiently while flowing.


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