Sea urchins predation facilitates coral invasion in a marine reserve.

Macroalgae is the dominant trophic group on Mediterranean infralittoral rocky bottoms, whereas zooxanthellate corals are extremely rare. However, in recent years, the invasive coral Oculina patagonica appears to be increasing its abundance through unknown means. Here we examine the pattern of variat...

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Autores principales:	Rafel Coma, Eduard Serrano, Cristina Linares, Marta Ribes, David Díaz, Enric Ballesteros
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2011
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a831d7b5ca314f0f995600aae8503938
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a831d7b5ca314f0f995600aae85039382021-11-18T06:50:06ZSea urchins predation facilitates coral invasion in a marine reserve.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0022017https://doaj.org/article/a831d7b5ca314f0f995600aae85039382011-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/21789204/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Macroalgae is the dominant trophic group on Mediterranean infralittoral rocky bottoms, whereas zooxanthellate corals are extremely rare. However, in recent years, the invasive coral Oculina patagonica appears to be increasing its abundance through unknown means. Here we examine the pattern of variation of this species at a marine reserve between 2002 and 2010 and contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms that allow its current increase. Because indirect interactions between species can play a relevant role in the establishment of species, a parallel assessment of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, the main herbivorous invertebrate in this habitat and thus a key species, was conducted. O. patagonica has shown a 3-fold increase in abundance over the last 8 years and has become the most abundant invertebrate in the shallow waters of the marine reserve, matching some dominant erect macroalgae in abundance. High recruitment played an important role in this increasing coral abundance. The results from this study provide compelling evidence that the increase in sea urchin abundance may be one of the main drivers of the observed increase in coral abundance. Sea urchins overgraze macroalgae and create barren patches in the space-limited macroalgal community that subsequently facilitate coral recruitment. This study indicates that trophic interactions contributed to the success of an invasive coral in the Mediterranean because sea urchins grazing activity indirectly facilitated expansion of the coral. Current coral abundance at the marine reserve has ended the monopolization of algae in rocky infralittoral assemblages, an event that could greatly modify both the underwater seascape and the sources of primary production in the ecosystem.Rafel ComaEduard SerranoCristina LinaresMarta RibesDavid DíazEnric BallesterosPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 6, Iss 7, p e22017 (2011)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Rafel Coma Eduard Serrano Cristina Linares Marta Ribes David Díaz Enric Ballesteros Sea urchins predation facilitates coral invasion in a marine reserve.
description	Macroalgae is the dominant trophic group on Mediterranean infralittoral rocky bottoms, whereas zooxanthellate corals are extremely rare. However, in recent years, the invasive coral Oculina patagonica appears to be increasing its abundance through unknown means. Here we examine the pattern of variation of this species at a marine reserve between 2002 and 2010 and contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms that allow its current increase. Because indirect interactions between species can play a relevant role in the establishment of species, a parallel assessment of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, the main herbivorous invertebrate in this habitat and thus a key species, was conducted. O. patagonica has shown a 3-fold increase in abundance over the last 8 years and has become the most abundant invertebrate in the shallow waters of the marine reserve, matching some dominant erect macroalgae in abundance. High recruitment played an important role in this increasing coral abundance. The results from this study provide compelling evidence that the increase in sea urchin abundance may be one of the main drivers of the observed increase in coral abundance. Sea urchins overgraze macroalgae and create barren patches in the space-limited macroalgal community that subsequently facilitate coral recruitment. This study indicates that trophic interactions contributed to the success of an invasive coral in the Mediterranean because sea urchins grazing activity indirectly facilitated expansion of the coral. Current coral abundance at the marine reserve has ended the monopolization of algae in rocky infralittoral assemblages, an event that could greatly modify both the underwater seascape and the sources of primary production in the ecosystem.
format	article
author	Rafel Coma Eduard Serrano Cristina Linares Marta Ribes David Díaz Enric Ballesteros
author_facet	Rafel Coma Eduard Serrano Cristina Linares Marta Ribes David Díaz Enric Ballesteros
author_sort	Rafel Coma
title	Sea urchins predation facilitates coral invasion in a marine reserve.
title_short	Sea urchins predation facilitates coral invasion in a marine reserve.
title_full	Sea urchins predation facilitates coral invasion in a marine reserve.
title_fullStr	Sea urchins predation facilitates coral invasion in a marine reserve.
title_full_unstemmed	Sea urchins predation facilitates coral invasion in a marine reserve.
title_sort	sea urchins predation facilitates coral invasion in a marine reserve.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2011
url	https://doaj.org/article/a831d7b5ca314f0f995600aae8503938
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Sea urchins predation facilitates coral invasion in a marine reserve.

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