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Hoeksema BW, Samimi-Namin K, McFadden CS, Rocha RM, van Ofwegen LP, Hiemstra AF, Vermeij MJA. Non-native coral species dominate the fouling community on a semi-submersible platform in the southern Caribbean. MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN 2023; 194:115354. [PMID: 37573671 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 07/25/2023] [Accepted: 07/29/2023] [Indexed: 08/15/2023]
Abstract
A coral community was examined on a semi-submersible platform that was moored at the leeward side of Curaçao, in the southern Caribbean, from August 2016 until August 2017. This community included several non-native or cryptogenic species. Among them were two scleractinian corals (Tubastraea coccinea and T. tagusensis) and two octocorals (Chromonephthea sp. and an unidentified Nephtheidae sp.). This is the first reported presence of T. tagusensis in the southern Caribbean, and the genus Chromonephthea in the Caribbean region. An ascidian, Perophora cf. regina, is also reported from the southern Caribbean for the first time, as well as a coral-associated vermetid gastropod, Petaloconchus sp., first recorded in the Caribbean in 2014. Lack of biofouling management could potentially harm indigenous marine fauna through the introduction of non-native species. Therefore monitoring communities associated with semi-submersible platforms is essential to track the presence and dispersal of non-native, potentially invasive species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bert W Hoeksema
- Marine Evolution and Ecology Group, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands; Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 9700 CC Groningen, the Netherlands; Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9505, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands.
| | - Kaveh Samimi-Namin
- Marine Evolution and Ecology Group, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands; Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxfordshire, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK; Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
| | | | - Rosana M Rocha
- Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, CP 19020, 81531-980 Curitiba, Brazil
| | - Leen P van Ofwegen
- Marine Evolution and Ecology Group, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Auke-Florian Hiemstra
- Marine Evolution and Ecology Group, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands; Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9505, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Mark J A Vermeij
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, the Netherlands; CARMABI Foundation, P.O. Box 2090, Piscaderabaai z/n, Willemstad, Curaçao
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Hoeksema BW, Meijer Zu Schlochtern MP, Samimi-Namin K, McFadden CS. In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma: Colonization of a 4-year-old shipwreck by native and non-native corals, including a new cryptogenic species for the Caribbean. MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN 2023; 188:114649. [PMID: 36736255 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.114649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2022] [Revised: 01/16/2023] [Accepted: 01/20/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Little is known about early coral settlement on shipwrecks with regard to their species and size compositions. Hurricanes in the Caribbean have a long history of sinking ships but a link with new coral settlement is understudied. In 2017, Hurricane Irma caused the sinking of over 300 vessels in the coastal waters of Saint Martin, eastern Caribbean. In 2021, coral settlement was studied on one of them, which included two native, one non-native, and two cryptogenic species. The corals were smaller than 8 cm in diameter. The invasive Tubastraea coccinea was the most abundant scleractinian and was predominantly represented by juveniles. A cryptogenic species, Stragulum bicolor, new for the Caribbean, was the most common octocoral. Because they can be harmful to the environment, shipwrecks should be monitored frequently for the occurrence of non-native species, especially when they are only a few years old.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bert W Hoeksema
- Taxonomy, Systematics and Geodiversity Group, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands; Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 9700 CC Groningen, the Netherlands; Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9505, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands.
| | - Melanie P Meijer Zu Schlochtern
- Nature Foundation St. Maarten, Wellsburg Street 1A Unit 25-26, Cole Bay, Sint Maarten (Dutch Part); Wageningen University & Research, Aquaculture and Fisheries, Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | - Kaveh Samimi-Namin
- Taxonomy, Systematics and Geodiversity Group, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands; Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxfordshire, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK; Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
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Stanicka A, Szopieray K, Migdalski Ł, Kobak J. Friends or enemies: Multi-species interactions among biofoulers, endoparasites and their gastropod hosts. J Anim Ecol 2023; 92:503-513. [PMID: 36519974 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2022] [Accepted: 12/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Parasites are a crucial factor that shapes the functioning of communities throughout the world, as are gregarious macrofoulers in aquatic ecosystems. However, little is known about the effects of three-way interactions between macrofoulers, endoparasites and their hosts. We predict that macrofouling and parasite infection may act (i) independently of each other, (ii) synergistically, increasing their final negative impact on the host or (iii) antagonistically, the former weakening the negative impact of the latter. We investigated multiway relationships between an invasive freshwater filter-feeding macrofouler (the zebra mussel), digenean endoparasite and their gastropod host, Viviparus viviparus. Furthermore, we checked the recruitment of mussels in living gastropods versus their empty shells. We sampled living V. viviparus and their empty shells with attached dreissenids from a Polish dam reservoir. We counted and weighed attached mussels and determined wet weight, shell height and sex of gastropods. Then we dissected the molluscs to look for digenean larvae and gastropod embryos. We use these parameters to look for reciprocal associations between mussel fouling, parasitic infection and gastropod size and fertility, as well as to infer the most likely mechanisms of the observed relationships. Dreissenid overgrowth was associated with reduced fertility and size of viviparids, but also with a lower prevalence of digenean metacercariae (Leucochloridiomorpha sp.). We did not observe a negative influence of these digeneans on their gastropod hosts. In addition, large living viviparids and their empty shells were equally used as substrates by dreissenids, but small living gastropods were more fouled than shells of the corresponding size. A trade-off exists in the studied system: filter-feeding macrofoulers may bring some profits for their host, reducing the pressure of waterborne parasites (which may be crucial in the case of pathogenic species/life stages), although at the cost of the reduced growth and fertility of the host. Furthermore, mussels attached to mollusc hosts can exert a cascading effect on the reduced prevalence of digeneans in their final hosts, including those of medical or veterinary importance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Stanicka
- Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Torun, Poland
| | - Katarzyna Szopieray
- Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Torun, Poland
| | - Łukasz Migdalski
- Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Torun, Poland
| | - Jarosław Kobak
- Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Torun, Poland
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