Effects of “Reduced” and “Business-As-Usual” CO(2) Emission Scenarios on the Algal Territories of the Damselfish Pomacentrus wardi (Pomacentridae)

Turf algae are a very important component of coral reefs, featuring high growth and turnover rates, whilst covering large areas of substrate. As food for many organisms, turf algae have an important role in the ecosystem. Farming damselfish can modify the species composition and productivity of such...

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Autores principales: Bender, Dorothea, Champ, Connor Michael, Kline, David, Diaz-Pulido, Guillermo, Dove, Sophie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4488243/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26121163
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0131442
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author Bender, Dorothea
Champ, Connor Michael
Kline, David
Diaz-Pulido, Guillermo
Dove, Sophie
author_facet Bender, Dorothea
Champ, Connor Michael
Kline, David
Diaz-Pulido, Guillermo
Dove, Sophie
author_sort Bender, Dorothea
collection PubMed
description Turf algae are a very important component of coral reefs, featuring high growth and turnover rates, whilst covering large areas of substrate. As food for many organisms, turf algae have an important role in the ecosystem. Farming damselfish can modify the species composition and productivity of such algal assemblages, while defending them against intruders. Like all organisms however, turf algae and damselfishes have the potential to be affected by future changes in seawater (SW) temperature and pCO(2). In this study, algal assemblages, in the presence and absence of farming Pomacentrus wardi were exposed to two combinations of SW temperature and pCO(2) levels projected for the austral spring of 2100 (the B1 “reduced” and the A1FI “business-as-usual” CO(2) emission scenarios) at Heron Island (GBR, Australia). These assemblages were dominated by the presence of red algae and non-epiphytic cyanobacteria, i.e. cyanobacteria that grow attached to the substrate rather than on filamentous algae. The endpoint algal composition was mostly controlled by the presence/absence of farming damselfish, despite a large variability found between the algal assemblages of individual fish. Different scenarios appeared to be responsible for a mild, species specific change in community composition, observable in some brown and green algae, but only in the absence of farming fish. Farming fish appeared unaffected by the conditions to which they were exposed. Algal biomass reductions were found under “reduced” CO(2) emission, but not “business-as-usual” scenarios. This suggests that action taken to limit CO(2) emissions may, if the majority of algae behave similarly across all seasons, reduce the potential for phase shifts that lead to algal dominated communities. At the same time the availability of food resources to damselfish and other herbivores would be smaller under “reduced” emission scenarios.
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spelling pubmed-44882432015-07-02 Effects of “Reduced” and “Business-As-Usual” CO(2) Emission Scenarios on the Algal Territories of the Damselfish Pomacentrus wardi (Pomacentridae) Bender, Dorothea Champ, Connor Michael Kline, David Diaz-Pulido, Guillermo Dove, Sophie PLoS One Research Article Turf algae are a very important component of coral reefs, featuring high growth and turnover rates, whilst covering large areas of substrate. As food for many organisms, turf algae have an important role in the ecosystem. Farming damselfish can modify the species composition and productivity of such algal assemblages, while defending them against intruders. Like all organisms however, turf algae and damselfishes have the potential to be affected by future changes in seawater (SW) temperature and pCO(2). In this study, algal assemblages, in the presence and absence of farming Pomacentrus wardi were exposed to two combinations of SW temperature and pCO(2) levels projected for the austral spring of 2100 (the B1 “reduced” and the A1FI “business-as-usual” CO(2) emission scenarios) at Heron Island (GBR, Australia). These assemblages were dominated by the presence of red algae and non-epiphytic cyanobacteria, i.e. cyanobacteria that grow attached to the substrate rather than on filamentous algae. The endpoint algal composition was mostly controlled by the presence/absence of farming damselfish, despite a large variability found between the algal assemblages of individual fish. Different scenarios appeared to be responsible for a mild, species specific change in community composition, observable in some brown and green algae, but only in the absence of farming fish. Farming fish appeared unaffected by the conditions to which they were exposed. Algal biomass reductions were found under “reduced” CO(2) emission, but not “business-as-usual” scenarios. This suggests that action taken to limit CO(2) emissions may, if the majority of algae behave similarly across all seasons, reduce the potential for phase shifts that lead to algal dominated communities. At the same time the availability of food resources to damselfish and other herbivores would be smaller under “reduced” emission scenarios. Public Library of Science 2015-06-29 /pmc/articles/PMC4488243/ /pubmed/26121163 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0131442 Text en © 2015 Bender et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Bender, Dorothea
Champ, Connor Michael
Kline, David
Diaz-Pulido, Guillermo
Dove, Sophie
Effects of “Reduced” and “Business-As-Usual” CO(2) Emission Scenarios on the Algal Territories of the Damselfish Pomacentrus wardi (Pomacentridae)
title Effects of “Reduced” and “Business-As-Usual” CO(2) Emission Scenarios on the Algal Territories of the Damselfish Pomacentrus wardi (Pomacentridae)
title_full Effects of “Reduced” and “Business-As-Usual” CO(2) Emission Scenarios on the Algal Territories of the Damselfish Pomacentrus wardi (Pomacentridae)
title_fullStr Effects of “Reduced” and “Business-As-Usual” CO(2) Emission Scenarios on the Algal Territories of the Damselfish Pomacentrus wardi (Pomacentridae)
title_full_unstemmed Effects of “Reduced” and “Business-As-Usual” CO(2) Emission Scenarios on the Algal Territories of the Damselfish Pomacentrus wardi (Pomacentridae)
title_short Effects of “Reduced” and “Business-As-Usual” CO(2) Emission Scenarios on the Algal Territories of the Damselfish Pomacentrus wardi (Pomacentridae)
title_sort effects of “reduced” and “business-as-usual” co(2) emission scenarios on the algal territories of the damselfish pomacentrus wardi (pomacentridae)
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4488243/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26121163
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0131442
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