Search for: All records

Abstract Multiple-use conflicts of the marine benthos (“bottom-use conflicts”) are increasing as humans expand use of the coastal zone. These conflicts necessitate balanced policies that consider the economic and ecological benefits of different bottom uses. In the Virginia coastal lagoons on the US east coast, there is a potential bottom-use conflict between hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria) aquaculture and seagrass (Zostera marina) meadows. We leveraged two decades (2001–2021) of aerial imagery and environmental data to quantify historic trends in bottom use, assess the realized niche of seagrass and clam aquaculture across depth, sand fraction, root mean square (RMS) velocity, fetch, and sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly, and used random forest models to predict the potential extent of seagrass, clam aquaculture, and bottom-use conflict. We found growth in the coverage of both seagrass (+ 3373%) and clam aquaculture (+ 140%) over the past 20 years with a corresponding increase in bottom-use conflict (+ 2579%), though conflict area remained relatively minor. Seagrass occurred in deeper areas with higher fetch, a higher frequency of SST anomalies, lower sand fraction, and similar RMS velocities to areas containing clam aquaculture. Our random forest models predicted potential for the expansion of seagrass (+ 62%) and clam aquaculture (+ 263.9%) with a relatively small area of predicted spatial overlap (12.3%) under current conditions. These results illustrate how species distribution models can help us understand the spatial impacts of aquaculture on natural ecosystems and inform managers and policy makers to create objective policies that balance socioeconomic and ecologic needs. 

Abstract Disturbances can produce a spectrum of short‐ and long‐term ecological consequences that depend on complex interactions of the characteristics of the event, antecedent environmental conditions, and the intrinsic properties of resistance and resilience of the affected biological system.We used Hurricane Harvey's impact on coastal rivers of Texas to examine the roles of storm‐related changes in hydrology and long‐term precipitation regime on the response of stream invertebrate communities to hurricane disturbance.We detected declines in richness, diversity and total abundance following the storm, but responses were strongly tied to direct and indirect effects of long‐term aridity and short‐term changes in stream hydrology. The amount of rainfall a site received drove both flood duration and flood magnitude across sites, but lower annual rainfall amounts (i.e. aridity) increased flood magnitude and decreased flood duration. Across all sites, flood duration was positively related to the time it took for invertebrate communities to return to a long‐term baseline and flood magnitude drove larger invertebrate community responses (i.e. changes in diversity and total abundance). However, invertebrate response per unit flood magnitude was lower in sub‐humid sites, potentially because of differences in refuge availability or ecological‐evolutionary interactions. Interestingly, sub‐humid streams had temporary large peaks in invertebrate total abundance and diversity following recovery period that may be indicative of the larger organic matter pulses expected in these systems because of their comparatively well‐developed riparian vegetation.Our findings show that hydrology and long‐term precipitation regime predictably affected invertebrate community responses and, thus, our work underscores the important influence of local climate to ecosystem sensitivity to disturbances. 

Rivers and streams contribute to global carbon cycling by decomposing immense quantities of terrestrial plant matter. However, decomposition rates are highly variable, and large-scale patterns and drivers of this process remain poorly understood. Using a cellulose-based assay to reflect the primary constituent of plant detritus, we generated a predictive model (81% variance explained) for cellulose-decomposition rates across 514 globally distributed streams. A large number of variables were important for predicting decomposition, highlighting the complexity of this process at the global scale. Predicted cellulose-decomposition rates, when combined with genus-level litter-quality attributes, explain published leaf-litter-decomposition rates with impressive accuracy (70% variance explained). Our global map provides estimates of rates across vast understudied areas of Earth, and reveals rapid decomposition across continental-scale areas dominated by human activities. v1.0 first data release includes all code for models, analyses, and figures. v1.1 addition of code for a new supplemental figure (Figure S1) v1.2 includes new color schemes for all figures, and new title 

Anthropogenic climate change is expected to increase the aridity of many regions of the world. Surface water ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to changes in the water-cycle and may suffer adverse impacts in affected regions. To enhance our understanding of how freshwater communities will respond to predicted shifts in water-cycle dynamics, we employed a space for time approach along a natural precipitation gradient on the Texas Coastal Prairie. In the spring of 2017, we conducted surveys of 10 USGS-gauged, wadeable streams spanning a semi-arid to sub-humid rainfall gradient; we measured nutrients, water chemistry, habitat characteristics, benthic macroinvertebrates, and fish communities. Fish diversity correlated positively with precipitation and was negatively correlated with conductivity. Macroinvertebrate diversity peaked within the middle of the gradient. Semi-arid fish and invertebrate communities were dominated by euryhaline and live-bearing taxa. Sub-humid communities contained environmentally sensitive trichopterans and ephemeropterans as well as a variety of predatory fish which may impose top-down controls on primary consumers. These results warn that aridification coincides with the loss of competitive and environmentally sensitive taxa which could yield less desirable community states. 

The organic carbon (Corg) stored in seagrass meadows is globally significant and could be relevant in strategies to mitigate increasing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Most of that stored Corg is in the soils that underlie the seagrasses. We explored how seagrass and soil characteristics vary among seagrass meadows across the geographic range of turtlegrass (Thalassia testudinum) with a goal of illuminating the processes controlling soil organic carbon (Corg) storage spanning 23° of latitude. Seagrass abundance (percent cover, biomass, and canopy height) varied by over an order of magnitude across sites, and we found high variability in soil characteristics, with Corg ranging from 0.08 to 12.59% dry weight. Seagrass abundance was a good predictor of the Corg stocks in surficial soils, and the relative importance of seagrass-derived soil Corg increased as abundance increased. These relationships suggest that first-order estimates of surficial soil Corg stocks can be made by measuring seagrass abundance and applying a linear transfer function. The relative availability of the nutrients N and P to support plant growth was also correlated with soil Corg stocks. Stocks were lower at N-limited sites than at P-limited ones, but the importance of seagrass-derived organic matter to soil Corg stocks was not a function of nutrient limitation status. This finding seemed at odds with our observation that labile standard substrates decomposed more slowly at N-limited than at P-limited sites, since even though decomposition rates were 55% lower at N-limited sites, less Corg was accumulating in the soils. The dependence of Corg stocks and decomposition rates on nutrient availability suggests that eutrophication is likely to exert a strong influence on carbon storage in seagrass meadows. 

Coastal ecosystems display consistent patterns of trade-offs between resistance and resilience to tropical cyclones.