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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Prioritizing Seagrass Meadows For Biodiversity Conservation Based On Landscape Connectivity, John Cristiani, Mary O'Connor
Prioritizing Seagrass Meadows For Biodiversity Conservation Based On Landscape Connectivity, John Cristiani, Mary O'Connor
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference
The spatial configuration of habitat and biological dispersal traits affect how organisms move across heterogenous landscapes, connecting populations and maintaining biodiversity. Quantifying this connectivity is critical to understanding and managing marine biodiversity. Despite its importance, for most regions, we lack estimates of connectivity and consideration of how habitat loss or restoration scenarios change connectivity and thereby affect diversity. We simulated dispersal and connectivity in several habitat change scenarios for seagrass habitats in the Salish Sea of British Columbia and Washington. We used a spatially explicit biophysical model to track passive larval dispersal in oceanographic currents for select life history traits. …
Seagrass Nursery Function Enhanced By Habitat Connectivity, Angeleen Olson, Margot Hessing-Lewis, Francis Juanes
Seagrass Nursery Function Enhanced By Habitat Connectivity, Angeleen Olson, Margot Hessing-Lewis, Francis Juanes
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference
Seascape connectivity is an emerging feature influencing marine ecosystem function. Connectivity, via the interplay of habitat configuration, its physical structure, and associated food webs, may alter the provision of nursery habitat, influencing the success of fish populations and harvests thereof. We quantified the effects of adjacent habitat type on seagrass nurseries for rockfish. We compared seagrass sites with contrasting structure and productivity in adjacent habitats: kelp forest and sand. To elucidate the spatially-dependent flow of material in the seagrass meadow, we estimated the proportion of basal contributions (producers) to the food web using an isotopic mixing model on YOY (young-of-the-year) …
Examining Sources Of Sediment Carbon Stored In Seagrass Habitats Across The Skagit Delta And Padilla Bay, Erin Murray
Examining Sources Of Sediment Carbon Stored In Seagrass Habitats Across The Skagit Delta And Padilla Bay, Erin Murray
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference
The potential for seagrass (Zostera marina) habitats to store carbon is a topic of interest to resource managers and ecosystem scientists as they strive to develop and evaluate climate change mitigation strategies. I investigated the sources of carbon and nitrogen stored in Zostera marina habitats within the Salish Sea. I compared two sites, the Skagit River delta (delta) and Padilla Bay (embayment), in order to compare carbon storage and the sources of stored carbon between these two shoreline types. Within each site, I collected sediment cores in Z. marina meadows and on unvegetated mudflat. I measured changes in carbon density …
North To South: Ecosystem Features Determine Seagrass Community Response To Sea Otter Foraging, Margot Hessing-Lewis, Erin U. Rechsteiner, Brent Hughes, M. Tim Tinker, Zachary L. Monteith, Angeleen M. Olson, Mathew Morgan Henderson, Jane C. Watson
North To South: Ecosystem Features Determine Seagrass Community Response To Sea Otter Foraging, Margot Hessing-Lewis, Erin U. Rechsteiner, Brent Hughes, M. Tim Tinker, Zachary L. Monteith, Angeleen M. Olson, Mathew Morgan Henderson, Jane C. Watson
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference
We compared sea otter recovery in California (CA) and British Columbia (BC) to determine how key ecosystem properties shape top-down effects in seagrass communities. Potential ecosystem drivers of sea otter foraging in CA and BC seagrass beds that we examined include the role of coastline complexity and environmental stress on sea otter effects. In BC, we found greater species richness across seagrass trophic assemblages. Furthermore, Cancer spp. crabs, an important link in the seagrass trophic cascade observed in CA, was less common. Additionally, the more recent reintroduction of sea otters, more complex coastline, and reduced environmental stress in BC seagrass …
Does Eelgrass Act As An Ocean Acidification Refuge For Shellfish In The Salish Sea?, Bonnie Becker, Michelle Mccartha, Micah Horwith
Does Eelgrass Act As An Ocean Acidification Refuge For Shellfish In The Salish Sea?, Bonnie Becker, Michelle Mccartha, Micah Horwith
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference
Marine waters worldwide are becoming more acidic due to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Changes in pH are heterogeneous in space and time and can be affected by physical and biological processes, including photosynthesis and respiration of plants and animals. Previous studies have shown that seagrass beds, which contain a large amount of plant biomass, can alter the carbonate chemistry in the immediate area, with higher pH during the day and lower pH at night. We explored the effects of this pattern on bivalve shellfish at four sites in Puget Sound and Willapa Bay. Pumped water samples were taken at …
Latitudinal Variation In Seagrass Wasting Disease From Puget Sound To Alaska, Olivia Graham, Corinne Klohmann, Emily Adamcyzk, Margot Hessing-Lewis, Angeleen Olson, Nick Tolimieri, Tiff Stephens, Colleen Amy Burge, Drew Harvell
Latitudinal Variation In Seagrass Wasting Disease From Puget Sound To Alaska, Olivia Graham, Corinne Klohmann, Emily Adamcyzk, Margot Hessing-Lewis, Angeleen Olson, Nick Tolimieri, Tiff Stephens, Colleen Amy Burge, Drew Harvell
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference
Widely regarded as critical marine habitat, seagrass provides ecologically and economically valuable services in coastal areas worldwide. Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is one of five seagrass species native to the Pacific Northwest and is threatened by outbreaks of the marine protist Labyrinthula zosterae, the causative agent of seagrass wasting disease. Infection from L. zosterae causes necrotic lesions, limiting growth and compromising the health of eelgrass beds. To determine levels of wasting disease in subtidal eelgrass beds across a broad latitudinal gradient, we measured and compared disease prevalence and severity in 5 subtidal eelgrass beds in Puget Sound, 5 in the San …