No-take marine reserves control the recovery of sea urchin populations after mass mortality events.
Extraordinary storm
Herbivores
Marine ecology
Marine reserve
Population dynamics
Population recovery
Top-down
Journal
Marine environmental research
ISSN: 1879-0291
Titre abrégé: Mar Environ Res
Pays: England
ID NLM: 9882895
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Mar 2019
Mar 2019
Historique:
received:
09
11
2018
revised:
15
02
2019
accepted:
28
02
2019
pubmed:
14
3
2019
medline:
9
4
2020
entrez:
14
3
2019
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Understanding how no-take zones (NTZs) shape the population dynamics of key herbivores is crucial for the conservation and management of temperate benthic communities. Here, we examine the recovery patterns of sea urchin populations following a high-intensity storm under contrasting protection regimes in the NW Mediterranean Sea. We found significant differences in the recovery trends of Paracentrotus lividus abundance and biomass in the five years following the storm. The P. lividus populations outside the NTZ recovered faster than the populations inside the NTZ, revealing that predation was the main factor controlling the sea urchin populations inside the NTZ during the study period. Arbacia lixula reached the highest abundance and biomass values ever observed outside the NTZ in 2016. Our findings reveal that predation can control the establishment of new sea urchin populations and emphasize top-down control in NTZs, confirming the important role of fully protected areas in the structure of benthic communities.
Identifiants
pubmed: 30862382
pii: S0141-1136(18)30791-8
doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2019.02.013
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
147-154Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.