Abstract
Recruitment is essential for the maintenance of populations, but far more is typically known about the more easily-observed adult stages than their smaller, often microscopic early life-history counterparts. This discrepancy can be particularly problematic for populations of foundation species that create biogenic habitat for a multitude of other taxa, but are themselves prime candidates for exploitation, fragmentation, and loss, and therefore become the focus of restoration efforts partly or fully dependent on recruitment. The purpose of this study was to improve ecological understanding for early life-history stages of the habitat-forming marine alga Cystoseira barbata (Stackhouse) C. Agardh (Fucales: Sargassaceae), member of a genus that has experienced considerable fragmentation and population decline on European coasts. Using experimental manipulations of water temperature, light intensity, and sediment accumulation, we observed that sediment virtually precluded recruitment of C. barbata, and greatly impacted the survival of recently settled germlings (up to ~83% mortality). Stronger intensities of light facilitated the growth of germlings, including the capacity for ~50% of them to outgrow detrimental sediment and survive. Temperature (10 vs. 16°C) had no effect on early recruitment, survival, or growth. This information helps to identify likely causes and locations of recruitment failure, and by extension, the conditions needed (either naturally or through human intervention) to facilitate recruitment and possible habitat restoration. Ultimately, this knowledge can increase our capacity to predict population persistence and the likely success of restoration efforts.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Airoldi L (1998) Roles of disturbance, sediment stress, and substratum retention on spatial dominance in algal turf. Ecology 79:2759–2770
Airoldi L (2003) The effects of sedimentation on rocky coast assemblages. Oceanogr Mar Biol Annu Rev 41:161–236
Airoldi L, Beck MW (2007) Loss, status and trends for coastal marine habitats of Europe. Oceanogr Mar Biol Annu Rev 45:345–405
Airoldi L, Cinelli F (1997) Effects of sedimentation on subtidal macroalgal assemblages: an experimental study from a Mediterranean rocky shore. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 215:269–288. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-0981(96)02770-0
Andrew NL (1993) Spatial heterogeneity, sea urchin grazing, and habitat structure on reefs in temperate Australia. Ecology 74:292–302. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/1939293
Arenas F, Fernández C, Rico JM, Fernández E, Haya D (1995) Growth and reproductive strategies of Sargassum muticum (Yendo) Fensholt and Cystoseira nodicaulis (Whit.) Roberts. Sci Mar 59(S1):1–8
Bell SS, Tewfik A, Hall MO, Fonseca MS (2008) Evaluation of seagrass planting and monitoring techniques: implications for assessing restoration success and habitat equivalency. Restor Ecol 16:407–416. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-100X.2007.00308.x
Benedetti-Cecchi L, Pannacciulli F, Bulleri F, Moschella PS, Airoldi L, Relini G, Cinelli F (2001) Predicting the consequences of anthropogenic disturbance: large-scale effects of loss of canopy algae on rocky shores. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 214:137–150. doi:https://doi.org/10.3354/meps214137
Bruno JF, Bertness MD (2001) Habitat modification and facilitation in benthic marine communities. In: Bertness MD, Gaines SD, Hay ME (eds) Marine community ecology. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, pp 201–218
Chapman AS, Fletcher RL (2002) Differential effects of sediments on survival and growth of Fucus serratus embryos (Fucales, Phaeophyceae). J Phycol 38:894–903. doi:https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1529-8817.2002.t01-1-02025.x
Coen LD, Luckenbach MW (2000) Developing success criteria and goals for evaluating oyster reef restoration: ecological function or resource exploitation? Ecol Eng 15:323–343. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0925-8574(00)00084-7
Connell SD (2005) Assembly and maintenance of subtidal habitat heterogeneity: synergistic effects of light penetration and sedimentation. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 289:53–61. doi:https://doi.org/10.3354/meps289053
Connell SD, Russell BD, Turner DJ, Shepherd SA, Kildea T, Miller D, Airoldi L, Cheshire A (2008) Recovering a lost baseline: missing kelp forests from a metropolitan coast. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 360:63–72. doi:https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07526
Costanza R, d’Arge R, de Groot R, Farber S, Grasso M, Hannon B, Limburg K, Naeem S, O’Neill RV, Paruelo J, Raskin RG, Sutton P, van den Belt M (1997) The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387:253–260. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/387253a0
Dayton PK (1972) Toward an understanding of community resilience and the potential effects of enrichment to the benthos at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. In: Parker BC (ed) Proceedings of the colloquium on conservation problems in Antarctica. Allen Press, Lawrence, pp 81–95
Dayton PK, Currie V, Gerrodette T, Keller BD, Rosenthal R, Tresca DV (1984) Patch dynamics and stability of some California kelp communities. Ecol Monogr 54:235–289. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/1942498
Devinny JS, Volse LA (1978) Effects of sediments on the development of Macrocystis pyrifera gametophytes. Mar Biol (Berl) 48:343–348. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00391638
Edwards MS (2004) Estimating scale-dependency in disturbance impacts: El Niños and giant kelp forests in the northeast Pacific. Oecologia 138:436–447. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1452-8
Estes JA, Duggins DO (1995) Sea otters and kelp forests in Alaska: generality and variation in a community ecological paradigm. Ecol Monogr 65:75–100. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/2937159
Falace A, Zanelli E, Bressan G (2006) Algal transplantation as a potential tool for artificial reef management and environmental mitigation. Bull Mar Sci 78:161–166
Gorgula SK, Connell SD (2004) Expansive covers of turf-forming algae on human-dominated coast: the relative effects of increasing nutrient and sediment loads. Mar Biol (Berl) 145:613–619. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-004-1335-5
Graham MH (1996) Effect of high irradiance on recruitment of the giant kelp Macrocystis (Phaeophyta) in shallow water. J Phycol 32:903–906. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3646.1996.00903.x
Graham MH (2004) Effects of local deforestation on the diversity and structure of southern California giant kelp forest food webs. Ecosystems 7:341–357. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-003-0245-6
Irving AD, Connell SD (2002) Sedimentation and light penetration interact to maintain heterogeneity of subtidal habitats: algal versus invertebrate dominated assemblages. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 245:83–91. doi:https://doi.org/10.3354/meps245083
Irving AD, Connell SD (2006) Predicting understorey structure from the presence and composition of canopies: an assembly rule for marine algae. Oecologia 148:491–502. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0389-0
Jackson JBC (2001) What was natural in the oceans? Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:5411–5418. doi:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.091092898
Jones CG, Lawton JH, Shachak M (1994) Organisms as ecosystem engineers. Oikos 69:373–386. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/3545850
Jones GP, Milicich MJ, Emslie MJ, Lunow C (1999) Self-recruitment in a coral reef fish population. Nature 402:802–804. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/45538
Kendrick GA, Walker DI (1995) Dispersal of propagules of Sargassum spp. (Sargassaceae: Phaeophyta): observations of local patterns of dispersal and consequences for recruitment and population structure. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 192:273–288. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0981(95)00076-4
Kennelly SJ (1989) Effects of kelp canopies on understorey species due to shade and scour. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 50:215–224. doi:https://doi.org/10.3354/meps050215
Matson PG, Edwards MS (2007) Effects of ocean temperature on the southern range limits of two understorey kelps, Pterygophora californica and Eisenia arborea, at multiple life-stages. Mar Biol (Berl) 151:1941–1949. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-007-0630-3
Norton TA (1978) The factors influencing the distribution of Saccorhiza polyschides in the region of Lough Ine. J Mar Biol Assoc UK 58:527–536
Norton TA (1992) Dispersal by macroalgae. Br Phycol J 27:293–301. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/00071619200650271
Peterson CJ, Pickett STA (1991) Treefall and resprouting following catastrophic windthrow in an old-growth hemlock-hardwoods forest. For Ecol Manage 42:205–217. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-1127(91)90025-Q
Reed DC (1990) The effects of variable settlement and early competition on patterns of kelp recruitment. Ecology 71:776–787. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/1940329
Reed DC, Foster MS (1984) The effects of canopy shading on algal recruitment and growth in a giant kelp forest. Ecology 65:937–948. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/1938066
Reed DC, Schroeter SC, Raimondi PT (2004) Spore supply and habitat availability as sources of recruitment limitation in the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera (Phaeophyceae). J Phycol 40:275–284. doi:https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1529-8817.2004.03119.x
Roberts M (1967) Studies on marine algae of the British Isles. 3. The genus Cystoseira. Br Phyc Bull 3:345–366
Santelices B (1990) Patterns of reproduction, dispersal and recruitment in seaweeds. Oceanogr Mar Biol Annu Rev 28:177–276
Schiel DR, Foster MS (2006) The population biology of large brown seaweeds: ecological consequences of multiphase life histories in dynamic coastal environments. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 37:343–372. doi:https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.37.091305.110251
Schiel DR, Wood SA, Dunmore RA, Taylor DI (2006) Sediment on rocky intertidal reefs: effects on early post-settlement stages of habitat-forming seaweeds. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 331:158–172. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2005.10.015
Sousa WP, Quek SP, Mitchell BJ (2003) Regeneration of Rhizophora mangle in a Caribbean mangrove forest: interacting effects of canopy disturbance and a stem-boring beetle. Oecologia 137:436–445. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1350-0
Stachowicz JJ (2001) Mutualism, facilitation, and the structure of ecological communities. Bioscience 51:235–246. doi:https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0235:MFATSO]2.0.CO;2
Steneck RS, Graham MH, Bourque BJ, Corbett D, Erlandson JM, Estes JA, Tegner MJ (2002) Kelp forest ecosystems: biodiversity, stability, resilience and future. Environ Conserv 29:436–459. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892902000322
Tom Dieck I (1993) Temperature tolerance and survival in darkness of kelp gametophytes (Laminariales, Phaeophyta): ecological and biogeographical implications. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 100:253–264. doi:https://doi.org/10.3354/meps100253
Vadas RL, Johnson S, Norton TA (1992) Recruitment and mortality of early post-settlement stages of benthic algae. Br Phycol J 27:331–351. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/00071619200650291
Vitousek PM, Mooney HA, Lubchenco J, Melillo JM (1997) Human domination of earth’s ecosystems. Science 277:494–499. doi:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.277.5325.494
Wilson JB, Agnew ADQ (1992) Positive-feedback switches in plant communities. Adv Ecol Res 23:263–336. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2504(08)60149-X
Acknowledgments
We thank A. Pasteris and R. Pistocchi for access to laboratory equipment, M. Abbiati, S. Bacchi, G. Fontana, S. Perkol-Finkel, and M. Ponti for advice and laboratory assistance, and B. Oiadé, P. Once, E. Pallazzo, and O. Piccione for encouragement and field support. Suggestions from three anonymous reviewers improved the manuscript. This work was supported by an Early-stage Research Fellowship awarded to A.D.I. from the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Bologna, the Strategic Project ADRIABIO awarded to L.A., and an Assegno di Ricerca awarded to D.B. The experiments described herein comply with current Italian law.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by S. D. Connell.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Irving, A.D., Balata, D., Colosio, F. et al. Light, sediment, temperature, and the early life-history of the habitat-forming alga Cystoseira barbata . Mar Biol 156, 1223–1231 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-009-1164-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-009-1164-7