Honeycomb worm bioconstructions persist under combined human and wave-related disturbances

IF 3 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Marine environmental research Pub Date : 2024-10-22 DOI:10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106811

Annalisa Storari , Sara Ometto , Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi , Maria Flavia Gravina , Daniele Ventura , Iacopo Bertocci

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Abstract

Marine bioconstructions and their ecological functions are increasingly threatened by compounded natural disturbances and direct and indirect impacts of anthropogenic activities. Through a manipulative experiment in the field, we assessed the response of intertidal biogenic patches built by the honeycomb worm, Sabellaria alveolata, to combined disturbances. Repeated battering events, simulating those associated with waves, were applied on intact or previously damaged bioconstructions, mimicking those impacted by harvesting of infaunal organisms. Descriptors of reef status, including the total patch size, the percentage cover of intact bioconstruction, tube density and diameter were examined as response variables to test two hypotheses: i) multiple disturbances would result in disproportionate effects on S. alveolata structures compared to isolate perturbations; ii) the structural stability of bioconstruction would be increasingly undermined by physical impacts with the increasing degree of reef damage from previous harvesting disturbance. When applied separately, intermediate intensity of harvesting and battering were associated with a larger size of S. alveolata patches compared to the unmanipulated control, while the cover of intact bioconstruction tended to decline over time in all experimental conditions. Such a reduction was particularly small under the high level of harvesting. The density and the diameter of sabellariid tubes were not significantly affected by any treatment. The difference between the effect of battering combined with each level of harvesting and the cumulative effect of each disturbance applied separately did not deviate from what would be expected by chance. Our findings highlight the ability of the examined bioconstructions to withstand and potentially thrive under compound disturbances, offering crucial insights for the implementation of sustainable conservation strategies in a threatened biogenic habitat.

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蜂巢蠕虫生物构造在人类和海浪的共同干扰下依然存在

海洋生物构造及其生态功能正日益受到自然干扰和人类活动直接或间接影响的双重威胁。我们通过实地操作实验，评估了蜂巢蠕虫（Sabellaria alveolata）构建的潮间带生物斑块对综合干扰的反应。模拟与海浪有关的重复撞击事件，施加在完整的或先前受损的生物构造上，模拟那些受到采捕底栖生物影响的生物构造。将珊瑚礁状态的描述指标，包括总斑块大小、完整生物结构的覆盖百分比、管密度和直径作为响应变量进行研究，以检验两个假设：i) 与单独的扰动相比，多重扰动会对 S. alveolata 结构造成不成比例的影响；ii) 随着先前采捕扰动对珊瑚礁破坏程度的增加，生物结构的稳定性会越来越受到物理影响的破坏。与未受干扰的对照组相比，单独使用中等强度的采伐和撞击会使白花蛇舌草斑块的面积增大，而在所有实验条件下，完好的生物建筑的覆盖面积都会随着时间的推移而下降。尤其是在大量采伐的情况下，这种下降幅度很小。沙棘管的密度和直径没有受到任何处理的显著影响。敲打和每种采伐量的综合影响与单独使用每种干扰的累积影响之间的差异并没有偏离预期。我们的研究结果突显了所考察的生物构造在复合干扰下的承受能力和潜在的繁衍能力，为在受威胁的生物栖息地实施可持续保护战略提供了重要的启示。

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来源期刊

Marine environmental research 环境科学-毒理学

CiteScore

5.90

自引率

3.00%

发文量

217

审稿时长

46 days

期刊介绍： Marine Environmental Research publishes original research papers on chemical, physical, and biological interactions in the oceans and coastal waters. The journal serves as a forum for new information on biology, chemistry, and toxicology and syntheses that advance understanding of marine environmental processes. Submission of multidisciplinary studies is encouraged. Studies that utilize experimental approaches to clarify the roles of anthropogenic and natural causes of changes in marine ecosystems are especially welcome, as are those studies that represent new developments of a theoretical or conceptual aspect of marine science. All papers published in this journal are reviewed by qualified peers prior to acceptance and publication. Examples of topics considered to be appropriate for the journal include, but are not limited to, the following: – The extent, persistence, and consequences of change and the recovery from such change in natural marine systems – The biochemical, physiological, and ecological consequences of contaminants to marine organisms and ecosystems – The biogeochemistry of naturally occurring and anthropogenic substances – Models that describe and predict the above processes – Monitoring studies, to the extent that their results provide new information on functional processes – Methodological papers describing improved quantitative techniques for the marine sciences.