Large-Scale Sea Urchin Culling Drives the Reduction of Subtidal Barren Grounds in the Mediterranean Sea

Large-Scale Sea Urchin Culling Drives the Reduction of Subtidal Barren Grounds in the Mediterranean Sea

Marine Ecosystem Restoration (MER) - Challenges and New Horizons.-- 12 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, supplementary information https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00519/full#supplementary-material.-- The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Guarnieri, Giuseppe, Bevilacqua, Stanislao, Figueras, Neus, Tamburello, Laura, Fraschetti, Simonetta
Other Authors: European Commission
Format: artículo biblioteca
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media 2020-08
Subjects:Macrobenthic assemblages, Patch dynamics, Rocky reefs, Sea urchin barrens, Restoration,
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/221922
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100011033
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spelling dig-icm-es-10261-2219222021-04-22T11:49:48Z Large-Scale Sea Urchin Culling Drives the Reduction of Subtidal Barren Grounds in the Mediterranean Sea Guarnieri, Giuseppe Bevilacqua, Stanislao Figueras, Neus Tamburello, Laura Fraschetti, Simonetta European Commission Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España) Macrobenthic assemblages Patch dynamics Rocky reefs Sea urchin barrens Restoration Marine Ecosystem Restoration (MER) - Challenges and New Horizons.-- 12 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, supplementary information https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00519/full#supplementary-material.-- The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author Increasing anthropogenic pressures are causing long-lasting regime shifts from high-diversity ecosystems to low-diversity ones. In the Mediterranean Sea, large expanses of rocky subtidal habitats characterized by high diversity have been completely degraded to the barren state due to the high grazing pressure exerted by sea urchins, which could persist for a long time. In several areas of the world, removal of sea urchins has been found to have a positive effect on the recovery of overexploited subtidal rocky habitats. This study assessed, for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, the effects of extensive sea urchin culling on the recovery of subtidal reefs from the barren state. We tested this approach within a Marine Protected Area where a combination of oligotrophic conditions, general depletion of fish stocks, dramatically high sea urchin densities, and the large expanses of barren grounds caused by date mussel fishery have hampered the natural recovery of shallow rocky reefs. Culling intervention (through hammering) was carried out in spring 2015, covering an area of 1.2 hectares at about 5 m depth. The effects of sea urchin removal were monitored at regular intervals for a time span of 3 years and were compared with two control sites adjacent to the culling area. We documented a progressive reduction in the extent of barren grounds in the fully protected area after the intervention. Also, very low re-colonization of sea urchins was observed during the experiment, so that no additional extensive culling was necessary. Our findings suggested sea urchin culling as a promising practice, also considering the limited costs of the intervention. However, since the reduction in extent of barren grounds was largely driven by turf-forming algae, caution is needed in the interpretation of the outcomes in terms of restoration, and results are discussed considering the factors involved in the observed shift and the synergies to be carried out for a full recovery of the system This research was funded by the project Marine Ecosystem Restoration in Changing European Seas (MERCES) of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research (Grant Agreement No. 689518, http://www.merces-project.eu) and the EU Interreg MED AMAre project (http://msp-platform.eu/projects/amare-actions-marine-protected-areas) With the funding support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S), of the Spanish Research Agency (AEI) Peer reviewed 2020-10-28T08:40:34Z 2020-10-28T08:40:34Z 2020-08 artículo http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 Frontiers in Marine Science 7: 519 (2020) CEX2019-000928-S http://hdl.handle.net/10261/221922 10.3389/fmars.2020.00519 2296-7745 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 en #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE# info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/689518 Publisher's version https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00519 Sí open Frontiers Media
institution ICM ES
collection DSpace
country España
countrycode ES
component Bibliográfico
access En linea
databasecode dig-icm-es
tag biblioteca
region Europa del Sur
libraryname Biblioteca del ICM España
language English
topic Macrobenthic assemblages
Patch dynamics
Rocky reefs
Sea urchin barrens
Restoration
Macrobenthic assemblages
Patch dynamics
Rocky reefs
Sea urchin barrens
Restoration
spellingShingle Macrobenthic assemblages
Patch dynamics
Rocky reefs
Sea urchin barrens
Restoration
Macrobenthic assemblages
Patch dynamics
Rocky reefs
Sea urchin barrens
Restoration
Guarnieri, Giuseppe
Bevilacqua, Stanislao
Figueras, Neus
Tamburello, Laura
Fraschetti, Simonetta
Large-Scale Sea Urchin Culling Drives the Reduction of Subtidal Barren Grounds in the Mediterranean Sea
description Marine Ecosystem Restoration (MER) - Challenges and New Horizons.-- 12 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, supplementary information https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00519/full#supplementary-material.-- The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author
author2 European Commission
author_facet European Commission
Guarnieri, Giuseppe
Bevilacqua, Stanislao
Figueras, Neus
Tamburello, Laura
Fraschetti, Simonetta
format artículo
topic_facet Macrobenthic assemblages
Patch dynamics
Rocky reefs
Sea urchin barrens
Restoration
author Guarnieri, Giuseppe
Bevilacqua, Stanislao
Figueras, Neus
Tamburello, Laura
Fraschetti, Simonetta
author_sort Guarnieri, Giuseppe
title Large-Scale Sea Urchin Culling Drives the Reduction of Subtidal Barren Grounds in the Mediterranean Sea
title_short Large-Scale Sea Urchin Culling Drives the Reduction of Subtidal Barren Grounds in the Mediterranean Sea
title_full Large-Scale Sea Urchin Culling Drives the Reduction of Subtidal Barren Grounds in the Mediterranean Sea
title_fullStr Large-Scale Sea Urchin Culling Drives the Reduction of Subtidal Barren Grounds in the Mediterranean Sea
title_full_unstemmed Large-Scale Sea Urchin Culling Drives the Reduction of Subtidal Barren Grounds in the Mediterranean Sea
title_sort large-scale sea urchin culling drives the reduction of subtidal barren grounds in the mediterranean sea
publisher Frontiers Media
publishDate 2020-08
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/221922
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100011033
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