Spatial and temporal environmental variability are important drivers of ecological processes at all scales. As new tools allow the in situ exploration of individual responses to fluctuations, ...ecologically meaningful ways of characterizing environmental variability at organism scales are needed. We investigated the fine-scale spatial heterogeneity of high-frequency temporal variability in temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration, and pH experienced by benthic organisms in a shallow coastal coral reef. We used a spatio-temporal sampling design, consisting of 21 short-term time-series located along a reef flat-to-reef slope transect, coupled to a long-term station monitoring water column changes. Spectral analyses revealed sharp gradients in variance decomposed by frequency, as well as differences between physically-driven and biologically-reactive parameters. These results highlight the importance of environmental variance at organismal scales and present a new sampling scheme for exploring this variability in situ.
Enterococcus spp. are utilized worldwide as faecal indicator bacteria, but certain strains exhibit extended survival in environmental habitats and the factors influencing their persistence are poorly ...understood. We used flowing freshwater mesocosms to explore the effect of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) on the persistence of natural enterococci populations from a subtropical lake. The highest mean densities of culturable enterococci over 2 weeks occurred in SAV 8.6 x 10² colony-forming units (cfu) per 100 g wet weight, followed by sediments (1.3 x 10² cfu per 100 g) and water (18 cfu per 100 ml). However, due to relative differences in the total mass of each substrate in the entire system (water > sediments > SAV), SAV-associated enterococci represented only a minor proportion of the total population. Vegetated mesocosms harboured significantly higher mean cfu per mesocosm and cfu densities in sediments compared with their unvegetated counterparts, suggesting that SAV indirectly facilitates persistence in aquatic habitats. Populations were dominated (> 96%) by a single Enterococcus casseliflavus strain according to BOX-PCR genotyping, which did not change over the 10-month study and strongly suggests bacterial replication in the lake. The presence of such strains in the environment may represent highly competitive, naturalized and reproducing indicator bacteria populations that are not directly related to pollution events.
Corals build reefs through accretion of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) skeletons, but net reef growth also depends on bioerosion by grazers and borers and on secondary calcification by crustose coralline ...algae and other calcifying invertebrates. However, traditional field methods for quantifying secondary accretion and bioerosion confound both processes, do not measure them on the same time-scale, or are restricted to 2D methods. In a prior study, we compared multiple environmental drivers of net erosion using pre- and post-deployment micro-computed tomography scans (μCT; calculated as the % change in volume of experimental CaCO3 blocks) and found a shift from net accretion to net erosion with increasing ocean acidity. Here, we present a novel μCT method and detail a procedure that aligns and digitally subtracts pre- and post-deployment μCT scans and measures the simultaneous response of secondary accretion and bioerosion on blocks exposed to the same environmental variation over the same time-scale. We tested our method on a dataset from a prior study and show that it can be used to uncover information previously unattainable using traditional methods. We demonstrated that secondary accretion and bioerosion are driven by different environmental parameters, bioerosion is more sensitive to ocean acidity than secondary accretion, and net erosion is driven more by changes in bioerosion than secondary accretion.
Summary
Elevated concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) in aquatic sediments and vegetation have prompted concern that environmental reservoirs of FIB disrupt the correlation between ...indicator organisms, pathogens and human health risks. FIB numbers, however, are typically normalized to volume of water or mass of substrate. Because these reservoirs tend to differ greatly in magnitude within and between water bodies, direct comparison between water column and benthic population sizes can be problematic. Normalization to a set volume of water or mass of substrate, e.g. cfu (100 ml)−1 or cfu (100 g)−1, can give a false picture of the relative contributions of various reservoirs to FIB numbers across the ecosystem, and of the potential for FIBs to trigger health advisories as they pass from one reservoir to another. Here, we normalized enterococci concentrations from water, sediment and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) to land surface area (m2) to compare their relative importance in the entire system. SAV‐associated enterococci comprised only 0–18% of the entire population, even though they displayed the highest concentrations of enterococci per unit mass. The largest proportion of the enterococci population was in the water column (4–77%) or sediments (20–95%), depending on the volume of each substrate available at a site and FIB concentrations within them. Models indicated that large shifts in the relative size of FIB populations in each substrate can result from changes in per cent SAV cover, water depth and depth of sediment colonization. It follows that high concentrations of FIB in sediments or SAV do not necessarily signify large environmental reservoirs of FIB that can affect the water column. Comprehensive analyses that include FIB measurements from water, SAV and sediment normalized to land surface area offer a more balanced perspective on total FIB numbers contained in various matrices of an aquatic system.
Coral reefs persist in an accretion-erosion balance and ocean acidification resulting from anthropogenic CO₂ emissions threatens to shift this balance in favor of net reef erosion. Corals and ...calcifying algae, largely responsible for reef accretion, are vulnerable to environmental changes associated with ocean acidification, but the direct effects of lower pH on reef erosion has received less attention, particularly in the context of known drivers of bioerosion and natural variability. This study examines the balance between reef accretion and erosion along a well-characterized natural environmental gradient in Kāne‘ohe Bay, Hawai‘i using experimental blocks of coral skeleton. Comparing before and after micro-computed tomography (μCT) scans to quantify net accretion and erosion, we show that, at the small spatial scale of this study (tens of meters), pH was a better predictor of the accretion-erosion balance than environmental drivers suggested by prior studies, including resource availability, temperature, distance from shore, or depth. In addition, this study highlights the fine-scale variation of pH in coastal systems and the importance of micro habitat variation for reef accretion and erosion processes. We demonstrate significant changes in both the mean and variance of pH on the order of meters, providing a local perspective on global increases in pCO₂. Our findings suggest that increases in reef erosion, combined with expected decreases in calcification, will accelerate the shift of coral reefs to an erosion-dominated system in a high-CO₂ world. This shift will make reefs increasingly susceptible to storm damage and sea-level rise, threatening the maintenance of the ecosystem services that coral reefs provide.
In Hawaiʻi and other Pacific high islands submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) can be a significant and continuous source of solutes to nearshore reefs and may play a key role in the structure and ...function of benthic coral and algal communities. Identifying SGD sources and linking them to reef biogeochemistry is technically challenging. Here we analyzed spectra of fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM) in coral reefs in the context of a suite of biogeochemical parameters along gradients of SGD to characterize fDOM composition and evaluate the utility of fDOM signatures in tracking groundwater dispersal and transformation. We spatially mapped water column chemistry in Maunalua Bay, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi by collecting 24 water samples in grids at each of two ~0.15km2 regions during both high and low tides over a two-day period. We observed clear horizontal gradients in the majority of 15 measured parameters, including inorganic and organic solutes and organic particles that tracked concentrations of conservative SGD tracers (radon, salinity and silicate). Multivariate scanning excitation–emission fluorometry successfully differentiated two distinct groundwater sources and delineated regions of SGD dispersion in each reef from the surrounding water column samples without detectable groundwater. Groundwater was consistently depleted in DOC and enriched in nutrients; although the two SGD sources varied widely in fDOM quantity and fluorophore proportions, indices of humification were consistently elevated in SGD at both sites. Our results provide a robust spectral characterization of fDOM in SGD-influenced coral reefs and indicate the potential for this rapid and cost-effective measurement technique to be useful in tracking SGD dispersal in nearshore ecosystems.
•Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is a significant feature in coral reefs of Hawaiʻi.•SGD plumes display both inorganic and organic chemical signatures.•Fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM) spectra l characteristics differentiate SGD sources.•The fDOM humification index (HIX) is high in groundwater of Hawaiʻi.•fDOM can provide information on groundwater source beyond the limitations of other methods.
It is critical to evaluate the in situ effects of multiple stressors on coastal community dynamics, especially those communities harboring high diversity such as coral reefs, in order to understand ...the resilience of these ecosystems, prepare coastal management for future scenarios, and aid in prioritizing restoration efforts. In this in situ study, at 2 sites with gradients of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD), a suite of physical parameters (wave exposure index, wind exposure index, and depth) and an all-encompassing SGD chemical parameter (average nitrate + nitrite daily load) were measured along spatially cohesive and temporally relevant scales and used to model macroalgal growth, biomass, and diversity in Maunalua Bay, Hawai‘i. We showed that (1) species-specific macroalgal biomass is significantly related to SGD and one of the 2 exposure indices (i.e. wind exposure or wave exposure), (2) SGD and wave exposure play key roles in species-specific growth rates, and (3) SGD supports low diversity and increased biomass of species that can tolerate the biogeochemistry associated with SGD. Our work suggests that SGD and local hydrodynamics predict local variation in macroalgal growth, biomass, and diversity in tropical reefs.
Historically, submerged vegetative canopies have either been reported as or modeled after unispecific examples—communities comprised of only a single vegetative species or element type. Field surveys ...of a shallow Florida Bay seagrass meadow highlighted a more diverse benthic landscape. Although dominated by Thalassia testudinum, the communities were distinctly multispecific, composed of a mixture of both plant and algal species. Strap-like seagrass elements defined the upper portion of these canopies (the upperstory) while broadbodied algal species were found concentrated close to the bed (the understory). To predict the hydrodynamic implications of this dual-story canopy structure, we derived a new canopy flow attenuation model, formulated to account for vertical canopy heterogeneities like those seen at our field site. The model was validated through a series of laboratory experiments: multispecific canopy mimics were installed in a current-wave flume and exposed to a range of unidirectional and oscillatory flows. Mean and fluctuating velocity was measured above and within each canopy to determine vegetation-induced flow attenuation. Velocities near the bed were markedly reduced through the addition of understory elements, results that were consistent with model predictions. These findings suggest that accurate prediction of flow-regulated processes like sediment transport and propagule dissemination depends on a thorough accounting of community composition. These properties are also expected to change in response to seasonal variability and episodic environmental stresses.
Ocean acidification (OA) results in reduced seawater pH and aragonite saturation state (Ωarag), but also reduced seawater buffer capacity. As buffer capacity decreases, diel variation in seawater ...chemistry increases. However, a variety of ecosystem feedbacks can modulate changes in both average seawater chemistry and diel seawater chemistry variation. Here we model these effects for a coastal, reef flat ecosystem. We show that an increase in offshore pCO2 and temperature (to 900 µatm and + 3 °C) can increase diel pH variation by as much as a factor of 2.5 and can increase diel pCO2 variation by a factor of 4.6, depending on ecosystem feedbacks and seawater residence time. Importantly, these effects are different between day and night. With increasing seawater residence time and increasing feedback intensity, daytime seawater chemistry becomes more similar to present-day conditions while nighttime seawater chemistry becomes less similar to present-day conditions. Recent studies suggest that carbonate chemistry variation itself, independent of the average chemistry conditions, can have important effects on marine organisms and ecosystem processes. Better constraining ecosystem feedbacks under global change will improve projections of coastal water chemistry, but this study shows the importance of considering changes in both average carbonate chemistry and diel chemistry variation for organisms and ecosystems.
Broadcast spawning invertebrates that live in shallow, high-energy coastal habitats are subjected to oscillatory water motion that creates unsteady flow fields above the surface of animals. The ...frequency of the oscillatory fluctuations is driven by the wave period, which will influence the stability of local flow structures and may affect fertilization processes. Using an oscillatory water tunnel, we quantified the percentage of eggs fertilized on or near spawning green sea urchins, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. Eggs were sampled in the water column, wake eddy, substratum and aboral surface under a range of different periods (T = 4.5-12.7 s) and velocities of oscillatory flow. The root-mean-square wave velocity (rms(u(w))) was a good predictor of fertilization in oscillatory flow, although the root-mean-square of total velocity (rms(u)), which incorporates all the components of flow (current, wave and turbulence), also provided significant predictions. The percentage of eggs fertilized varied between 50-85% at low flows (rms(u(w)) <0.02 m s(-1)), depending on the location sampled, but declined to below 10% for most locations at higher rms(u(w)). The water column was an important location for fertilization with a relative contribution greater than that of the aboral surface, especially at medium and high rms(u(w)) categories. We conclude that gametes can be successfully fertilized on or near the parent under a range of oscillatory flow conditions.
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