Nutrient pollution and reduced grazing each can stimulate algal blooms as shown by numerous experiments. But because experiments rarely incorporate natural variation in environmental factors and ...biodiversity, conditions determining the relative strength of bottom–up and top–down forcing remain unresolved. We factorially added nutrients and reduced grazing at 15 sites across the range of the marine foundation species eelgrass (Zostera marina) to quantify how top–down and bottom–up control interact with natural gradients in biodiversity and environmental forcing. Experiments confirmed modest top–down control of algae, whereas fertilisation had no general effect. Unexpectedly, grazer and algal biomass were better predicted by cross‐site variation in grazer and eelgrass diversity than by global environmental gradients. Moreover, these large‐scale patterns corresponded strikingly with prior small‐scale experiments. Our results link global and local evidence that biodiversity and top–down control strongly influence functioning of threatened seagrass ecosystems, and suggest that biodiversity is comparably important to global change stressors.
Most studies evaluating the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning are conducted at a single location, limiting our understanding of how diversity–function relationships may change when ...measured across different spatial scales. We conducted a species-removal experiment at three sites nested in each of three regions along the rocky intertidal coastline of the Gulf of Maine, USA, to evaluate the potential for scale-dependent effects of species loss on the biomass of intertidal seaweed assemblages. We randomly assigned 50 plots in the mid-intertidal zone at each site to one of five treatments (n = 10 plots each): an unmanipulated control, a polyculture plot that contained our three target seaweed species, and three monoculture plots. We manipulated diversity by removing all non-target species from monoculture and polyculture plots, then removing additional biomass from polyculture plots, proportionate to species' relative abundances, so that the average amount removed from monoculture and polyculture plots was equivalent at each site. At the largest spatial scale, all sites considered together, after accounting for region and site nested within region seaweed diversity had consistent, positive effects on seaweed cover. Diverse polyculture plots always had higher cover than was predicted by the average performance of the component seaweed species and usually had higher cover than even the best-performing component species. Diversity effects weakened and became less consistent at smaller spatial scales, so that at the scale of individual sites, diverse polycultures only performed better than the average of monocultures ∼40% of the time. Hence, our results indicate that weak and/or inconsistent biodiversity effects at the level of individual sites may scale up to stronger, more consistent effects at larger spatial scales. Quantitative summaries of biodiversity experiments conducted at the scale of individual sites do not capture this spatial aspect of biodiversity effects and may therefore underestimate the functional consequences of biodiversity loss.
Links between hydrologic modifications, flow and salinity regimes, and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) species composition and abundance were assessed with an empirical analysis of 33 years of ...monitoring data collected at nine sites in Florida’s Caloosahatchee River Estuary (CRE). Freshwater inflows to the estuary (30-day means) were often outside the previously recommended envelope of 12.74 to 79.29 m³ s⁻¹. Discharges from Lake Okeechobee through a synthetic hydrologic link were responsible for 43% of the above-envelope flows, but reduced the incidence of below-envelope flows by 30%. A salinity model and salinity stress indices developed for each SAV species indicated that the observed flows generated variable salinity conditions likely to harm both seagrasses and freshwater SAV in the estuary. Regression modeling of SAV abundance generally confirmed the flow and salinity responses expected for each species: Halodule wrightii and Thalassia testudinum in the lower estuary were both harmed by high-flow, low-salinity conditions, while Vallisneria americana in the upper estuary was decimated by low-flow, high-salinity conditions. There was a species-specific effect of the seasonal timing of high flows—T. testudinum was more negatively correlated with high flows in the dry season; H. wrightii in the wet season. The regression analyses also highlighted strong, year-to-year autocorrelations in SAV abundance, indicating reduced resilience after severe losses, particularly for V. americana. Large residual variation in some regression models suggested that factors other than salinity (e.g., optical water quality or grazing impacts) may also influence the system dynamics and should be incorporated in continuing research. This analysis suggests that use of artificial water management infrastructure to reduce extreme high and low flows to the Caloosahatchee and other estuaries could help maintain SAV health in light of intensifying climate variability and degraded watershed flow regulation capacity.
The organic carbon (C
org
) stored in seagrass meadows is globally significant and could be relevant in strategies to mitigate increasing CO
2
concentration in the atmosphere. Most of that stored C
...org
is in the soils that underlie the seagrasses. We explored how seagrass and soil characteristics vary among seagrass meadows across the geographic range of turtlegrass (
Thalassia testudinum
) with a goal of illuminating the processes controlling soil organic carbon (C
org
) storage spanning 23° of latitude. Seagrass abundance (percent cover, biomass, and canopy height) varied by over an order of magnitude across sites, and we found high variability in soil characteristics, with C
org
ranging from 0.08 to 12.59% dry weight. Seagrass abundance was a good predictor of the C
org
stocks in surficial soils, and the relative importance of seagrass-derived soil C
org
increased as abundance increased. These relationships suggest that first-order estimates of surficial soil C
org
stocks can be made by measuring seagrass abundance and applying a linear transfer function. The relative availability of the nutrients N and P to support plant growth was also correlated with soil C
org
stocks. Stocks were lower at N-limited sites than at P-limited ones, but the importance of seagrass-derived organic matter to soil C
org
stocks was not a function of nutrient limitation status. This finding seemed at odds with our observation that labile standard substrates decomposed more slowly at N-limited than at P-limited sites, since even though decomposition rates were 55% lower at N-limited sites, less C
org
was accumulating in the soils. The dependence of C
org
stocks and decomposition rates on nutrient availability suggests that eutrophication is likely to exert a strong influence on carbon storage in seagrass meadows.
Interacting changes in predator and prey diversity likely influence ecosystem properties but have rarely been experimentally tested. We manipulated the species richness of herbivores and predators in ...an experimental benthic marine community and measured their effects on predator, herbivore and primary producer performance. Predator composition and richness strongly affected several community and population responses, mostly via sampling effects. However, some predators survived better in polycultures than in monocultures, suggesting complementarity due to stronger intra- than interspecific interactions. Predator effects also differed between additive and substitutive designs, emphasizing that the relationship between diversity and abundance in an assemblage can strongly influence whether and how diversity effects are realized. Changing herbivore richness and predator richness interacted to influence both total herbivore abundance and predatory crab growth, but these interactive diversity effects were weak. Overall, the presence and richness of predators dominated biotic effects on community and ecosystem properties.
We characterized the seasonal and interannual variation in macrophytes, epiphytes, invertebrate herbivores, small demersal predators, and physicochemical characteristics of an eelgrass (Zostera ...marina) bed in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, over 10 yr, to explore the relative importance of abiotic and biotic forcing on community composition and abundance. Our hypotheses were (1) physicochemical drivers affect community structure directly, (2) bottom-up trophic control is evidenced by positive covariance among trophic levels, (3) top-down control generates inverse patterns of abundance at adjacent trophic levels, and (4) species diversity among herbivores contributes to temporal stability. Composition and abundance of eelgrass-associated species varied strongly among seasons and years. Much of this variation correlated with temperature and salinity anomalies, and multivariate analysis grouped communities roughly by season, supporting our first hypothesis. Severe seagrass loss during the hot summer of 2005 shifted the community toward a novel composition, but community structure rebounded within a year. Evidence for trophic control was mixed: selected taxa showed patterns consistent with top-down or bottom-up control, but these patterns generally disappeared at the level of whole years and entire trophic levels. Our ability to detect trophic effects may have been limited, however, by consumer movement or changing behavioral responses to resource availability and prédation. There was also little evidence that diversity stabilized total herbivore abundance. Although consumer effects on lower levels were inconsistent, the strong physicochemical forcing of community structure supports suggestions that eelgrass communities are highly vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate and hydrography.
Although dimorphic sexes have evolved repeatedly in multicellular eukaryotes, their origins are unknown. The mating locus (MT) of the sexually dimorphic multicellular green alga Volvox carteri ...specifies the production of eggs and sperm and has undergone a remarkable expansion and divergence relative to MT from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which is a closely related unicellular species that has equal-sized gametes. Transcriptome analysis revealed a rewired gametic expression program for Volvox MT genes relative to Chlamydomonas and identified multiple gender-specific and sex-regulated transcripts. The retinoblastoma tumor suppressor homolog MAT3 is a Volvox MT gene that displays sexually regulated alternative splicing and evidence of gender-specific selection, both of which are indicative of cooption into the sexual cycle. Thus, sex-determining loci affect the evolution of both sex-related and non-sex-related genes.
Plant microbiomes are known to serve several important functions for their host, and it is therefore important to understand their composition as well as the factors that may influence these ...microbial communities. The microbiome of
has only recently been explored, and studies to-date have primarily focused on characterizing the microbiome of plants in a single region. Here, we present the first characterization of the composition of the microbial communities of
across a wide geographical range spanning three distinct regions with varying physicochemical conditions. We collected samples of leaves, roots, sediment, and water from six sites throughout the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. We then analyzed these samples using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. We found that site and region can influence the microbial communities of
, while maintaining a plant-associated core microbiome. A comprehensive comparison of available microbial community data from
studies determined a core microbiome composed of 14 ASVs that consisted mostly of the family Rhodobacteraceae. The most abundant genera in the microbial communities included organisms with possible plant-beneficial functions, like plant-growth promoting taxa, disease suppressing taxa, and nitrogen fixers.
Carbon and nutrient storage are important ecosystem services of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) and may be enhanced by SAV restoration. This study demonstrates an approach to quantifying the ...nutrient and carbon storage potential of SAV restoration, focusing on the SAV Vallisneria americana in the oligohaline reaches of Florida's Caloosahatchee River Estuary (CRE). The variables of habitat area, plant size, plant density, and tissue nutrient stoichiometry are considered, and estimates are made both for storage in living tissue and for deposition in sediments. System-specific parameter values are obtained from a combination of abundance surveys, historical accounts of abundance and distribution, and field and mesocosm studies of tissue stoichiometry responses to nutrient addition. These are integrated with literature values for sediment deposition rates of C, N, and P in other SAV systems to estimate carbon and nutrient storage for current conditions and various restoration scenarios. Calculations indicate that under a restoration scenario assuming a return to the abundance documented in 1998–1999, V. americana tissues could act as a substantial sink for macro-elements in the CRE, representing 28.4 mt-C, 2.6 mt-N, and 0.16 mt-P, and depositing 897 mt-C y−1, 68.5 mt-N y−1, and 3.87 mt-P y−1 in meadow sediments. However, at current low shoot densities and small shoot sizes, these benefits are two to three orders of magnitude less. In addition to the large difference between the restoration and current-conditions scenarios, propagation of uncertainty around parameter estimates within each scenario leads to wide ranges of uncertainty around model outputs. More system-specific empirical studies would help constrain parameter estimates and improve the model. Overall, these findings emphasize the sensitivity of C, N, and P storage and deposition rates to SAV habitat conditions, and the importance of reversing declines in SAV density through restoration, and other conservation measures.
•Procedures are developed to estimate nutrient and carbon storage benefits of submerged aquatic vegetation restoration.•Storage estimates for restored habitats are orders of magnitude higher than those for degraded habitats.•Plasticity in plant tissue nutrient stoichiometry could help submerged aquatic vegetation mitigate the impacts of excess nutrient loading.
A series of dinucleoside 5-polyphosphates UpnU (n = 2-7) was synthesized. Their relative potencies as agonists at the G-protein-coupled receptors P2Y1, P2Y2, P2Y4, and P2Y6 were determined by ...intracellular calcium measurements using fluorescent imaging techniques. The correlation of phosphate chain length to activities at these receptors is discussed.
PDF
